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  • LAVA Moderator: Shinji Ikari

Soap free?

fizzle said:
Keep in mind, historically people wore lots of perfumes and carried flowers and things with them because water was all they had to bathe with... they didnt have chemicals for soaps, or all this fake stuff in their food and they still felt the need to cover up the smells... I understand using natural soaps, but I also definitely understand the use of soap in the first place.
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They also didn't have filtered water to bathe with... We have, today, among the cleanest water the world has ever seen. Only when it is filtered, though. Also, what works for some doesn't work for everyone. Some people honestly desperately need soap, for whatever bodily or hygiene issues they are experiencing.
 
I'll be perfectly frank: I think not using ANY soap is gross.

I think the guy in the article Chrissie posted is sadly misguided. But what does the author know? The poor guy probably grew up being bathed in industrial surfactants as most westerners are, unfortunately. The answer ought not be so extreme.

Smearing chemicals all over it wrecks its own built-in processes, and screws with naturally balanced pH levels.
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When made properly, natural soap should be pH neutral. The proportion of Alkali to oil is such that by the end of the reaction NEITHER are left (although most soap-makers adjust the formula so as to leave a tiny bit of unreacted oil as conditioner - but that's a personal preference).

And what soap does is that it envelopes all the grime on the body and makes it easier to wash off, resulting in NEITHER soap NOR grime.

With that said, I can only imagine the accumulation of water-insoluble grime seriously messing up the skin's natural pH balance!

Sorry if I drag too much on the natural soap argument... it's just that, even before making my own, as one of a Palestinian background, I grew up with the natural soap that is a well-known product of that culture ("Nabulsi") and see no virtue in arguing against soap. I mean REAL soap.
 
I suppose what this is turning into is a discussion against your commercially made, synthetic soaps. However, after not using any soap for three days, I feel a little oily, but it's not at all a bad thing! Some people who have dry skin might not need as much soap or any at all. I guess it all depends on the person. That being said, I'm finding that even with an all natural shampoo and soap bar to use, I hardly need to suds up, unless I have been exercising or been exposed to weather conditions / working conditions that would warrant the need for soap.

For those people with very oily skin, they might need to use soap and shampoo more often. And by often, I mean once a day, maximum. But isn't it silly how our skin seems to be dry now with the use of (albeit, synthetic) soap and we need to compensate with lotion? I think the more we use something, the less of value it becomes to us. In this case, the more we use soap and shampoo, it seems the more likely it is for us to develop a flaky scalp or dry skin in the process.

Now we have a bit of a dilemma: how much is just enough, how much is too little and how much is excessive?
 
Even if you can't make your own soap, you can still buy natural soap at health-food stores. Failing that, you can find it at stores than cater to Mid-Easterners.

The excessive oily skin will not get any better. You may even start getting acne and all that crap. After all, the MAIN reason people wash with soap is to disinfect (after all it is bacteria that causes B.O.). Clean, purified water will neither kill bacteria nor clean oily grime.

To me, excess is anything that involves "I will never..." :).
 
I don't use soap often on my body, except my armpits and nether regions. No oily grime but we probably have different skin types.

poopie - I just did a price comparison of the soap nuts vs "environmentally friendly" laundry detergents and they're cheaper. How well did they work? Why did you stop using them?
 
Jamshyd said:


The excessive oily skin will not get any better.
.
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Actually, you'd be surprised. I just "washed" my face with water and rubbed with my hands and my face doesn't feel oily at all now. And how would you know that excessively oily skin doesn't get better? Have you a story to share that you haven't yet? You cannot say that it doesn't get better unless you have your own experience or the closely monitored indirect experience of another person to compare.

Moreover, there are other ways of "removing' oil from areas of your body than by soap alone. A good scrubbing with your hands will successfully rub the oil off the area in suggestion. I can tell you this from personal experience since I just did it.
 
You do realize that your skin remains oily, even if you don't feel like a Turkish Wrestler? :D. Being oily is a quality of the skin itself, not a description of how it feels to you.

And the reason I insist is that "scrubbing with your hands" merely spreads the oil.

It is a fact of science - no wait, actually of poetry too! - that oil and water don't mix, and that no amount of water will completely remove oil the way soap removes oil. In fact, your body relies on a primitive sort of soap (bile) in order to be able to digest fats.
 
But some amount of natural oils is a good thing. I use an exfoliating washcloth often. That, coupled with hot water and toweling afterwards, seems to do a good job removing the dead skin and excess oil.

If I'm physically dirty or smelly I will use soap but otherwise I'm not sure the reason to remove those oils if my body skin is soft, doesn't look or feel oily, isn't broken out and doesn't smell.
 
on not using toothpaste

dont our teeth need fluoride, something baking soda doesnt have?
 
The most important part of cleaning your teeth is the actual act of brushing / flossing to remove food particles from rotting in your mouth and destroying your teeth and gums.

Fluoride is said to prevent tooth decay but it isn't a necessary ingredient in toothpaste. You may already be consuming it regularly because many sources of tap water are fluoridated. However, studies are being released that show no relationship between fluoride and tooth decay.
 
Xissie: Hence,

Jamshyd said:
(although most soap-makers adjust the formula so as to leave a tiny bit of unreacted oil as conditioner - but that's a personal preference).
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That, and the fact that the skin will "re-oil" itself as soon as you're done bathing.


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I really don't understand why such strong resistance to natural soap by many people here who appear to never have tried it. Until you've tried it, your idea of "soap" is very, very skewed, and actually consists of Sodium Lauryl Sulphate and other such industrial chemicals that are not soaps (ie. saponated fatty-acids).

Does the mere mention of lye scare people off? I won't say a lot more on the matter, but as we're on BL I'll assume most of you are familiar with GHB and many of you have actually swallowed it, let alone merely washed with it. That's all.
 
The soap I use (when I use it) right now is natural ;)
http://www.indigowild.com/products/natural-soap/


I agree that it is much nicer than your average soap but not all natural soaps are created equal! My first were handmade by friends and left my skin feeling dry and tight, no better than cheap bar soap. My favorites so far have been the goats milk soap above and South of France French-milled vegetable oil soap.
 
My currently chosen bar soap (as Chrissie says, when I use it)

http://puresoapworks.com/pumice.htm

The one I used before this current one:

http://www.evitamins.com/product.asp?pid=6336

After not using soap or shampoo for five days, I think my skin is finally getting used to the tiny bit of extra oil. I got so used to my skin always being very very dry that the extra oil made me feel disgusting and gross. Things are working out better now, though I think I might eventually just use shampoo and / or soap every three days or four.
 
Chrissie, they seemed to work okay. My BF was kinda anti, and I got lazy.

I use Arm and Hammer now on my clothes. Feh.

They're really simple to use though, just throw the nuts in a muslin bag and then throw that into the wash. I didn;t check on 'em, so I have no idea how sudsy things got in there.
 
Jamshyd said:
The excessive oily skin will not get any better. You may even start getting acne and all that crap. After all, the MAIN reason people wash with soap is to disinfect (after all it is bacteria that causes B.O.). Clean, purified water will neither kill bacteria nor clean oily grime.

To me, excess is anything that involves "I will never..." :).
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while i am still "pro soap!" i disagree that the oil won't go away...i grew up with perpetually oily hair and skin. i couldn't wash my hair in the evening, or else it was oily by mid morning. after reading that the scalp and skin creates more oils with more washings, i kind of trained my hair by just dealing and going two days without washings, utilizing ugly pony tails despite my horror at it's appearance. a year or so later, out of nowhere, i could go days, and now my issue is dryness. i have to moisturize certain parts of my scalp deeply to prevent flakiness.

the skin will stop overproducing oils if not overwashed. although, i kinda like the fact my face is still oily, i am looking forward to another 10 years of shock that i am "no way older than 29" =D not fixing that oily part.
 
As per updating this thread (and providing experimental findings), I have not used soap or shampoo in over a week, and have not used deodorant in four days. I don't stink at all; my hair is still a bit oily, but it is not as bad as it was the first few days. I'm really enjoying my showers a bit more now that I'm not rushed to get through shampoo, soap and shaving. Moreover, there is a little bit of BO coming from my armpits, but it doesn't smell horrifically bad. It has that sweaty smell, but it's *very* tolerable. You wouldn't know that I haven't "showered" or used deodorant in that long.
 
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