- Gear Review and Giveaway -

"My target is women who pee!" now that's an opening statement by Kula Cloth™ creator, Anastasia Allison, that caught my attention. I'm a women and I pee. And I need to pee in the woods a lot as that's where I spend much of my time. But to be honest, though I'm an advocate of the minimum impact practices coined Leave No Trace, I've never been tempted by the peedanna solution to substitute toilet paper use in nature and usually go with "drip drying" and carrying out toilet paper I do use. But the Kula Cloth™ pee cloth got my attention.

Ok, let's take a step back as I know some of you are like, "A peedanna what????" A peedanna, or a pee rag, is a bandanna or a similar cloth that's used after urinating instead of toilet paper. The idea is that you dab away those lingering drops and then hang the peedanna on the outside of your backpack to dry. When you return from your outdoor adventure, you pop it in the wash and it's then ready to be reused. That all sounds good but - yes there's a but - as happy as I may be to try many things I didn't find this very compelling because:

1. The bacteria on the bandanna from the pee is just waiting to be transferred when reusing it and that's just yucky!
2. If the bandanna's hanging on the outside of my pack, the pee will transfer to the outside of my bag. Yucky too!
3. The possible pee smell that will be following me.  Tripple yucky and that's a strike.

So having discarded the mere idea of a peedanna as an alternative up to now, why was I even inclined to test out the Kula Cloth™ ?

1. This pee cloth was developed to be a pee cloth. 
This may sounds obvious but what it highlights is the fact that Anastasia intentionally researched and selected a material that would make the Kula Cloth™ hygienic for its intended purpose. It's made from advanced silver-infused textiles that are purposely intended to be in contact with the human body making it antibacterial. And the fabrics used are non-toxic, eco-friendly (many are organic) and are manufactured sustainably in the United States†.

2. The option to hang it on my backpack folded
The double snap feature included on the Kula Cloth™ means you can hang it to the outside of your pack folded so that pee absorbing textile can't get in contact with your backpack. Or a fellow hiker for that matter!

3. The promise of no pee smell trailing me on the trails
​During the testing phase Anastasia included extensive testing of the odor-proofness of the Kula Cloth™. It proved to be odour free even after several days of use†.

4. And they look great!
Part of Anastasia's ambition was to provide a pee cloth women (though men can use them as well) would be proud to have hanging off their packs. She's achieved that by creating an Artists Series in collaboration with a number of artists like Claire Giordano. 

I took along my newly purchased* "Indigo Peaks" Kula Cloth™ on my 2-day hike to put it to the test. After two days of use it had no odour. None! It's super soft so no uncomfortable dabbing. The absorbing side and its outer waterproof fabric delivered and while using it or hanging it to my pack, my hands always stayed dried. It was very quick drying and every time I used it it didn't feel wet to the skin after the previous use. Visually, you don't see any stains after using it and as the absorbing material is black you can feel at ease to use it even if you have your period. The only negative aspect I found to using the Kula Cloth™ was not having any visual distinction between the snaps. I have mistakenly pulled on the wrong side when wanting to unfold it. I expect that if I keep doing this I could rip one snap off making it impossible to fold the Kula Cloth™ when hanging it on my pack.
​
Overall, I was impressed by the quality of the material both with respect to how it delivered on its specs and the luxurious softness it provided. It's light and saves precious weight and volume on a multi-day trekking trip. The prints are vibrant, colourful and picture worthy: a plus for a pee cloth! And it's definitely a conversation starter. Especially here in Switzerland where you still don't see many hikers hanging pee rags. 

To celebrate the first Kula Cloth™ coming to Switzerland, Anastasia sent along a second one from the Artist Series designed by Swiss artist Nikki Frumkin and we are giving it away to one of you!

2 Ways to enter the giveaway:

1. On our IG account

2. On our FB account

Giveaway is open until 14 July 2019, 23:59

† Source: https://kulacloth.com/pages/faqs
* I am not an affiliate to this product. All opinions and thoughts are my own.