Top Tips for Female Hygiene while Traveling
Keeping yourself healthy and maintaining your hygiene are two of the most important aspects of traveling on the road. Some of the time, it’s hard to make sure you’re keeping yourself clean and healthy. This is especially true when there are so many other parts of your life that you have to maintain simultaneously.
cattan2011 CC BY 2.0EEphesus Turkey
Fortunately, there are many simple ways that females can easily maintain their hygiene while on the road. From small items that take up barely any space in a backpack, to a few easy habit changes, there are ways to keep yourself looking and feeling fresh!
Table of Contents
1. Skin Care
Buy an oil-free moisturizer for your face that has SPF already built into it. That way, you prevent yourself from getting a sunburn without having to put on actual sunscreen. You’re also keeping your skin soft and moisturized, which will help prevent breakouts. Also, just by splashing your face with water when you wake up and again before you go to bed helps keep dirt off of it.
CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion for Dry Skin
It is also wise to invest in body lotion to prevent your skin from getting dry. Lotion locks in important moisture that will keep your skin smooth.
2. Wash Your Hands
Eco Finest Hand Sanitizer Gel (Pack of 5)
This one goes without saying, but make sure your hands are always clean before touching your food or face! Make sure to wash your hands before you eat any meal and after you use the bathroom.
Bring a small container of hand sanitizer with you, too. This will come in handy if you’re ever stuck anywhere where soap is not available.
3. Bring Baby Wipes and Bathroom Wipes
WaterWipes Original Baby Wipes
These will come in handy for many reasons. Use the baby wipes to wipe down your face if you’re ever in a situation where you can’t wash your face. It will wash away any oils that build up overnight or throughout the day.
Goodwipes Flushable & Biodegradable Wipes
Bathroom wipes come in handy if you’re traveling and stop at a pit stop (or just stop on the side of the road!) where there is no toilet paper. You’ll be very glad you brought these with you.
4. Flip Flops in the Shower
Old Navy Flip Flop Sandals for Women
Always wear flip-flops in the shower if you’re staying at a hostel or elsewhere. This will prevent any fungus or any other foot diseases from getting onto your feet. We have no way of telling how sanitary a bathroom floor actually is!
5. Drink Plenty of Fluids
Make sure you’re keeping yourself hydrated with water, especially if you’re engaging in a lot of physical activity. Keeping yourself hydrated with water will also help prevent other illnesses that can easily be avoided. Cranberry juice is another fluid that has beneficial effects on females. The cranberry juice will help prevent things such as UTIs, which may become incredibly uncomfortable when on the road.
Orange juice is also a good fluid to have, as it has many vitamins that will help boost your immune system. This is especially important when you’re on the road and coming into contact with new germs.
6. Menstruation Hygiene Tips
Make sure to have about a two months supply of tampons and feminine pads, especially if you’re in a rural area where these supplies are not readily available. Bring bathroom wipes and hand sanitizer as well, in case there aren’t any proper bathroom hygiene supplies for use. Carry a bottle of painkillers as well, especially if you suffer from cramps.
7. Deodorant and Baby Powder
Both are great for preventing body odor, especially if you cannot shower right often and regularly. These will also keep you feeling fresh!
Burt’s Bees Baby 100% Natural Dusting Powder
The baby powder can be applied anywhere, such as your thighs and feet, and will keep unpleasant odors at a minimum.
8. Mouth Hygiene
Listerine Cool Mint Antiseptic Mouthwash
DenTek Triple Clean Advanced Clean Floss Picks
Make sure you’re always brushing your teeth and flossing twice a day. Carry a small, travel-sized collapsible toothbrush with you, as well as a small container of floss. I also like to carry a tiny bottle of Listerine too, which cleans my teeth and also keeps my breath fresh!
9. Laundry
If you’re staying at a hostel, they’ll sometimes have laundry services where they will wash, dry, and fold your laundry. Otherwise, the local town may have a Laundromat to do your laundry. If not, then buy a small bottle of detergent and wash your clothes in a sink and hang them to dry.
I recommend getting your laundry done once a week, or depending on how often you’re moving and how much physical activity you’re doing. When your clothes are clean, you’ll feel cleaner and prevent your dirty clothes from smelling up your bag.
10. Hair Care
Nexxus Shampoo and Conditioner
Be sure to keep your hair clean by shampooing and conditioning it frequently. Brush your hair daily to prevent knots and keep it looking clean. If you’re unable to wash your hair, a leave-in conditioner is a great alternative. It will help free your hair of knots and keep it clean until you’re able to wash it with shampoo and conditioner.
Maintaining your hygiene will not only keep you feeling and looking healthy while traveling, but it will make your trip a lot more enjoyable!
Yeah, each and every word is very true. For female traveller maintain hygiene especially intimate hygiene is very challenging job when you are on some adventure high treks. This blog is going to help for those adventurous female traveller.
I have been an international and outdoor traveler for 30+ years (with long stretches of camping), and there is one tip for women that I found on the web many years ago that has saved my life – or at least my health – ever since. I didn’t see it mentioned on your site, so I wanted to share it with you and your readers.
It’s a feminine hygiene thing. Ever since I first started taking long camping trips, I always was rigorous in putting on clean underwear (panties) every day and always wiped with witch hazel pads after a bowel movement, but regardless, by the time I passed the one-week point, I always ended up with some kind of problem “down there” – urinary tract infection (the worst), vaginal infection, fungal skin infection. I just didn’t know how to avoid it until I found this tip. And now that California is in a drought and I’ve cut back showering to every few days, rather than once a day, I even use this at home now on any day when I’m not showering.
IT’S THE BIDET BOTTLE! You just use a small plastic squeeze bottle (2-3 ounces) to clean yourself up after a bowel movement. You can do this in any bathroom, in a public rest room, behind a tree or in the dirtiest outhouse you’ve ever encountered – and you will come out feeling fresh as a daisy.
What you need:
* 2- to 3-ounce (really small) plastic squeeze-top bottle
* small amount of soap (either a bit of a soap bar in zip lock baggie or liquid soap in another squeeze bottle)
* towel
The process:
After you have done your business and wiped with toilet paper: (For right-handers) Hold the bidet bottle in your left hand and put a small amount of soap on the fingers of your right hand. With both of your hands behind you (sitting on the toilet), spritz little bits of the water (left hand) toward your butt while washing/rubbing the area with the soap using your right hand, until you are clean and all the soap is washed off. You will be amazed how far that little 2-3 ounces of water will go. Then when you’re clean in the back, switch the bidet bottle to your right hand and spritz your front parts, rubbing the area with your left hand. Dry off with the towel, and you will feel wonderful!
Since I learned this tip, I have never again had a single problem down there (15+ years)! I am so grateful to the unknown woman who posted this tip all those years ago, and I hope you will share it with your readers, so we can all be Happy Campers!
These are some helpful tips for the adventurous traveler. If you’re traveling in Western Europe or North America you may not need all of these items, so my tip would be to research where you are going a bit before you arive. Knowing what is generally available may help you from over packing things you won’t need. Also, I’ve heard depending on where you are traveling and the availability of ample water you should bring shampoo and conditioner bars instead of the typical liquid stuff (I know LUSH cosmetic sells them, but I’m sure other companies do as well). I’ve used them as a trial at home and they do take much less water to get a good lather and leave you feeling nice and clean. I plan to use them on an upcoming trip to Latin America. Not really my tip but one that seemed like good advice I plan to take.
The Menstrual Cup! So much better for your body and more sanitary (believe it or not) than pads and tampons–easy to use, no cramps, no smell, no mess, keep it in for 12 hours (or more) without fear of TSS. I started using it a few months ago, and I will never go back. I no longer have to dread traveling while on my period!
I use it for 10 years. It is convenient, I won’t argue, but not for travelling. Clean hands are needed to pull it out ant to put it inside again. Sometimes it is not possible to wash your hands and even when you wash them, you have to touch the handle of the toilet cabin. This is the reason I NEVER use my menstrual cup when I am travelling!
One interesting apply of the menstrual cup is to put it inside when you are visiting a pool (and you are not in your period). It prevents the water to get inside. Before I always had intimate problems when I visited pools- maybe from the bleach in the water. Now I don’t have any problems.
Thanks for the great tips. I always have a problem with drinking with a lot of water, especially when I am riding in a bus for a long time like 15 hours. I don’t drink plenty of water because I am afraid I can’t hold my wee LOL! I ended up with a little dehydrated and I hate it.
Great tips!
Think one time I ran out of baby wipes and tissue plus there is no toilet around… good thing it is in the mountains..guess what to do? Use dry leaves and find a river to unload mother nature
Next time you experience that, please create a cathole instead. Just imagine the diseases other people can get from your poop.
As travellers, we should always be mindful of what will be the consequences of our actions to the community we visit so as not to destruct their place and their lives.
Great tips. I am pretty good, as I am doing most of what you suggest I pack lots of toilets wipes and hand sanitizers cause I am maniac about hygiene.