Keep personal scent low by washing regularly with plain water or an unperfumed soap, laundering clothes, avoiding scented products that are strange in open country, and knowing the wind so that you stay upwind of what you want to hide from. You cannot make a person scentless, so aim to avoid new strong smells and to keep the old ones, such as sweat, food and smoke, from building up.
Part of Camouflage and Concealment
Personal scent control is the set of hygiene and clothing habits that keep body, clothing and gear odours from carrying a household’s presence to a nose downwind.
Artificial Scents Are Out Of Place In The Landscape
The parent article advises avoiding scented products such as soap, deodorant, shampoo and laundry detergent, because artificial scents are abnormal in a natural environment and detectable at great distance. It recommends plain water, ash soap (which it says has a neutral, earthy smell) or natural plant infusions, and wind awareness: always know the wind direction and position yourself upwind of the areas you want to hide your presence from.
Note the logic. The aim is not to remove smell, which is impossible, but to stay within what belongs in the surroundings and to stop odours accumulating. Sweat smell comes largely from bacteria acting on sweat, a mechanism I am recalling from general knowledge, which is why washing and clean, dry clothes reduce it. Wood smoke, food and fat cling to hair and cloth for a long time.
What You Need
- Water and a means to heat some
- Unperfumed soap — see Soap Making and Hard Bar Soap
- Spare clothes so that smoky or sweaty garments can be aired and washed
- A place to dry washing out of view and not in the smoke
- A good knowledge of the wind — see Wind Direction Reading
Method: Wash, Air, Place
Step 1: Wash the body regularly. Daily face, hands, armpits and groin with plain water, and a full wash whenever practical. See Personal Hygiene for washing without running water.
Step 2: Choose soap that is unperfumed. Do not add scent. Ash soap is lye-based and can burn the skin if it is badly made; make and test it as the soap articles direct and see Wood Ash Lye for the hazards. Do not take the parent article’s “neutral” to mean mild.
Step 3: Rotate clothes. Wear a clean, dry outer layer for outdoor work where you will be downwind of others, and keep a smoke- and cooking-smelling garment for indoors. Air clothes in the wind, not over a fire.
Step 4: Keep food and fat off your hands and clothes. Wash hands after cooking and wipe your sleeves before you go out.
Step 5: Plant-based rinses are a choice, not a requirement. The parent article lists natural plant infusions; use only plants you can identify and have tested on a small area of skin, because some cause rashes.
Step 6: Position yourself with the wind. When you must be where you do not want to be smelled, stay upwind of the observer. An approach from downwind is detected by scent long before sight.
Common Mistakes
- Using a scented soap “just for a wash”. The smell remains on skin and hair for hours.
- Drying washing over the cooking fire. It comes back smelling of smoke and food.
- Overwashing. Scrubbing with caustic soap or very hot water damages skin, and broken skin lets infection in.
- Hiding in the right place, wearing last night’s smoky shirt. The shirt gives you away.
Safety
Lye soap burns, and plant infusions can cause reactions
Ash and lye soap is caustic if badly made and can burn skin and eyes; wear gloves and eye protection when making it and follow the soap articles for testing. Some plant infusions cause rashes or worse; test any unfamiliar plant on a small patch of skin first and wait for a reaction. Never wash in a way that leaves you cold and wet in cool weather, since hypothermia follows; see Hypothermia.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Scent Management — how all the sources fit together
- Combine with: Waste Management — the other major scent source