What soap do you use?

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

That, good sir, would be Shampoo. For use on your hair, not your body.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Torture

That, good sir, would be Shampoo. For use on your hair, not your body.

What is wrong with just using the shampoo instead of soap? What benefits does "real" soap contribute? Shampoo is formulated to not strip your hairshafts of the natural oils that lubricate them so it makes sense for your hair. But for your skin, there's nothing really important there that you actually need soap. If I worked a dirty job like construction or I was a mechanic, etc. I would use an industrial soap for getting the grease out but for day to day life, I see no reason why shampoo cannot double as soap.

To be quite honest, I've never noticed the difference. If it's in the shower, I'll use it. If it makes suds, it's all the same to me. Just using the shampoo (and conditioner) for everything worked just fine and is also faster. I personally don't think bathing and using these substances is healthy anyway since we were never evolved to bath so often and it's totally counter-intuitive to strip your skin of it's essential oils with soap and then reapply it with moisturizers. We are a messed up modern society.

That said, I shower twice a day because hot water feels good, but often I don't use any soap or shampoo at all. Quite frankly, why would you need to unless you have actual dirt on your body that you really need the soap to emulsify and carry it away? In our ultra-hygenic world with our machine washed clothes and constantly vacuumed rooms and indoor lives...it doesn't make any sense unless you are a real athlete and just need to wash the sweat off your body.

Soap and shampoo are not really needed, much like toothpaste (my dentist confirms this). Water is all you need to stay healthy and clean. The rest is a lot of marketing and mumbo jumbo or keeping up appearances in society. Perhaps I'm just lucky. I don't sweat, I don't need to shave, my hair is naturally light and totally straight and never greasy. My skin is always just fine. I've never used cream in my life for anything but for medical reasons or emergencies (frostbite drying out skin).

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

What is wrong with just using the shampoo instead of soap? What benefits does "real" soap contribute? Shampoo is formulated to not strip your hairshafts of the natural oils that lubricate them so it makes sense for your hair. But for your skin, there's nothing really important there that you actually need soap. If I worked a dirty job like construction or I was a mechanic, etc. I would use an industrial soap for getting the grease out but for day to day life, I see no reason why shampoo cannot double as soap.

To be quite honest, I've never noticed the difference. If it's in the shower, I'll use it. If it makes suds, it's all the same to me. Just using the shampoo (and conditioner) for everything worked just fine and is also faster. I personally don't think bathing and using these substances is healthy anyway since we were never evolved to bath so often and it's totally counter-intuitive to strip your skin of it's essential oils with soap and then reapply it with moisturizers. We are a messed up modern society.

That said, I shower twice a day because hot water feels good, but often I don't use any soap or shampoo at all. Quite frankly, why would you need to unless you have actual dirt on your body that you really need the soap to emulsify and carry it away? In our ultra-hygenic world with our machine washed clothes and constantly vacuumed rooms and indoor lives...it doesn't make any sense unless you are a real athlete and just need to wash the sweat off your body.

Soap and shampoo are not really needed, much like toothpaste (my dentist confirms this). Water is all you need to stay healthy and clean. The rest is a lot of marketing and mumbo jumbo or keeping up appearances in society. Perhaps I'm just lucky. I don't sweat, I don't need to shave, my hair is naturally light and totally straight and never greasy. My skin is always just fine. I've never used cream in my life for anything but for medical reasons or emergencies (frostbite drying out skin).

No toothpaste? Doesn't it contain fluoride, and other stuff to keep microbial growth/biofilms from occurring and to strengthen the enamel? Toothbrush itself just scrapes off the plaque, but that's doing nothing to the microbes in your mouth. Our mouths are filthy and keeping it clean would play a large part in our immune system would it not?

And to comment on your other stuff, back in the day they didn't know about microbacteria and germs that can kill you, hence their short life expectancy back then. It's probably not a good idea to use anti-bacterials for everyday use as our body still needs to develop an immune reaction. But minimizing the risk of infection through good hygiene is a good way to stay alive.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

No toothpaste? Doesn't it contain fluoride, and other stuff to keep microbial growth/biofilms from occurring and to strengthen the enamel? Toothbrush itself just scrapes off the plaque, but that's doing nothing to the microbes in your mouth. Our mouths are filthy and keeping it clean would play a large part in our immune system would it not?

And to comment on your other stuff, back in the day they didn't know about microbacteria and germs that can kill you, hence their short life expectancy back then. It's probably not a good idea to use anti-bacterials for everyday use as our body still needs to develop an immune reaction. But minimizing the risk of infection through good hygiene is a good way to stay alive.

There is fluoride in our water already and that is a controversial thing. Fluoride does help against tooth decay but that is also a thing that is largly related to diet as we also did not evolve to eat the sweet complex carbs and starches that are part of our modern diet. Cultures that had few of these things in their diet have been found to be nearly completely cavity free. The remains found at Vesuvius found the population did not suffer from tooth decay. There is a microbial balance in all parts of your body from your mouth to your stomach to the tear ducts of your eyes. You don't want to disrupt this balance too much or you will become dependant on external products. I will mouthwash from time to time depending on what I have eaten but otherwise a lot of what is in toothpaste is not neccessary. Stuff like Sensodyne that has iron in it to help with sensitive teeth does make a small difference though if you want help with that. Otherwise, Vitamin D and good calcium intake, drinking milk, eating cheese will take care of your enamel just fine.

I agree that reducing the risk of infection is a good idea but we are already in an over-hygenic culture. What stays outside of the skin cannot usually do you harm. What you are talking about is the historical ignorance of germ theory and yes, if you got cut or were injured or were going to give birth or had surgery - you had a high chance of dying from it in those days (nothing sterilized, no antibiotics means infections were often lethal). You are right that overuse of antibacterials is a bad thing (contributes to evolution of resistant bacteria) but they are also a good thing used sparingly. I wasn't really talking about that but the actual merits of regular soap. Soap that isn't anti-bacterial is basically designed to trap dirt molecules in fatty molecules so that they can washed away by water. I'm just saying that on a basic level nothing that soap can really do that shampoo doesn't do anyway...and thusly because of my laziness, I will just do everything in one step. Wash my hair and body and rinse and go. Even then, I don't see anything in most people's daily urban activites that really require so much soap or washing in the first place (except for your hands after you goto the washroom and before you eat - that is a definite must do). To me, the old adage that people who grow up on the farm don't get sick as much seems to be a truth to me by the people that I have met. A good immune system developed by exposure to dirt and bacteria, etc. is the first and best way to good health.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Quite frankly, why would you need to unless you have actual dirt on your body that you really need the soap to emulsify and carry it away? In our ultra-hygenic world with our machine washed clothes and constantly vacuumed rooms and indoor lives...it doesn't make any sense unless you are a real athlete and just need to wash the sweat off your body.

Spend some time volunteering in a nursing home and you'll understand why bathing/showering is so important. They get one bath per week, and after a few days they start to stink. It's really bad on the 7th day just before thier bath

[HalifaxDrunk]

Irish Spring for me.

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by flylock shox

Not anymore. Axe has come up with a shower tool that, although it bears a stunning resemblance to a loofah, is actually a tool, and is therefore manly and will soon be used by tools everywhere.

And I buy whatever soap Shoppers has on any given day which best combines non-wussiness with frugality. Usually ends up being Irish Spring or Soap*.

I have my own tool for use in the shower!

Ivory soap is great, it can also be used to hand was your clothes, work very well.

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

wow, you must be one hairy SOB

[REDVAN]

At my place:
+ ++


At my girl's place:


Haha that was a good waste of 10 minutes.

[JohnnyFlame]

Whatever is on sale is the answer virtually no matter what product you ask about.

[Pagal4321]

Irish Spring, which ever kind I see first, I pick up.

[GrrlGoalie33]

Irish Spring and the Pumpkin Exczema soap from Rocky Mountain Soap Company.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Whatever brand the hotel carries.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

etc...

I made it to the second sentence, and then your bad breath knocked me over.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Shazam

I made it to the second sentence, and then your bad breath knocked me over.

If you made it to my 63rd sentence, you'd see that I will use mouthwash

[pope04]

Originally Posted by HalifaxDrunk

Irish Spring for me.

Manly, yes, but I like it too!

[flylock shox]

Originally Posted by ok, ok,....I get it

I have my own tool for use in the shower!

Regardless what this means, let me refer you to the proper place for statements like that.

[loob job]

I use Axe, without the body tool or loofah, bare hand baby.

[Ford Prefect]

Larf ... a thread about soap and other personal hygiene products lasts three days on page one and runs to three pages. Metrosexual much?

[troutman]

This one is for Aeneas:

Where's the soap?

Sure does.