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I know it sounds strange, but if you can make it through the first month or two of not using body soap or shampoo regularly you'll be better off in all ways. Yo
by 3pt14159 9y ago
I know it sounds strange, but if you can make it through the first month or two of not using body soap or shampoo regularly you'll be better off in all ways. You won't need styling product for your hair, it will have a natural oil that works. You won't need deodorants or perfumes. And, if you can switch to cold showers, you won't need to use moisturizers either.
I know 10 or 15 minute cold showers are less pleasant, but they wake you up and make the rest of the winter less hellish. I actually love the cold at this point.
- jdavis703 9y agoDoes this work if you have an active lifestyle? My commute involves quite a lot of physical exertion, and arriving stinky to work would not really be acceptable.
- SerLava 9y agoFor that, we use a mixture of two natural deodorizing compounds: Nose blindness Social mores
- idoh 9y agoI have not made the leap to no soap, but my wife and I have stopped using shampoo and conditioner and it has been no problem at all. My wife is a PE teacher and is quite physically active and it is perfectly fine.
- vkou 9y agoMy hair is a mess when I don't use shampoo and conditioner, but I haven't used body soap in years. I've asked friends and co-workers about body odour, including ones that will call me out on my shit. Not a single one of them notices it. I don't, either - but I do notice it after I've done something athletic, or I haven't showered in 16 hours. I don't think it's because I'm desensitized. A shower and a clean change of clothes fixes that right up.
- idoh 9y agoThe no shampoo plan takes some time to kick in - I think it is a couple weeks. Did you try to power through it for a little bit? As an alternative, there are milder ways to wash your hair, the main thing is to not strip out all the oil from it. For the the shower with no soap, is it really just water that cleans you off? I'm intrigued.
- vkou 9y agoI did, and I also tried the vinegar + baking soda thing. It was annoying to deal with, didn't look good, and would often tangle into a horiffic mess. It still does, when I fail to shampoo and conditioner on a daily basis. Yes, I shower without soap. I guess there's some trickle-down of shampoo, but it's not a major contributor. Hot water and light scrubbing cleans me off. If I am exceptionally dirty, I will use soap, but because I don't work outdoors, that rarely happens. Obviously, I always wash my hands with soap.
- kaybe 9y agoThe no-shampoo thing seems to work great when I have short hair. Long hair needs the full package including conditioner, and more often too.
- jandrese 9y agoI bike half an hour in the summer in this hot and muggy area and as long as you remember to rinse your pits and change out of your sweaty clothes when you arrive you won't be stinky. It's something I worried about when I started biking, but it really hasn't been an issue at all. The stinky part comes from those sopping wet clothes you changed out of and had to hang up somewhere. Hopefully not in your office.
- paulcole 9y agoI'm a guy with longish hair (curly and shoulder length). I run long distances (50-ish miles a week) and bike commute daily. I also shampoo only 2 or 3 times a year. No issues for me. I just use very hot water and really rub my scalp in the shower. Started it as a 30-day experiment in 2010 when I had bad dandruff and never looked back.
- loeg 9y agoYep. I run or cycle daily. Be sure to rinse your armpits, etc.
- guyfawkes303 9y agoSerious question, if you aren't using soap or shampoo, what are you doing in the shower for 10 to 15 minutes?
- trentmb 9y agoScrubbing at my pits and wonky bits with warm water.
- IntronExon 9y agoGP takes cold showers, so it isn’t that.
- lifeformed 9y agoScrubbing at his pits and wonky bits with cold water.
- Kluny 9y agoStaring at the wall and thinking about nothing. I really love it.
- 3pt14159 9y agoI scrub all over, but especially my smelly bits with a cold water until they stop smelling. I vigorously rub my scalp to make sure to get off any dandruff. That's it!
- IntronExon 9y agoPlease don’t take this the wrong way, but all of the people irl who have tried to tell me this stank to high heaven. I don’t doubt that anyone could adjust to that, for themselves, but how about the rest of us? As to the hair, maybe it works for you, but some people have very dry hair, or very greasy hair and what you’re saying simply doesn’t fly. Not to mention those of us in customer-facing roles, who can’t really afford to hope we’re not offensively ripe that day.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- arkades 9y agoSeconded. I tried exactly this when I was working from home for a while. The hair worked out wonderfully - better than any product I’ve ever used. But the BO? It... well, my wife called it a manly musk. She gave it a doubleplus good at home, but i was not allowed to leave the house like that. Even I could smell myself. I tried adding some probiotic body lotion into the mix, but it didn’t help at all.
- dashundchen 9y agoYou could just soap the most important areas that cause odor - armpits, groin and feet every time. Sometimes neck and behind the ears to exfoliate. Everything else plain water, unless I've been hiking etc. I do this with a plain unscented soap, takes only a minute or two to shower and no odor problem. Light soap on face maybe every other day. Skin feels much healthier this way.
- IntronExon 9y agoI totally support this, assuming your body odor and oil type accommodates it. For me, I find hot water hair rinses with less frequent shampooing is much better. By the same token god help anyone around me if I didn’t soap my armpits that day. I see a huge difference between finding what works for you, and absolutist approaches to hygiene.
- stephengillie 9y ago
- jandrese 9y agoI've found soap to be largely unnecessary unless I have greasy stains on the skin, but going without shampoo didn't work. When I was flat broke in college I had to go for a month without shampoo and my hair never achieved any state beyond plastered to my head with grease. It was not a viable situation. Perhaps if I had adopted dreadlocks it might have worked, but as a nerdy white guy in the computer lab dreads felt out of place.
- code_duck 9y agoI just use Dr. Bronner’s. It has a very short, natural ingredient list, a low amount of fragrance that is natural and easy to tolerate, and my hair gets plenty clean.
- jandrese 9y agoI use Suave, because I'm a cheapskate.
- 24gttghh 9y agoJust cut the Bronners with water 1:1 or 1:3 and that liter of soap will last a looooong time.
- Something1234 9y agoWhy 1:3 or 1:1, but not 1:2?
- dominotw 9y ago> You won't need deodorants or perfumes. This is bad advice. You will have BO if you don't use deodorant. There are no natural tricks to solve this.
- juanuys 9y agoI use Potassium Alum (by Salt Of The Earth) and haven't had problems. Technically a deo, I guess.
- sp332 9y agoThat is the active ingredient in antiperspirants, so it's exactly the same, yeah.
- erdewit 9y agoIt may sound natural but the aluminium is toxic.
- astura 9y agoAluminium is the active ingredient in literally all commercial antiperspirants. There's no evidence that putting aluminum based components on your armpits is harmful: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-antiperspants-do-more-than-block-sweat/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-a...
- lifeformed 9y ago> There are no natural tricks to solve this. Other than to be East Asian.
- code_duck 9y agoI had an a rash under my arms for the better part of a year that made all the hair go away, and removed all of the odor there. It was just like any other skin that was sort of clammy, like having your knee folded up.
- tyfon 9y ago
- alex_young 9y agoMaybe try using the spray manufactured by AOBiome :) https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-shampoo-bacteria-rich-hygiene-experiment.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-sh...
- cortesoft 9y agoI mean, giving yourself a month or two to get used to your own stink is lovely and all.. but what about the rest of us who still have to smell you?
- code_duck 9y agoPersonally, I find the fragrances of personal care products far more offensive than the smell of a recently showered person without fragrances. It’s not my preference about the odor, it’s my reaction to the dozens of secret synthetic chemicals that they create the fragrance with. Essential oils are better, but still offensive and cause me various unpleasant symptoms and feelings.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- remir 9y agoDrugstore brands such as Axe, Old Spice and Irish Spring are absolutely terrible. I'm currently using Dr Bronner's castile soap (eucalyptus) and while the smell is strong, it's not offensive. I also like Ivory (bar soap) and Every Man Jack.
- culot 9y agoDesert Essence tea tree vegetable soap bar is also really excellent. It has only a mild smell going on, and leaves no scent behind. Also a killer lather and lasts a long time. Their liquid soap.. no so good, doesn't lather well and doesn't go the distance.
- remir 9y agoThank you for the suggestion.
- pasquinelli 9y agoi agree totally, perfumes are almost exclusively suffocating. i feel like there's this arms race going on, where you get used to one level if fragrance and then a more potent one lures in people, and now the cover ups are getting pretty close to at least as bad as the stinks they're trying to cover up.
- derefr 9y agoDo you use body soap when you've gotten very sweaty from exercise? How about when you've gotten very dirty from physical labor in a dirty environment? If so, does this temporarily "throw off" your natural oils? For how long? Would someone that exercises heavily/gets dirty often enough, never be able to achieve oil homeostasis because of this? Related: How do you feel about the Roman-Empire cleaning method of applying (usually olive) oil to your skin and then scraping it off (with something like a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigil)? I've been thinking for a while that it might get you clean from sweat/dirt without throwing off your skin-oil balance.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- loeg 9y agoExercise-induced sweat is composed primarily of water (98-99%) and a little bit of salt.[0] Obviously, salt water just rinses off. You don't need soap for that. If you get physically dirty, especially greasy, then yeah, use soap. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspiration#Composition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspiration#Composition
- refurb 9y agoThose are normal sweat glands. The sweat glands in your armpits and groin are apocrine sweat glands and they excrete things like fatty acids that bacteria consume and cause the nasty BO. That stuff doesn't really come off with water, you need soap. For most mammals, however, apocrine sweat glands secrete an oily (and eventually smelly) compound that acts as a pheromone, territorial marker, and warning signal.[1] Before you hit puberty, your apocrine sweat glands aren't really active. That's why prepubecents don't really have BO, just a mild sweat smell. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocrine_sweat_gland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocrine_sweat_gland
- wellboy 9y agoI tried that for 2 months and it didn't change anything. Yes hair is a little less greasy compared to when you shower every 1-2 days and then not for 4 days, but you still need to wash your hair with vinegar and baking powder (wtf) if you don't want it to look greasy.
- tischler 9y ago.
- loeg 9y ago> without a good scrub with some soap in all "enclosed hairy regions" you will most certainly have quite strong body odor. This is not true in general. Maybe there are outliers. The mechanism by which washing kills bacteria is by simply pushing them off your body down the drain. Soap's only purpose is to remove oil, which water does not rinse off by itself. As a general rule, try rinsing first; if it still smells bad, then use soap. I exercise daily and sweat a lot pre-shower. A rinse eliminates all body odor.
- remir 9y agoA guy at work come from a different culture and don't put on deodorant and I can smell him every time he walks near me. I guess he doesn't smell his own odor because he got used to it, but other people notice. In the same way, sometimes, when the trashcan is full, I don't really notice the smell until I leave the house, breathe the outside air and come back inside after. Then it hit me. Also, how can one really clean his ass crack without soap? Water alone is definitely not enough.
- nxc18 9y agoNot trying to sound mean with this suggestion, and I know it’s easier said than done, but have you considered telling him? It will be awkward, but walking around smelling is going to hurt him in all areas of his life.
- abawany 9y agoIt takes a bit of something-something in terms of communications, which I probably lack. I once asked a person (nicely, I thought) with BO, loud chewing, and unfettered burping to reconsider and he started screaming at me instead. Be careful, is all I can say.
- ficklepickle 9y agoThis is what the human resources department is for. If a few people mention it, they will have to do something. And you don't have to risk getting yelled at.
- ChuckMcM 9y agoWhile I don't recommend this daily hygiene plan, for the doubters on HN there is some research into this which does not conflict with the parent's statements. According to a variety of authorities, body odor is the result of bacterial interaction with sweat and oil excretions of the body. The medical name for severe body odor is bromhidrosis. But the key is that there is an interaction between the microbiome in the area around your sweat glands, and your sweat that causes the odor. Anthropologists studying primitive peoples have found many cases of people who do not bathe regularly and yet do not smell either. A group at MIT did some studies with repopulating the microbiome with ammonia consuming bacteria from soil as a way of avoiding body odor without washing. And the folks at the Microbiome project cultivated a bunch of microbiomes from people's arm pits and thighs which also informed this area (although there isn't really a pro-biotic deodorant that I know of yet) As I understand it, showering and washing isn't getting rid of "odor" it is getting rid of bacteria that is outgassing odor after processing your sweat. You could be odor free without showering with the right bacteria consuming the sweat.
- IntronExon 9y agoI’d guess that diet and genetics play huge roles, and those are two factors which are likely to be different for primitive people’s.
- euler_ 9y agohttps://motherdirt.com/ https://motherdirt.com/
- majormajor 9y agoUntil we can control the microbiomes at will whe trick is that it's very hard to tell if you are one of the people who won't smell bad if you skip the soap and deodorant, or if you're one of the people who will. Especially if you're single. :) Personally I've found I don't need a ton of soap, can get by without deodorant if not especially active, and can skip shampoo most days but do need conditioner and aggressive rubbing it in/scalp self-massage to avoid dandruff.
- nebula 9y ago
- nickfromseattle 9y agoFor the past 10-15 years I have only used Shampoo maybe once a year. Every time I ask my barber how it's looking back there, I always get the thumbs up. The natural oil that accumulates let me style my hair without using products. I also do not use body wash / body soap and no complaints around smell although I do use deodorant everyday.
- culot 9y agoI have foreskin and asshair: if I don't wash penis and booty daily I'm going to have major funk.
- __blockcipher__ 9y agoIt’s not good to wash your foreskin with soap.
- refurb 9y agoI knew someone who never used soap on their body because of a medical condition and their skin would react. Suffice to say they didn't smell like BO, but they did have a heavy sweaty smell to them like after a workout. Not pleasant. Water alone will do nothing to body oils. They just stick. Bacteria then start to digest it and you get a smell. Overall, water might cut down some of the smell, but without soap, you're going to smell sweaty.
- pc2g4d 9y agoI no longer use soap for most of my body when I shower, I no longer use it when washing my face at night, and I no longer use shampoo. And things are fine. I once tried not using deodorant in one of my armpits. After about a week things were fine, but it got bad when I wore a tuxedo and went to a fancy dinner. I think the stress of the dinner made me sweat, and the tuxedo trapped the heat and sweat, so the bacteria went to town. Other than that sort of scenario I imagine I could get by without deodorant. My girlfriend never uses any and only rarely smells bad. It's possible that you have to wait for the bacterial population to balance out, and then the odors diminish. After you stop using deodorant, you'll get colonized by certain species that are most aggressive. But I'm guessing that over time you'll get a better mix, and better smells. Would be interesting to see more microbiome studies to investigate this. See https://www.popsci.com/antiperspirants-deodorants-change-your-armpit-microbiome https://www.popsci.com/antiperspirants-deodorants-change-you...
- jabl 9y agowrt not using deodorant, personally I use unperfumed aluminum-free deodorant. TBH, it's not as good as regular deodorant; I wash my armpits and apply fresh deodorant daily, whereas with regular deodorant I can go for ~2 days before my armpits starts to smell (when not doing anything particularly physical).
- jryan49 9y agoI stopped using soap and shampoo for a year or two and it caused horribly clogged pores all the time and it wrecked my skin. I'm very oily :(
- meesterdude 9y ago> you'll be better off in all ways. I have three different skin conditions - if i take a shower and use no products (body wash, face wash, shampoo) then they flare/continue to flare. So, no - i'll be worse. The reality is this isn't going to be for everyone. If it works for you, great. But it's not something everyone can take up and should not be portrayed as such.
- DoreenMichele 9y agoI know it sounds strange, but if you can make it through the first month or two of not using body soap or shampoo regularly you'll be better off in all ways. I generally don't use shampoo, hair product, etc. But I really hate seeing comments like this on HN because it is anecdotal and the assumption that it generalizes is unwarranted. I have a genetic disorder. It has taken me years to get to the point where skipping soap and shampoo in the shower most of the time makes sense. I use lots of hand soap, hand sanitizer and even spray peroxide for germ control. Physiology, air quality, water quality and other factors significantly impact the particulars here. So, great if you can make it work for you. Wonderful if you want to share tips. Honest. But you only alienate people when you make such claims because inevitably someone reading this will chime in to say they have done absolutely everything you talk about and could not make it work for them.
- gumby 9y agoI can confirm this. After reading an article years ago about skipping shampoo I tried it for a few weeks and indeed, was fine, so just stopped. Have used shampoo perhaps a half a dozen times in the past 20 years. And I work out (sweat hard) everyday. But FWIW i keep my hair quite short! Also minimize body soap but can’t do without it. Hands get washed a lot of course but I try to avoid liquid soap (Dr Bronner's is OK) and "purell" if I can.
- elhudy 9y ago>I know it sounds strange, but if you can make it through the first month or two of not using body soap or shampoo regularly you'll be better off in all ways. I've heard this before but I don't understand it. If I go two days without shampoo my scalp becomes extremely itchy and flaky.
- wrycoder 9y agoAgreed. It's more a matter of keeping your clothes clean. I use Method Sweetwater for that (little odor) plus I add bleach for underwear and towels (washed separately). No fabric softener. No dryer balls, they shorten the life of the fabric. I only wear cotton and wool.