Hi.

We frequently see discussion about having survival items ON YOUR PERSON, instead of being in a bag or pack that you may lose. In this thread we can a step further and investigate items WITHIN your body that can aid in a survival situation.

Ands being WITHIN your body can mean the item is part of the body, or the possibility to excrete/remove the item from the body

One example comes to mind frequently. If you are a bit overweight when SHTF, that fat can help keep you warm and protect you a bit from starving ( partial food, partial shelter).

I remember from our older folks that when women got sick some 70 or 80 years ago, they sometimes were not able to breastfeed their babies or even dead during labor. Then one female relative/neighbor would help breastfeed that baby until the mother is OK, or the baby is old enough.

Other than these two examples, I could not think of items / material that is body-made and can help in survival situation, not until I saw an episode of dual survival where Cody Lundin peed on his own head cover and then wrapped it around his own head. The logic was the moisture in the head-wrap would reduce loss of moisture from the body while walking in the desert. Although very logical, LOL, but his partner Dave Canterbury declined Cody’s generous offer to pee on his hat for the same purpose !

I thought of another possibility to use body “products” for survival , like human hair for example. Seems like good tender , although I haven’t tried it. In a survival situation hair will continue to grow, and so , should be put to some use.

Also, some people have oily skin. I wonder if they wipe their faces with some tissue or cotton ball , will that make it like a vaselene / cotton ball tender ???

Well, for fire starters, there's always belly button lint and ear wax...Ear wax is actually flammable. Myth Busters made candles from ear wax.

Body oil functions as an insulating layer,as does facial stubble. Hair doesn't make particularly good fire starter.

With a diet rich in sauerkraut, legumes, and Coke Zero, one could capture body gasses in balloons and with a spark lite, use them later as signalling devices for passing aircraft or flash grenades to ward off predators.

Hiker, Mythbusters actually disproved the candles made from earwax thing. They were hard to light and went out quickly. Worst part was that it took the donations from many people over a period of time to actually make the candles.

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Oops! My defective memory again. Certainly not a pracrtical idea unless you have a very large crowd on hand or lots of time.

One more comment about peeing on your headgear. It is a bit distasteful, but effective. Even better is simply having a full brim hat, basically something along the lines of a boonie hat. Those have worked quite well or me and when moistened with water, not urine, are really nice.

Would it be possible to use those gasses as a stove fuel? Talk about Leaving No Trace... It would also help retard global warming...

Perhaps HJ, the stove guru, could add more fuel to the fire.

That's a hot idea!

When we were teens we knew a guy who lit so many f@rts that we called him the "Human Firefly". I never told Al Gore about this, but onions and potatoes fried in pork grease are the real problem. I think Firefly caused global warming all by himself.

Good enough for 'lighthouse' type signalling, but definately not disciplined enough for Morse code.

Gentlemen, gentlemen. Let's try to stay somewhat on topic shall we? And may I remind everyone to keep it "family friendly?" 'Nuff said.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

HJ
Deputy

I'm not sure where we can go with this idea. It seems that our body is already built for survival: an energy system that takes fuel from the environment, a water-based thermal regulation system, immunity against microbes, and even a system for producing copies of ourselves, slightly changed to improve our survival chances (is that family-friendly enough for you, Jim?). To treat our bodies like an expendable resource in most situations doesn't seem like such a great approach. It's getting into Dwight K. Schrute territory. Will we be discussing self-cannibalism next?

Too bad we can't burn our waste. Otherwise that's a source of fuel.

I have used the oil from my face to lubricate the top of a bow drill spindle. And pee'd on a small fire used to make coffee to start extinguishing it.

Well, they burn "buffalo chips" and yak dung, don't they?

I think though that it's herbivores' waste that you want. I think carnivore/omnivore waste isn't as good.

HJ

What about vegetarians?

Vegetarians would be fine fuel sources as long as they eat lots of cellulose - tree bark, grass, twigs, and the like.

Use the people who eat what food eats as a fuel source? LOL!

I have heard of ear wax being used for the same purpose.

Happy new year everyone!

I thought this thread would be more like "Wolvervine" with Mora style blades...

To be at least bordering on topic: If you neglect to pee or do "nr 2" it seriously impairs your well being and makes you less robust to cold (you freeze a lot quicker). Not exactly what you need in a survival situation. Many simply won't go when deprived of the comfort of a nice, well equipped rest room. Improvise, adapt, overcome - just get the job done, you'll feel better and you have improved your chances.

The waste products are of very limited use - and I can't think of any that hasn't been discussed already.

There are plenty of uses for body “survival items”. Here’s a few off the top-of-my-head (LOL):

Urine
-Is sterile, and has been traditionally used (fresh) to wash wounds.
-Breaks down to form ammonia, which is also a useful cleaner and sterilizing agent
-Can be “readily” distilled (solar still) to produce potable water
-Can be used as a fertilizer, when diluted with water (about 1:10), it actually contains a good NPK ratio for plant growth
-Tanners soaked animal skins in urine to remove hair fibers
-Urine is said to be excellent at removing greasy stains from fabric

Hair
-Has been used for production of cordage or millennia
-It is Not a good tinder or kindling, it doesn’t take a flame readily
-Those with a long fringe, or long hair can pull it over their eyes to provide some protection from glare (in the sun or snow)
-Hair provides warmth and (anecdotally) protection from some insects like mosquitoes
Hair is a survival item which you really need to work on well in advance of any situation, some of us are better endowed than others, but I’m sure that appropriate hormone therapy could sort out any deficiencies !

Saliva
-Licking wounds - human saliva has been shown to increase the speed of coagulation for human blood, this process also removes dirt from the wound area.
-Soothes cuts, stings and minor burns
-Lubricant
-Spot cleaning

Teeth
-Breaking and grinding (eg chewing a stick end to make a brush, or softening skins/cordage)
-Holding items as an “extra” hand