jdefran

With the hot, humid summers of Florida I usually only commute late fall-early spring. I'm getting the itch to ride and with a busy schedule commuting is the only way to do so. My workplace does not have a shower and I am not close to a gym, so it seems my next option is using wipes.

My plan is so leave before the sun rises to avoid additional heat and have plenty of cool down time before others arrive to the office. After cooling down, I can simply wipe down and change. I will be showering before my ride, have a complete change of clothes, etc.

So what wipes do you have experience with? So far I feel Dickinson's might be a good one...

10 Wheels

Sponge bath in the restroom sink will work fine for you.

jdefran

I've thought of that but I wouldn't have a place to store a wash cloth/sponge. I could bring one daily and keep the dirty one in my panniers. My thought is the wipes would address potential BO

10 Wheels

Wipes are not all that good.

locolobo13 

Sponge bath if needed. Most of the time I just wait til I quit sweating, dry off with a beach towel and change clothes.

chefisaac

Just use the air spray deodorant and carry on. Works perfectly.

arex

Keep the cloth/sponge in a ziplock.

squegeeboo

Any unscented baby wipe work well enough. The secret (as mentioned above) is to wait until you cool down, then clean up.

baron von trail 

The trick is to stop sweating. I let cold water run over my head. I peel off my cycling clothes, towel off and sit still in front of the fan I have in my office for a few minutes, usually booting up my computer and logging into some of the programs while I cool down. Once I cool down, I towel off again and put on deodorant before getting dressed.

alan s 

I shower before riding, and then wipe down with a wet washcloth and dry off with a hand towel. Bring clean ones daily and hang on my bike to dry.

PennyTheDog

I second the suggestion of unscented baby wipes. I have a big package of regular, scented baby wipes, and the smell is getting really annoying. Other than that they work great.

jiggity

+1 on unscented and waiting until the cooldown. I liked both a baby wipe and any wipe that included witchhazel.

pdlamb

+1 more. Check your email, look up the weather forecast for that afternoon. It usually takes me 15-20 minutes to stop sweating.

MMACH 5

I have a buddy who swears by a 1:1 mix of witchhazel and water. He wipes down with it, when he gets to work.

enigmaT120

I just wipe down with the sweaty t shirt I rode in. I hang it out to dry when I get to work. I shower before I leave the house in the morning.

gyozadude

I've had the displeasure of having to work in FL in the heat of summer. Mostly out of Tallahassee, so I don't know the climate elsewhere in FL, but it was plenty hot and HUMID. It's like showering 2 - 3 times daily heat there. The only place worse is probably Hong Kong in June or NOLA in August. I doubt wipes will work. Even working inside A/C'd gov't offices, the humidity was high and I'd sweat. I found it best to carry clean undershirts, a couple of micro-fibre towels and a sponge and squeeze bottle of bodywash with me in a ziploc bag. A little bodywash on a cold sponge diluted under running cold water was great relief and a good deodorant. The microfibre towels were great for drying off quickly, and a new undershirt removed 90% of the moist and sticky clothing that made it hot and smelly. I carried a small backpack with waterproof bag for the smelly tshirts and towels.

the sci guy 

I use these basically all over to wipe off my sweat (arms, pits, crotch, back, face).
They work well. found them in the natural products section of our grocery store.

jdefran

I'm actually in Tallahassee. Fortunately I don't work for the state. Thanks for sharing your experience when you lived here.

I appreciate everyone's input, looks like I just need to try different things and ask my coworkers how I smell

caloso

It's hard to beat an old fashioned wash cloth. Plus, it won't end up in a landfill like a baby wipe.

Double0757

South Florida commuter here. No showers at work either. I first tried a sink sponge bath, and that worked, but the mess it left on the floor for me to dry was a 5 min mess. Then I decided to try wipes. I like them better than the sponge bath. I still wash my hair in the sink, but my body gets about 4 large wipes all over. I use no scent, large and 99.9% bacteria killer. Walmart sells them, 28 wipes for $2.?? It escapes the name at this moment, red packaged. I use a uniform with a tie. No problem all day with BO or feeling sticky. Cool down for about 15 min. before dressing. When it rains, I only need one wipe, specially after installing fenders on the bike. I think I ride more than other co-workers that bike recreational or competitively. Double O

gerv 

noglider 

Your rest room at work probably has paper towels. You can wet those and wipe yourself down. Works for me.

I like the witch hazel idea! Hadn't thought of it. It's a very mild astringent, so it will evaporate a little faster than water, which also cools you better than water. I might even use it straight. I use it as an after-shave.

I've been having a lot of itchy skin lately, and both my GP and my dermatologist don't know what it is. I don't have rashes. The only remedy seems to be to use olive oil as a body lotion. Yes, I'm serious. I put it on after my shower. It does not make me feel greasy, and it does not stain my clothes.

Another trick to staying relatively odor-free but not dry is to try to get yourself to sweat more by drinking much more water than you think you need. Another trick is to discover what foods make your sweat smell. Many people reduce their odors by cutting meat back or out completely. I suppose this has something to do with bacteria. I've increased my water in the last three years or so, and I sweat much more. The salt etc. in my sweat must be diluted because of this, and I seem to be fairly low-odor now. I don't wear deodorant because of my irritation problems. Still, a daily shower is completely necessary for me.

My advice may not be useful, because Florida is very different from the rest of the country. I don't know if I could adjust to the heat there. I have visited in fall, winter, and spring and find it oppressive. I can't imagine what it's like in summer.

alhedges

I'm a fan of Action Wipes.

pdlamb

Be careful of the power of suggestion. Try different things, yes, but don't go asking for trouble. If you reload a copier and get a strong whiff, that may be an indication you need to change something. But even if you showered, dried off in a refrigerator, put on clean clothes, and asked people if you smelled bad, probably half of them would smell something, just because you asked.

terrapin44

I use these from Target: