Survival Tips and Tricks

Hygiene

Sure you are focus on survival but stay healthy and clean is very important. Not to mention it make people around you (If you are surviving with any) very happy.

Soap:

Make a fire out of palm, dried out banana peels, kapok tree, oak tree, hickory, ash, beech, or apple tree wood. You can use other materials but this get's the best results.

boil the ashes from a hardwood fire for a half an hour. The ashes should settle at the bottom of the container and the lye should be on the top. 

Skim the top for the lye. And put it in a separate container. Do this until you have enough. Then take the lye liquid and boil it until it will float a egg or dissolve a feathers. 

Do not touch or swallow it is harmful!

Do not use an aluminum container this creates a dangerous reaction!

Now take leftover fat and oils from some meal and boil it until you have only solid scraps left. While it's still warm add the fat/grease to they lyre until it it thick like mush.

If you don't want to use animal fats use coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, and sun flower oil

Pour this into separate molds. It doesn't have to be fancy just usable.

At this point the soap is still harmful so be careful when touching it.

Allow the Mixture to dry and settle for 2 days. Then take them out of the molds an put near a sunny spot to dry for another 10-14 days.

Tadaaaa you have soap.

Doing your business:

 Even if your traveling it's still rude to just leave your waste around. Move a decent ways away from camp. Dig what's called a "cathole" which is 6-8 ins deep before going bathroom. If you don'e have toilet paper use leaves (That aren't poison ivy or other poisonous plants that would be sad for you). 

When you are done fill in the cathole. Head back to the camp and use soap or hand sanitizer if you have some.

Brushing Teeth:

You can prepare ahead of time by packing small blobs of tooth paste dried with backing soda. Even if you don't have a tooth brush use your fingers. 

If you only have a tooth brush it's still good to get out all the food particles.

To make a tooth brush you can find tufts of pine needles and scrub your teeth. Well clean the first. It will give you and added bonus, a piney breath.

Avoid Loblolly Pine in the American Southeast and the Ponderosa Pine in the American Southwest because they are toxic.

Dogwood, Oak and Maple wood twigs the size of a pencil can be pounded at the end. 

A/N: Anything else I missed? Comment here or in suggestions.