For January I tried an experiment. No soap when washing myself.
Here are my results & thoughts:
- The first week or so is the worst. My body was obviously flushing something out. I don’t know what, but it smelt pretty bad. I had a lot of showers per day.
- The first couple of weeks I also got quite a few blocked pores, but they went away too.
- Even with a very active lifestyle, it’s actually quite manageable. I started by using no deoderant (I wanted to know what was going on), but ended up using an eau de toilette under my arms. There wasn’t a strong negative smell, I just preferred it to myself. Oh, I hate my body smell, quelle horror. Not really, just a minor preference.
- Interestingly, my (very slight) eczema flared up a bit when my body was detoxing, initially, then calmed right down, went away & hasn’t come back at all.
- When I get out of the shower I’m actually drier. As with the toxin flushing, I suspect that even using a very light soap & rinsing well leaves enough of a film that a) toxins can’t naturally flush & b) water gets trapped on the surface rather than naturally being absorbed
- I’ve also stopped using shampoo. Hair feels fine. There’s a little grease when I run my hand through my hair, but I figure that’s just healthy natural oils. It’s certainly never been too oily, not like when I was using shampoo. My scalp is great.
- It’s really easy to be lazy & just stand under the shower, but it’s important to rub your hands over your body, same as if you’re using soap – particularly on high sweat areas – thighs, chest, armpits, back.
- Ears. Ears are weird. In ears & behind ears? Couldn’t keep those clean without soap. I don’t think I have particularly dirty ears (unless they’re running off while I’m asleep), I suspect it’s just a function of the way ears are (you know, waxy & all)
pic by jciv
By the end of the month, I’d settled on using soap in the following circumstances:
- Before preparing food (duh)
- After bathroom (see? not a complete philistine)
- To wash extreme amounts of grease/grime/etc off my hands, or, for example, after vigorously rubbing my scalp to keep my hair/scalp clean
- In high sweat areas if there was strong smell or I felt compelled to (after super heavy exercise) – so, that’d be arse, groin, armpits, oh, & the ever magical ear. Even then, I’m using the lightest amounts possible, and very rarely, maybe once a week
Given that my skin is my largest organ (ooerr), & obviously there was something unhealthy being blocked by using soap, I’m very happy to continue with the above plan. That pretty much works for me.
Oh, & for bubble baths? All rules are off 
[earlier post: The No Soap Experiment]
February 13, 2010 – 07:49
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By Si
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Posted in health
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Ever heard that saying “What you resist persists”?
Ahh yes.
I’ve noticed a few patterns in my life recently.
In general, I’ve spent the last few years on a bit of a spiritual journey. Clearing out, well, pretty much everything.
The downside to this is, as I’ve got clearer, what remaining crap is there has echoed stronger & more …
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I’m not really a fan of New Year’s resolutions. How many do you end up keeping?
However, a new year’s experiment – where you try something new, just for January? Ahh, that’s awesome.
So, a few years back I read a book a day for all of Jan. That was.. entertaining, although I didn’t do much else …
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January 4, 2010 – 04:00
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By Si
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Posted in health
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Now, from a title like that, you may be thinking I’m talking about those lifetime events that mark our place in history – ala Bill Gates selling DOS to IBM, or Lawn Chair Larry.
No, I’m talking about the moments that define our character, and as a result, ultimately us as human beings.
It breaks down like …
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One of the toughest things about healing is this. Half the time we know something is wrong, but can’t put our finger on exactly what the hell is going on.
Why?
Because our mind/ego has a delightful trait of trying to protect us by hiding things from our consciousness.
This is why people get selective amnesia (in extreme …
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November 20, 2009 – 02:37
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By Si
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Posted in healing
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Two interesting things happened to me this week.
The first, let’s call “Event X”, was that someone made me very, very angry. There’s no value in getting into the specifics, but I’ve wracked my brain & been unable to come up with a worse thing that anyone has ever done to me. There probably is, I …
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I was at a friend’s place having a coffee when I saw the weirdest thing (to help you out, I circled it):
Can you see it? Nope, neither could I, at the start.
However, we’d been watching the cat (a delightful Burmese). The cat had seen something interesting, so we were curious what it was. Usually this …
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October 24, 2009 – 05:10
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By Si
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Posted in fun, life
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Nobody has their shit together, or has all the answers. No matter how much they pretend otherwise.
This, of course, includes me.
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September 23, 2009 – 03:07
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By Si
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Posted in life
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I had a realisation recently.
Fundamentally, the only person that has any control over how I feel is me.
I choose how I feel.
So, any time I feel bad due to someone else’s actions, I know that’s just a pain body reacting. That’s just my ego, getting in the way, hurting me, wanting me to feel pain.
Therefore, …
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Ever catch yourself doing something really stupid? You watch it happening in slow motion, yet can’t seem to stop yourself going right ahead and doing it?
Now, there’s a ton of things that fit under the heading of ’stupid’, ahh, and by goodness, I’ve done a lot of them.
What I’d like to talk about today is …
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