So civilisation has collapsed. Just because people are becoming animals, there is no reason to go naked. Let's talk about what the decerning survivor will be wearing. Let's talk comfort, warmth, laundry and colour.
This article is inspired by The City Girl's Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse. It's full of practical advice and @arbitrarykitten's writing has accessible style. I asked if she'd mind if I wrote this article and she agreed.
(Image credit: Max Pixel Creative Commons CC0. Image recommended by @mikeill)
Comfort
Get comfortable clothes. Except for the base layer, your clothing should be loose fitting. You need the maximum range of body movement possible. Your tactical parkour skills might impress a marauding gang enough that they give up on the chase. Don't wear anything itchy since you'll be in these clothes for days.
Warmth
Clothing is your first shelter. Multiple loose lighter layers are better than single heavier garments. Have a wind-proof and water proof layer. Many of the city-dweller / sporty rain gear will only keep water out for a couple of hours. A garbage bag will keep rain out for longer.
Air your clothes every couple of days to evaporate the moisture that builds up in the layers.
Get a good base layer that will wick sweat away from your skin and keep you warm if wet. Better yet, have two base layers so you can wash-one-wear-one or wear-both.
Laundry
Yes, I did say wash: clothing's performance drops as it gets dirty and a smelly human will be a dead giveaway. Sweat left in clothes will rot the clothes faster. Don't use too much soap because that clean smell will give you away. If you can't find low-scent soap, then use a little baking soda.
Flapping laundry is a flag that marks your position. Hang clothing along a secluded alley that funnels a breeze. Or hang on a pre-apocalyptic clothes line in an enclosed yard. Wet clothes hanging on a line right after rain doesn't look unusual if done correctly.
Look for a place that gets good sun, but isn't visible from the surrounding buildings. Find sun-warmed rock piles or rubble and place your clothes out. You don't want your drying clothes to contrast against the background so avoid drying on large flat concrete slabs unless they're in enclosed yards.
Colour
This isn't Mardi-Gras. Go with muted tones so that you're harder to spot. Greys work well in urban areas. Darker greys aren't terrible in wooded areas if you stay in shadows and low to the ground.
Large blocks of bright colours are the worst. Leave the fluoros, reds, yellows and oranges to the emergency services.
Military chic might be in right now, but avoid looking too tacti-cool because that marks you as somebody who might have a base camp worth raiding. The secret of camo is to trick the eye into skipping over you. Grey will do that just fine, and you won't look out of place when you are spotted.
I sincerely hope we never find this information useful. The two weird items are: garbage bags and baking soda. Both of these have many uses so are totally worth scavenging. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
I'm probably going to be in some sort of shorts and a wicking t-shirt.
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Yes. You should do whatever is appropriate for your climate. Wind and rain are the biggest weather killers where I am. Though, in urban survival, I'd take only the clothing necessary for the current season so that I stay light. Clothing will be a relatively easy to scavenge if the situation isn't resolved when the season changes and I'm still alive.
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Well done! Stellar advice!
May I add, do not use strong smelling laundry soap! That Gain that makes your clothes smell fresh for weeks will also mark your position for 200 yards ;)
I'm resteeming in support :)
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Thanks for the comment and the original inspiration. Great advice. Looking forward to your next installment.
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Hey @eturnerx I am one of the curators part of @ocd and our job is to find awesome content by authors who deserve recognition. I really loved the originality of your article especially because I am huge into post apocalypse "stuff" sooooo :)
This gem of a post was discovered by the OCD Team!
Reply to this comment if you accept, and are willing to let us share your gem of a post! By accepting this, you have a chance to receive extra rewards and one of your photos in this article may be used in our compilation post!
You can follow @ocd – learn more about the project and see other Gems! We strive for transparency.
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I accept. Also, followed @ocd.
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Ayyy heck yeah congrats again. You'll be up for nomination on Sunday :)
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That is so cool! I haven't seen OCD yet, but I'm glad I saw this comment :)
I'm following you, strange I have not seen those! But I'm following it now as well :)
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Ayyyyy funny how the universe works :)
Thank you for your time and attention. Hope you enjoy our work of helping other Steemians out.
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Add an image to this post, it'll help get it noticed :)
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Yes. This one's free for reuse:
http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/Armageddon-War-Destruction-Apocalypse-Disaster-2459465
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That's great advice. And, thanks for the picture link.
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Awh thanks. Making me feel good.
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I probably use this pic as a graphic for a future track.
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Cool. Please do.
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wonderful quote:
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Glad you like that one. I wanted to condense down the essence of grey man theory as it applies to clothes.
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huh! This I must look into further.
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Behaviour matters a lot to the grey man. Too much emphasis on clothing and gear. I try practise switching on the "big presence" where I want to be noticed and switching it off when I want to go less noticed.
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Yea, I hear that. I also think it's kind of silly to live your life based on an apocalypse that may never come.
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Agreed. I'm no survivalist or prepper thinking SHTF is coming. Grey man I find useful in many ways. There are a lot of situations when I don't want to be noticed. Some of the skills are transferrable to my outdoors life. The rest is creativity: thinking about how people carve out a niche of sucess in any given situation helps me in writing, UX and business. :)
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Very cool. Do you do UX design? architecture? And yes, I'm very down with not wanting to attract attention. Or at least specific kinds of attention.
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I do some UX, for my own or consulting or teaching. I do a little of a lot of things though. Not architecture though. You?
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Very Nice article! Great guide to clothing for the end! If accessible pine bark makes for a good clothing scrubber with a nice pine/earth scent! Or you can use ashes as a cleaner as well! Love the post! Upvoted you!
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Those are great tips! I didn't think of those, but they make sense. Wood ash (lye) has been added to animal fats to make soap for ages - though I suspect if you have animal fats you'd rather eat them. So many great uses for pine. If you strip the bark, then just below that is the outer cambium layer - which is somewhat edible. I love the great discussion I'm getting on this post.
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Thank you! And yes I would definitely take that animal fat to the belly. Lol. But yes pine has so many uses it's insane! With a great topic comes a great discussion! It is a very good post my friend! : )
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Honestly, writing the post was worth it just for the awesome discussion.
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Heck yeah. There's alot of good stuff going on here! 😀
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Fillowed: with a name like teotwawki. How could i not.
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Lol. Thank you very much! I have followed you as well! After the "Post-Apocalyptic Clothing" Post, I had to follow you! : )
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Having been stuck in BFE and having to wash my fatigues by hand. Soap itches very very much. Use little and rinse like it's your job.
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Baking soda with a splash of vinegar is even better! The vinegar will kill the germs and freshen with no vinegar after-smell. Also, if you're in the more tropical states, we use a plant called Pinecone Ginger. It's flower holds a liquid that can be used as soap, shampoo, and laundry soap. Just squeeze the bulb and you're all set! Check it out here:
http://zipcodezoo.com/index.php/Zingiber_zerumbet
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That's a great tip. Honestly, vinegar and baking soda are massively underrated items, even pre-apocalypse. Great tip on the plant. Even knowing one or two useful plants in your local area is super handy. I'm yet to learn which plants around me are high in saponens like the Pinecone Ginger; so far I've been focusing on the foragable edibles to fortify my day-trip lunches!
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A good article but perhaps a bit light on usefulness come the real apocalypse ! If you speak to someone who's lived through a real siege apocalyptic situation, they'll tell you the real deal.. cigarette lighters are worth their weight in gold. As useful as a pistol, which you could really do with just to save your life. getting rid of poo can be a problem so you need to bag it if you get stuck. Food is going to be your biggest challenge and tinned food will be your saviour, It will stay fresh indefinitely and will usually contain good amounts of valuable water which i first one your list. without a regular supply of drinkable water you are already dead (hence the lighter) so you can at least boil some dirty stuff..Someone who knows just how difficult it can get, told me once... if you are starving, you will eat anything, (with the emphasis on anything) alluding to the fact that when there's nothing else left, like rats we'll eat each other. scary.. I',m still giving you a vote cos anything about the zombie apocalypse is interesting.. we're only ever 17 days from it.. that's about the limit of our supplies in urban centres
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Great tips. I only wrote about clothing in this article. Are you keen to cover the other topics?
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@eturnerx ..I'm pretty interested in all things apocalyptic so yeah why not !
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I agree..."I hope we never find this useful!" 😂
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I didn't think this topic would be interesting, but after reading it I can see both the interest and value in the information. Good post! :)
Resteeming this to 12,000+ followers.
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Congratulations @eturnerx! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
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I don't know if you saw but this post was highlighted in Curation Weekly :)
https://steemit.com/curation/@chiefmappster/curation-weekly-2-all-sbd-goes-to-authors-highlighted
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I missed that! Woot! Thanks for the nomination.
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You're welcome buddy thanks for making such epic content.
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you've done a fabulous job, loved reading it ! :)
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ohh
This
use this pic as a graphic for a future track
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plase vote ahlawat
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More confused than you met me. My philosophy lecturer once said, that philosophers will either convince you or confuse you. Thanks for doing that@eturnerx
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Hay @eturnerx I am Emily Nice Post Voted & Followed
I always follow your journey whether it is Travel or Other !!
I Wish You Would Also Follow and Upvote My Post @funnystuff
Really I Liked What You Do Every Day
And Always Join - Upvote - Comment and Reesteem
I wish the same
Thank You Sweet
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Great advice
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I really loved the originality of your article especially because I am huge into post apocalypse "stuff" sooooo :)
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Oh my got so trippy!
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pretty cool visit my profile too
https://steemit.com/politics/@nizamuddin/politics-an-unfair-game
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Well noted for the zombie apocalypse
Thanks for the post
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