*answers to some adjustment-period FAQs*
*update: my routine and products* (scroll down)
*I will be continually editing the first post to make it simpler to navigate. Please be patient; it's going to take a while. Nearly all of the questions asked so far, I've answered in this thread; not all of them are linked yet.
Also: I'm not a doctor, a charlatan, or a "soap fanatic" .
*I AM a college student who studied biochemistry, molecular cell biology, and put herself through college, mostly by selling luxury perfume & makeup. I had a terrible cystic acne outbreak from using BareMinerals and got worse from acne products. I've researched literally hundreds, possibly thousands of hours on skin, teeth, pH, ingredients in products, etc over the past six years. This topic is so that others can benefit from my experience.*

Goals of this topic:
to encourage Soompiers to be aware of what commercial products do to us,
to learn what our skin/scalp really needs to be healthy,
to learn what to look for in personal care products and what to avoid (plus why)
to not be a stupid sheep who harms herself (himself) because "that's how we're supposed to do it".

*The ideas in this topic are only shocking for those of us who have to change paradigm. However, for hundreds of years SOAP was the way people stayed clean and healthy, not shampoo, conditioner, body wash, acne treatments, or toothpaste. These were all invented in the past century, and to dubious benefit*

Conventional shampoos/conditioners/bodywashes/facewashes (especially) are making us stinkier, oilier, and pimplier. Sounds harsh but it's true. There have been several forum topics alluding to this, including EdwardCTV's awesome expose of the skin problems commercial face washes/ acne products cause. "Commercial"~~~*shiver*

Most people don't realize that modern shampoo (and other drugstore products) can completely change the body's natural chemistry. Think of it:

1. Using harsh products strip the body of natural (protecting) oils and disrupts the pH balance.
2. To compensate, HOMEOSTASIS: that is, the body tries to get back to a normal state asap: the body responds by producing way more oils
3. We feel so dirty, we must now wash everyday to look and feel clean.
4. Additionally, most of the chemicals used in commercial shampoos, conditioners, shaving products, toothpastes, body washes, and deodorants have either never been studied for long-term side effects or are known as irritants, carcinogens and poisons easily absorbed into our bodies.

"What, we're not supposed to shower every day?? Or wash our hair everyday????"

Remember hearing in AP Euro that trivia tidbit of how Queen Elizabeth took four baths a year (one per season)?
It's extreme, but also extreme is how americans now shower EVERYDAY. Insanity.
if you've ever read Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery, or the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, you'd find that people generally took a bath ONCE a week: saturday night, in preparation for church on Sunday morning. They'd also brush their hair very well at night to clean the scalp of debris and condition their (very long) hair naturally. Some people still do this; it's called a Mason Pearson brush.
*STOP taking this out of context guys. Here's my clarification on frequency of bathing, & those olde days.*

Humans just don't need to wash that much. In the modern age, it is the products we use that make us STINKIER, OILIER, AND PIMPLIER, and paradoxically, necessitate using them more frequently.
Go ahead and ask a middle-aged adult how often they bathed 35 years ago. Ask a senior citizen how often they bathed 50 years ago. For most people, washing every day or even every other day was completely unnecessary.

TRUTHS
1. the body's is an amazing system of systems, punching back whatever you throw at it to maintain .... life.
2. American doctors/chemists/pharmacists/BUSINESSES have long known this fact
3. liquid shampoos came in somewhere around the 1940s, and since then, the frequency of baths taken during the week has exponentially skyrocketed.
4. The more product a corporation sells, the greater its profit
5. American corporations spend BILLIONS a year on advertising campaigns to push us, consumers, into buying useless and even harmful products
6. if either China or India used as much water per person as the US does, there'd be no usable drinking water left on the planet.
7. the extreme harm to the body and physical stress of body systems from the use of ANY product with

SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE (SLS) and SODIUM LAURETH SULFATE (SLES):
Potentially, SLS is perhaps the most harmful ingredient in personal-care products. SLS is used in testing-labs as the standard skin irritant to compare the healing properties of other ingredients. Industrial uses of SLS include: garage floor cleaners, engine degreasers and car wash soaps. Studies show its danger potential to be great, when used in personal-care products. Research has shown that SLS and SLES may cause potentially carcinogenic nitrates and dioxins to form in the bottles of shampoos and cleansers by reacting with commonly used ingredients found in many products. Large amounts of nitrates may enter the blood system from just one shampooing.
PETROLATUM, PETROLEUM, MINERAL OIL:
Comes from crude oil (petroleum) used in industry as metal cutting fluid. May suffocate the skin by forming an oil film. Healthy skin needs to take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. This process should not be inhibited. Holding large amounts of moisture in the skin can "flood" the biology, and may result in immature, unhealthy, sensitive skin that dries out easily.
PROPYLENE GLYCOL:
Called a humectant in cosmetics, it is really "industrial anti-freeze" and the major ingredient in brake and hydraulic fluid. Tests show it can be a strong skin irritant. Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) on Propylene Glycol warn to avoid skin contact as it is systemic and can cause liver abnormalities and kidney damage.
GLYCERIN:
Draws moisture from inside the skin, and holds it on the surface for a better "feel". Dries skin from the inside out.
Titanium Dioxide
Known carcinogen since 2001.
source: check out this link for more horrors. Even better, Google "harmful ingredients in consumer products"

*NEW* more on harmful ingredients and why I do NOT recommend Lush products

Don't trust a brand because it's being sold at a reputable store, has not been recalled (to your knowledge) by the government or it has been advertised a lot.
The government has been looking the other way for years now.

So we are greasy, being poisoned and our natural body systems are out of whack. What can we do then?

Don't worry, we are not helpless and there are other options. Keep an open mind: we've had it hammered into us day-in and day-out that we NEED, absolutely NEED, to use xxx shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, shaving cream, mouthwash, TOOTHPASTE, razors, pimple medication, you name it! to be clean, beautiful and attractive. It doesn't even occur to most of us that maybe, just maybe, those things are making all of our existing problems worse.


Quite simply, the solution is... soap.



High Quality Soap.
-can be used in place of body wash, shampoo, conditioner, liquid hand soap (duh), and toothpaste.
-prevents reliance on body sprays deodorants, all over-the-counter (non prescription) acne products, and likely prescription acne medication as well.
-is tremendously gentle to skin and hair
-helps skin regain natural acidic pH necessary to retard bacterial inflammations
-reduces body's production of sebum (oil) because it is much gentler than using standard products, which are high in synthetic detergents, which in turn:
-helps skin return to a HEALTHY, FLEXIBLE, RESILIENT STATE (not dry, oily, inflamed, flakey and immature from product abuse)
-[b]prevents cavities by allowing teeth to remineralize (no glycerin) and prevents teeth from falling out (no fluoride)
-[b]lasts a LONG time and is SO MUCH CHEAPER than conventional commercial poisons.

-What is soap? The difference between soap and detergents. Long and short of it is, detergents are for things, soap is for people.

Links to other posts in this topic (sorry, they're too long to fit on one page!)
My story
Why we're dependent on shampoo/conditioner/facewash/toner/lotion/toothpaste
The harmfulness of the ingredients regularly found in personal care products; how can it be true? What isn't the government stopping it then?
What I have against Corporate soaps: ie, Dove, Ivory, Irish Spring, Caress, Lever 2000, etc.
Soap is sounding appealing now, what kind should I look for?
How do I wash my hair with soap?

*NEW*
Harmful ingredients and why I do NOT recommend Lush products
OMG. clarification: I never said we should not bathe at all/ bathe 4x a year/ not cleanse ourselves. really, you guys =_=.
Eunbit's Adjustment Period, Side effects
Using Hairspray
After Exercising and Showering
Naturally Antibacterial Nature of Soaps
Soap rather than toothpaste....?
*EDIT* more detailed information on why you should brush with SOAP. or at least chuck out your Commercial Toothpaste
Now, about alum blocks..... on aluminum salts in deordorants, natural and manufactured.

*Even Newer*
Soap, skin and pH
Mouthwash, Soap, Bacteria and PH
(and brief explanation on why dentists are prevented from learning this in dental school)



It's never too late to switch to a healthier lifestyle!!!
I'm in my early twenties and I've only used these natural products for the past five months. But behold~ seriously I went from so-so skin with blotch problems and hair oily enough to need washing at least once in two days to clear, healthy skin (basically makeup ad quality) and hair that is rarely oily and free of ANY dandruff (actually, most of us don't have real dandruff but scruff-> scalp irritation).

Face
In a word, I regained the clear white, soft matte complexion I had back when I sold Chanel makeup -- before my skin broke out in pizza-like gobs of cystic acne (Thank you, BareMinerals! >:0)

Hair
I first stopped using P&G's Pantene products in high school b/c of my EXTREME hair loss from using them. Still, with other shampoos I'd still get pretty huge and gross shower plugs of hair (yeah girls... you know what i mean!). Even though my hair was much shorter (around shoulder length) I'd lose a huge handful (think 50+ hairs) each time I'd shampoo.

Now when I wash my hair (with Soap; alternate with just water to reduce scalp greasiness) I lose something like five hairs in the drain, and a small handful of maybe 10-12 hairs when i comb it out (very carefully) from the ends up (extremely small amount considering my hair is waist-length). Additionally, I wash my hair less often as well. So my hair is gradually getting thicker and fuller.
The texture has also improved a lot; instead of feeling rough and coarse, my hair has gone back to being naturally fine, soft and silky, like how young children's hair feels. It's totally different from the coarse, rough, oily feel you get from using hair serums and masks and deep conditioner.

For naysayers, a lot of the women with gorgeous hair in shampoo and product commercials only wash their lovely locks ONCE a week. Eh.... yeah, i'm getting to that point. but there really is no reason healthy hair needs to be washed every day. If you can't go more than two days without sudsing up your hair, it's a sign that you've been negatively impacted by the harsh detergents in commercial shampoo.


*these are some products I'm using right now, all of which I bought instore. I added links to pictures, but I encourage you guys to research well and price-check if you'll be buying them online*

*these products and routine aren't mandatory; its a resource, and a stepping block to bathe and care for your skin and scalp in customized way.*
Products and Methods I Use: reordered to reflect importance,

#1. Natural olive oil soap.The brand I am using right now is Olivia Care, but any Marseille or Castile (pure cold-process vegetable-oil) soap will do.
*yes, I use the same bar to wash my face, body, hair and brush my teeth.
body: in the shower ~2x a week, (THOROUGH exfoliation w/ Korean washcloth)
face: in the bath/shower (GENTLE exfoliation w/ Korean washcloth).
hair: in the bath/shower, alternate with water washing (more complete instructions and what to expect)
teeth: for two minutes at night. just wet your toothbrush in water, rub the bristles briskly on the bar (or, a separate chunk, it doesn't really matter) for a couple of seconds (nothing should be visible on the bristles), then brush as normal. make sure to rinse really really well.
*I've been doing this for a little while now. plague buildup? tooth sensitivity? morning breath? competely gone.
Soap is the whole inspiration behind this post!!! therefore of course it is
*highly recommended

#2 green Korean viscose washcloths with pocket:
I use them to exfoliate after a nice steamy soak in the shower, usually once twice a week, after lathering up lightly with soap.
Be careful; your skin MUST be properly softened/hydrated with warm/hot water in order for the dead skin cells to easily come peel off. And peel you shall! After soaking, lightly scrub your limb (ie, arm, leg, torso) all over first to loosen the dead skin cells. Then, apply very light pressure and rapidly scrub in a back-and-forth motion. You will see some gross-looking lightgreen/darkgreen/blackish rolls of dead skin come off onto the washcloth. Don't worry, you're not that dirty. It looks dark because of all the toxins which your skin sweats out when it's steamed/soaked in hot water.
You can buy these at Korean supermarkets in bulk; I've seen packages of four to packs of twenty. They are very cheap; unit cost is less than $0.20. even without soap and other things, weekly bath & exfoliation is wonderful for your circulatory system and is a natural and safe way to have fresh, glowy skin. Therefore,
*highly recommended

#3 Pure pressed Japanese Camellia Oil (as a once-weekly *1-2x monthly* hair treatment).
*edit* I used this oil particularly to help during my transitioning period (detox) to soften and tame my gross, crunchy hair of the massive coating of '-cone's from years and years of (heavy) product abuse, and also the occasional use of a bit of pomade/hairspray even after I stopped using shampoo (which created more buildup). My hair is now completely clear of a toxic coating, so one quick lather-n-rinse with soap once or twice a week is enough to give me super-shiny, moisturized, silky hair with strong roots. So, I've largely stopped using it.
However, since this oil is a superior one for hair and skin (and probably for cuticles too) I am keeping it to give my hair a little extra gloss and weight, say on super-static-y dry winter days (which is rarely a problem though, if I wash my hair <= 2x a week).*end edit*
*I like this brand, Oshima Tsubaki. It seems to be a consistently high quality and reputable product. I buy mine from a Japanese supermarket, but they are also available online. The brand also has Camellia essence oil, shampoo and conditioner. I haven't checked the ingredients of their shampoo/conditioner but I'd bet my morning rice that I'd avoid it if I did. Anyways,
*highly recommended

#4. a sunscreen cream (only in winter and only when I go outside. )
"Lancôme UV Expert 20 with MEXORYL™ SX Face & Body Protection Daily Moisturizing Cream SPF 20"it's not ideal, but it's better than most of the sunscreen brands i've tried and found.
since i'm pretty anal about not tanning (at all) i've probably tried over 40 different sunscreens/blocks over the past four years. this one gets my vote for being decently moisturizing, non-oily for normal skin and not harsh or stinging. The Mexoryl is also a major plus. honestly, facial lotion is not needed. I definitely do not use or need to use it at all, besides the days I go out and am exposed to sunlight. I've done the routine as listed above without applying suncream for the past week. I have a feeling that I'll stop using this suncream once winter is over, same as the body oil. So I'll be hunting for a new quality sunblock without the chemical fillers. Wonder if it's even possible. Anyways, UV rays are bad, so this product is still
*recommended

Sesame body oil on bath-damp skin to seal in moisture. I no longer use this after showering.
I'm looking for a better body oil for use in the winter, but for now, I settled with Neutrogena Original Formula Body Oil.
*It's ok, but I don't recommend you rush out to buy this one if you have a moisturizer which works ok. Generally, I feel that natural body oil body oil > baby oil / baby lotion / other lotions. Also, I use the body oil to guard my skin against Midwestern winters after super-dehydrating hot baths. I've stopped using this after showers. Probably completely unnecessary if you use bath salts or Epsom salts in the bath. therefore, only
*somewhat recommended
[b]*edit* I now don't use any oils on my skin at all, even after baths. My skin is now healthy enough where washing it very lightly twice a week with virgin soap and manual exfoliation is enough to cleanse gently, and the skin is naturally moisturized, flexible and resilient enough that flakey skin is a thing of the past, except in the case immediately after a hasty, poorly done exfoliation. Even so, there is no itching, dry pulled feeling of skin anywhere, despite the sub-zero Midwest temperatures (the past week has been ~-18 F, or -25 C).*end edit*

Final verdict?

My body took some time to adjust, but I am way less oily than the average american (aka, myself 6 months ago).
My skin is also incredibly clear.

Seriously. Don't let corporate america make you into a stinky, greasy addict w/ their products.
Don't be a slave to the ugly american corporate body
Celebrate your access to free information and educate yourself. You are a human being before you are a consumer.


*observational note on changes in statistical poll data*
Since the topic was moved from Beauty and Fashion to the Health and Fitness forum, answers to two of the poll forums changed dramatically, even in the space of less than 100 votes to just over 450.
This was the drop from over 50% down to 41.27% for "yes" to "bathing every day" and an over-15% increase in Soompiers who said that they "only used conditioner" before when washing their hair.
It's no hard facts, but I did expect such a change, coming from the Health and Fitness peeps, who generally have more practical and less squirmish sense of self-care.
What's amusing (but also expected ^^) is that the in response to "I check the ingredients to products I use", the percentage of people who responded "yes- on the can when i'm bored" didn't change significantly, but happily, the percentage of "yes" increased quite a bit.
*Sorry for the nerd show, but I thought it was interesting and fun*



*to everyone*

I am always open to honest questions and incredulous comments.
I highly dislike emotional tirades from skimmers; accusations; and general rudeness.
Do you know the history behind the products you use, the methods of use, and the scientific reasons behind the formulations?

This is not the rants forum. If you don't like it, you certainly aren't being forced to try any of these recommendations.

If you have a question RELATED TO SOAP, or want to share your experiences, post them here.
Otherwise, Google to expand your world.

All this is very good info.. but it's a little bit too late for us..

But I am definitely a bit more educated and will check ingredient lists before buying products perhaps.

I have noticed that the less products you use on your face, the better it gets.

Just two years ago:
MORNING
- cleanser
- astringent
- moisturizer
- foundation
- blush
- eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara
AFTERNOON
- cleanser
- astringent
- moisturizer
NIGHT
- cleanser
- exfoliation every other day
- astringent
- moisturizer
- acne cream

My face was very oily and pimple-y and I had to use oil blotting sheets every two hours. It basically sucked.


Now:
MORNING
- water
- moisturizer
- blush
- eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara
NIGHT
- cleanser
- witch hazel
- moisturizer
- acne cream
- exfoliation once per week (more or less, depending on how I feel that day lol)

My face now has about two pimples, I don't even need to dab the oil off my face anymore because there's so little.


I want to try to stop shampooing everyday. I use four to five different shampoos throughout the week (a different one per day) just to keep my hair from getting oily. It sucks.

Do you wash your hair with shampoo every night? Or do you just use water every night?

wait so what do you use to wash your hair?.. because you only listed a hair treatment. my scalp seems sensitive. idk if its the water or the shampoos i use. i guess i should brush my hair every night too.
thanks for the info, this is pretty interesting
and i agree w/ the poster above. i use to wash my face 2x a day with cleanser but now i only wash it at night w/ a cleanser and its much less oilier.

might have to start then...

Yeahh...You are right, but, if I don't
wash my hair like every two days, my
scalp gets unbearably itchy. (gross, I
know...) AND, my hair gets a whole lot
oily-er than most people and totally just
makes the strands CLUMP together....

So...What should I do about that?

i wash my hair every other day. i use sunsilk for shampoo n conditioner.
for bar soap i use ivory or irish spring, as long as it smells good

Yes, I know it's bad to shower everyday, but my hair is supper supper oily if I don't wash it everyday. How do you deal with the clumpings?
And those products you listed, where can I find it? Or do I have to order online?

Edit: and when you excercise... you don't shower afterwards? That's hard to get used to heh

So basically about 99% of the products we use are harmful or useless. lol.

I kind of get it. Yeah and am interested in this natural way of living.

It's weird, I don't know whether I am sensitive to the facial cleanser, but nowadays I don't bother with it and my face is still clear.

I also want to know what kind of shampoo because my hair gets oily after 2 days of not washing it. I would also like to know to convert my friends!

Where do you get the pure pressed Japanese camellia oil? I heard it gives shine and volume to the hair and wanted to try it too as a weekly treatment.

thats really bad
you should wash your face two times a day no matter waht.

Do you mind listing some natural products?
because I'm sure a lot of us want to convert to a healthier and natural-er lifestyle

^ I agree!

Would Aveeno products be considered 'natural' or good to use for skin?

why? it depends on each person...

What do you use to wash your hair? I use just shampoo and soap. No conditioner and no other products.

yeah. i heard that you're not suppose to shower everyday or something
but we're so used to that.
& your not suppose to wash your face over x times a day.
truth is, everything we use in this world has some sort of chemical thats bad for us.

What sunscreen do you recommend? i find it really hard to find one that isn't greasy.

i don't know whether to agree or not,
till i was 11 i never used any products on my skin, i just washed my face at night and in the morning and my face was STILL pimply.

..You're not supposed to shower everyday?...


Where on earth have I been?

and another thing.

so you pretty much put NOTHING on your face in the morning? no moisturizer? no anything?

i'd just like to make it clear lol.

everyone on soompi is going to get scared and stop washing their faces. >_>
i use a cleanser, toner, and moisturizer in the morning & night.
my face is just fine. without it and my face would be very oily and i would break out for sure.
umm.. shampoos do leave a residue on your hair if your using the shampoos with fillers (body&volume ones) or cheap ones..
but my hair feels amazing with i use nioxin or biolage.. u can always use stripping shampoos once a month to get rid of the residue. i want to see some people test it and their results! goodluck~

Just to clear things up

1. The whole " wash your face twice a day " is in no way good for your skin, you dont need it.
its just some stupid rule some person up in money land made to make all of us follow
If you do this to your skin over a period of time your gonna really mess it up.Like i have..

2. Aveeno products are FAR FAR from natural. Infact, they are one of the most
chemically , irritating brands i ever used.Just look at the ingredients.

3. It is true, you dont need to shower daily. Its just what everyone is
accustomed to. I remember when I was a kid i would shower like once a week
and no one noticed... i smelled/looked normal.

Also, i havent used anything but water on my face for almost two weeks now, and my skin
is almost 100% clear, where as before when i used skin care stuff everyday, it was totally pimply.

If you guys dont think you can do just fine without shampoo, soap, and skin care stuff
then you have totally been manipulated by commercial products ,and thats exactly what
companies want.

Most of all the stuff sold out there to solve your problems, and daily needs, are totally
unnecessary and don't really work.
think of countries that don't even have these things..or cant buy them

they have way less problems beauty-wise than we do.

its true.. i just washed my face today with water and nothing else and it stayed pale and oil free for hours

thanks for sharing. I am a biochemistry major and what you say does have a point. Only if it were so easy to change :T

so true, I know this but it's so hard to switch over to using like.. nothing.

well i tried not using anything on my face and just water a year ago for 3 months and my skin broke out like crazy... =/
i guess im doomed cause my skin has to feed off chemicals now. i use to shower once every 3 days when i was 5-9 then the hormones kicked in....

um ok.. i do. i wash my face in the morning w/ water. i wash it at night w/ cleanser.
but it really varies on the person. one of my cousin has perfectly clear skin and she does nothing w/ it but splash water on it lol

So,

daily moisturizers aren't essential, at all? I've been told that you will always need a moisturizer no matter your skin type, care to elaborate and explain on this?

Maybe it is because the cleansers used strip away everything and you need a moisturizer to add it back in..? Sorry if I sound rude, I'm not trying to be!!

I'll feeel super icky if i don't shower for a day TT__TT

but, I'll try washing my face wif just water lmfao (;
see if my face gets clearer by school

no thanks, I refuse to stink. x]

^ just because you're not using chemicals doesn't mean you're going to stink.

updates on first page, plus some FAQs ^^



*to everyone*

I am always open to honest questions and incredulous comments.
I highly dislike emotional tirades from skimmers; accusations; and general rudeness.
This is not the rants forum. If you don't like it, you certainly aren't being forced to try any of these recommendations.

If you have a question RELATED TO SOAP, or want to share your experiences, post them here.
Otherwise, Google to expand your world.

lol my name is Edward but thanks for the shoutout and nice thread!

ah, i'm such a dork! ^^;;;
thank you~

I know this would work very well for non-color treated hair but I don't think it'll go well for color treated hair. Any experience with this?

I was going to get Olivia Care's shampoo and conditioner a while back before reading this thread, did anyone try it before?

Because those countries have more to worry about than beauty. Like food.

I stopped using shampoo so often. I just shampoo like 1 or 2 times a week cuz my hair gets really frizzy and scraggly when I use the shampoo. (btw I use the shampoo cuz the place that I work at is really oily ><) lol when I don't use the shampoo my hair is so soft/ straight/ and silky. ^^ I loves it.

yeah soaps really dry up your skin >< I itch like insane when I use it. The only ones that don't really dry up my skin are olay and dove but I really don't use it often ^^ I hate using cleansers on my skin cuz it dries it way way too much and by the end of the day I look like a freaking grease pit = =''

That's pretty interesting. It totally makes sense though; while watching shows about third world countries and such, I've noticed that many of them actually have nice skin and the only thing they use is water.

I have to wash my hair everyday, and when I'm lazy, I wash my hair every other day. My hair has gotten more and more oily in the past few years. . . darn hormones. >A< When I was really young, I used to only shower about 3x a week, and I never smelled bad or felt grimy or anything. Now, I feel like I have to shower daily or else I'd feel really dirty.

For my morning routine, I just wash my face with water in the morning and apply an oil-free moisturizer. (My skin type is combination, and it's like in the extreme; my T-zone is super oily while my cheeks get kind of flaky, which is so gross.) My night time routine consists of a cleanser and toner.

My my, I sure wrote a lot. x__x

yeah this make senses. when i was younger, i use to wash my hair like once a week and i was perfectly fine.
my hair was super silky and it was long and i did not have problems with it, but as i got older, i started to shower more and my hair got all frizzy and dry. x[

huh. And I always thought my mom was just nagging me to save money on shampoo when she told me the more shampoo i used, the oilier and worse my hair would get.

but seriously.. queen elizabeth bathing 4 times a year. Thats just pushing it.

uhhh glycerin is quite natural and is actually found in your skin..

I don't agree with more than half the info by the OP and using Laura Ingalls Wilder the way Europeans lived as an example is appaling.

It was the way that Europeans lived that massacred Native people. Just the way they smelled killed the people because their smell was so offensive. Further more Europeans were known to live with animals adding to the fact they were immune to certain things that others weren't. Do you know Native people even when the water was frozen, would break the ice to bathe?! Because they believed in cleanliness.

This is why the bubonic plague affected one group of people and not others...who were they?! Yeah, that's right Europeans because of the slovenly way they lived. For the OP to use them as a highlight of bodily cleanliness is abhorrent.

Moving on...as for them brushing their hair...it's not because of the conditioning that's byproduct. Those people again lived with animals, they brushed their hair so much because of lice attacks. Pests would nest in their hair and the way to keep them out was to brush it. And it kept their hair clean because they wouldn't use WATER. As a byproduct brushing stimulates the scalp and releases the scalps natural oils, but to even think about brushing your hair the same amount as they did is to lead to baldness and an extremely irritable scalp.

It's healthier to bathe every day because your skin sheds every day. Plus the way people lived in the past, people don't live life today.

Pollution. Think about the pollutions in the air in this day and age. It's all over. I know that if I don't wrap my hair, I will have to wash my hair later that evening or the second day because my hair just sucked up all the air pollution into it, that's why the water is always dirty and they tell you to wrap your hair when you're going out. Plus that pollution particles go on your clothing and exposed skin. You bathe every bloody day to get rid of that. Not to clean like that you're spreading that stuff to your bed sheets and it lingers there and builds up until you wash.

Admittedly shampoo products are harmful for the hair. But thank god there are plenty of products out there that work the same way without the harmful chemicals.

Just buy soap from Sabon or even Lush, you can also get all natural products from many online stores, which I can list but will take up the page...pm me if you're interested in a few places. Plus there's always Castille soaps which I use as toothpaste, mouth wash, house cleaning and laundry detergent, body, face soap, and shampoo. Yeah it's all purpose and lasts months plus it's all natural. There's Dr. Woods or the more popular Dr. Bronner's products out there.

I just think a few of the OP's points are extremely misleading and there are many ways to maintain pH but at the same time being all natural and being clean.

As for shampooing, as a woman of African descent that is just dangerous for my hair. It's the most versatile hair on earth admittedly but it's also the most fragile. I just use Dr. Brooners and wash my hair once a month with a cleaner like that. Most of the time I wash my hair with conditioner and that's twice a month. Too much of that and I'll end up bald. Hence the reason brushing like the way Europeans have would make most people bald.

? I really have no idea what "misleading" information you are referring to.
at the risk of sounding petty, this post is intended to clear up the confusion/misinformation introduced in the preceding post.




Well, I am sorry for being "appaling" and "abhorrent" though I certainly did not use them to "highlight" cleanliness. In any case:

-Laura Ingalls Wilder was a frontier American woman, not a European woman, who lived in the US over a century after America became a nation.
-the references to Queen Elizabeth and Mason Pearson brushes were points of interest, not recommendations to follow. however, i stand by my statement that use of only soap and even water on its own will do a good job cleansing anyone whose body is accustomed to it.
-the pollution you speak of is still limited to highly dense and polluted cities; for most other communities, such intense protective measures are not necessary.
-I really have no idea why "brushing like the way Europeans have" would make anyone bald. I'm not familiar with caring for ethnic hair, so perhaps this is a possibility. I can say with confidence from my own experience as an Asian female with normal-fine hair that this has never been a danger to me.

and also, the bubonic plague was a virus spread by rats. it became epidemic b/c cities were filthy, densely populated and filled with rats. its impact might have been lessened greatly if there was a concept of disease control in those days, OR THE REGULAR USE OF SOAP AND WASHING.
in the end, the disease was caused from a virus; you either have immunity to it or you don't.



Yes. We are actually cleaner because most of us no longer engage in manual labor. And if your skin "sheds every day" what is the purpose in washing at all, if the skin cells have sloughed off the skin surface?





That is the whole point of this post. Your post is filled with so many incorrect and self-contradictory statements....



so, you do agree that shampooing is harmful to your hair?

what I find interesting is that you start out your post by saying how you don't agree with me (that is, the OP) before making any real statement, give a lot of wrong facts and assumptions and then push Castile soap, which I included an explanation on since SOAP is the topic of interest.
and yes, there is a lot of household uses for soap, including brushing one's teeth.
but one step at a time...

I'm not interested in starting a fight over this subject. But as I put a lot of time and consideration into my post, I don't appreciate niggling, reactionary comments from someone who obviously has not read it carefully, if at all.

I will continue to post answers to questions on the first post. I am not expecting any more posts like this one.

I agree with some things you're saying, but just because the ingredient is natural doesn't mean it's good. There are tons of bad natural ingredients and tons of good synthetic ingredients. I think it's a bit misleading to say it's better to use "all natural products" when there a perfectly fine synthetic products.

~shrugs~

The rest of my response was sent by pm because the response took up the entire page and it seemed like it was a hijack than a response. And that was not my intention within this thread. It was to make a direct disagreement with the OPs post and that was what I had done. Clarifications were put in pm to OP and I can send to others who may be interested.

I do think that I feel icky and nasty if I don't shower everyday,
because your skin is exposed to harmful bacterias daily & not washing
it off just feels weird imo, cause you're going to sleep in that & stuff.

Thanks for writing all that information. I've never really given it much thought...
It does make sense since soaps strip away your natural body oils so the skin works harder to produce them again, and I did hear that shampoos are damaging to your hair...

My father washes his hair with soap as well (just cheap soap). I asked him today why he uses soap instead of shampoo and you know what he said?
"Because with shampoo my hair turns out too good!"
What he really meant was that soap isn't a bad alternative and he claims that if he uses our shampoo it'll seem like a waste so he lets me and my mom use it all for ourselves. lol

If I find some organic soaps, I will try out your method. What brands do you recommend? And where can I find them locally?

Where exactly in my post did I say to use "all natural products" to the exclusion of all synthetic ones?

The point of this topic is for Soompiers to become aware that there are a lot of harmful ingredients in most of the synthetic products we use everyday. So harmful that there is obvious physiological negative impact on our bodies.

The reason I have started this topic is b/c so few people know of the real harm of these ingredients.
In my opinion, the US Food and Drug Administration, aka the FDA, does an extremely poor job regulating what goes into consumer products. The scope of this topic is limited to the mini cooper that goes into personal care products.
The horrible mismanagement of US grown food is another encyclopedia onto itself.

not to slam you, but what perfectly fine synthetic products? i'm not saying there are none, but i've yet to find any available at the local Wal-mart that doesn't have a load of dangerous ingredients.