si dawson

For January I tried an experiment. No soap when washing myself.

Here are my results & thoughts:

1. 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.
2. The first couple of weeks I also got quite a few blocked pores, but they went away too.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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:

1. Before preparing food (duh)
2. After bathroom (see? not a complete philistine)
3. 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
4. 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]

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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 with my time.

Then I tried eating no meat for January a couple of years later. That lasted about 3 days, until I realised I’d have to learn how to cook tofu (Eww! No thanks!) whereupon I discovered the raw food diet – no cooking, no tofu? I’m sold! Which was great, and extended out more or less continuously from there.

This year, based on reading this, & this, I thought I’d try washing with no soap or shampoo for all of January.

To paraphrase the theory, one reason we smell is because of bacteria on our skin, which is amped up when we strip natural oils etc out using soaps (which also leave a thin film of chemicals on our skin). Skin is something which is vastly underrated, but given that it’s our largest organ, we should probably consider a little more than we tend to.

There’s also a theory that you should never put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t eat. Since our skin is absorbent, I’ve gotta say, that holds a lot of water for me.

People that have done the “no soap” thing before say it takes a couple of weeks for your body to adjust. There’s a lot of flushing of toxins, plus your body getting used to not having to constantly replace the oils. After that, things hum along – clean shiny hair, glowing skin, etc etc.

Personally? I’ve gotta say I’m skeptical. I have some unusual skin. It’s very moist (a dermatologist once showed it to me under a microscope, saying it was the moistest skin she’d ever seen). I also have a hyperactive lifestyle – working out until physical exhaustion (ie, mega sweat+dirt) four times a week, & do occasionally get very slight patches of eczema if I’m under a lot of stress or don’t clean super well. I also find that my pores clog up a little if I miss a patch on my leg, say, when I’m cleaning (particularly after hard exercise).

These are all very minor things, but I suspect they’ll be exacerbated without soap.

Up until now I’ve found the best solution is to use a very mild, non perfumed soap. I also do dry skin brushing (when I remember, I’m a bit lazy on that front, I’ll admit), which helps slough off dead skin cells.

Of course, I’ll still use soap before food prep, after the bathroom, or if (like today) I get myself covered in oil up to the elbows. Best not to be a complete idiot & ignore all that science has discovered in the past 200 years.

Also, this does NOT mean no washing. Hell no. Just not using soap. I’ll still be scrubbing my body as if I were using soap – so that friction will help clean off dirt etc. I already use a nail brush (without soap) to scrub real tough grime out – eg grass stains on the bottom of my feet after training.

At present I’m a few days in, and definitely in that “argh” stage. I’m going to up the skin brushing a bit, & have more regular showers to help my skin flush away any crud that’s coming out.

By the end of January I should have enough data to make a definitive conclusion – for my own body at least. Up to you to figure it out for yourself!

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