With how Hot it is in Arizona and how sweaty of a person I am. I am constantly sweating through my outdoor clothes and gear in general. Below are some of the tips and tricks I use to keep my gear clean and ready for the next adventure.

Laundry Striping

Laundry Striping became popular during covid and some tik tok video I have never seen. The jist of it is super simple, soak your dirty clothes, towels, etc in a mixture of solution that include Borax, Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, and a Powdered Detergent.

The most common recipe I have found is
1/4 cup Borax
1/4 cup Washing Soda
1/2 a cup of Powdered Detergent

Mix this together in a sink or tub, add the dirty clothes and let soak. The first thing I tried this one was synthetic work out and hiking shirts. These shirts had developed a permanent funk that had I could not get out no matter what I tried (multiple washes, hot water soaking, Leaving in sunlight all day). While these temporarily worked the smell and funk would come back. There is nothing worse than putting a “Clean” shirt that doesn’t smell clean.

So far, by doing the laundry striping I have avoided using it on anything that has a DWR coating. While I am sure my Prana pants could use a good cleaning, they have not developed the smells that my synthetic shirts developed. Keep reading about what I do for DWR treated clothes below.

DWR Treated Clothing

For DWR treated clothing I am extremely careful of how and what I use to wash. While DWR is a coating and something that over time will come off, I want to do everything possible to make it last as long as possible. For DWR clothing such as hiking pants, rain jackets, my hunting clothes with DWR I use the Nikwax Tech Wash.

For this, I normally start my doing a quick pre rinse of my washer, washing away any previous detergent that was used.

Steps I take for my DWR clothing:
Set Washer to Cold setting and 2 Rinses
Add recommended amount of Tech Wash
Flip clothing inside out as recommended by clothing tag
Run through washer and hang dry

I have read that DWR is activated by heat so I am tempted to try putting it in the Washer in the future but for now I am assuming the hot AZ weather will do enough when I hang dry my clothes outside.

After probably 10 washes the DWR coating on my Prana Brions is still going strong and these pants get worn at least once a week and multiple times before washes.

Other Outdoor Gear

The last thing I will touch on today is cleaning outdoor gear. Our gear goes through a lot of dirt, grime, and sweat when we recreate outdoors. Keeping it cleans helps it preform better and last longer, saving you more money for Gas to the trailhead and allowing you to spend more time recreating and less time shopping.

Tents and Tarps:
Fully set up the Tent, hang the tarp
Sweep out any dust, rocks, etc
If covered in sap I will normally lightly hose down and wipe with a rag to remove
Let it FULLY dry out before loosely storing in its bag, making sure to avoid the same fold lines as much as possible

If I know it will be warm or I am using for multiple days, I try and use a sleeping bag liner like THIS to capture all the sweat and grime but when not possible, I do the below.

Sleeping bags:
Lay in sunlight to kill bacteria via UV
Make sure it is FULLY dry before I loosely store in a bag

For extra dirty trips, I have placed in the washer with a tiny by of dish soap, moving it around and stirring before wringing and air drying. The next thing I may try is laundry striping.

Sleeping Pads:
Fully inflate and wipe down with a damp rag to remove any dust
Make sure there are no pin holes or loss of air
Roll up and store back in its bag

How do you teach your gear, let me know in the comments below!

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