So where do we draw the line between too much and too little? People are told to wash their hands often to avoid getting sick…how do we decide what’s too much and what’s not enough?
What are you guys doing that water isn’t cleaning you? Per my dermatologist’s advice, I only use soap when necessary. Like, on the undercarriage and maybe my feet if I’ve been walking around barefoot in the summer, or all over after a big workout where I sweated a lot.
Basic walking-around and sitting-at-desk? Water works just fine. And I can assure you, I do not stink.
Actually, not so much. Paleolithic remains are notable if they show evidence of multiple caries. Many remains have no signs of tooth decay at all. The increase in caries from neolithic times is most likely linked to the concurrent increase in grain agriculture. It’s mainly what you eat that rots your teeth.
Even traditional societies bathe, though you may not think of it as that. Sweat lodges do get you quite clean and are viable methods of bathing even in arctic conditions. In places where water is scarce, people have taken dust or sand baths and oiled themselves. Oiling and scraping is another method of bathing. You don’t necessarily have to use water to clean yourself, though it does help a lot.
I think the majority of people brought up valid points. Going a week without bathing won’t hurt anything, and will probably leave your skin and hair nicely moisturized and conditioned.
However after that I’d say that you’re better off bathing at least every few days
helps keep pores clear (though sauna/sweat lodge will do that too, possibly better)
it keeps the bacterial load on your skin lower, which will result in lower infections, especially if you say, got bronchitis to begin with and skin your knee while stumbling for that codine cough syrup (I cut myself shaving while I had bronchitis…the result was not pretty).
your sheets will stay cleaner a lot longer.
In today’s world stuff commonly gets on your skin which didn’t occur 500 years ago. A lot of it probably shouldn’t be allowed to sit there for weeks on end (lead, cadmium, diesel particulates, and so forth).
I only use water too. And a washcloth to remove any dead skin cells. My father has been doing the same thing for decades and it’s just fine. The only time I use soap in the shower is when we’ve been camping for several days and I’m covered in grime, or if I’ve gotten dirty working outside. I use soap on my hands throughout the day though.
I Am Not a Chemist, but as I understand what I’ve read about how soap works, plain water does in fact get you cleaner, while soaps (surfactants) just help, especially with anything oil-based.
Do you have cites for any of this?
Why yes, I am interested! Which is why I cited that very same link in my post.
As I understand it, handwashing is intended to prevent person-to-person transmission of contagious/opportunistic microbes, which we get on our hands from our own snot and spit. It’s not to do with the microbes that ordinarily hang out on hand skin, and it’s to do with hands only inasmuch as hands are vectors for bodily fluids. Which is not to say we shouldn’t wash hands, just that you can’t necessarily generalize from washing hands to bathing all skin. IOW handwashing may prevent the spread of a virus, but elbow-washing or foot-washing wouldn’t.
Any cites for either of these assertions? I have to say that I don’t believe at all that your bronchitis had anything to do with your shaving injury or how infected it got. I don’t actually think bronchitis-related microbes are capable of giving you a skin infection. I can believe that if you were busy with bronchitis your immune system might not have the oomph to fight off other infections as well as usual. Bronchitis is usually caused by a virus, so bacterial load shouldn’t be directly related.
That kinda reminds me of a test of laundry balls. They tested 3 methods, one with laundry detergent, one with laundry balls, and one with plain water. The result? all the same.
Chemically, that’s the point of soap – to stick to oil/grease/dirt. Water doesn’t really remove anything, it just flows over it. I’ve never tried just washing with water because it would never occur to me to be honest.
This just isn’t true. Warm water with some form of exfoliating action (e.g. a washcloth, or just sufficient water pressure) is sufficient for removing anything unhealthy that may be on your skin. Nearly everything that your body excretes and that winds up there is water soluble. Soap can speed the process and help remove stubborn grime, but isn’t generally necessary for normal hygiene.
Washing hands with soap after using the bathroom is necessary to lower the risk of disease transmission.
So, use soap in the shower or don’t. Whatever floats your boat. Wash your hands after you touch your junk. That’s about it.
The sample was tiny so it didn’t quite count as a scientific study, but a long-running healthcare program on Spanish TV once ran an experiment where they asked some members of their staff to stop washing their hair for several months. Only one of them was able to go beyond the three-week mark, but they had her on the show at the three-months and her hair was perfect, better than it had ever been. She said it had been itching like mad for the 2nd and 3rd weeks but had settled after a month.
But isn’t oil/grease not water soluble? I just remember learning in chemistry class that it was because of that that water alone doesn’t get you clean. Water and oil don’t really mix but chemically soap sticks to grease/oil.
Not soluble doesn’t mean it doesn’t get dragged along, specially with the help of a washcloth. Pouring oil on a river will produce an oil slick which doesn’t stay in place: it moves along with the river. Using a wet washcloth to clean up works by friction, not by dissolution: it drags cells, particulates and grease (which doesn’t “like” water but does “like” cloth) away.
Also, “soluble/insoluble” isn’t a pass/fail proposition.
