craschworks

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/VanDwellers/message/7404

Valerie writes:

“…I would like to share my bathing method with you. Im not van-dwelling yet but camping in a tent in my yard at the moment honing my skills for the time I do get my van.
Anyway here is a very efficient method of bathing, and it works great even though my hair is getting long.
All you need is a large salad bowl, and a medium sized lemondade type pitcher. Just fill the pitcher with warm water, (if available, though cold works just fine if its not freezing out) take a small dipper, (I use a 4oz measuring cup) starting with your head, lean your head over the large salad bowl and start scooping water over the back of your head letting the water run into the salad bowl. When you have a few inches of water in the bowl, dip the front part of your head in it, until your hair is saturated. Now ( I will pause here to give you my shampoo recipe that works perfect for this. 1 part conditioner-2 parts shampoo- and 3 parts water to dilute. ) starting at the back get your head good and sudsed. dip more water on if needed to make a good soaping, massage that all in, then do the same to the front. when you feel satisfied your hair is squeeky clean. start rinsing it with the same bowl water even though its quite soapy by now. This is just to get the excess soap out, after that, start scooping clean water over your hair and into the bowl until you are satisfied its rinsed. This takes an amazingly small amount of water. Once its rinsed well at this point, I wrap my head in a towel, wash my face and apply moisturizer. Usually at this point I have kept my robe on so I wont freeze . Now you are ready to do the rest of you, and the shampoo water will do just fine. with the rest of the water in the jug to get the soap residue off. To avoid making a big wet mess, I use the wash cloth like a squeegey, and apply body lotion to my still damp skin, then jump back into my robe. The whole thing takes about 15 minutes, and you feel even cleaner than if you had a bath or shower, and amazingly it takes little more than a quart of water to do all of you, and with enough water left in the jug to cleanse your bowl out with a bit of ajax….”