There is a hand lotion at work that every time I use it, takes me back to "wilderness" days. I had been sent away for being a rebellious teenager at the age of 15. The first few days of being sent to a dessert, society still hung on. I could smell my flowery shampoo lingering on my hair, my red nail polish still bright and red, and my shaven legs still smooth. But it went away while hiking miles in the desert and cooking by a fire. My underarms began to smell like a man's, as my legs began to look like a caveman getting darker with dirt and hair, the nail polish fading quickly from my nails.
You know how some desert animals roll in dirt to keep them cool? I felt like I rolled in dirt to cover up the smell. Everything I used to be back on "Earth" was no more, and the girl that showered daily took a water bottle sized amount to clean once every week, if lucky.
But sometimes, if we had extra water before going to the next spot, this girl out of the group would wash our hair. She would take camp soap and "clean" the dirt out. We would wash our entire body as well to feel totally clean and lather lotion to make our desert skin moist. As soon as we were clean, the barren land covered us up again. And by the time we put lotion on, dirt was already on our skin and would leave lotion dirt streaks. There was nothing though like being in the middle of nowhere and feeling the air cool your naked body and feeling clean if only for ten minutes.
So every time I used this lotion I picture the days where dirt in your teeth was a daily occurrence, but when the lotion was on your skin your felt almost princess like in a world covered in dirt.
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