Most my adult life I’ve used Ivory (usually bars), or Dr Bronners (liquid) with a handful of other things at random. The only wash I like besides those would be the Kiehl’s Musk wash, but I’m slightly interested in abandoning soap altogether except for the nasty bits.
The forgotten joy of soap
51–60 of 218 posts
Re: The forgotten joy of soap
#52I stopped washing with soap 6 years ago and never looked back. For the first month, my skin was so greasy all the time that it felt like I'd been wearing the same clothes for a week, just an hour after putting them on, but then my skin finally adjusted to the new normal. My skin is soft - much too soft for a man of my age, according to my wife. I have no body odor, even after a heavy workout where I'm still covered i…
> For the first month, my skin was so greasy all the time (...), but then my skin finally adjusted to the new normal. Do we know the scientific explanation for this? What makes the skin change its oil production levels?
My guess would be that my skin was used to having all its natural oils washed off regularly, and had compensated by overproducing oil. Once I stopped washing the natural oils off, it took awhile for it to readjust.
Re: The forgotten joy of soap
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
What you're interpreting as "clean feeling" is likely stripping your skin of its protective oils. That's why we (doctors) don't recommend soaps as a general rule. That oil is there for a reason.
Would doctors recommend using nothing at all, just warm water, for e.g. showering or bathing (not talking washing hands after changing diapers or so)? Or why not? It seems to be hard to find actual studies about the effects. In fact I have yet to find one, might be my search skills are lacking. From anecdotal experiments I don't see much difference and no negative effects. I don't like the smell anyway, my skin nor h…
In general people should probably bathe less than they do in Western nations. I'm also not aware of any specific studies. Warm water is generally enough, except perhaps in areas that are prone to odour (armpits, groin, etc.).
Bathing is more a social issue than a health issue.
Re: The forgotten joy of soap
#54I use the Mysore Sandal Soap[0] made by a hundred year old company. I have very oily skin so the traditional bar of soap works like nothing else.
Re: The forgotten joy of soap
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
> For the first month, my skin was so greasy all the time (...), but then my skin finally adjusted to the new normal. Do we know the scientific explanation for this? What makes the skin change its oil production levels?
My guess would be that my skin was used to having all its natural oils washed off regularly, and had compensated by overproducing oil. Once I stopped washing the natural oils off, it took awhile for it to readjust.
That makes sense, but I'm wondering how it does that.
Re: The forgotten joy of soap
#56I once had a bar of Greek olive soap that left a very slight oil-like residue on my skin after use, and I totally loved how that felt. I'm not quite sure why the soap was that way; maybe the oil hadn't saponified completely or something. The bar looked perfectly normal though, dark green with maybe a slight transparent quality to it (it was long ago, my memory may be slightly incorrect). I have never found such a soa…
Probably made from basically just olive oil, something like https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Pure-Traditional-Olive-Soap/dp/B...
Re: The forgotten joy of soap
#57I once had a bar of Greek olive soap that left a very slight oil-like residue on my skin after use, and I totally loved how that felt. I'm not quite sure why the soap was that way; maybe the oil hadn't saponified completely or something. The bar looked perfectly normal though, dark green with maybe a slight transparent quality to it (it was long ago, my memory may be slightly incorrect). I have never found such a soa…
Probably made from basically just olive oil, something like https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Pure-Traditional-Olive-Soap/dp/B...
I have tried several olive-oil-only soaps since then, but no luck.
Re: The forgotten joy of soap
#58I use Dr. Bronners, love the stuff. Cheap, high quality, and dilute, dilute, OK!
Re: The forgotten joy of soap
#59This may be a very cool hipster topic and I don't want to disregard the art and skills involved with concocting a great line of soap bars... However, soap bars are not particularly hygienic. This is due to the fact that
[1] they are shared between people in the wash basin and the shower or tub
[2] they are used repeatedly but in reusing it, the user is potentially exposed to old grime and bacteria.
Re: The forgotten joy of soap
#60I thought for a moment this was going to be about SOAP - don't remember there being much joy to forget with that!