I just stick to castile soap, I prefer the olive oil to the possibility of animal fat being in my soap and just sticking with castile means I don’t have to check the ingredients. Even then, though, I buy the liquid because - stuff - gets stuck to bar soap. I buy maybe one bottle a year, it lasts a really long time.
QV body wash on a loofah. Not as drying as soap but the loofah gets the dried ole skin cells off. Oh, and QV lotion afterwards.
Is soap of any kind actually needed?
Although I do use soap on the parts of my body I can reach, I never soap my back, yet people don’t run away screaming “the pong, the pong”.
I’m the type of person who will sometimes (OK, often) not use any sort of surfactant while washing. I think that a good scrubbing with a washcloth does a pretty good job. The hair does need some sort of soap once in a while, but certainly not every day. That said, my skin seems to handle rough treatment pretty well - if I had dry skin I’m not sure that brisk scrubbing would be desirable.
ohh. It honestly never occurred to me that there was another way then bar against skin. isn’t that why they put the grit in it now?
You can still work up a lather in a washcloth or your hands with gritty soap. For that matter, you can add your own grit…lots of soaps use cornmeal for that.
I use Cetaphil skin cleanser. It keeps my oversensitive skin from freaking out (most days). And Cetaphil moisturizer in the winter, when/where I’m not using some sort of cortizone cream or other thing to heal up whatever rash I’m currently having.
Woman here, cosmetics enthusiast who used to make beauty products (from basic industrial ingredients)as a hobby. I tried everything and read up on the rest.
And I use ordinary soap, and just a little of it as possible. usually I just wet my hands on the soap and then pass the soapy hand on the body. A bar (usually from Lush) lasts me ages. I keep it just outside of the shower on a wooden rack/tray to keep it from melting.
Another goat’s milk soap user here. It doesn’t dry out the skin. No detergents.
Mrs. Tango and I get it from PEI (Prince Edward Island) since last year’s vacation when we stopped in at this place called the Great Canadian Soap Company. It’s a small farm, family-owned.
A shameless plug there, yes, and there’s no connection to us other than we’re satisfied customers.
Yes we do, all of us. Including Lynn Bodoni.
I used Dial, too. The old timey gold bar.
As for shampoo, I’m all over the map. Love to try new ones. Currently using Aveda Madder Root for red hair. Smells like cherries.
FWIW, I had a boyfriend many years ago who did as you do. However, when I licked certain parts of him (and not even the usually hidden parts, which is another story), but places like his nipples for instance, I could taste the old sweat. Ewww. He was convinced he was allergic to all soaps. I found one called Lowila that was gentle and he started using it. His next girlfriend must have liked my upgrade as they’ve been married for 30+ years.
For an adult who sweats like an adult, IME water is not enough.
No need to cite ancient peoples and the Middle Ages and Napoleon asking Josephine not to bathe when he was headed home (and wouldn’t be there for three days). That was then; this is now.
Hair OTOH does not need to be washed every day, and there is a movement called No Poo that advocates using baking soda and a vinegar rinse to clean hair and avoid stripping the natural oils.
As 'shoe suggests, you can just use your hands, but it does work better to use a pouf, gloves, or something else with texture (washcloth in a pinch) to get the lather going.
I, Celtling, and even our dog have very sensitive skin. About twice per year I boil up some glycerin then add some borax to prevent it spoiling and make it clean better. I then water it down a good bit so that it stays liquid, and fill two 1.5 gallon containers. Sometimes I’ll add some vanilla or bergamot for scent. We use that for hands, body, and hair.
Extra bonus: This costs about $12 per year.
I don’t always use soap, but when I do I ONLY use original Zest, not technically a soap. It is a detergent bar.
Like others up-thread have stated, hot water and a washcloth works wonders. I also only use a tiny dab of shampoo every 3rd or 4th day on my hair. I do rinse my hair every day in a very hot shower and, i must say, it is soft, shiny and manageable.
The Zest thing comes from Navy Boot Camp; It was the only soap we were allowed to use as it really doesn’t leave a film like regular soaps.
You’re not fully clean until you’re ZESTFULLY clean!
The day I stop using bar soap to shower… well, that’s never going to happen. Body wash just seems too… I dunno… metrosexual for me.
I have a stupid number of bottles of stuff in my shower. About half of it is mine, and half the other three members’ of the household.
My daughter has a 3-1 (Shampoo, Conditioner and Moisturizing Body Wash) with organic honey and ground up bits of hippies, or something.
My son has Head & Shoulders and something like Axe body wash that isn’t quite so gag inducing.
My husband shares the bottle of Head & Shoulders and has Old Spice body wash, in some ridiculous newer manly scent (but it does smell awesome on him, so I don’t complain!) He also has a bottle of prescription Salicylic Acid and Sulfur something shampoo that he uses on an intermittent itchy skin thing.
I have:
Body Wash (ground up hippies I found at an Amish salvage store for $1)
Shampoo
Conditioner
Deep Conditioning Conditioner (used once a month; the stuff that comes with hair color kits)
Coal Tar Shampoo (I need it once or twice a year for a psoriasis patch; I really should find another place for it the other 48 weeks of the year)
Salt scrub
Shaving cream (which I never use because I use hair conditioner as shaving cream instead)
There’s also a random bottle of peppermint hand soap, which someone gave me as a Christmas gift one year, but for some reason we’ve never put it by the sink. I keep planning to use it on my feet, but I forget it’s there.
I was going to say that the same inexpensive shampoo I use on my hair doubles as body wash, but now *I *want some French milled lilac soap, too!
I use a cleansing bar of some sort that resembles a bar of soap, but is not actually soap. Soap is pretty harsh on my skin, and most body washes seem like dishwashing detergent or something.
The only time I used a bodywash, it made my skin itch and I felt like I couldn’t wash it off properly.