6 ms·

Good reason to not use hand sanitizer and lotion, then. I have a highly sophisticated self-repairing, self-lubricating, self-renewing exterior on my person, an

Good reason to not use hand sanitizer and lotion, then. I have a highly sophisticated self-repairing, self-lubricating, self-renewing exterior on my person, and my ancestors needed neither lotions nor aerosols of alcohol in the millions of years prior to whenever those things suddenly became popular. Also a good reason to pay cash, which was another long tradition of my people.

jsankey 12y ago
Although I agree that our own bodies tend to be pretty awesome and require less help than many people think, your argument in this case is a little shaky. We live in a very different environment to our ancestors and expose our skin to all sorts of things that they never could have. Even ignoring all the new compounds we interact with daily, just moving ourselves around the planet (to areas with different sun exposure, as a key example) can have a big impact on our health.
- thrownaway2424 12y ago
  You won't see me hewing to some paleo diet or otherwise worshipping my bark-eating forebears. But I think people do themselves a disservice with all the crud they put in their skin. Some of these things are required only because of the previous thing applied to their skin. Hand washing is nice and I recommend it but equally important (in terms of disease transmission) are the discipline to not pick your nose and rub your eyes. Basic stuff.
  - jahmed 12y ago
    Agreed, I'm a happy modern human that isn't particularly worried about potential harms from chemicals or GMOs. I do though use baking soda and vinegar for my hair and its so much better than using shampoo and conditioner. Aggressively stripping oil from your hair and then putting it back didn't make sense once I learned about it. I'm curious about this http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-shampoo-bacteria-rich-hygiene-experiment.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-sha... but not nearly brave enough.
    - ccozan 12y ago
      I actually did this experiment. I had the chance to be alone for 3 months so I accepted the challenge. It actually worked. I used only and only water to wash. In the beginning hot, then slowly working to a quite cold shower. That helped out too. The effect? My hair is since then never better. I have no more dandruff, no rash or other headskin condition. The body took it very well. Using only water and a turkish rubbing cloth. I didn't smell. I even asked a few colleagues ( female too ) to tell me if they noticed something about me, and there was nothing out of the ordinary. My armpits were sweating but no unpleasant smell would be produced. Some women found me even more attractive ;), but this might be subjective. Reason for the lack of smell is most probably the natural bacteria that eat all of my body output ( sweat, dead skin, etc ). The cold shower was keeping this bacteria alive, since hot water has some effect ( dilutuing fat and killing some of them ). In the end, was a positive experiment. I stopp it after this 3 months, due to home arrival of my significant other :).
      - scroy 12y ago
        If it was working well, why stop when your SO arrived? Did she not, ah, agree about the lack of smell?
      - gambiting 12y ago
        >>Reason for the lack of smell is most probably the natural bacteria that eat all of my body output ( sweat, dead skin, etc ). The cold shower was keeping this bacteria alive, since hot water has some effect ( dilutuing fat and killing some of them ). But....this is exactly what produces the smell. Sweat, dead skin - they have absolutely no smell. Zero. Smell is produced by bacteria feeding off your sweat, and their waste is smelly - that's why you are very unlikely to smell straight away after intense physical exercise, where you are literally covered in sweat - but leave it on for a few hours and it turns super smelly.
      - danneu 12y ago
        I tried it too. Vinegar in my hair just made it a greasy mess that now smelled like vinegar, which is pretty how you smell when you don't shower to begin with. Baking soda was necessary but didn't put a dent in the stench of vinegar. After a month, I was happy to lather my body with shampoo and other commercial chemicals.
simplexion 12y ago
You do know how disgusting cash is though, right?
- thrownaway2424 12y ago
  No please fill me in. Is cash more or less disgusting than the upholstered bus I ride to work every morning? More or less disgusting than cured meat?
  - lostlogin 12y ago
    I work in a radiology department. You would be surprised how many people store wads of cash rolled up in their underwear. One patient in particular comes to mind, as he was in for imaging relating to faecal incontinence. It's a close thing, but I'm going to say that cash is more disgusting.
rsl7 12y ago
You probably wash your hands more than your ancestors. So they're drying out more.
- cpncrunch 12y ago
  and perhaps he/she also lives in a dwelling with some kind of heating, where the indoor relative humidity will be around 10% if you live in a cold climate.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
dwd 12y ago
What if your cash is also plastic? http://www.csiro.au/Organisation-Structure/Flagships/Future-Manufacturing-Flagship/Flexible-Electronics/World-first-polymer-banknote.aspx http://www.csiro.au/Organisation-Structure/Flagships/Future-...
IndianAstronaut 12y ago
Or use pure baby oil. I was using just that and it works great as a moisturizer.
- bkmartin 12y ago
  But to be fair... babies and their oil are naturally occurring organic substances.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
themartorana 12y ago
They also didn't have things like sun screen, and died at half of the life expectancy we have now.
- jp555 12y ago
  Careful not to ignore the influence infant mortality has on average life expectancy. Long lives were common among adults, but the average life expectancy was dragged down because many more children than today died. It was common to have many kids because it was expected and normal that a significant number would not live to adulthood.

jsankey 12y ago

Although I agree that our own bodies tend to be pretty awesome and require less help than many people think, your argument in this case is a little shaky. We live in a very different environment to our ancestors and expose our skin to all sorts of things that they never could have. Even ignoring all the new compounds we interact with daily, just moving ourselves around the planet (to areas with different sun exposure, as a key example) can have a big impact on our health.

thrownaway2424 12y ago
You won't see me hewing to some paleo diet or otherwise worshipping my bark-eating forebears. But I think people do themselves a disservice with all the crud they put in their skin. Some of these things are required only because of the previous thing applied to their skin. Hand washing is nice and I recommend it but equally important (in terms of disease transmission) are the discipline to not pick your nose and rub your eyes. Basic stuff.
- jahmed 12y ago
  Agreed, I'm a happy modern human that isn't particularly worried about potential harms from chemicals or GMOs. I do though use baking soda and vinegar for my hair and its so much better than using shampoo and conditioner. Aggressively stripping oil from your hair and then putting it back didn't make sense once I learned about it. I'm curious about this http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-shampoo-bacteria-rich-hygiene-experiment.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-sha... but not nearly brave enough.
  - ccozan 12y ago
    I actually did this experiment. I had the chance to be alone for 3 months so I accepted the challenge. It actually worked. I used only and only water to wash. In the beginning hot, then slowly working to a quite cold shower. That helped out too. The effect? My hair is since then never better. I have no more dandruff, no rash or other headskin condition. The body took it very well. Using only water and a turkish rubbing cloth. I didn't smell. I even asked a few colleagues ( female too ) to tell me if they noticed something about me, and there was nothing out of the ordinary. My armpits were sweating but no unpleasant smell would be produced. Some women found me even more attractive ;), but this might be subjective. Reason for the lack of smell is most probably the natural bacteria that eat all of my body output ( sweat, dead skin, etc ). The cold shower was keeping this bacteria alive, since hot water has some effect ( dilutuing fat and killing some of them ). In the end, was a positive experiment. I stopp it after this 3 months, due to home arrival of my significant other :).
    - scroy 12y ago
      If it was working well, why stop when your SO arrived? Did she not, ah, agree about the lack of smell?
    - gambiting 12y ago
      >>Reason for the lack of smell is most probably the natural bacteria that eat all of my body output ( sweat, dead skin, etc ). The cold shower was keeping this bacteria alive, since hot water has some effect ( dilutuing fat and killing some of them ). But....this is exactly what produces the smell. Sweat, dead skin - they have absolutely no smell. Zero. Smell is produced by bacteria feeding off your sweat, and their waste is smelly - that's why you are very unlikely to smell straight away after intense physical exercise, where you are literally covered in sweat - but leave it on for a few hours and it turns super smelly.
    - danneu 12y ago
      I tried it too. Vinegar in my hair just made it a greasy mess that now smelled like vinegar, which is pretty how you smell when you don't shower to begin with. Baking soda was necessary but didn't put a dent in the stench of vinegar. After a month, I was happy to lather my body with shampoo and other commercial chemicals.

simplexion 12y ago

You do know how disgusting cash is though, right?

thrownaway2424 12y ago
No please fill me in. Is cash more or less disgusting than the upholstered bus I ride to work every morning? More or less disgusting than cured meat?
- lostlogin 12y ago
  I work in a radiology department. You would be surprised how many people store wads of cash rolled up in their underwear. One patient in particular comes to mind, as he was in for imaging relating to faecal incontinence. It's a close thing, but I'm going to say that cash is more disgusting.

rsl7 12y ago

You probably wash your hands more than your ancestors. So they're drying out more.

cpncrunch 12y ago
and perhaps he/she also lives in a dwelling with some kind of heating, where the indoor relative humidity will be around 10% if you live in a cold climate.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

dwd 12y ago

What if your cash is also plastic? http://www.csiro.au/Organisation-Structure/Flagships/Future-Manufacturing-Flagship/Flexible-Electronics/World-first-polymer-banknote.aspx http://www.csiro.au/Organisation-Structure/Flagships/Future-...

IndianAstronaut 12y ago

Or use pure baby oil. I was using just that and it works great as a moisturizer.

bkmartin 12y ago
But to be fair... babies and their oil are naturally occurring organic substances.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

themartorana 12y ago

They also didn't have things like sun screen, and died at half of the life expectancy we have now.

jp555 12y ago
Careful not to ignore the influence infant mortality has on average life expectancy. Long lives were common among adults, but the average life expectancy was dragged down because many more children than today died. It was common to have many kids because it was expected and normal that a significant number would not live to adulthood.