You may find the practice of Helminthic Therapy and perhaps this episode of RadioLab interesting. I sure did.
I definitely see room in our world view of hygiene for the idea that there is a sweet spot that is made more difficult to achieve with insufficient hygiene as well as overly enthusiastic hygiene.
I had terrible acne as a kid, and I washed my face religiously with all kinds of prescription products. Nothing worked.
At some point in high school, I went on a week-long camping trip and didn’t want to bring along my whole collection of face shit, so I just left it at home and pretty much ignored my face for the entire week. By the end of the week, my acne had improved immensely.
When back home, I stopped washing my face and using all the crap and the acne was totally cleared up within a month.
At the moment, I take a shower every day and wash my hair with cheap shampoo, and essentially let the hot water do the rest. Works great. I don’t smell and have no skin problems.
Hey CTTDS, let us know how it goes. I am very interested in your experiment.
I understand it takes two weeks or more before your hair balances out. I wish I could do that part. I am certain that my skin is better off without the constant use of soap.
Is this a zombie yet? Oh well.
[ul]
[li]I do a baking soda with a little Dr Bronners wash and apple cider vinegar rinse for my hair. [/li][li]Body is Dr Bronners on the smelly parts, everything else just fends for itself unless I’ve gotten really sweaty or dirty. [/li][li]Face I wash with a mixture of castor and olive oils and scrubbed (gently) off with a wash cloth.[/li][li]Just the other day I made my own toothpaste out of baking soda, a little salt, powdered cinnamon and just enough olive oil to get goopy. Brush with the diy toothpaste in the morning, dry brush in the evening, rinse with fluoride each time, floss when I feel like it.[/li][/ul]
My skin and hair and everything has been so happy since I went on this crazy crunchy granola kick. I’m sensitive to Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, so I even bring my own soap to work for when I use the restroom and carry hand sanitizer in my purse for when I have to wash my hands elsewhere. If I use anything with SLS I get itchy in a hurry. SUPER ANNOYING. Especially because anything other than very basic soap (Dr Bronners mostly) either has SLS or is very expensive. So I have to be Ms Crunchy Granola Hippie DIY body products.
I’m 2 and a half weeks in with no soap or shampoo and body odor in general seems greatly improved to me, and my better half agrees. My hair is getting less and less oily as each day passes. I need to get a haircut, which will definitely be a test. If asked if I want my hair shampooed and I refuse, will whoever is cutting my hair notice anything different compared to other people who refuse because they just washed their hair with shampoo?
They might notice your hair is more manageable or softer. Otherwise, no.
It still feels a bit oily to me though, so I’m assuming it will feel the same to anyone having to run their hands through it.
It has now been…counts on fingers…A month and a week or two since starting this little experiment, and I have to say that I consider myself converted. It has been about a week since the last time my hair felt at all oily to me, even after a couple of days without showering.
I did get a walk-in haircut after getting released from jury duty a couple of weeks ago and the only thing that has not gone well during this whole thing was that it was a not-so-good haircut. Probably because she was trying to squeeze me in between appointments, and some people just don’t seem to be comfortable giving people gender-bending haircuts.
My hair dries a bit differently now that it doesn’t get ‘squeaky clean’ but other than taking a bit longer to dry and having more body in general, there are no noticeable differences. I feel good, my body and and hair feel good. I can now opt-out of being a soap and shampoo consumer.
I do kinda miss the aromatherapy effect of the various scented suds that used to be involved in the shower, but there are alternatives that can be explored there.
I do the castor/olive oil/hot cloth thing 3x/week and my skin is happy as a bunny in Spring. I follow the oil/cloth routine with a quick wash w/baby shampoo and I love it. Any more than 3x and I start to get a bit pimply.
Also—I’ve discovered that the SLS in toothpastes are why the corners of my mouth will dry out, crack and sometimes bleed. Right now between that and the Cold Sore Outbreak From Hell, Fall 2011 Edition, I’m using ‘training toothpaste’ to get my teeth clean [no SLS or flouride]. As soon as payday comes, I’m carting my hiney over to the local health food store and getting me a couple tubes of the SLS and flouride free toothpastes. I thought it was the flouride at first but this latest bout of cracking has proved me otherwise.
You do realize that Dr Bronners comes in a bar soap, so you could perhaps do something silly like get a small box and shave soap flakes into it to use on the road, or even decant some liquid dr bronners into a small bottle and carry it instead of hand sanitizer … and until payday you can brush your teeth with either salt or baking soda =)
I use the Bronners bar soap for my hands and body and the liquid for my hair, and it does come in tiny bottles that I have used for travel. But I prefer the hand sanitizer for in my purse simply because I don’t have to put the wet bottle/soap box back in my purse when I’m done. Also, carrying my own hand sanitizer looks pretty normal, but carrying around my own soap would make me look like a complete Howard Hughes. (wave of the future…)
I can’t even use Dr. Bronners. I do carry my own cleansers or go without and just use water or I use jojoba or olive oil if I can get it.
Nut allergies? My sister has horrible nut allergies and Bronner’s makes her really sick.
Happily, nuts is not one of my allergies.
Dr. Bronner’s makes my skin itch. But so do most things. I am test-driving a sample of Purpose at the moment and I seem to be doing okay with it.