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Anyone stop using soap/shampoo or bathe infrequently?

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uisgdlyast

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So I originally decided to ask this after about a 6 week stint I did not bathing, I was an addict and didn't see the point. Now some people will think this is gross and that I probably smelled, but the truth is after awhile stopped smelling bad. I attribute this to the fact that when you bathe regularly you are removing the bacteria from your skin, giving the "bad" bacteria time to grow and stink you up. I notice that when I shower I will smell, if I use deoderant I have to keep using it or I'll smell, but if enough time elapses and I rinse the stink off with water, my natural good bacteria seems to take over and I'm fine. Same with brushing my teeth, I have bad breath if I brush everyday, but if I don't all I need to do is rinse with water and I'm fine.
I think a lot has to do with your diet too, bacteria goes in an anaerobic state (fermentation) when they have simple sugars and no oxygen (your skin "breathes", so there is less oxygen, especially underarms since you keep them closed more often), so cut back on the simple sugars, your apocrine sweat glands excrete fats that bacteria breaks down into smelly substances, so limit animal fats. Same with mouth bacteria, if you eat right you'll cut down on plaque, etc.

You gotta think about it, people didn't bathe everyday until like the 1950's and I'm sure they wor clothing multiple times before washing it. We've sensitized ourselves to body odor more, some countries I doubt people bathe once a month and probably just with water. I've read about how shampoo removes all your natural oil, making your body work harder to make oil, making your hair look more oily until you shower, but if your body produces the natural amount of oil it won't look oily. Your feet smell because they're covered in shoes, damp and dark, if you never wear shoes your feet will stop smelling, mine only smell in the winter when I wear boots, in the summer in flip-flops they dont.
I knew a few homeless kids who probably didn't shower that much, they never smelled (a few did but probably because they were extra dirty). One had super long hair, never looked greasy or dirty.

Of course now I bathe more, but I've been thinking about cutting out soap/shampoo to get y natural bacteria going again.
So what are your thoughts? Is our over-use of hygiene products actually causing us to smell bad? Does soap/shampoo actually dry us out even more, requiring us to use them? Is our processed food diet just feeding the bacteria on our skin?
My cat has never had a bath in 20yrs and doesn't smell, but she doesn't sweat either.
 
i think people long ago used to smell bad all the time. I think after a while you won't notice anymore because you are getting used to it. But i've been around people who have no hygiene and they can smell so horribly bad you wonder how they could not notice. No matter how addicted i became to anything i never stopped showering. I enjoy feeling clean. You should wash your cat as well, probably once a month at least.
 
Yea I think you just stop smelling yourself. When you shower, you then get used to not stinking, smell yourself, and think that you started stinking from the shower. I do not have experience with this though, just speculation. Also, your cat bathes intself with its tongue. But if you dont mind....KEEP STINKIN'!!
 
I only use shampoo once every few weeks. I couldn't imagine not using sap to wash my body though, since I smell bad after just one day.
 
I agree with a previous poster. You've stopped smelling yourself and have grown used to the stink.

Also your next dental bill will be astronomical if you continue to 'rinse with water'. :\
 
You have obviously never owned a dog. Or sat next to a homeless guy on a crowded train.

What exactly is "extra dirty"? Two extra days of not showering? One more layer of sweat soaked clothing? If you think people didn't smell 100 yr ago then how do you explain the history of perfume? The reason brides carry flowers stems from way back then when the only way to cover a bad body odour was with flowers and scents such as musk.

I am a dentist and despite doing my job for close to 20 years I have still not gotten used to smelling someones rancid breath who has not brushed their teeth for over a week. At least the money you will save on spending time with your friends can be spent on denture.
 
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Humans are among the smelliest animals on the planet. Bathe. Please. At least every other day, and after heavy exertion. Both soap and water.

Shampoo, on the other hand, is not as necessary as one might think. Daily (at least) rinsing with copious water, along with a baking soda + cider vinegar rinse every couple of days, holds me in good stead. It took a week or so for my hair to stop making buckets of grease, and it seems to have leveled off to a point where my curls are happy, healthy and soft but not greasy. It's not for everyone -- people who straighten their hair daily probably won't do well without adding product every day, which necessitates regular shampooing -- but it's not tough to try.
 
Personally, apart from the obvious personal hygiene upkeep necessary to live in society with other people, I love having showers and baths, with lots of lovely smelling bubbles and the occasional spritz of perfume. It's enjoyable and satisfying to feel fresh and clean. If people have an issue with soap there are a lot of soap free cleaning products around.

I can never get my head around people who don't shower or bathe regularly because they never seem to come up with a decent reason why ... I mean there are people in the world who can't wash themselves, some elderly, disabled or frail people and need assistance - I used to help a lady with her lifestyle activities when I was at uni and she loved having a hot shower and having her hair done, it used to really upset her that she couldn't do it herself. I really think it's a bit wrong for a perfectly able bodied person to have bad personal hygiene.

Hair washing is another story. We wash our hair way too often as a society - I have shoulder length hair and wash it 2-3 times a week and if anything, it styles much better when it's not absolutely clean.

Bodies need a lot of washing and maintenance. Not doing that just means nobody wants to be around you very long and who could blame them? Imagine being a doctor or nurse or hairdresser who didn't bathe?
 
I'm all for being pensive and thinky about topics, but this one is pretty straight forward.

Bathe. Do it.
 
You smelled, all right--but you didn't smell it. If it's too constant, that's the kind of background stimulus your brain's going to screen out. That's why people could go out on U-boat patrols for weeks or even months and come back with no idea that they smelled like diesel-soaked corpses.

For my part, the fresh-scrubbed feeling I get stepping out of the shower is one of life's little pleasures, especially right before bed.
 
Busty St Clare said:
You have obviously never owned a dog. Or sat next to a homeless guy on a crowded train.

What exactly is "extra dirty"? Two extra days of not showering? One more layer of sweat soaked clothing? If you think people didn't smell 100 yr ago then how do you explain the history of perfume? The reason brides carry flowers stems from way back then when the only way to cover a bad body odour was with flowers and scents such as musk.

I am a dentist and despite doing my job for close to 20 years I have still not gotten used to smelling someones rancid breath who has not brushed their teeth for over a week. At least the money you will save on spending time with your friends can be spent on denture.
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This.

I don't know where you live but every spring in Richmond we get a massive influx of train people that wander around the city until August or so. Well, they're bums that ride the rails, Great Depression-style. You can smell them (and their dogs) from blocks away.

Take a shower man. I've gone a few days without showering and yeah, its nice to save water and everything...but in this society...you gotta keep yourself somewhat clean. Even if it is showering/bathing every other day. You don't have to wash your hair every day either. Brushing your teeth is another thing entirely. And by "another thing entirely" I mean...brush your goddamn teeth.
 
even when i was one of those "dirty kids" i still showered in shelters at least every three to four days. i now shower every other day if i have shit to do. anything - just going to the store or whatever. i can go for longer without washing my hair because it is thick for a white girl and i apply a lot of heat to it. i cannot stand to brush my teeth any less than at least once a day. however, when i am depressed and unemployed and in that rabbithole of just staying inside, i can go for six days without showering. it's depressing in itself but when there is no reason? apathy sets in.
 
I shower daily. However, I stopped washing my hair every day, and switch it up to once every 3 or 4 days. My hair is so much softer, and never really smells either. It's one thing not to wash your hair, but definitely shower or bathe once a day, body odor is disgusting when it's potent as hell.
 
Don't forget that clothes hold in the smell of stench. More often than not, it might be the person's clothing stench you smell instead of the person's body. The body is meant to rid itself of toxins in the body, coming out as body odor. When you go into any body of water, what is on the skin is washed away. Of course, there is still some bacteria on the skin, which produces a light odor, but for the most part, a lot of the stench gets washed away even without soap.

I personally only use soap once a month or so and usually it's so I can rub away any dry skin. My hair, on the other hand, gets washed with Dr. Bronner's every other day.
 
After 6 months of doing a ridiculous amount of oxycontin, I definitely noticed that I was showering only 2-3 times a week. Every since I was young I've always showered twice a day or more, so this was very unusual. I think I was just gradually getting more worn down and exhausted physically and mentally that basic everyday things were just too much work. I wasn't eating, sleeping, or taking care of myself.

That being said, I also noticed that I didn't sweat really and that my hair and skin didn't get oily the way it normally would get without regular showers. I think that was more due to the oxy than from not showering though. And I still washed my face, brushed my hair and teeth, changed my clothes, applied deodorant etc.

While it's true that excessive washing can lead to more oily hair, I would just suggest going easy on the shampoo/bodywash instead of abstaining completely. I definitely do not recommend not practicing proper hygiene... For health reasons and also because I've smelled some foul people.. Yeek.

This is 2012, not the 1800s at least. In Rome centuries ago they used scented oils instead of bathing. Can you imagine?
 
I have wondered this myself. I hear that meat makes you smell bad too. I know garlic makes me smell worse sometimes. But if you don't want to shower then don't! Fuck society and it's damn standards of how people are "suppose" to live. Different shampoos and soaps have caused my skin so many problems with all the unknown chemicals corporations put into their products, they work against what my body is trying to do. But I know there are natural things you can use that aren't harsh and so invasive. Yucca root is a good shampoo and olive oil is a great conditioner. Good luck!
 
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