personal hygiene what did the injun do?

[ratpatrol]

Just read the galled thread and was wondering what to do with out t-p and no water on a cold night and all the corn cob's are gone? what does the army teach for hygiene, with out a  blue-rooms and tp,foot care, under arms  deodorant and tooth paste? What would take for a month stay for hygiene,minimum back pack in the woods?

[Mikey]

What does the Army teach for hygiene::  In cold weather the Army tells you to wash your feet and keep them clean and wear dry socks (if possible) to help prevent trenchfoot (forget what they call it now - Immersion foot).  Deoderant - nope.  Toothbrush and toothpaste - individual options.  Same with soap, although you would want to pack along a small bar or two mainly for your feet. 

Hands and face can be washed with snow, literally.  The rest of the body waited until you got back to the rear areas to clean up your own rear area, at least in the colder climates, or if you could stand it, handfuls of snow could be used to clean your butt.  I recall though that there was always some tp in the C-rations

In the jungle you had the most important options - warm water or tropical (read warm) rains daily.  If you took water from streams or rivers to clean yourself you always checked for leeches and if you found some you would add them to your rice as a protein source (somewhat similar to Escargo..). 

If we were going on an 'extended' recognizance mission we would usually take native or local foods so our body odors would be the same as those whom we were looking for - things like deoderants and after shave lotions could be detected a long way off, as could American tobacco smoke.  Always a razor to maintain some semblance of military proprieta.  For hygiene, clean water as soap would leave a detectable scent; toothpaste and toothbrush that although an option always made my mouth feel better.  Some clean underwear - socks and t-shirts.  The GI shorts were used for cleaning rags as in the jungle they would remain wet beneath your fatigues and cause painful rashes.  Maybe a extra set of fatigues.  You could expect some re-supply even on extended missions but it was mostly food, ammo, maps, batteries for the radios, possibly some intelligence info unless you requested clothing or other personal items in the re-supply. 

Corn cobs???  I would rather wash my funky butt with a handful of snow and air dry myself rather than use corn cobs. 

[BIGDAVE54]

In boot camp in the USAF (1971) a guy asked our TI where the wash clothes were when we were being issued uniforms and towels. He said "Son the Good Lord gave you two...they are connected to your wrists"!

[The Hermit]

Well.... if you must know, you take the corn cob and wet it slightly with water which makes it not scratchy and it does absorb ahhh.... material. It usually is a two cob job.  When finshed, you just drop it down the out house pit and it biodegrades. I know, I know, just don't ask me how I know.
My indian friend also tells me thats why indians never liked to shake hands with strangers, especially whites.
   
     The Hermit

[Rex in OTZ]

What exactly do you want to Know?

What did they do? nothing but handi wipes called the whore bath, Indians do they bathe? they did each morning faceing east as I recall, great spirit & all, used smoke to cleanse ther soul of bad spirits.

As a youngin in the middlewest my field expiediant TP, fist full of grass (green or dry)doubled over works , leaves work especially, large ones like cotton wood, maple, ferns, they work too.............watch for the ones that cause a
 .....................ah.....................irritation like poisen Ivey.

Dead fall works too (sticks & branches), used cotton wood bark before, dirt clods, corn stalks, snow formed in a ball works too.
helps to keep yer hair ah..............thinned so it doesent cause problems.
I was told by a recent traveler that in tibet they just use ther left hand, explains why there hand shake greeting is with only ther right hand and they eat with the RH hand as well, its a great insult to greet somebody and use your left handed handshake.

[Hodr]

Mikey,
been there, done that.  There were some that would get back, kick back, talk about how lousy it was and volunteer for the next patrol out.  It was an addiction as bad as any drug.

blindhari

[Mike in Virginia]

Different tribes had different ways.  Eastern Woodland Indians had plenty of clean water, and they bathed.  Not so with every tribe. One in particular (I won't name them for fear of offending descendants) were nasty in the extreme.  The went out of the way to be gross.  Some clans were known for their use of rancid bear grease that they wore daily throughout the warm seasons as a bug repellant. What any tribe did to clean their butts, I haven't a clue.  I don't think such a detail was ever recorded.

[Black Eagle]

You've got an old "Refugee from the Rez" here. The plains indians bathed almost every day -- even in the bitter cold winters --and when the white man came, they couldn't stand the smell of them. There is a broadleaf weed, and I can't remember the name of it but it grows almost everywhere, and is one of the softest things you will ever feel.  It was used for diapers on babies, wash cloths, and toilet paper. You can find these leaves, still pretty green and soft, even under the snow. We grew up in the modern era so we had modern conviences like hot water and soap and real toilet paper. [My father was a physician and a nut on cleanliness.] Tooth care has always been a big deal to most indians.  We brushed our teeth a lot, but we also chewed small green sticks from bushes.  When the end of the stick became frayed, we would use it to scrub our teeth when we were just sitting around. Sugar was not common so we generally had healthy teeth. Spirea bushes are common on the plains and the little sticks from the branches contain the chemical from which aspirin is made. We chewed it for aches and pains. I am "civilized" now and we have a very large house with 5 bathrooms, electric toothbrushes, and bottles of aspirin scattered throughout the house. I'm not sure I have gained much from civilization except financial security. My wife and family prefer civilization although I often miss the freedom of the Rez. Even though I grew up in semi-civilization, we ate a lot of wild veggies -- young dandelion leaves, water cress, various berries, wild onions, as well as fish and game. And, some tree bark teas are very good.     

[poppie]

You've got an old "Refugee from the Rez" here. The plains indians bathed almost every day -- even in the bitter cold winters --and when the white man came, they couldn't stand the smell of them. There is a broadleaf weed, and I can't remember the name of it but it grows almost everywhere, and is one of the softest things you will ever feel.  It was used for diapers on babies, wash cloths, and toilet paper. You can find these leaves, still pretty green and soft, even under the snow. We grew up in the modern era so we had modern conviences like hot water and soap and real toilet paper. [My father was a physician and a nut on cleanliness.] Tooth care has always been a big deal to most indians.  We brushed our teeth a lot, but we also chewed small green sticks from bushes.  When the end of the stick became frayed, we would use it to scrub our teeth when we were just sitting around. Sugar was not common so we generally had healthy teeth. Spirea bushes are common on the plains and the little sticks from the branches contain the chemical from which aspirin is made. We chewed it for aches and pains. I am "civilized" now and we have a very large house with 5 bathrooms, electric toothbrushes, and bottles of aspirin scattered throughout the house. I'm not sure I have gained much from civilization except financial security. My wife and family prefer civilization although I often miss the freedom of the Rez. Even though I grew up in semi-civilization, we ate a lot of wild veggies -- young dandelion leaves, water cress, various berries, wild onions, as well as fish and game. And, some tree bark teas are very good.     

......................................................., There is a broadleaf weed, and I can't remember the name of it but it grows almost everywhere, and is one of the softest things you will ever feel.  It was used for diapers on babies, wash cloths, and toilet paper. You can find these leaves, still pretty green and soft, even under the snow.....................................................It's called Velvet weed,used to be a farmer,they grew in cornfield's,here's a link with photo's,  http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/abuth.htm  ,  nice and soft,don't ask!!!!,it's a long way to the house from the south 40!!!!

[Black Eagle]

Yeah, that's the stuff. 

[Mikey]

blindhari - it's a addiction that never goes away. 

[Black Eagle]

Rex, What you heard about Tibet is true. [I was there a year ago and I miss that place.]  They do the same thing in most Arab countries especially the Magreb countries like Morocco. You use your left hand for wiping your butt and you scrub it thoroughly afterwards. Nevertheless, you don't touch others with it and when you eat, you keep your left hand under the table if you are sitting at a table. If you are sitting on the floor, as is customary in places like Morocco, you keep it beside your left leg and away from the food. In many places in Morocco, there is no silverware so you eat with your right hand. After dinner, they bring you a bowl of soapy hot water to wash both your hands. It is considered disgusting for anyone to have to look at your left hand while eating. The custom arose in Muslim countries, 100s of years ago, to prevent the spread of disease [even before the rest of the world knew about germs] and eventually made its way to the Buddhists in Tibet and Nepal.

One other thing that might be of interest. Many indians up on the Rez today are morbidly obese. People who study that sort of thing have determined that we cannot handle 2-3 meals a day.  For hundreds of years we were genetically conditioned to gorge ourselves once every 3-4 days, after a successful hunt, and then not eat for a few days. My wife and I are very trim but all our 60 plus year lives we have only eaten one small meal a day.  Neither of us can handle more than that without feeling sick.   

[mannyrock]

Black Eagle,

   Very interesting observation on Native Americans.  Some tribes have been here for almost 10,000 years (the original Clovis Hunters), so that is ALOT of generations of evolution.

    In addition to the "eat only every 3 or 4 days" factor, I think there is another genetic factor as well.   In the wild, it was probably not unusual to sometimes have to go for weeks without eating, due to blizzards, droughts, famine, migrating game.  So, the folks whose bodies naturally stored lots of fat and carbs were the ones who survived thorugh these periods.  Those who did not naturally store fat and carbs, perished.   After 10,000 years of this, the resulting people all have metabolisms that store every possible calorie, and so suddenly (in just the last 120 years), the availability of 3 meals a day has created mass obesity, as well as rampant diabetes.   

    It is a real shame. 

[S.B.]

You've got an old "Refugee from the Rez" here. The plains indians bathed almost every day -- even in the bitter cold winters --and when the white man came, they couldn't stand the smell of them. There is a broadleaf weed, and I can't remember the name of it but it grows almost everywhere, and is one of the softest things you will ever feel.  It was used for diapers on babies, wash cloths, and toilet paper. You can find these leaves, still pretty green and soft, even under the snow. We grew up in the modern era so we had modern conviences like hot water and soap and real toilet paper. [My father was a physician and a nut on cleanliness.] Tooth care has always been a big deal to most indians.  We brushed our teeth a lot, but we also chewed small green sticks from bushes.  When the end of the stick became frayed, we would use it to scrub our teeth when we were just sitting around. Sugar was not common so we generally had healthy teeth. Spirea bushes are common on the plains and the little sticks from the branches contain the chemical from which aspirin is made. We chewed it for aches and pains. I am "civilized" now and we have a very large house with 5 bathrooms, electric toothbrushes, and bottles of aspirin scattered throughout the house. I'm not sure I have gained much from civilization except financial security. My wife and family prefer civilization although I often miss the freedom of the Rez. Even though I grew up in semi-civilization, we ate a lot of wild veggies -- young dandelion leaves, water cress, various berries, wild onions, as well as fish and game. And, some tree bark teas are very good.     

Are you speaking of Mullins weed? Grows profusely around old railroad lines, here in Illinois. Dad used to say Indians used it for toilet paper and he did also, on a couple occations.
Steve

[ShadowMover]

There  are some interesting ideas about food, evolution and body metabolism posted here. I agree with the observation and common sense deduction that whoever lives through a long cold winter and a food shortage will be the Mommies and Daddies of the next generation. I also agree it may be a factor in why people tend to get fat and love all the 'wrong' things in their diet, sweets, fat,and salt.  These items are generally scarce in hard times, yet provide energy and minerals we need.  Disease also played a key role in 'selecting' those who lived and died. Obviously if you died of diarrhea from some common intestinal bug when you were two, you won't be raising any kids.  ( Don't laugh, diarrhea is still the most common killer of children in third world countries)  Anyway that's the basic 'selection of the fittest' scenario. The scenario plays out differently as the situation changes. Being fat and craving carbohydrates, salt, and fat isn't a healthy thing in our time of relative abundance. Maybe we have the wrong genes, but we do have a brain, that can say NO.

What happened to the Clovis People? The art of making their elaborate arrowheads, Clovis Points,  which were really stunning works of art and very distinctive, disappeared from the Americas.  One theory has the original Clovis people spreading to the ends of the Americas, and then being eliminated by successive waves of migrations across a frozen Bering Straight from Asia. There are no Clovis points found in Asia or Alaska but there are very similar to Solutrean points found in Europe. Needless to say this has generated a LOT of discussion and controversy, as has the discovery of the Kennewick Man, the Spirit Cave Lake man and dozens of other very early mummies over 8000 years old. Some of the mummies had red hair. I mention this so others can research the situation. It will make a fascinating story once they sort out what happened those thousands of years ago.

In the mean time, I wonder how my skinny progenitors made it through the last ice age ;-)

[blind ear]

Shadowmover, last I heard the red hair/blue eyes theory was disproven genetically. They also think the Clovis point evolved here in the Americas. It was so wide spread it was thought to be imported at first but as you said no dirrect matches in technology appeared in Europe or Asia. They concluded it was so wide spread because the natives here had a much larger trade network than first realised. Caches of points and blanks were found in widely seperated areas in different stone types. This is from bits and peices of shows and books I have read, I don't have a dirrect reference.

I have long wished those in control of the Ice Man Mummy would let artisans of flint knapping, wood crafting and native apparrell be allowed to study Icemans artifacts.

The mental ability to knapp stone to the Clovis level is much higher than that required to do cloth spinning and weaving. Woven cloth is used as a marker for levels of permanance of residence and beginnings of civilization. Chicken bones in South America come from the pacific islands and are dated back about 20,000 years I think.

This stuff interests me a lot.

eddie

[ShadowMover]

Do you have a link to the red hair / blue eyed link being disproved? I'm not sure how you could tell eye color of a mummy. Are all red headed people blue eyed? I must admit I don't know what the rules are on that. I know that blue eyed people only have blue eyed children, but brown eyed people who carry a blue eyed gene can have blue eyed children or brown eyed ones.

I don't know if any DNA tests have been done on the Spirit Cave or the Lovelock mummies. Both are tied up in legal battles with the local Indian tribes who don't want any testing done. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of racial overtones to this history. Perhaps the current Indians are worried their special status will be endangered if they were not the first to be in the Americas. They were obviously here when Columbus arrived. I'd just like to see the truth be known to all. The truth is the important thing we could lose. I too am very interested in the ancient Americas and can only imagine the stories hidden away in the ground and museums.

I think the red hair is more from eyewitness accounts than from DNA tests. Here are some links:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Eh1WHqo0JN8C&pg=PA495&lpg=PA495&dq=mummy+lovelock+red&source=bl&ots=Qyusd_h3h4&sig=-t_RE1i6Vzat7Tw4PQcd5-e_IQM&hl=en&ei=K0x4S8fUDYLssgPT8eTKCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CCMQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=mummy%20lovelock%20red&f=false

http://vodpod.com/watch/518809-chapter-9-spirit-cave-mummy-lovelock-cave-mummy

or you can Google the words :
mummy red hair lovelock spirit cave

[blind ear]

SM;

I don't have any links or refrences as I stated before

That is a real interesting link. The only ones I had heard about before were supposed to have been around the Great Lakes.

The legend is interesting.If it proved to be true it would sure throw a hitch in past beliefs. Doesn't matter to me one way or the other, I just like reading about it.

 Every day something new is found to contradict things that "couldn't possibly be" according to some expert. I'm no expert on anything. I'm just curious.

eddie

[luciausarmy]

when you see a redneck with his sleeves ripped off ask him why.

[Swampman]

I've read dozens of period accounts about the stench and fleas inside wigwams.

[charles p]

When resorting to leaves for TP, beware of releiving yourself near a holly tree.  Been there, done that, should have used the t-shirt.

[jlchucker]

A couple of handfuls of snow, like previously mentioned by Mikey sounds like a better choice than others mentioned, but you've got to be tough in any case.  Looking out at the fading sky and 14 degree temp right now, I think I'd try to hold it until tomorrow and hope the temperature warms up--not the snow, but the cold air out there LOL. If I couldn't wait, then it would be some cold squatting followed by colder wiping indeed.  Don't even want to imagine it.

[Bingo]

    I have irritable bowel syndrom. From time to time the guts just go hay-wire for no reason and without warning. While hunting one day with the beagle on track, it happened I lost one glove, then the other. Then the knife came out and the T shirt got a little shorter, Then a lot shorter. Every time I was busy, the rabbit "squirted" past.
   My beagle was a great dog but the only way to get him off track was to shoot the rabbit or have it hole up. That took a while .       I have since learned to ALWAYS carry TP or napkins.

[Greenhunter]

Bingo; I don't have your affliction, but I have suffered the call of nature a few times. I call them "the grumbles" with no time to get back to the truck. I prefer to carry a roll of TP in my fanny pack but a hanky has worked and when least prepared I'll use my
t=shirt. The nice thing about "the grumbles" is its smooth, fast and cleans up pretty easy.  During those times when I wish I had been born a Mountain Man, I thank God for today and modern TP!  I also think that back then when one had to suffer a dirty butt, it probably got rashed and toughen up over time. But that is only a guess. I cannot imagine riding horseback across the great plains with a dirty butt.   

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I always thought they stopped making clovis points when they ran out of mammoths.


Alan

[DANNY-L]

While stationed in germany 86-89 we were in the field for about 45 days and I found a small slightly frozen over pond so I broke the ice stripped down and jump in and got good and clean just to find out it was a mistake cause then I could really smell some ripe soldiers. I did feel alot better though.

[streak]

A couple of handfuls of snow, like previously mentioned by Mikey sounds like a better choice than others mentioned, but you've got to be tough in any case.  Looking out at the fading sky and 14 degree temp right now, I think I'd try to hold it until tomorrow and hope the temperature warms up--not the snow, but the cold air out there LOL. If I couldn't wait, then it would be some cold squatting followed by colder wiping indeed.  Don't even want to imagine it.

!0-4! On the snowwipe!
And if it is cold enough another "mystery" ensues!! Probably find yourself almost totally inverted!!

[Cleburne]

"And if it is cold enough another "mystery" ensues!! Probably find yourself almost totally inverted!!"
 
Boy howdy!!! If I live to be 100, I'll never forget the time out west in the early 70's when I spent a couple weeks on the road with some friends. Took a bath in a mountain stream one evening. Even though it was middle of the summer, that water was C-O-L-D! Big Jim and the Twins ran for cover so fast they almost knocked me over. Thought I was gonna forever after be known as Billie instead of Billy. 

[streak]

Cleburne,
Can you imagine how the first man reacted when he experienced that happening to him?
I strongly advise not to use green pine boughs with pine needles as a substitute for tp!
 

[briarpatch]

I wonder what they did when they got jock ich?