3 ms·

how did you start?

forgotmypw17 6y ago
.
- volkk 6y ago
  can you expand on that? and also what do you mean by ways you couldn't even imagine?
Diederich 6y ago
Starting in around 2013 or so, I stopped using any kind of soap or cleaner on my body, with a couple of exceptions. I still wash my hands regularly, and I use a tiny little bit of fairly bland, unscented soap between my legs in the shower. Note that my head hair is quite long, naturally coming down to my mid/lower back. How do I get my body/face clean in the shower? Very hot water and very vigorous scrubbing/rubbing. After doing that for a week, my body odor virtually disappeared, even when I was hot and sweaty. While my overall skin and hair condition had always been ok, it improved noticeably. I did this after reading a number of articles online about it and figured it would be worth trying. As a bit of an experimental control, I didn't tell my wife that I was doing this. We do regularly brush and braid each other's hair. After about two weeks, she said that my hair was more full and healthy than it's ever been, and she also confirmed the body odor changes. So this is anecdotal: it was useful for me, and might be useful to some others. However, given everything we're learning about microbiomes in and on the body, it seems to make a lot of sense.
- jimlikeslimes 6y ago
  Tried this for months, I really smelled bad. Good friends telling me unprompted etc. YMMV.
  - pengaru 6y ago
    I concur. I've lived in homesteading environments where numerous people go months bathing sparingly using just water, while still actually getting things done involving significant labor, sweating and generally getting dirty. Everyone reeks in these conditions. They don't realize it, and their intimate partners who are in constant contact also don't quite appreciate the degree of odor, because it's shared. But from an outsider perspective, it's ripe. There's probably an evolutionary reason for this, members of a tribe will smell similarly when eating the same food and sharing space/objects in close quarters. I can easily imagine how that would be advantageous. Foreigners will stink.
    - Diederich 6y ago
      > bathing sparingly That could be a difference; I scrub a good long time using quite a bit of hot water.
      - sharadov 6y ago
        I used to use hot water + scrub. Was told it's terrible for your skin by my dermatologist, you start developing eczema in some cases in the long run. Warm water, white unscented mild soap and no scrub was his recommendation.
        colordrops 6y ago
        I've been using olive oil based soap and it works great.

how did you start?

volkk 6y ago
can you expand on that? and also what do you mean by ways you couldn't even imagine?

Starting in around 2013 or so, I stopped using any kind of soap or cleaner on my body, with a couple of exceptions. I still wash my hands regularly, and I use a tiny little bit of fairly bland, unscented soap between my legs in the shower. Note that my head hair is quite long, naturally coming down to my mid/lower back. How do I get my body/face clean in the shower? Very hot water and very vigorous scrubbing/rubbing. After doing that for a week, my body odor virtually disappeared, even when I was hot and sweaty. While my overall skin and hair condition had always been ok, it improved noticeably. I did this after reading a number of articles online about it and figured it would be worth trying. As a bit of an experimental control, I didn't tell my wife that I was doing this. We do regularly brush and braid each other's hair. After about two weeks, she said that my hair was more full and healthy than it's ever been, and she also confirmed the body odor changes. So this is anecdotal: it was useful for me, and might be useful to some others. However, given everything we're learning about microbiomes in and on the body, it seems to make a lot of sense.

jimlikeslimes 6y ago
Tried this for months, I really smelled bad. Good friends telling me unprompted etc. YMMV.
- pengaru 6y ago
  I concur. I've lived in homesteading environments where numerous people go months bathing sparingly using just water, while still actually getting things done involving significant labor, sweating and generally getting dirty. Everyone reeks in these conditions. They don't realize it, and their intimate partners who are in constant contact also don't quite appreciate the degree of odor, because it's shared. But from an outsider perspective, it's ripe. There's probably an evolutionary reason for this, members of a tribe will smell similarly when eating the same food and sharing space/objects in close quarters. I can easily imagine how that would be advantageous. Foreigners will stink.
  - Diederich 6y ago
    > bathing sparingly That could be a difference; I scrub a good long time using quite a bit of hot water.
    - sharadov 6y ago
      I used to use hot water + scrub. Was told it's terrible for your skin by my dermatologist, you start developing eczema in some cases in the long run. Warm water, white unscented mild soap and no scrub was his recommendation.
      - colordrops 6y ago
        I've been using olive oil based soap and it works great.