This article may contain compensated links. Learn more in our disclaimer.
How to shower while camping?
How to maintain personal hygiene while outdoors?
Is portable hot shower worth it, and what’s the best portable shower for camping? What’s the most eco-friendly solution? Because that’s exactly what most of us want, right? To keep both ourselves and our nature clean. Answers to all of these and a few more questions you will find in this article.
Follow our tips to create your own camping essentials list.
Table of Contents
How to Shower While Camping
How to keep yourself clean while camping?
Let’s start with the basics.
1. Keep It Eco-Friendly
Eco-friendly toiletries are the best for camping.
If you are planning to take a shower or wash your hair outdoors, and you don’t want to pollute the environment, you should be using natural and eco friendly toiletries only. Finding a biodegradable shampoo, camping soap and laundry soap is easy. Plus, there are also multi-purpose solutions for all of that and more.
1.1 Best Soap For Camping – Our Favorite
Dr. Bronner’s – Pure-Castile Liquid Soap (click for more details)
Quality liquid soap that you can use for everything.
It’s made of organic oils, and 70% of its ingredients are certified as fair trade ingredients. If you do care about nature and ethical working conditions, you should be caring about this. Use it as soap or shampoo, or as biodegradable dish soap for camping. You can even use it to wash your clothes or pets.
The soap has no synthetic preservatives or agents. And it’s 100% vegan. Add it to your hot water shower camping essentials list.
Available in different sizes, from 2 fl oz to 128 fl oz.
Buy the big bottle, refill it in travel bottles and save some money.
SIZE: starting from 2 fl oz / 59 ml
More: Best Soap for Camping
1.2 Best Biodegradable Shampoo – Our Favorite
100% PURE Kelp & Mint Shampoo (click for more details)
An eco-friendly shampoo for camping and use at home.
Made of natural ingredients the shampoo features green tea and pro-vitamin B5, which make your hair look better and healthier. Perhaps not the first thing you think about when going on a camping trip. But if you do really care about your hair, and don’t mind carrying a luxury like this, then the 100% PURE shampoo might be the best shampoo for camping for you.
SIZE: 8 fl oz / 235 ml
More: Best Biodegradable Shampoo
2. Stay a Safe Distance Away From Any Water Source
That’s another very important thing to remember.
Even if you’re using biodegradable toiletries, you should still be staying away from any water source. To avoid polluting the water.
Some 200 feet / 60 meters away is considered a safe distance.
What’s the purpose of using biodegradable toiletries then, you’ll ask, and I completely understand you. You see, if a shampoo or soap is biodegradable it breaks down into water and carbon dioxide within 6 months. To put it simply – it completely disappears. This is what makes it so much better than regular soap or shampoo. But this process takes up to 6 months.
Hence, you shouldn’t be using it in or near a lake, pond or river.
3. Don’t Forget a Soap Case
If you’ll be taking a bar soap not liquid soap.
3.1 Best Travel Soap Case – Our Favorite
Snowkingdom Travel Soap Case (click for more details)
A simple, yet very good travel soap case.
The best travel soap case right now for the buck. It’s leak proof and will not open in your backpack or suitcase. All thanks to its sealing system, that’s the same as used in seal food containers.
Great for travel, gym, school and use at home.
DIMENSIONS: 4.6” x 3.3” x 1.8” (11.8 x 8.3 x 4.5 cm)
More: Best Travel Soap Case
4. Use a Solar Shower
How to choose the one for your needs?
Mostly it’s all about the quality and capacity.
4.1 Best Solar Shower For Camping – Our Favorite
ADVANCED ELEMENTS Summer Shower (click for more details)
A very easy to use 5-gallon / 18.9 liter summer shower.
Overall the best solar shower, our favorite.
What is a solar water heater? Speaking of the ones made for camping, it’s basically just an insulated bag — just like this one. A bag that’s made of durable materials and is using the sun to heat water inside. The bag features an easy-to-use shower head and large filling valve. There is a side pocket for shampoo and soap, and a small mirror. The bag features a wide handle grip.
Hang the shower bag on a tree branch to use it.
Taking camping hygiene to the next level.
CAPACITY: 5 gallons / 18.9 liter
More: Best Solar Shower For Camping
5. Do You Need a Shower Tent?
Do you need that extra privacy?
Here it’s all about the size and price. If you are going to use it a lot, choose a higher quality product. Just a few times? See what fits in your budget. Also, check out the features the shower tent has. If you will be using it often, some cool features, like, removable floor and towel bar, etc. will come in hand
5.1 Best Shower Tent for Camping – Our Favorite
Green Elephant Camping Shower Tent (click for more details)
A simple, lightweight and easy to set up outdoor shower tent.
Overall the best shower tent for versatility and beginner outdoor enthusiasts.
Having a hot camp shower has just become easier. Made of quality water repellent polyester, the Green Elephant pop up shower tent is lightweight and doesn’t take up much space. The tent features a flexible steel frame for extra durability. The tent features a shower opening, clothes hanger, external towel hanger, toilet paper holder, storage pouch and flashlight hanger.
Mosquito netting with shower opening at the top provides air circulation while maintaining privacy. There’s an additional rain cover which can be attached to the top of the tent. No-floor design provides better airflow and is better at draining water.
Setting this tent is effortless, and it’s easy to fold it back into its own carry bag.
It comes with 8 tent pegs, 4 guy lines with tensioners and 4 sandbags.
Use it as a shower tent, changing room or portable toilet tent.
DIMENSIONS: Folded — 24″ x 24″ x 2″ (61 x 61 x 5 cm); height — 6.89 ft (210 cm)
WEIGHT: 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg)
More: Best Shower Tent for Camping
6. Don’t Forget a Towel
A small, lightweight microfiber towel is the best option.
6.1 Best Towel for Camping – Our Favorite
WildHorn Outfitters Microlite Microfiber Towel (click for more details)
The set is affordable and the quality is great.
There is an extra-large beach towel, a large bath towel, and one small towel. These towels are super absorbent. They can hold 3-4x their weight in water. They are made of 100% microfiber material, which is lightweight and fast-drying. Apart from that, the material is soft and plush, and pleasant to the touch. Each towel is equipped with snap loops.
The WildHorn Outfitters towels are easy to pack, and each of them comes in its own mesh pouch.
The set of comes with one carabiner – for attaching them to a backpack.
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT:
S: 12” x 24” (30.5 x 61 cm); 1.5 oz (43 g).
L: 24” x 48” (61 x 122 cm); 5.6 oz (160 g).
XL: 30” x 60” (76 x 152 cm); 8.8 oz (250 g).
More: Best Microfiber Towels for Travel
7. How to Poop While Camping
You can pee and poo in the woods, or you can bring a portable toilet.
What is the best portable toilet for camping and outdoors?
Generally speaking, it’s all about the style and build quality. If you’re searching for a cheap camping toilet, look for either a bucket-type toilet or foldable, chair-style toilet. And if you’re after an overall better, more comfortable and long-term solution, your best bet will be a portable flush toilet with waste tank.
7.1 Best Flushable Portable Toilet For Camping
Alpcour Portable Toilet (click for more details)
A high-quality compact outdoor toilet with a carry bag.
Overall the best portable toilet for camping, our favorite.
Being a portable toilet, it’s smaller than standard size toilet, but it isn’t small. It’s comfortable to use and thanks to its simple design and heavy duty materials – built to last long. The toilet features a rather large, 5.3 gallon, waste tank and 3.2 gallon water tank, which is enough for around 50 flushes. The toilet is very easy to use and clean.
Comes with a carry bag for even easier transportation.
WASTE TANK: 5.3 gallons / 20 liter
7.2 Best Cheap Camping Toilet
PLAYBERG Portable Travel Toilet (click for more details)
A very simple design, durable portable travel toilet.
For the best result, use it with 8-gallon toilet waste bags.
It’s very lightweight, durable and easy to use. Thanks to its bucket like design, transportation of it is just as easy. The toilet features a removable cover and toilet paper holder. Close the lid and you’ll have a seat.
DIMENSIONS: 17″ x 16″ x 14″ / 43.2 x 40.6 x 35.6 cm
More: Best Portable Toilet For Camping
What’s your experience? How do you shower while camping?
Featured photo by Baihaki Hine from Pexels
Disclaimer for Amazon Associates: MakeAdventureHappen.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
