OK, so it may be a bit weird for you guys in the crowd to buy pantyhose, but if you don’t have a gal-pal to do it for you, suck it up. After all, we’re talking survival preparedness, and this is not time to be shy.
Pantyhose have awesome potential as a multi-purpose tool and deserve a place in your survival kit. There are a million sites all over the web that tell you the “normal” uses, but today we’re going to go out on a limb and discuss some unusual survival uses for pantyhose.
Let me start by saying that for some of these uses, traditional, cheap pantyhose may not be tough enough to do the job, so I’d suggest picking up a few pairs of leggings, which are essentially pantyhose with a tighter weave.
They’re stronger and won’t be as prone to tearing, but still have the stretchy, sieve-like properties that make pantyhose so useful.
You can get them for a buck or two at thrift stores.
Keep Deer Out of Your Garden
Food may be scarce enough without feeding half of your garden to the local wildlife. Cheap, used pantyhose will work just fine for this task. Fill up a few pantyhose sacks with some hair clippings and tie them around the perimeter of the garden. Human hair is good, but dog hair is even better. Just put a few clippings in a short length of pantyhose and tie them around.
Keep Warm and Prevent Bug Bites and Chiggers
Wearing a pair of pantyhose or leggings is a great way to add a layer of warmth while keeping the bugs from eating you alive. No directions necessary here! They work well to keep off leeches or other water bugs as well if you’re going to be traveling through infested waters, though those are uncommon in most of the states.
Prevent Blisters When You Walk
Because pantyhose are slippery, wearing them under your sock will help keep shoes from rubbing blisters on your feet if you have to walk any distance. Preventing blisters will help keep you free of infection as well as make you much more comfortable when traveling. Just wear a pair under your socks. You can actually get the “footie” pantyhose for this in boxes that contain several pairs.
Use Them as a Bait Net
You won’t be able to catch larger fish probably, but if you stretch hose over a forked stick then skim it through the water, you may be able to catch some bait fish that you can use to catch bigger ones. You can also use a length of hose to hold your bait if you have nothing else. They may get gill-caught in the netting but at least they won’t get away. Just keep the hose hanging in the water and use the bait as you need it.
Use Pantyhose as a Dust Mask
They’re not perfect and won’t keep out toxins but if you have to walk through an area with heavy ash or dust in the air, putting pantyhose over your face bank robber-style will help keep out the larger debris so that you’re not sucking all of that stuff into your lungs. You can put them over your air filter in your car to keep it from sucking ash or dust into the motor, too.
Use Them to Sprout Seeds
Your seeds are going to be valuable and you don’t want to lose them to wind, etc.You also don’t want to waste dirt or containers on seeds that don’t sprout.
Just put several seeds in the toe of a pair of pantyhose and wet it twice daily, then hang them up.
Your seeds will sprout in a few days and you can remove them and transplant them.
Use Them as a Crab Net
Crabs make an excellent meal but are difficult to catch if you don’t have your traditional crabbing gear. Just put chicken skins or other food that crabs like in the toe of the hose and dangle it in the water so that it’s sitting on the bottom. Crab will get stuck in the netting and you can just lift the hose up and remove the crabs.
Other Traditional Survival Uses for Pantyhose
- Filtering debris from water,
- Tying up plants to keep them off the ground,
- Bungee cords,
- Mosquito netting,
- Works great as an emergency fan belt if yours breaks.
- Place it in the bottom of your planters to allow water to drain without losing your dirt.
- Keeping your soap clean – just hang your soap in a length of pantyhose and hang beside the water source.
- Drying food – tie your peppers, onions, herbs, or other food that you want to dry up in a leg of pantyhose and hang in the sun.
Because they’re stretchy and allow liquids to pass through easily, pantyhose are great multi-purpose survival tools and we recommend keeping a few pair in your bug-out bag and even more in your stockpile.
They don’t cost much, if anything, especially if there’s a lady of the house that wears them first. Finally, they take up very little space and are practically weightless, so make sure that you have a few pair handy!
If you have other survival uses for pantyhose, please share with us in the comments section below!
This article has been written by Theresa Crouse for Survivopedia.
Edith | May 16, 2014
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This website offers some of the most useful, inexpensive ways to survive and thrive. No sense in waiting for tough times, as these are all useful ideas for good times, too. Thanks for maintaing your site!
admin | May 16, 2014
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Thank you a lot for showing your appreciation, Edith.
God bless and stay safe you all!
don | May 17, 2014
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Many guys I knew while an infantryman stationed in Germany, wore pantyhose in the field, in winter especially. They kept you warm and prevented blisters and friction rashes.
Tim | July 15, 2020
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I wear them. There very comfortable. I like the seamless ones. There so comfortable.
John | May 17, 2014
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They are also great for preventing chigger bites in the pines of the Carolina’s.
Eric | May 17, 2014
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There’s no way in Hell I’ll ever be caught dead wearing pantyhose. However, there are a lot of other good suggestions for pantyhose in above article. I might buy at least a few.
olivia | May 19, 2014
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Don’t you men get all up tight about wearing pantyhose. Here in the South, men wear them deer hunting……and since most are staying at the hunting camp, all their pals must be wearing them too, cause no one has been laughed out of the woods yet.
Al | May 19, 2014
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I was wondering if they made panty hose in camo color for those hunters ,and in the case of survivor who has the time to laugh at any body
Ben Doyle | May 17, 2014
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I have used panty hose and leggings for 25 years to hold charcoal inside a removable section of PVC pipe to filter water from my well. When contaminated, simply boil charcoal, hose and all and it releases the contaminates. ( charcoal adsorbs contaminates, it doesn’t absorb them so it basically never wears out)
Al | May 18, 2014
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In the same idea ,the fishnet wash cloth work great to catch fish or other creature for
Om steam.I took the rope that held the body scub,it was 8″ double (as a tube) and about 20 ” long.You can also use it as a rope etc.and cost about $1.00 and small enough to put in your bug out bag.
Enjoy
Lisa | May 18, 2014
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You can use them to make coffee with. Put grounds in the toe and pour boiling water over them. Easy to remove. works the same for loose leaf teas, and herbal remedy teas as well.
Al | May 18, 2014
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Lisa,no questions about the panty hose as a survivor ite and my wife will put some in our survivor kit.
The fishnet cloth came when I was changing the bath (fishnet sponge).,I took mine apart and it was about 20 ft long and had many potential like the panty hose.thank you for your valuable item
Al
John | May 18, 2014
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Panty hose is great for stopping reflective glare from rifle scopes or camera lenses. Just stretch the hose over the lens or just about anything else you don’t want to be reflective and give your location away.
Herbert | May 18, 2014
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One note of caution on wearing pantyhose. If you think you will be in any situation where you may be exposed to large fires, do not wear them! As an old aviator, I’ll tell you we had to turn away many people from flying on a combat aircraft because they were wearing pantyhose. In an intense fire, which you are inside of, they almost instantly melt and cling to your body intensifying any flame damage to your person.
They have many uses but beware of this one application.
Greg L Hackney | May 19, 2014
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Early in the day, catching grasshoppers using a rock,in the toe you throw the leg with the rock out to catch the hoppers in the netting easier bec they haven’t warmed up enough to be too quick to catch.
PrepNow | May 20, 2014
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Great ideas Theresa. It always amazes me the multi-task / multi-use functions of the simplest everyday items we have around the house. I especially like the warmth & non-blistering elements of pantyhose. I also read how a bra cup could be used as a dust filtering mask in case of emergency. Now for the $100,000 question: which one would be less objectionable to a survivor-man, wearing a pantyhose or a bra? lol
Jim | May 22, 2014
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After Mt St. Helens blew, there was so much volcanic ash in the air, it turned day into night. We would put pantyhose over our truck’s air filter to assist. If volcanic ash gets into your motor, you’re done. Thanks Theresa.
Major | May 28, 2014
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Last but not least, if you have an old sunglasses frame and panty hose, you can use the hose to cover the missing lens areas…”Get yourself some cheap sunglasses!” -ZZtop.
Major | May 28, 2014
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You can also cover your binocs with panty hose too, just like a rifle scope, so you do not reflect your position too. 😉
Trish | July 29, 2014
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I’m always amazed at men who are to timid to try something like pantyhose. What a wimp! My ex-husband was Special Forces and used whatever was available to survive. I don’t wear pantyhose regularly but when SHTF, I’ll use whatever is necessary to protect self and family.
Deary Darling | February 26, 2015
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You have a point, Trish, but honestly – i’d rather see a guy recoil at pantyhose than recoil at the hard work required for survival and practicality. Manliness as an attitude is far too precious and rare these days and i find it endearing (picture every 1950’s little boy in a movie scowling and kicking the dirt and hollering out “Those are for GIRLS!” indigantly – gotta love it dont you? i can’t help myself, lol , i do! : )
lol besides, something tells me if he HAD to he would : ) We could just tell him they were standard issue nylon infestation barriers – NIBs for short – provided they aren’t pink or god forbid control top lol
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randy | December 12, 2017
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Or for hunters buy one of those second skin suits for $30 it covers head to toe just don’t zipper it up and cover your face will protect you from deer ticks better to wear that than get lime disease.