Underwear or no underwear

[Akela]

The only thing I don't recommend is cotton or hiking without underwear. I know some guys do it, but you risk a very nice bacterial +fungal infection. Not fun.
Just choose whatever works for you. Give it a try over a day or weekend hike (very hot/humid or rainy). Look for chafing, how fast they dry, comfortable...

[Demeter]

When I hike with DH, I hike with a skirt, no undies needed. Ventilation is perfect, but I don't chafe. With mixed company other than DH and rock climbing, then I wear men's quick dry boxers under skirt. My hiking companions would not appreciate the White's without the boxers :-)

[Gelfling]

Saucony Runderpants are great for wicking and staying put.

[Wheres Lora]

no it don't

You're right.

[TinyLegs]

I always hike with underwear. I usually experience stretchy, "egg-white-like" cervical fluid for about three days close to the ovulation stage of my cycle, and I prefer having underwear on for that. I like the Patagonia Barely Hipsters; I think they are super comfortable and dry really fast.

[Lnj]

I always just wear normal ole drawls, but this last trip, there was an issue the night before the last day where I waited a bit too long to stop and pee and didn't quite make it (thanks to my darling children, holding it is not always a realistic option) so I had to do some laundry in the stream (down stream of course). Anyway, the normal ole drawls did not dry overnight and I wasn't about to put them on wet, so I had to go commando that last day with my spandex leggings. It actually felt wonderful. I used Degree deodorant to alleviate the chafing issue I had and no drawls with the slick spandex leggings and I got air and felt great all that next day. I never would have guessed. I would suggest starting with undies and bringing a couple spare clean ones, but be open minded if you start to have a chafing problem. Air flow is good for that and degree works better than the body glide lotion I had.

[heather_]

Hello lovely!

Here are my pros and cons of bringing underwear:

Pros:
・ practical for that time of the month
・ can be used as a swim suit
・ during the hot, sticky summer can be worn to bed instead of pajamas
・ feminine discharge

Cons:
・adds a little extra weight
・if you don't wear them -- you're carrying dead weight and wasted money you could've put somewhere else

~ Heather

[Connie]

If your "period" is a problem, I had read discussions about the vaginal cup for hiking.

I was thoroughly convinced not to hike in bear country during my period because bears are territorial.

The woman, or the hiking companions, could be injured, or killed, by an angry bear. They have their "territory" and do not tolerate any incursions on their territory. We had incidents like that, and so hikers around here avoid that by not hiking at that time.

It is with this particular background information, I use unscented wipes for ordinary odor, while out hiking. I also wash and rinse underwear, then put it in the mesh on the back of my backpack if it is clean. If not, it goes in an Opsak.

[Abi]

Sometime I hike with compression shorts or capris under my cargo shorts to avoid chaffing from the inseam on the shorts, but then I find the compression layer (even things like Nike Drifit) stay soaked all day and are thick. Pro: no bugs and no chaffing up your drawers. Con: soaked bum that won't dry, no air flow.

Just got some fancy pants Exofficio underwear to try without compression layers. Pro: more air flow to your bum means even though you sweat, everything dries fast when you stop for the day. Con: have to wear cargo shorts that won't chaffe.

PRO for womens' underwear: one pair weighs about 1 oz.

[Connie]

Is that what chafing is about: the inseam?

My hiking pants do not have a thick inseam: I wear loose bicycle tights for hiking.

There are also hiking pants with a "diamond" shape sewn in the crotch, that makes the hiking pants loose there. I have seen "yoga" pants like that.

If the problem of chafing is the inner thighs rubbing, then "long leg" or "long inseam" compression shorts.

[Abi]

If my shorts rub, its lower on the inner thigh not up in the crotch or thighs rubbing themselves together, I wear longer almost knee length shorts. I don't like the tiny pockets in shorter women's shorts. I have long legs also, shorter shorts leave my thighs touching the rocks when I sit down- same problem with only hiking in spandex/yoga pants/capris whatever you want to call them- the material is not durable enough for scrambling on rocks without abrading.

[misprof]

Depends if you want bug bites in the areas that underwear cover, as I would not but bug repellant there. Also since I wear a skirt while hiking it keeps forest clutter out of those areas. I pack one pair of cotton for at night and another of nylon for day time. I like Jockeys. For your thru you might want to by 1 size smaller of a pair you like and put them in a drop box so that if you loose weight you will have a pair waiting that fits. I hate hiking with a pair that keeps heading south.

[Connie]

There are full leg-length compression tights.

I have seen that diamond shape in work pants, and, rock climbers pants, as well.

My aunt would take the extra leg length on Levies, and sew that diamond shape in my cousins Levies.

[plexusbritt]

Nada. I'm a skirted hiker and wear yoga type capris under my skirt.

In the summer however, I do like a pair of panties under loose shorts for sleeping.


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[Starchild]

...

I have read some men like to wear swim wear. I don't see why women would not also consider swinwear, if it is comfortable....

(Male) I did during most of my thru in swim wear, the type that could pass as shorts (including pockets), but had the swim suit lining. I didn't carry any underwear, but did carry a second bathingsuit, shorter (standard swimsuit size) for the times needed to have something else to change into (washing the other, sleeping, needing dry clothes, could be used for some inadvertent discharge )

[KnightErrant]

When I hiked the Camino last year, I wore synthetic underwear from Decathlon (best store ever, wish we had them here in the States) under capri-length leggings or soccer shorts. I was very comfortable with that. You can do sink-laundry every night there, and it was nice to have clean underwear to put on every day.

I've been hiking a lot of the AT near where I live now in Virginia. Once while day-hiking I accidentally wore average cotton underwear under my leggings and realized a couple miles in that I was starting to have a chafing issue because of the sweat. I stripped them off and went commando for the rest of the hike, a little nervous that it would be worse with nothing under the synthetic/spandex of the leggings. But without the cotton, my butt dried right off and I was just as comfortable as I've always been with the synthetic underwear. Now on my recent 2-3 night sections, I've sometimes gone commando while hiking, keeping a clean pair of underwear for camp to put on after a quick baby-wipe bath.

So I would say commando or synthetic underwear (not cotton!!) are equally comfortable while hiking to me, but I definitely like having at least one pair of undies for camp. Granted, my hiking leggings get rank a lot quicker going commando, so that's something to consider if smell is important to you. XD

[Riocielo]

I wear spandex yoga pants for hiking, with no undies. I also sew a zipper in the crotch of all my hiking pants...Makes taking care of business super easy.

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[Nevertolate?]

My daughter completed a thru hike in 2016, I am starting March 2017. She advised against underwear and recommends a biker type short to keep from chafing.

[EO.]

My daughter completed a thru hike in 2016, I am starting March 2017. She advised against underwear and recommends a biker type short to keep from chafing.

Congrats to your daughter on completing her thru last year and good luck to you! Will be cheering you on from Indy!

[Deacon]

this is a woman askin' other women. how 'bout you guys stay the FO of here. just sayin'

I second this motion.