Are soap and shampoo really necessary?

My daughter used baking soda instead of shampoo, for a week. Her hair looked better and (healthier) than normal.

Originally posted by Em2013
I've seen this a few times before but it takes at least a month before your hair gets used to it and even then it is incredibly greasy. I saw someone that doesn't bathe much, maybe once every two-months or so and his hair is disgusting.

The nice thing about shampoo and conditioner is that it builds a layer of protection and the shampoo gets rid of the grease which is vital for some people.

Here, here....

Tell me about it....

ugh..

I shower like crazy........

The smell when people don't shower, is just awful...

reply to post by Manhater


Totally agree. It is the smell that gets me every time. Besides, who wants to be the smelly guy / girl? There was one in every class as a kid. I'd hate to think that in adulthood i have become one!

Water alone has been called the best solvent for removing dirt. Maby a lot of wasted money if this is true?

Originally posted by zonetripper2065
reply to post by SpearMint

 

I'm pretty sure there's a reason they make soap and shampoo

You got that right champ, and it's not because the soap and shampoo companies are terribly concerned about your hygiene. It's all about a dollar.

Homeless people don't get to shower. I know. They use expedient water sources like faucets around back of buildings to take quick baths without undressing. These faucets are invaluable as a resource, so there is not a lot of time spent there. Most I knew would fill jugs from there and sponge bath elsewhere so as not to piss of the management. Daily washing included face and hands with a change of socks and underwear. If you had soap and lotion , deodorant, you used it. I wore wool pants and over shirt as they readily absorb BO and "wear dry". Simple attention to detail would prevent one from stinking too much. Sources of water near sleeping area was an easy way to keep clean. I had two jugs of water handy at all times. One for washing up and brushing teeth, the other for hygiene.

Once in a while a hotel would offer welcome respite from the grunge, even the Y or local church. Those showers were magical.

Hers one observation I made. The body adapts over time in the absence of daily showers to a state where it generates less odor and oil. Pores close and the itching stops. You break out less and as long as you attend to the face, hands and ass of Hygiene, I was surprised how little I stank over a long period between showers. It's not "getting used to it" as some (who haven't been there) would disclaim, but an actual adaptation by the body to living in spartan conditions. Getting there is hard, but when the change occurs it is a welcome relief.

Part of the change as well is psychosomatic. Some people are offended by the sound of "cursing" or the sight of blood, some are offended by "smells" too. There is no real harm occurring, just the aberration to it. Thats offensive too.

reply to post by poloblack


Soap and shampoo have been around longer than conspiracy theories and big pharma my friend. Not everything is a ploy. I dont see my bottle of dove poisoning me anytime soon.

reply to post by WWu777


Because soap was being made at home loooooong before it was being sold in stores. The Romans, Celts and Egyptians made soap. So I'm sure the people who lived before them too made soap too.

I need both... but mainly soap... i guess i secret oil more than others but, everday when i wake up, my head and hair would feel oily and my neck would also...so i need to take a shower, but water does not wash away the "oil" so i need to use soap.

its a daily routine for me now.

Also; Soap is made from "oil" lol

I've been soap and shampoo free for 5 months now and I have no intention on using them again. Although I do shave my head so I can't tell you the effect it has on hair. But I did hear that after the transition period their hair was softer and for some less dandruff than before. I shower 1 to 2 times a day and feel just as clean after. I don't smell and no one has told me I do.I have been around a few ladies since and they sure didn't have a problem being close to me. Bottom line you don't need soap or shampoo, you'll save money, time, and you won't put unnatural chemicals on your body.

And one more thing, you shouldn't use toothpaste either, its more harmful than not. Use baking soda and sea salt mixed with water. And once a day use peroxide with some water as mouthwash. Its better for you trust me.
Stay natural my friends.

Soap, the kind we use now, is a relatively new thing. People used natural things to clean the body before. These consisted of oils and extracts of various plants. No we don't need soap, No we don't need shampoo. It does help to give the skin some minerals though, like magnesium once in a while. It's alright to shower with water every day but using soap and shampoo no more than a couple times a week tops is best. All the antiperspirant people use blocks the ducts coming from the lymph glands and that's not good. We need to expel those toxins. Sweat glands also detox people. I don't know where common sense in people disappeared to. People don't understand: if a product does not have any evidence to show it is harmful to people it is allowed to be sold as long as no unproven health benefits are inferred. So if noone has tested the chemistry there is no evidence it is bad. All you have to do is make sure there is no proof here in the USA that it is bad and you are good to go. Unrecognized evidence from another country cannot be used, the FDA has a list of banned chemicals.

I've tried the water thing because I always had issues with breakouts and some sources said that just washing your hair with water would be the solution. As it turns out my face broke out worse than ever and by the end of the 3rd or 4th week my face was in a terrible situation. The solution that did work was washing my hair every day, exfoliating my face twice a week, washing my face with what is basically grease removal cream in the morning, and when there's a zit, use a pad that fixes that.

In order to get rid of my scars I had to spend nearly a thousand dollars and a year doing facial peels and now my face is well, celebrity level clear. I look many years younger, my skin is in a healthier condition and my hair is a lot more full and can handle cute hairstyles now.

As for my teeth, I had bad headaches before and I thought they were just migraines but as it turns out I wasn't brushing and flossing enough and so I got cavities in between my teeth. A few months after they were fixed (and continued brushing and flossing 3x a day) my headaches were gone and I feel a lot better now.

The moral of the story is that hygiene is important and for some people it's more important than others. I've experienced that my hair requires shampoo and my skin needs to be washed thoroughly to protect from my pores getting clogged, it's just how I am. Is it how everyone is like? No, but I do believe that there's a reason for good hygiene and it has nothing to do with big pharmas making more money off of people. That's just my opinion on it.

I went to high school with a guy who believed this. He had some need to prove you didn't need to use soap/shampoo. He had a smell like I have never smelled before. It wasn't a b.o. smell, it was almost like a rot smell. There is nothing I can compare it to. People were horrible to him, but I honestly tried my best to be kind to everyone. But there was no getting within a few feet of the guy without reflex gagging, no matter how hard you tried not to. And his hair looked like it was perpetually wet from all the oil and he kept it long and hanging in his face.

Somehow he got a girlfriend. I could never figure out how she could handle the smell.

I haven't signed into ATS for months and months, but thought that this topic was worthy enough for me to say something...

I went without shampoo for 6 months last year and was surprised by the results. My hair felt better than when I washed it, had more body, and even a healthier look to it. When I did wash (and condition) my hair after the 6 months, it knotted, tangled, felt and looked awful. Since then (a full year almost to the day), neither shampoo or conditioner have touched my hair, and both me and my hair have been much happier. My hair is long, down below my shoulders now, and hasn't been cut in 2+ years. I shower every couple of days and use just water to wash my hair, and get in there good with my finger tips to get things moving. I have recently moved to a place with water from a well that I suspect is relatively hard, and the shower head doesn't have much pressure so I'm not as happy as I was (my hair is knotty and doesn't feel as nice at all). To me that just means that I will have to explore other natural options (i.e. lemon, diluted vinegar, baking soda...?), or just go down the road to use a different shower for 2 washings and things go back to normal.

I also stopped using conventional deodorant over a year ago (I occasionally use some deodorant crystal, but really don't notice a difference). I asked my work colleagues (I worked in an office with several people in a small and confined space) and friends to let me know if I stank, and the only times anyone said anything was in the car ride home after a weekend camping. I noticed that synthetic clothing really made me stink though.

But I've used soap this whole time. Most of the time I used natural soap, but since I've become poorer, Lever 2000 is a regular buy for me. I want to move away from this soon (actually, soap is something I want start making and stop buying). This thread has given me a little more confidence to move in that direction!

But I don't think that it's as black and white as my case makes it out to be. I think your diet is as important as a factor to scent/cleanliness as how you clean yourself. If your main intake of food is McDonald's, ketchup chips, Coca-Cola, cheese whiz, or some other chemically foods, then likely chemical cleaners are needed. But that doesn't make them necessary if you change your diet to something healthier and more natural. Also, some natural foods might not react well with your body (i.e. gluten?) and have adverse affects such as body odor. A naturopath might help, if that was the case. This, of course, if just my theory/opinion

I would encourage everyone to give it a shot (I actually wanted to do a write-up on this and call it 'social experimenting' as that was the stance I took when I started... no one can blame you for doing/trying an experiment!). Honestly, in the long scheme of things, who cares if you stink for a couple of weeks, or if your hair looks greasy for a few days. In 10 years, no one is going to remember the few weeks you weren't as presentable as the social standard (once out of high school, I swear no one really cares what you look like), but in the 10 years, you might save hundreds of dollars (and many skin follicles) and live just that much more healthily.

If the aggitation of the washing machime can wash ur clothes then (if you can) go for a swim in the ocean, salt and sand scrub, always makes me feel cleaner than any shower.

Probably quite sad, sign of the time on ATS I think, but this is the most interesting thread I've read in weeks !

I remember trying the "no soap, no shampoo" experiment when I was a student, nearly 30 yrs ago now. Of course it didn't really work ... or I didn't give it enough time ... my house mate & I both tried it, we were posh ... we had a shower installed ! (not everywhere had a shower away back then, a fact some of you youngsters will find hard to believe).

But despite our best efforts, by day two our armpits were absolutely stinking. Mark's Mum was visiting that Sunday afternoon. She walked into the house ... and walked straight back out, only returning about 30 mins later with enough soap, deodorants & washing powder to sink the Bismarck. The hair experiment continued for another few weeks but by the end of the month we both had lanky, greasy hair and had erupted in facial spots so that one was abandoned too.

Know what, I'm enthused by some of the comments here and now my hair is "more modest" than previously, and given that my face is a little bit dry lately, I think I'll give the shampoo and no soap on the face thing another try.

I can't abandon the use of soap on my armpits (no-one calls them oxters anymore ... why's that ?), or downstairs either, I don't think my co-workers would be sympathetic, but I'll report back this time next week.

Thanks you, OP, for a genuinely interesting thread !

PS for those thinking of making their own soap at home, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY and wear protective glasses, some of the chemicals for even the gentlest of soaps can be really caustic.

reply to post by tport17


Anyone care to tackle this? If this really happened, it seems like that's not the full story. I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt, but it appears at odds with almost everything else said here.

Also, anti-perspirant was mentioned earlier. Some people have underarm odour worse than others so it may be necessary. What was stated on some clinical stuff of mine was that the sweat gets redirected to the other however many ducts, and thus no real danger. Now I begin to wonder.

That's fine if nobody cares to. I've made up my mind already. But I would really like the other thing addressed.

As for my habits, I already alternate between shampooing and washing, to be more economical. It would be fantastic if I could get away with this, one less monetary concern! I'll use up what I got for now.

And laundry, man! That reminds me forgetting to use detergent once, and I freaked out. So I decided to waste more water this time around with detergent!

The apaches had a form of natural soaps and streams to use it in untill whitey came and forced them off their land...now the deserts are dying and only good for gov bases.