My new experiment

[purbeast0]

a lot of disgusting people in this thread.

 

[rasczak]

OP will smell like a garbage dump by the fourth day.

 

[sourn]

"Nature does not "know best" or we wouldnt be living longer and healthier now than we did 50, 100, 500 years ago."

Way to look at the short term of things. You do realize since we do live longer now it really only makes things worse. And nature will eventually take it's due course in correcting in the problem through some type of outbreak that wipes out a shit load of people.

Now you maybe thinking I'm a conspiracy nut or w/e I don't care. It's not if it's when it's gonna happen. And when actually look at how viruses work quarantine is laughable all because we have advanced so much more. I just hope it's some type of rabbis virus that turns people into zombie like creatures.

With that said. I feel like absolute shit if I have to go a day without a really nice hot shower (with soap and shampoo lol). And like others have said just because you get desensitized to it doesn't mean everybody else does.

Otherwise why would afghan people smell like shit (not all obviously, but if you go to/been to afghan you'd understand specially if you ever been around one that takes his shoes off omfg that stench will knock you on your ass.) Amish people tend to be stinky to though a lot of them arn't to bad anymore.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Societal norms ftw.

 

[clamum]

I think I'm gonna use soap less often myself actually. I'm still gonna shampoo (or maybe use conditioner) my hair cause if I used only water it would be greasy as fuck, but my skin is so frickin dry, especially now in winter, that it probably would help.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

i think you should be required to post a picture of yourself so I know how dirty/greasy you are before the experiment starts.

 

[Oyeve]

You do realize that humans have been using soap for thousands of years, be it berry juice or llama piss, it has been done. The concept of modern day soap is the same.

In short, was your ass with some soap boy!

 

[Fritzo]

I've been doing this for awhile. I use soap when I'm actually filthy, or when I wash my hands. I rarely wash/condition my hair. Maybe once or twice a month. I vigorously clean it with water and my hands though every day. I coincidentally have very nice hair. I have curly hair and it doesn't really get frizzy unless I mess with it. It's been working fine for me for a few years and I get compliments on my hair and smell.

When I first decided to stop acid washing myself with 100 soaps every day my body/hair produced a lot of oil and I felt gross. If you just taper off with your products you will be fine, its an adjustment. Now I can go for 2-3 weeks without my hair feeling the least bit greasy, despite looking very healthy and being very soft.

I use normal deodorant though.

I believe that's the opposite of what most people would experience.

Soap is one of the reasons society was able to advance. It kills bacteria and viruses. Not using soap is likely to make you more susceptible to getting sick and spreading disease.

Not to mention all those bacteria feasting on dead skin/excretions and laying their waste all over you. I suspect even if you rinse off frequently, you'll get a nice cheesy smell withing a week or two.

 

[lxskllr]

Soap is one of the reasons society was able to advance. It kills bacteria and viruses. Not using soap is likely to make you more susceptible to getting sick and spreading disease.

Soap doesn't really kill anything. It makes water wetter, so it removes particles better. I wouldn't associate soap use with anything in particular. I think our longer/better lives have more to do with municipal sanitation, and medical advances than anything.

 

[JM Aggie08]

I don't see how $10 every couple of months ($5 soap, $5 shampoo) is really putting you out that much, OP.

It's a very small price to pay to smell fresh, IMO.

 

[Fritzo]

Soap doesn't really kill anything. It makes water wetter, so it removes particles better. I wouldn't associate soap use with anything in particular. I think our longer/better lives have more to do with municipal sanitation, and medical advances than anything.

Soap also oxidizes the area, which kills microorganisms.

 

[destrekor]

Here's the thing:


no matter what you do, if you give up the accepted standards of soap and shampoos, and resort to some hippy/tree-hugging approach of less soaps, less water, less frequent cleansing in general, or something to that effect - you will piss off all of us! And deserve every ounce of ridicule you may get. And also deserve to be tossed off bridges, barges, boats, sidewalks... into rivers, lakes, creeks, ponds, especially large puddles... until your beloved nature removes enough of herself and her stink from your dirty self as to not scare off any normal human in your vicinity and/or offend our delicate sensory organs!


Honestly, if practiced correctly, it may make for a more healthy self. You may contribute to a better oil balance, end up less likely suffering swings of extreme dry skin, weak hair, etc... but you will, no doubt, reek to a degree previously reserved for wet and mangy feral humans, or any animal for that matter.

Our natural products, and natural sweat gland production, are most efficient and best for us with only minimal cleansing, best achieved by, naturally, jumping into a body of water and possibly using some kind of scrubbing motion or vigorous rinse-cycle approach while moving about water in either relaxation or hunting/escaping. Soaps and everything are, if you handle yourself appropriately, rather unnecessary to remain healthy.

That is not to say that should ever be the case today. As has been mentioned, we are a social animal, and we surround ourselves with other members of our species routinely.
We don't want to smell each other, we go to great lengths to mask our smells and/or remove our smells, and expect the same from others.

If we can get an entire local group/civilization to commit to minimal cleansing, and surrounded ourselves with like-minded individuals for eternity, we'd never notice the difference after some time, and may become oddly attracted to someone who just happened to, somehow, scrub themselves clean going about their water-based activities.

Ask anyone in the military - a bunch of guys who are around each other non stop, and may be forced to not bathe/rarely change out clothes for a week or longer, may at first notice a little bit of stank - but eventually it's something in that background that we stop noticing.

We adapt to the routine smells and, essentially, stop smelling them. Hell, even if every single human on Earth cleaned themselves daily, using the strongest soaps available, we'd still carry an odor noticeable by anyone not of the same group (any animal, or even a hermit who has ignored all of mankind for the past year). We stink even when we are clean, just none of us really have the ability to notice that base human smell anymore. Any animal can detect our presence pretty damn easily though by smell alone.


So with that said, since 99.9% of the time you will likely be around some human who is NOT practicing your approach to cleanliness, please give up your hippie approach and return to the land of normal. Our noses will surely thank you for it! 🙂

 

[destrekor]

Soap also oxidizes the area, which kills microorganisms.

Does it?

I always figured body soap was just like the basic hand soap - its most effective property is the fact that it creates lipid-based bubbles, that, through a good scrubbing/lathering action, will embed into the pores and all over the surface of the skin and not only grab, but entrap all microorganisms and particles that are encountered.

Just like anti-bacterial soap is simply worthless: in 30 seconds of regular scrubbing, regular soap will be just as effective as anti-bacterial soap, having trapped and rinsed away almost every nasty ah heck living on your hands.
It takes at least 90 seconds, I think closer to two minutes, for the main anti-bacterial chemical to actually do ITs job in the process of hand-washing. So all we do with that chemical is expose a lot of bugs to it, and possibly encourage them to evolve to become immune to it.

 

[RearAdmiral]

I believe that's the opposite of what most people would experience.

Soap is one of the reasons society was able to advance. It kills bacteria and viruses. Not using soap is likely to make you more susceptible to getting sick and spreading disease.

Not to mention all those bacteria feasting on dead skin/excretions and laying their waste all over you. I suspect even if you rinse off frequently, you'll get a nice cheesy smell withing a week or two.

Yea you do get a funk for the first few weeks, then it goes away after you adjust. I did say that I wash my hands with soap. I rarely get sick as I'm a pretty clean person. I wash with soaps when I'm actually dirty and I go out of my way to prevent spreading disease.

 

[Juddog]

I'm in the opposite direction - I wash myself with literally 4 different types of soaps during a shower, in addition to the shampoo. I like feeling clean.

Face, neck, ears: facial soap
Shoulders, neck again, underarms, belly, crotch: regular soap (non-anti-bacterial).
Crotch, ass, feet: soap with antibacterial agent
Crotch, ass, feet again: antifungal soap, with a few squirts of tilex in the bottle to increase the anti-fungal properties. I use a washcloth at this point to really give it a good scrub.
hair: shampoo (I avoid shampoo on the weekends to rebuild the oil levels but still do the rest)

Afterwords I dry off with the towel, then stand in front of a fan for about 10 minutes to make sure I'm completely dry. As a follow up, I squirt listerine mouthwash on my feet to further inhibit any chance of fungus forming. Once completely dry, I use the alcohol based hand sanitizer (Purell), mixed with a small amount of rubbing alcohol, on my arse. After brushing, flossing, I gargle first with hydrogen peroxide (small amount), then follow up with listerine.

 

[Ferzerp]

I'm in the opposite direction - I wash myself with literally 4 different types of soaps during a shower, in addition to the shampoo. I like feeling clean.

Face, neck, ears: facial soap
Shoulders, neck again, underarms, belly, crotch: regular soap (non-anti-bacterial).
Crotch, ass, feet: soap with antibacterial agent
Crotch, ass, feet again: antifungal soap, with a few squirts of tilex in the bottle to increase the anti-fungal properties. I use a washcloth at this point to really give it a good scrub.
hair: shampoo (I avoid shampoo on the weekends to rebuild the oil levels but still do the rest)

Afterwords I dry off with the towel, then stand in front of a fan for about 10 minutes to make sure I'm completely dry. As a follow up, I squirt listerine mouthwash on my feet to further inhibit any chance of fungus forming. Once completely dry, I use the alcohol based hand sanitizer (Purell), mixed with a small amount of rubbing alcohol, on my arse. After brushing, flossing, I gargle first with hydrogen peroxide (small amount), then follow up with listerine.

Seek OCD treatment or rather speak to someone, who will potentially diagnose you with OCD and then seek treatment.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Adam Carolla says he does this. I will be interested to hear back from the OP. Personally I don't have skin issues and use mostly natural shampoo/body wash (Aveda and Burt's Bees), and wouldn't be inclined to stop using them, but it's interesting to hear what the results were.

 

[destrekor]

Yea you do get a funk for the first few weeks, then it goes away after you adjust. I did say that I wash my hands with soap. I rarely get sick as I'm a pretty clean person. I wash with soaps when I'm actually dirty and I go out of my way to prevent spreading disease.

Trust us - that funk doesn't go away, you only begin to ignore it. We still smell it every time we come across you.

People with bad odor rarely notice it after some time - everyone else does, and most people are too damn polite to say anything, though they do demonstrate key signs you may see if you open your eyes: wrinkling of noses, a sense of urgency in their behavior that suggests they really want to be somewhere else as soon as they can get through business with/near you, etc. If in a crowded area, there may be a bit of space around you that few others have the opportunity to enjoy.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Seek OCD treatment or rather speak to someone, who will potentially diagnose you with OCD and then seek treatment.

If Juddog is serious, I agree. It's actually hazardous to use anti-bacterial cleaning agents so often - your immune system benefits from some exposure to bacteria.

 

[Ferzerp]

If Juddog is serious, I agree. It's actually hazardous to use anti-bacterial cleaning agents so often - your immune system benefits from some exposure to bacteria.

I almost edited to clarify that it wasn't a joke post. It isn't a joke post.

 

[destrekor]

I'm in the opposite direction - I wash myself with literally 4 different types of soaps during a shower, in addition to the shampoo. I like feeling clean.

Face, neck, ears: facial soap
Shoulders, neck again, underarms, belly, crotch: regular soap (non-anti-bacterial).
Crotch, ass, feet: soap with antibacterial agent
Crotch, ass, feet again: antifungal soap, with a few squirts of tilex in the bottle to increase the anti-fungal properties. I use a washcloth at this point to really give it a good scrub.
hair: shampoo (I avoid shampoo on the weekends to rebuild the oil levels but still do the rest)

Afterwords I dry off with the towel, then stand in front of a fan for about 10 minutes to make sure I'm completely dry. As a follow up, I squirt listerine mouthwash on my feet to further inhibit any chance of fungus forming. Once completely dry, I use the alcohol based hand sanitizer (Purell), mixed with a small amount of rubbing alcohol, on my arse. After brushing, flossing, I gargle first with hydrogen peroxide (small amount), then follow up with listerine.

Seek OCD treatment or rather speak to someone, who will potentially diagnose you with OCD and then seek treatment.

perfect case of OCD.


Here's a downer: when you wash yourself with anti-bacterial soap, do you scrub each spot for at least two full minutes?

If not, you have officially wasted time and money. Congrats!

Oh, actually you still wasted time and money - anti-bacterial soap accomplishes NOTHING that regular soap doesn't do in the first place. No point killing what's already being washed down the drain anyway. What do you think they're going to do: group up, make a revenge-based drain-dwelling society, and crawl up, raise an army, and hunt you down while you slumber?

😛



Personally:

I was fairly thoroughly, not every day though for oil reasons. If I for some reason must shower more than once a day, I like to refrain from washing the hair again, typically just rinsing under the showerhead. If I wash thoroughly daily, my dry skin gets insane and my hair feels terrible. It only becomes possible to work with at least some hours after a shower as it is, if I need to be dressed up immediately after showering I have to use some kind of styling pomade simply to not have poofy stiff hair.
I've realized, as long as I haven't been all that active, showing every other day, or once every three days, is actually best for me. If I've worked up a stink, I obviously need more. Summer time, even when lazy, it can be hard to not work up a stink. If I ran or otherwise exercised, I have to shower that day.

I might actually use soap on my face like, once a month, if that. I get terrible dry face on my skin if I actually use soap - it gets dry enough simply letting my face get soaked in the shower.
I typically keep my face clean simply by rinsing it in the shower, and in-between showers, splashing a little water on it a few times a day. This has worked out the best to keep my face clear.

All of this about dry-skin is especially true for the winter: in the summer, the rules seem to change. My hair may start laying flat after a shower fairly soon, and may feel wet for a fair length of time! A daily shower when I sweat a lot, and I may still avoid dry skin.
As it is now, I need daily super strong lotion on my knuckles just to avoid cracked bleeding skin. And that's without a daily shower (I go into winter mode and get lazy, not exercising much 😉)

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I almost edited to clarify that it wasn't a joke post. It isn't a joke post.

I didn't take it that you were joking - I was talking about Juddog (who also doesn't sound like he's joking, and who I agree sounds OCD).

 

[lxskllr]

I've started using shampoo on my face rather than soap. It keeps my goatee softer. Here's my new found soap joy. I got it for $1 at the local natural foods store, and it smells pretty good. My favorite is Grandpa's Pine Tar soap, but it's a little spendy for routine use.

 

[Ferzerp]

I didn't take it that you were joking - I was talking about Juddog (who also doesn't sound like he's joking, and who I agree sounds OCD).

Oh, I didn't misunderstand you. I wanted to make sure it was clear that I was being very serious, in addition to you being serious.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Trust us - that funk doesn't go away, you only begin to ignore it. We still smell it every time we come across you.

People with bad odor rarely notice it after some time - everyone else does, and most people are too damn polite to say anything, though they do demonstrate key signs you may see if you open your eyes: wrinkling of noses, a sense of urgency in their behavior that suggests they really want to be somewhere else as soon as they can get through business with/near you, etc. If in a crowded area, there may be a bit of space around you that few others have the opportunity to enjoy.

Yes it does. I don't smell. Unless my case is some insane outlier. Guess what happens after a vigorous workout? I smell. So I clean myself, then I don't smell. Also I don't have particularly active sweating going on as well.