Girl stuff!

[Adi007]

Can we keep it friendly here please!

Emma asked for suggesting/advice/ideas, not brawls. Some great suggestions so far but let's not get entrenched in ideology please.

Thanks!

Oh, and by the way, welcome to BCUK Emma! :wave:

 

[PC2K]

well girls, you can always try the menstural product ment to be re-used: the menstrual cup ( see site's like these http://www.keeper.com/ ). Now please don't ask me any question about these things, i don't know and i don't wanna know !

 

[Paganwolf]

i think they will be ok adi they still love each other :rolmao:

 

[Squidders]

Sorry if my tone didn't come across properly or if anyone took my comments badly... I was trying for "cheerful" and not "belligerent" :biggthump

 

[Tantalus]

oops sorry adi , n squidders no offense intended

all intended in good humour honest

and scuse my manners too

welcome emma :biggthump

Tant

we really are one big happy family in here

 

[Squidders]

yeah, where are my manners too?!?

'ello Emma!

 

[arctic hobo]

Yeh, Hi Emma! Girls? Bushcraft? New one on me, but a good 'un. Now where's that book on naked survival... :yikes: ):

On the subject in hand, how did cavewomen manage?? :?: :roll:

 

[Emma]

Heh heh, hi everyone. :wave:

Girls? Bushcraft?

My boyfriend hates camping, never mind bushcraft...

On the subject in hand, how did cavewomen manage??

That's something I've always wondered about. And how did we manage to avoid extinction when every month every woman would smell of it?

 

[Squidders]

Has nobody seen the claymation series Gogs? that series explains in graphic detail why we survived

 

[maddave]

Can we keep it friendly here please!

Emma asked for suggesting/advice/ideas, not brawls. Some great suggestions so far but let's not get entrenched in ideology please.

Thanks!

Oh, and by the way, welcome to BCUK Emma! :wave:

:rolmao:

I find it hilarious that all the blokes are getting wound up over how Emma should deal with her monthlies LOL

Emma.... you've made my day lookin' at these lot :You_Rock_

 

[Martyn]

Sphagnum moss - oh phuleeeeese!

Emma, I'm guessing your question is more about general hygiene than choice of absorbants. If you're in company and you need to be brief and discreet, wet wipes are good.

 

[Moonraker]

Bienvenu Emma :wave:

Ok, there is some information here from an American site:

Q:* What do you do when you have your menstrual cycle in the wilderness -- especially bear country? I have always had an outhouse to use. In the wilderness there are pits in the ground, but if there are no pits, do you burn or dig a hole and bury the toiletries?


A: Bears are attracted to ANY odor and are curious. Holes can be dug to bury food wastes far from your camp area, but toilet paper (and especially sanitary products) should not be buried as animals will still smell them and dig them up, making a mess. My advice is to keep yourself clean -- wash up every night when you get to camp. If toilet paper can be safely burned, you should do so, and put what is left in zipper bags, double if you have to, and keep the bags with your food bags when you put them up at night.


Sanitary products do not burn well, so should also be zipper-bagged. I think the main thing is cleanliness and keeping odors locked away from critters' sensitive noses. You may also look into reusable female products that just need to be rinsed clean and don't make any trash. Environmental friendly catalogs have these types of products. One of my clients had one that was a flexible screen that was inserted and could be removed and washed off, but I don't recall the name or where she got it. Monique Rider of Personal Joy (see Links section) advises of the*Web site*www.keeper.com/index.html, which offers a similar product. I have also used bandanas in a pinch and washed them out, but I know these catalogs I spoke of have muslin products that are more comfortable. There is a book entitled something like How To **** In The Woods, and it may have information on this subject as well.

This is a delicate subject, and everyone has her own way of dealing with it. Hopefully this info will help out. Don't let periods keep you home, though!

The site is here:

Sisters of the Earth Adventures

I seem to remember reading about dealing with periods in the book they mention which is written by a woman and has a chapter dedicated to female hygiene:

How to *S*h*i*t in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art. Kathleen Meyer. Paperback 112 pages (November 15, 1994) Publisher: Ten Speed Press ISBN: 0898156270

It is a good book which has some good info and funny too Not too expensive.( you gotta love auto word filters :roll

As to prehistoric women, apparently they had less than half the number of periods than modern women! From the Lancet medical journal:

Is menstruation really natural?

Monthly menstruation for decades on end is not the historical norm. Women in prehistoric times, as estimated by research among contemporary hunter-gathered populations, probably had far fewer periods (about 160 ovulations over their lifetime) than modern women. Our foremothers most likely experienced later menarche (around 16 years of age), earlier first births (19·5 years), frequent pregnancies (on average six livebirths), and long periods of breastfeeding between pregnancies, with births at intervals of 3 years.

By contrast, the modern woman living in an industrialised country begins menstruating earlier (on average 12·5 years of age for American girls), first gives birth later (24 years), has fewer pregnancies (two or
three), scarcely breastfeeds (3 months per birth, with half of American infants never breastfed at all), and undergoes menopause later. She can expect about 450 periods in her life.

Current menstrual patterns are in this sense new and unproven as to their health effects.

source: THE LANCET. Vol 355 March 11, 2000

Cheers

Simon

 

[Ahjno]

My girlfriend is using the birthcontrole pil ... So she can regulate her period. :biggthump ):

 

[JakeR]

Guys, your all experts :rolmao:

I have to say, blokes have it much easier, we don't have to worry about certain monthy arrangments, and we're then wimps when it comes to pain.

 

[al]

Sphagnum moss - oh phuleeeeese!

whats wrong with that? she asked a question, thats an honest answer, also a true one, this being a bushcraft site n all, people still use it for that amongst other things

 

[bambodoggy]

Hey.... I've bought a copy of the "How to Sh** in the woods" book for my wife....as usual in a futile attempt to get her out into the woods with me even though I know she won't ever come!

Just as a little side point....we all know what the western industrial nation's women do once a month but what do women in the third world do? They have periods the same right? and they "live" a bushcraft life day in and day out.....so whatever they do....do the same!
I don't know what it is they do.....never really felt I needed to ask while travelling and not sure how to start that sort of conversation without their male family wanting to string me up! :shock: but somebody must know.....what did the Native American women do? What do African tribes women do etc?

 

[al]

new a woman once who was at the greenham common peace camp who felt very powerful just to bleed into the ground,an earth mother thing and fair play to her too

 

[Kim]

As much as I enjoy learning about aspects of bushcraft, I still like to think that if something modern makes my life easier in the bush, then I'll use it. I have, when I've known well in advance about travel plans, altered my pill so that I simply don't have to deal with it, because it's not just the whole sanitary thing that you have to be prepared for. Who wants to be a restless, irritable, moody, depressive carboydrate craving female, with a headache and a random stomach ache or two thrown in for good measure when on holiday?
As for disposing of sanitary products, I'd have to go for the throw away later option. Unfortunately you might be able to burn tampons, but if you're a person who users liners, not tampons, a lot of liners have a plastic back that I'd be unwilling to burn.

For three weeks of the month I'm a really nice person....then I'm just NOT!

 

[Tantalus]

I find it hilarious that all the blokes are getting wound up over how Emma should deal with her monthlies

well it is something 50% of the population have to live with

it shouldn't always be boys only trips to the woods

maybe a more considerate approach to this and other "girls stuff" would encourage more of the girls to give bushcraft a go ?

how often have we heard on this forum that the Mrs / Gf doesnt enjoy bushcrafting?

Tant

 

[bambodoggy]

Couldn't agree more Tant....I've been trying for years (since well before we got married) to get my wife to even camp in the back garden with me....she's having none of it.... I've offered to actually buy a "real" tent....carry the bulk of the kit but she's still not keen at all. She does always bring up the hygien issues but I don't understand as she is regular and I only want her to come away for a weekend, so why can't we pick a weekend when she's not on? She also says going to the loo in the wild can't be clean for a girl (not sure I understand that either - do they do deposit something other than we men do?) and she doesn't like the idea of it (hence I bought her that book...partly as a joke). The other problem is our dog, he's a massive GSD and has a real issue with other dogs (as in he wants to kill them all) so we can't use proper camp sites with him - he's either not allowed as they have a no dogs rule or he is allowed but then there's other dogs that he'll want to fight...I can't win!!!! She claims she'd come if there was a toilet block....personally I think she'd find another excuse but I'm not giving up on her and will keep asking/inviting her :roll:

Still, I can see where Dave's coming from....men aren't the best people to be discussing girl's issues...lol.....or they are for humour value depending on how you look at it. When I was a cadet and one of the girls had an issue, it was always a female officer that sorted it (luckily we had one who liked adventure training).

I've just re-read the various comments about spag-moss....with some thinking it's good and others worried about infection. I thought it was slightly antiseptic or something and that's why it was good for dressing wounds etc....am I right? Come on all you herbalists.....you must be able to suggest plants to keep our girls (and us when we injure ourselves) sorted when miles and miles from home? ? ?