Random Internet dude goes over a year without using soap/shampoo.

Larry Lobster

Larry Lobster

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I stopped using soap a year ago. It was easily one of the best moves I've ever made in my entire flippin' life.

About this time last year I read an article (which Mark mentioned here as well) extolling the virtues of a soap-free bathing experience. TL;DR version: Your body is designed to regulate itself. Smearing chemicals all over it wrecks its own built-in processes, and screws with naturally balanced pH levels. This made sense to me and I thought I'd give it a shot for a month.

At the beginning of February 2010, I blogged about the results I'd seen so far. I didn't stink at all (confirmed by friends, family and random people I ended up sitting next to on various forms of public transit), my skin felt better, oily and dry patches had all but disappeared and the light dandruff I'd had my entire life was almost gone. I was pleased with the results of my month experiment and decided I'd run with it for a while longer. As of January 1, 2011: it's been a year now, and I can't imagine ever going back.

More on the results I've seen: As I just mentioned, my skin feels better than ever before. Not that it ever felt bad, really, but it feels awesome now. Still no stink at all, I swear even when I'm really active and sweating I don't notice any B.O., and I used to be über self-conscious about this and would think I was stinking if I walked up a flight of stairs too quickly. So this is a huge improvement for sure. And with the exception of changing climates drastically, even the dandruff is history. My previously wavy and mostly unmanageable hair now seems much more willing to bend to my will, a dream of mine since I first looked in a mirror, brush in hand, then tried and failed to make any sense of that monster. So I approve for sure.

And speaking of hair, that was actually a perfect test. Sometime mid-summer I stopped by a barber and before I'd realized it he'd squirted a glob of shampoo onto my head. It was too late to protest, so I just sat through the scrubbing. For the following 2 weeks my hair was a mess: full of dandruff and totally uncontrollable. Once things balanced back out to the previously established no-soap norms, all was good again.

Unexpected bonus: travel is much easier. Now that I'm not lugging shampoo and conditioner with me on the road, there's that much less for TSA to hassle me about and more room in my luggage (which I quickly filled with coffee stuff, natch). Not that I always carried lots of liquid toiletries with me, but now I don't even have to think about what the hotel I'm going to might provide, or worry about having to borrow something from a friend until I can get to a store and buy my own stuff. Those details are gone. I love it.

The future? I will definitely be sticking with this. I'm still annoyed it took me 35 years to learn what I clearly already knew as a baby kicking and screaming when my parents tried to wash my hair. At least that's what I want to assume I knew back then. I know now, but I'd still rather not think about how much I spent on soap and shampoo and related products over the years when they were likely causing all the problems I was trying to protect against.

If you don't believe me, you can totally smell me when you see me in public. Really. Just ask. It won't be weird at all. Okay, maybe a little bit.
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http://boingboing.net/2011/01/04/i-havent-used-soap-i.html

Them dudes at Neogaf saying they been doing this and have no smell at all :ohhh:

i might try it though :patrice:
 
Larry Lobster

Larry Lobster

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Just reporting in with some anecdotal evidence.

Haven't used shampoo or any product to wash my hair for months now (just water in the shower) and have only been using 100% olive oil soap on my armpits, groin and ass, and nothing on the rest of the body... and coincidentally I've also been having the most sex (with different partners) during the same period, and I only hear compliments from everyone I've slept with about the smoothness of my skin and hair, and the smell of my body.

Seriously the amount of compliments and fawning I'm receiving is insane.
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:ehh:
 
jfkennedy

jfkennedy

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One of the first comments on there

Here’s a very basic explanation why we use soap from Larry Chaffin, an Undergraduate in Microbiology, Columbus:

“We use soap to clean ourselves because water alone would be ineffective by itself. Our skin produce oils which dirt and other things such as bacteria can get trapped in. Because the chemical properties of water and oil are different in that the two cannot be mixed together so water alone cannot remove the oil and trapped dirt. Soaps have chemical properties that can mix with both oil and water. Soap has a chain-like structure that allows one end of it to bind to the oil and the other end to water molecules. This allows the oil that contains dirt to be removed and washed away. It is the chemical properties of soap that makes it effective in cleaning ourselves. Warm and hot water help the soap to work faster in breaking up the oils and dirt. One important thing about soap is that not only does it remove the dirt and oil from our skin, but it also helps remove bacteria that can be harmful and cause illness.
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Lewis Black

Lewis Black

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LarryLobster said:
http://boingboing.net/2011/01/04/i-havent-used-soap-i.html

Them dudes at Neogaf saying they been doing this and have no smell at all :ohhh:

i might try it though :patrice:
Click to expand...

Dudes at neogaf probably look like this too breh

luZHsEQw-M4.jpg


2233305.jpg


I would not take any social advice from these dudes.
 
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