Hair

Some women have no trouble here. They put their hair in a couple of cute braids and look fine, even five days from their last shower. That is not me. My hair is light in color, very fine, and there's not a lot of it. By the end of my second day out, my hair is noticeably darker in color, stringy with oil, and flat against my scalp. Even solo, even in secluded areas where no one is around to see, it feels gross and must be dealt with, if I want to stay a happy hiker. So here we are:

How to Wash Your Hair in the Backcountry

Gear:

My aforementioned favorite piece of gear, the Sea to Summit 5L Kitchen Sink, is key here. I also use Campsuds and a medium REI camp towel.

How to:

First, fill your sink and haul it 200 ft. from the nearest water, camp, or trail. Just like with laundry, the water hauling is the worst part.

I set my sink on the ground and use handfuls of water to make sure my hair is damp all over, letting the excess run back into the sink. Then I get a little Campsuds in my hand (a very little will do here) and lather. On this first round, there aren't that many suds -- don't worry, you're just getting the top layer of gross off here. When I'm done with that, I finger comb my hair forward.

Then I pick up my sink and start dunking my head in and swishing it around in the water. Sort of like when you're washing a bunch of cilantro in a bowl of water, but with your head -- dunk swish swish, pull your head out a little, dunk swish swish, etc. This will get the top and sides of your head. Once I've done this several times, I start pouring the water slowly over the back of my head (leaning forward, so it runs from the nape of my neck to the top of my head and onto the ground). I stop a couple times and run my fingers through my hair, breaking up clumps and finding any sudsy areas I've missed. (Note than you'll get a lot of splatter on your lower legs at this stage, so it's better to roll your pants up or wear shorts for this.)

Once all the water is poured out, I squeeze the water out of my hair, and make another trip back to my water source for a second sinkful of water. You're not going to want to, but trust me, round two makes all the difference.

Back at my hair washing site, I do the whole thing again. This time the Campsuds really start lathering, now that you've gotten rid of the top layer of oil and dirt. Dunk, swoosh, and pour, like last time, and now your hair is clean. I give it a towel dry with the camp towel, and run a comb through it. After a little air drying, my hair is fluffy and like new!

A couple notes:

For years, I tried this with only one lather and two rinses. It kind of worked, but there were absolutely diminishing returns as the trip when on. I tried using more Campsuds in my lather. Then I tried one lather and three rinses (thinking it was the leftover Campuds making my hair oily). When that still didn't work, and on a trip where it had thunderstormed every afternoon and it wasn't until day four that I was able to wash my hair at all, I tried two lathers. Presto! The cleanest my hair had ever felt on a backpacking trip. The difference was so stark, after four days of gross, I was practically prancing around my campsite afterwards.

But, while I've landed on what works for my thin, fine, straight, shoulder-length hair, I have no idea how this would work on other hair types. You might want to try this as a starting point, and adjust as needed. Or maybe you won't need a hair wash at all!