Girly Girl's Beauty Guide to Camping & Outdoor Vacations
If you want to maintain your beautiful image,
never go camping. You may be able to survive a hike of beauty with some waterproof makeup products that can stay put for up to 18 hours. But if you'd like to experience
Yosemite or Yellowstone and would rather sleep
under the stars than at the Best Western, you
don't have to give in entirely to Mother Nature's
plan to cover you in dirt, sweat and mosquito
bites. Read on for tips to being as gorgeous as
possible at the campground of your choice.Ideally,
you can start each day with a warm shower.
Look
for campgrounds that provide running water and
"comfort stations", bathrooms with showers and
sinks. Hot water (or warm water, in a pinch), is a
great cleanser for a gal who's spent the days
wandering through the underbrush. If you must,
even a cold shower may be preferable to none at
all. Most national parks have campgrounds with
restrooms, but they get booked up early, so make
sure when planning your trip to make your
reservations in plenty of time to get a prime
location.
Now, here's what to bring with you when you meet
Mother Nature face to face.
1. Bug repellent
If there's a lake or a river, if
temperatures are in the seventies or higher, if
humidity is over 50%, you'll be wanting mosquito
repellent. If you're planning to have children
ever, read the label before buying repellents:
some can cause reproductive harm. (Let's not take
this particular moment to discuss why the FDA
allows the sale of products that are known to
cause birth defects. Then, we'd have to talk about
the tobacco industry, and the petroleum industry,
and we don't have time for that just now.)
--Editors Tip ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tried and True Bug Repellant that Smells and
Feel Great (Without DEET)
 Want
a bug repellant that doesn't contain carcinogens?
Want to eat an apple while hiking without having
to first wash with hot, soapy water? Herbal
products on the market combine all-natural
ingredients to make moderately effective bug
sprays. Containing citronella, peppermint or
catnip and other herbs, some bug sprays work
better than others, but many herbal sprays don't
seem to do a thing when you're in really buggy
places; the mosquitoes swarm just as they always
do.
But for decades, one product has repelled
mosquitoes and other things that buzz and bite. Avon's Skin So Soft, a scented bath product, not
only smells lovely but also repels mosquitoes
better than herbal bug repellants. Apply the bath
oil as you would any bug lotion, and take comfort
in knowing that Avon created it to nourish and
soften the skin: it has no dangerous chemicals, no
DEET. But the bugs stay away!
Visit Avon online to order your Skin So Soft
supply today and keep bugs away all year round
without smelling like a medicine cabinet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After three days in a national park and a couple
of five-mile-hikes through mosquito-infested
meadows, I found a product called Herbal Armor,
(available from www.allterrainco.com) a
combination of citronella, peppermint, cedar,
lemon grass and geranium oils in a base of beeswax
and natural vegetable oils that kept me bite-free
for the rest of the trip. I didn't test it at peak
bug times, but I liked its natural,
petrochemical-and-cruelty-free makeup. With the
West Nile virus still growing and spreading west,
bug repellents are becoming more than comfort
products--they're important protection from a
nasty illness.
2. Wet Wipes
A way to wash without running water.
Nice smell, antibacterial. Portable. Perfect.
3. Water, and Lots of It
Drinking water is always
important, and if you're hiking, you'll need even
more of it. Best-case scenario, you'll have
drinking water at your campsite and will just need
to pack in enough for the hike. If you happen to
have water for washing too, that's even better.
You can wash in streams (use biodegradable soap)
and lakes, but don't drink water unless you know
it's potable (there are signs at campgrounds
saying whether the water is potable and can be
drunk, or not). Water fresh from a bubbling spring
is certainly attractive, but if a deer or raccoon
(or gopher or bear) has also been attracted to
water upstream from you, it may very well be
contaminated with bacteria and parasites. If
you're in parkland or Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
areas, or even federally managed "wilderness", the
water may also be contaminated with pesticides,
herbicides, runoff from logging and mine tailings,
and god-knows-what. I guess the lesson here is,
find out as much as you can about where you're
going before you leave, and make your bathing
plans accordingly.
4. The Right Clothes
You can buy clothes with UV
protective qualities combined with breathability.
Try REI or other outdoor clothing retailers. You
should have a hat, not only to keep the sun off,
but to protect your head from hanging brambles,
and, in cold weather or rough country, a knit cap
to sleep in is also a good idea. (I have a friend
who once woke screaming because a field mouse,
also screaming, had gotten tangled in her long
hair.)
Clothes should fit closely enough that they won't
catch on things when you're running from a bear,
but loosely enough so that nothing chafes. People
with sensitive skin may not be able to tolerate
long hikes in heavy denim, the seams of which can
rub delicate skin. Cargo pants in cotton blends
may provide smooth fabric with extra storage space
in the form of pockets. (But if you're more
concerned about looking svelte than in extra
pockets, skip the cargo pants: they tend to make
most of us look hippy.)
Layering is crucial, because you're going to heat
up when hiking, cool down after camp's setup, and
maybe get really cold in the mountain evening. My
favorite outdoor piece is an ultra-thin, silk
long-john shirt I found at a thrift store five
years ago. It weighs about an ounce, but slipped
on under a shirt, provides the equivalent of a
whole sweater's worth of warmth.
5. Animal Repellents
Animal repellents such as pepper spray, bear spray and dog spray can all be essential safety and self defense items that are perfect for the outdoors. You never know what type of dangerous situation your could find yourself in out in the wilderness either with a human attacker, wild bear or vicious mountain lions. A defense spray on hand will give you time to escape to safety.
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