Alaskan Bush People is all about personal hygiene on Sunday’s episode tonight, and when it comes to matters of grooming on Discovery’s long-running series, the go-to mansplainer for being a sharp dressed man is Gabe Brown.
Gabe — wearing braces — is notoriously vain about his hair and overall presentation on the series.
Cut to: He has a new fiance, Raquell, and she needs to learn that retailers CVS and Walgreens are not opening any stores up there anytime soon. The ranch may not be in Alaska but it sure is out in the sticks.
Standing and giving his bush grooming lesson, Gabe is interviewed in a separate b-roll moment and he says: “You know, I definitely think it’s important to make Raquel’s transition into the ranch living as smooth as it can be. One of the hardest things to get used to about living in the bush is probably the hygiene.”
Gabe teaches Raquell to brush her teeth
As the clip progresses he asks Raquell: “You want to brush your teeth?”
She looks a bit bemused, to say the least. Then she deflects Gabe’s question. “I already brushed my teeth this morning.”
The breath test fails. “I think you should brush your teeth,” he says.
This is when Raquell’s demeanor goes completely stone-faced as she gives him the stage to show her how to brush her teeth and wash her hair.
In a separate shot, Gabe says: “She is coming into a world that she hasn’t lived in before… there are things that you learn that [out here, and] I wanna I want to help her with.”
Back to the bush tutorial. He adds: “So when you run out of toothpaste you can’t always make it into town, you have to lay low for some time… sometimes months. You don’t see a lot of people but when you do see people you don’t want to have like… nasty…[teeth]”
He explains the cure-all: “Baking soda is one of the most primitive toothpastes that you can use. so I get my brush and I rinse…[and] put some baking soda in my hand load it up… it’s a little tart. Watch this…”
Gabe gives the brushing teeth demo as Raquell joins him and clearly, we see that she hates Baking soda.
Explaining the whole importance of making do with rudimentary cosmetic items, he adds: “We don’t live in the bush so that we can be a bunch of slobs. You know? It’s so important to take care of yourself. Hygiene is good for the soul not just the body.”
Haircare is next. Gabe says: “You can wash your hair anywhere you have a bar soap and water. I could pour it on, I could splash it with my hands and the best way to do it is just to go straight in… [he demonstrates for Raquell] get a good lather going.”
The technique is everything. He adds: “A lot of times you’re limited on how much water you have, so scrape the foam… scrape… flick… scrape… flick… In the bush we don’t use towels.”
Gabe knows it is all a learning curve for Raquell and says: “I have faith in Raquell, she’s going to meld into it well. She’s willing to try new things too, so I think she’s gonna get along just fine.”
Also on this episode, Bird goes on a dangerous hunt to bring home meat for the family and save her chickens from slaughter. Later, Noah comes up with an automatic diaper machine and Gabe is given more bush insight from mother Ami that he can pass along to Raquell.
https://youtu.be/Q4rPQnBA0dM
Alaskan Bush People airs Sundays at 9/8c on Discovery Channel.