# Taking a sponge bath



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

How does one take a sponge bath?

If you soap up I just don't see it possible to remove the soap without spending a lot of time rinsing and wiping with the wash cloth.


----------



## o&itw (Dec 19, 2008)

If you are tall enough you can stick your feet in the sink (or bucket) one foot at a time. It is easier outside so you don't have to worry about water splashing all over.

Yep, it is a little messy and takes more time, that is why people have showers and bathtubs when they can.


----------



## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Stand in tub. Face and hair first and work down. Soapy rag first, then rinse rag and work your way down. When down to water level (if you sit in tub) stand up. Soap is at your feet, splash your feet, done. 

Me, in the summer, I stand on back porch with a wash basin, same thing, just don't have to stand back up or wiggle my feet....James


----------



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I need to wash my whole body not just my feet.

I just don't see how a person can remove the soap without a lot of rinsing.


----------



## lmrose (Sep 24, 2009)

My husband always sponge baths and has the last 28 years we have lived in our present home! We don't have a shower or a 40 gal water heater. He washes at the sink; head, hair ,face and shaves first. Put a little warm water in the sink. Soap up a wet face cloth first, wash head ,face and neck; rinse the cloth and use clear water to rinse. Empty the sink and add a little more warm water and soap up and wash upper body, arms chest and back, rinse. Continue with a little more clean water until you are all clean. Rub dry with a towel. I guarantee sponge baths work as he always gets squeaky clean! He has never smelled bad in the 35 years we have been married!

I sponge bath too except once a week I have to have hot water for the tub so I can soak! It is one of my luxeries in life! It is good to know how to sponge bath if there is a water shortage or if you can't afford a hot water heater.


----------



## OnlyMe (Oct 10, 2010)

When we lost power in the winter, I opted for sponge baths rather than going to a shelter many miles away. I couldn't imagine the germs that were there & felt safer at home. After trial and error~don't use your cast iron hot water pot for the soapy water  .... this worked the best....

I heated water in the fireplace, brought it to the tub and put it in two containers. Soap up with a face cloth and dip in one bucket to keep it wet and soapy. Wash body. Use 2nd container with clean water to rinse. If you have a sport-type bottle (where you squeeze to make the water come out), put some clean water in there and squirt it to rinse the private areas well. I did my hair over the kitchen sink. Pour warm water over head, shampoo, rinse, repeat. It's not bad once you get a system going.


----------



## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Dirt won't kill you... unless one is immobile and in 'bad shape' with bad 'stuff', I'd not sponge bath myself. If I were mobile, and had access to a pond, lake, or stream, I'd be 'dipping'. In a water shortage, I'd just clean my nether bits and not worry about the rest.

For years I didn't have access to a tub, with only a shower available... but, I cannot tolerate showers... so I obtained a large oval washtub, and filled it with three or four 5 gallon buckets of hot water. Worked like a charm.


----------



## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

I learned that in dear camp I could be comfortable for a week washing my hair and face every day with two quarts of very warm water from a plastic pitcher, and finishing the details with baby wipe kind of toweletts, behind the cabin under the stars, with lantern light from the window and smoke gently overhead from the chimney. 

Clean, outdoors, cold air and the wood smoke. Wow. Never even had to shoot a deer.


----------



## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

If there's a stream or river nearby you can take a "possible" bath.
Wash down as far as possible, wash up as far as possible, and when no one's looking wash possible.


----------



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I have a shower but the doctor said no showers for several more days until the wounds heal. We don't want to risk infection getting started.

Tomorrow I'm going to go to an energy event and since it's already been 3 days since I last showered I'd better do something about bathing.


----------



## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Dump water on yourself, soap special areas, then rinse with a pitcher of water. I do this all spring summer and fall next to my hot tub. Guess I could do the same in winter if I needed to. You could get a hula hoop secure to ceiling and put a shower curtain on it and put the ends into a galvanized tub and get in. Solar water bag shower works great-inside or out. I type too slow to post befor you did,sorry.


----------



## I_don't_know (Sep 28, 2012)

On board we used a 5 qt shower. We warmed the water in a pressure cooker, lid on so it would not spill if we took a wave. Warm the water just enough to feel good, don't get the pot hot. 
Use a small tea cup to wet hair and face. One cup would wet my face and hair second cup or two to rinse. Rinse water from the hair gets the body wet. 
Use shampoo not soap, :nono: less scum, thin the shampoo with water it will rinse easier. I kept mine in a squirt bottle. 
One cup of water to wet a wash rag and a couple of squirts of shampoo and start washing. You have now used 4 cups. 
Use a fresh rag and the last of the water to rinse. If you like you can take a little squirt of baby oil, go light, and then give yourself a quick wipe down. 
I used a big tub catch the water and then took it topside to dump. 
Then you get in the dingy and go dancing.:walk:


----------



## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

fishhead said:


> I have a shower but the doctor said no showers for several more days until the wounds heal. We don't want to risk infection getting started.
> 
> Tomorrow I'm going to go to an energy event and since it's already been 3 days since I last showered I'd better do something about bathing.


3 days! I thought it had been a while but if its only been three days you aint even due fer another week and a half at least.


----------



## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

The secret is to use a very, very wet washcloth with the soap.
Put soap and water into bowl or pot and then dip your washcloth in.
There is plenty enough soap in the water to do the job. It takes less then one thinks.

Dip the washcloth in and use it still dripping. The water on the cloth (with the small amount of soap) will wash you and a lot will run off.
Rinsing is just that. You can even just dip the cloth in clean water and run it dripping over your skin if you cannot get water onto wounds.

Do not wet your skin and then try to go at it with a soapy washcloth.
You will never get the soap off.


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

2 tubs of water, one with a little soap, the other with plain water. Dip rag in soapy water, wring but not too dry, rub over part of body, rinse rag, repeat as needed. Rinse and wash water might need to be changed once or twice. Oh wait, that's for people without running water. You can rinse your rag off under running water each time. Uses more water but you won't have to change your wash and rinse water.


----------



## edcopp (Oct 9, 2004)

Just wash up a bit, everything will be fine.


----------



## Farmer Willy (Aug 7, 2005)

I know that a steel helmet holds enough water for a shave and cleaning. Start at the top and work down.


----------



## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

Did you ever wash your face with a wash cloth at the sink?? Start there and do the rest of your body a patch at a time. Don't soap up except where you are doing a patch at a time. 
When I was young, most people in the country didn't even have a bathroom. Or electricity to pump water in the house. All they used was a pan of warm water and a wash cloth with a bar of soap. It ain't rocket science..


----------



## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Yikes! Did you have surgery or get injured?

You have to go easy on the soap with a sponge bath. Then rinse the soap out of the wash cloth or sponge and go over the area again to remove the soap from your skin. The friction of the cloth, the warm water and that little bit of soap will get you surprisingly clean.

Reminds me of my broken ankle days, couldn't get my cast wet and it was on for 10 weeks. Bathing went like this: sat in bathtub on "tiny tots" plastic chair with cast resting on toilet beside tub. Used a saucepan from the kitchen to scoop up water for washing/rinsing. Took a lot of scoops to shampoo/rinse, then condition/rinse long hair! Needed assistance getting in and out of tub, wasn't supposed to bear weight on broken ankle at all. Check dignity at bathroom door!

It is amazing what you can adapt to when you have to.


----------



## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

fishhead said:


> I have a shower but the doctor said no showers for several more days until the wounds heal. We don't want to risk infection getting started.
> 
> Tomorrow I'm going to go to an energy event and since it's already been 3 days since I last showered I'd better do something about bathing.


Okay, what in the world happened that you had to go to a doctor with wounds???


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

MO cows, oh how I sympathize! I was so glad my doctor didn't put a cast on my foot when I broke it.


----------



## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Use baby wash. It is much easier to get off than regular soap. A spray bottle may also help.

For times when I am conserving water, like when I am dry camping and have to haul it all with me, I can get clean with a bit less than a gallon of water. I use baby wash for my hair and body. I have long hair. Use a spray bottle to get my hair damp and then pour about a 1/2-1 cup of water over my hair to get it wet enough to suds. Use baby wash to wash hair. Squeeze excess out of hair then very slowly pour water over hair to rinse. That uses around 1/2 gallon. Wet washcloth and apply baby wash. Don't bother with getting your skin wet first. Wash all over with washcloth. Spray all over with the spray bottle very well and then wipe off with a dry cloth. If in doubt about removing all the soap, repeat with the spray bottle and wipe again. I feel as clean as I do after stepping out of a shower. 

I also use the spray bottle on dishes and use an astonishingly small amount of water.


----------



## CAjerseychick (Aug 11, 2013)

love em so many uses, never stopped buying since the Baby was born (she is 10now)....
in a pinch (espec if this is just temporary) just swab out your "areas" (pits crotch and buttcrack) pat dry with a damp towel... you are done. 
I even put mine in the compost pile after....


----------



## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

If it take a bunch of water to rinse off, you are using way too much soap.


----------



## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Luckily most of my wounds were in my extremities, put a bread sack over it and 2 rubber bands and take a shower. I had surgeries every 4-6 weeks on my hand for 3 years straight, got used to it. Much easier showering than winging it with a wash cloth when you have 1 arm. When I had the casts on my left leg I used a garbage sack over it, 16 weeks for that one....James


----------



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I had knee surgery. I guess I'll turn the water heater on and 'bathe' in the sink as best I can. I'll put the dog towel on the floor in case I get wild and crazy.


----------



## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

I would cut the end out of the bag to length needed to cover and put 2 rubber bands, 1 above, 1 below and hobble in....James


----------



## Grumpy old man (Aug 6, 2013)

knee surgery ? I thought you had been mauled by a bear talking wounds and all , Plastic trash bag over the leg and tape it shut and climb in the shower for 2 minutes and your done .......knee surgery ........:shrug:


----------



## DEKE01 (Jul 17, 2013)

Men, the proper way to have a sponge bath is to just lie there while she earns her pay. 







OK, sorry ladies. A joke. :run:


----------



## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

It's not that hard. With knee surgery, get into the tub with a couple of inches of water and leave the leg hanging out. You can wash up perfectly that way. Hubby did that after his knee surgery, foot surgery and toe surgery (all from injuries!). It worked great!

But from a sink, fill the sink and just use a small amount of soap. My grandma used to wash us that way all the time when we were kids and it worked out fine.


----------



## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

I_don't_know said:


> On board we used a 5 qt shower. We warmed the water in a pressure cooker, lid on so it would not spill if we took a wave. Warm the water just enough to feel good, don't get the pot hot.
> Use a small tea cup to wet hair and face. One cup would wet my face and hair second cup or two to rinse. Rinse water from the hair gets the body wet.
> Use shampoo not soap, :nono: less scum, thin the shampoo with water it will rinse easier. I kept mine in a squirt bottle.
> One cup of water to wet a wash rag and a couple of squirts of shampoo and start washing. You have now used 4 cups.
> ...


On our old boat, we used a sunshower. Now we have 130 gallons of water on board, a 12 gallon hot water heater and a separate stall shower. It's HEAVEN!!!!!!


----------



## Fair Light (Oct 13, 2010)

Back in my days of no indoor plumbing I took showers outside (back side of the cabin against the woods)....standing on a wood pallet..5 gallon bucket of warm water...large glass of water over my head...a little shampoo...rinsing some of it off with a big plastic glass spreads it all over the body....more water over my head to get most of it rinsed...then the remaining bucket of warm water over my head all at once....feels soooo good !!!! during winter it was more complicated...a basin of water washing just the essentials....then once or twice a week showers at my daughter's house a mile away....worked for me for 2 1/2 years.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Best bath in the world, Fairlight. I did the same for many years, except that's what I did in the winter. In the summer I used the creek or a shower straight from the spring.


----------



## Rick (May 10, 2002)

You might wrap the knee in plastic wrap taped in place and use a tub of water or a bucket with a cup to rinse off.


----------



## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

I've printed 3 pages of posts so far, and I still can't understand why they ask me to stand outside and shout my orders into the feed store.


----------



## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

DEKE01 said:


> Men, the proper way to have a sponge bath is to just lie there while she earns her pay.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This lady found it funny!


----------



## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

fishhead said:


> I had knee surgery. I guess I'll turn the water heater on and 'bathe' in the sink as best I can. I'll put the dog towel on the floor in case I get wild and crazy.


Oh my, and here I thought you were injured with multiple wounds all over your body. This is what I would do. Take a tall kitchen trash bag and cut the bottom out of it. (a new one preferably) stick your leg in it making sure it comes up to mid thigh well above the incision. Now pull it snug around your thigh and wrap the top with duck tape. Be sure you have a good seal all the way around the top, then go take yer shower. (if you plan to stand on yer head at any point in the shower... seal the bottom end below the knee too)


----------



## joebill (Mar 2, 2013)

Most of your body don't need soap. 

Hair, pits, equator, use soapy wash rag and rinse with same from clean water. The rest of you don't really get dirty, just lays around and gets dusty, especailly when recovering from surgery.

Don't forget, sweat is water soluable. Wipe off the non-hairy areas with a wash rag and clear warm water. rinse rag often. Steam your beard before shaving with a HOT wash rag.

There y'go! clean as a whistle.

I used to go weeks like this in the desert with no ill effects while living in a tent, and I have sensitive skin and psoriasis.

Step back 50 years to when I was 17, people would have thought we were mentally ill because we thought we needed a shower every day . Next time you take a real shower, keep track of all the areas you NEVER really soap. Most of us will be surprised......Joe


----------



## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

Pharmacies sell plastic sleeves that fit on arms and legs so that you can shower. Ask your doctor if you can use Tegaderm--it's film type of bandage that's waterproof.


----------



## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

fishhead said:


> I had knee surgery. I guess I'll turn the water heater on and 'bathe' in the sink as best I can. I'll put the dog towel on the floor in case I get wild and crazy.


Ouch.

I remember when my DD had bilateral knee surgery. She used a sink full of water and a wash cloth. She didn't attract any flies, so I guess it was all good. 

Heal quickly!


----------



## o&itw (Dec 19, 2008)

I don't think washing ones hair really is included in a "sponge bath" that's a whole 'nother thing. Hair is the only thing that is hard to get soap out of. Solution; like some said above don't use so much soap. A little soap and a lot of scrubbing go a long way.

Haven't been on the forum much, so I don't know where your "wounds" are. I originally just got the idea that your regular plumbing was down. The reason most of us take a sponge bath is because we are in a place with no running water.

It is hard to know all the specifics when you only share them a bit at a time.


----------



## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

There is a very good demonstration by Kelly McGillis in Witness. I don't know how I remembered.


----------



## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

o&itw said:


> I don't think washing ones hair really is included in a "sponge bath" that's a whole 'nother thing.


Yep. When my daughter was in the hospital with a pancreatic tumor (and for the weeks after her surgery when she was still in due to complications), the nurses would sponge bathe her but we had to wash her hair. I believe we only did that twice in the month she was in the hospital. When she had a good moment, I brought her to the sink to do her hair since she gets greasy fast! Most of the time she was too ill to do it though.


----------



## Big Dave (Feb 5, 2006)

Ok so I have been there bud. Wrap the knee in plastic. I used a garbage bag. Seal the ends as that is where the water will leak in. I also used a hoe to keep the moisture off my leg. Hey once I wore my bathing suit and layed o my back as some one sprayed me down.(that was fun) I used duct tape to seal the ends of the trash bags. Hope this helps.


----------



## Nature Man (Nov 5, 2009)

There are products available in stores, I got mine in the sporting goods/hunting dept, that offer rinse free body and hair wash ready to use with or without a shower. The one I have is made by D2W Guide Gear for only several dollars. No rinsing required wash and towel dry. www.d2wguidegear.com

You could use something like this for occasional power outages or to take with you camping

Bill


----------



## Tabitha (Apr 10, 2006)

Okay, You can only do this if you will not offend the neighbors or be arrested for indecent exposure. My goats, dogs and chicken don't care and I have done this for 20 years. Put a milk jug of water on the roof or in the sun. Have a washbowl, pour in about a quart of the water. Have a plastic cup there. bend head over washbowl, dip water over hair and let run back into washbowl. shampoo. Use suds to scrub down from top to bottom. Squeeze any suds possible out of hair. Use cup to carefully rinse off the worst with what is left of the quart of water. Carefully rinse off with the rest of the gallon of warm water. This just about does it and I have really thick hair. We call it navy shower, because our dear old neighbor Walter, God rest his soul, did it this way and he was in the Navy during the war, WWII that is. 
If you want to splurge you can use another gallon. When we were building our house and the kids were all here, everyone had a milk jug of water for evening shower. DS painted them black, so they would get warmer. 
We rigged up a shower curtain and stood on a pallet. Now I stand on the back porch. I only do that in summer of course.


----------



## Farmer Willy (Aug 7, 2005)

I'm gonna ask this from upwind----how'd get to be old as you are and not figgure out how to, let's say, maintain yourself? Let's take knee surgery out of the equation here, washing yourself is washing yourself. 

Last time I had to teach a grown man how to get clean involved 3 helpers, a palmyra scrub brush and a can of cleanser. We didn't need to proceed to the lesson on dry shaving.


----------



## TomYaz (Oct 5, 2010)

Maybe George Costanza could offer some advice...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfvKc_9YbCs[/ame]


----------



## ELOCN (Jun 13, 2004)

Yes, when you take a "sponge bath" you have to rinse all the soap off afterward. Just rinse out your washrag or sponge until all the soap is out of it, rinse your body off. You may have to do it a few times to get all the soap off.


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

I sponge bath all of the time even if I am taking a shower as I "navy shower".

Regardless if sponging in the shower or sponging at the bathroom sink while standing on a thick bath mat I follow the same procedure of first using the shower head or wash cloth to wet down. 

Next if in the shower I turn off the water and soap up the wash cloth to soap up and clean from head to toe. If doing a sink sponge I simply soap up the wash cloth in the sink water.

Then I get a final rinse cloth and if in the shower use the shower head to rinse off before drying.

Bathing and showering this way all of my life has not only kept me clean it keeps my shower water use to a 2 to 3 gallons ration as was common on naval vessels up to the 1950s.


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Farmer Willy said:


> I'm gonna ask this from upwind----how'd get to be old as you are and not figgure out how to, let's say, maintain yourself? Let's take knee surgery out of the equation here, washing yourself is washing yourself.
> 
> Last time I had to teach a grown man how to get clean involved 3 helpers, a palmyra scrub brush and a can of cleanser. We didn't need to proceed to the lesson on dry shaving.


Was the scrub brush the same one you used on the barracks floorboards?

Did ya leave the bather the G.I. blanket to dry off with that you used to tote him to the party?


----------



## parthy (Mar 17, 2008)

I don't have indoor plumbing and here is what I do:

I wash my hair first in the plastic bucket that catches the soapy water. I then use 2 sponges, one to wash with using the soapy water in the bucket from my hair and the other one to literally squeeze water all over me. I stand on an old plastic shower curtain with 2 aborbant blankets on top. Keeps the water from soaking my floor. I get very wet. Work from the cleanest to the dirtiest. When I am done, I feel exactly like I just came out of the shower. I also don't use bar soap. I use shampoo or dish detergent........it rinses off easier.

Oh and I forgot. While I am rinsing I soak my feet in the bucket which doubles by catching a lot of the rinsing I am doing.


----------

