Soap

[thef0x]

How many of you guys use body soap?

I recently wrote a blog article about not needing to use the stuff, which I haven't for over a year now.

I smell great!

Anyway, I wanted to ask some people who haven't been using soap what it's like and why we think we need to use soap.

So if you guys have any impressions with the topic, please post here and we can follow up with some further questions, then I'll feature you in my blog!

Cool!

Here are the questions:

Why do we think we need to use soap?

What do you think soap does (in your own words)?

Does not using soap make you smell worse, or better?

[darkmoon]

Originally Posted by thef0x

Why do we think we need to use soap?

Because we were taught to use soap by our parents.

Originally Posted by thef0x

What do you think soap does (in your own words)?

If I remember correctly from physics class, the essential working of soap is that it decreases the surface tension of water. This way it's a lot easier for the dirt on your skin to dissolve in the water. So the use of soap is probably not essential, but you'd have to rub a whole lot harder to remove the same amount of dirt without it.

To see the surface tension of water, fill a glass and slowly keep filling it when it's full. You will see the water bulges a bit above the border of the glass. With soapy water you can't do that.

Originally Posted by thef0x

Does not using soap make you smell worse, or better?

I wouldn't know, I always used soap But I tend to use soap that has a weak smell...

[thef0x]

Originally Posted by darkmoon

Because we were taught to use soap by our parents.



If I remember correctly from physics class, the essential working of soap is that it decreases the surface tension of water. This way it's a lot easier for the dirt on your skin to dissolve in the water. So the use of soap is probably not essential, but you'd have to rub a whole lot harder to remove the same amount of dirt without it.

To see the surface tension of water, fill a glass and slowly keep filling it when it's full. You will see the water bulges a bit above the border of the glass. With soapy water you can't do that.



I wouldn't know, I always used soap But I tend to use soap that has a weak smell...

Awesome! I love the answers, I'm happy to post this on my blog. Can I get your first and last name (you can make these up for security reasons)?

[darkmoon]

First name: Dark
Last name: Moon



You might want to read the wikipedia entries on soap and surfactant...

[thef0x]

Originally Posted by darkmoon

First name: Dark
Last name: Moon



You might want to read the wikipedia entries on soap and surfactant...

I use them in my blog article! I wanted to get more personal experiences with these things.

[Isis Kali]

Why do we think we need to use soap?

Hmm...conditioning, really. We're told that our natural scents aren't so nice. Also, we like the smell.

What do you think soap does (in your own words)?

It's a base, so it's slippery, mixes with water, and serves to loosen particles and things on the body by helping them pretty much slip away. That's just a guess. Oh, and it makes you smell pretty. Or, prettier.

Also, if a soap is moisturizing, or contains healing ingredients like colloidal oatmeal, it can be very soothing to skin irritations. Personally, I don't want to be ashy (I'm Black), so a good, rich soap combined with lotion keeps me brown instead of, well, dusty looking.

Does not using soap make you smell worse, or better?

Depends on your definition of better. I'm sorry, some people are just funky. That's a by-product of what they eat. So, soap helps them. However, some people just have a natually nice scent, so soap would do nothing, I guess.

[stephencp]

Just wash your hair with an organic shampoo and use that as the soap too.

stephen
Power-Book Library: Free personal development, success, inspiration and motivational classics
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[thef0x]

This isn't a problem!

“You smell if you don’t use soap” » Generalization Nation | Dispelling Ignorance

Check it out!

[andrew]

I only use soap if i'm dirty, aka, I have mud, dirt, oil, whatever on me. Also to wash my hands. Besides that I just water rinse, shampoo and condition, and slap some conditioner on my hairy parts. Seems to be fine the last 3 years.

Once in a while I'll use some shampoo everywhere and give myself a full wash for the heck of it.

[ReallyGoodIdeas]

Yeah I wash my hair each day. And if I actually get dirt on me, I'll use soap to get it off, but that's all. It was when i was pregnant with my daughter (now 14) that I gave up soap, in a futile attempt to avoid stretch marks. I've never had any smelling problems.

In fact, since i learnt about coconut oil, I've been using that instead of underarm deodorant. I smell when it's hot (and it's been hot in Melbourne just lately), but I tested it and I smelt when hot using deodorant. This way i smell of sweat and coconut, rather than chemicals!

Joy and interesting body odours to you!
Hazel

[Erki]

What does that coconut+sweat smell like?
I might even try it out...
Is coconut unisex?

[Jmurphy]

If your sweat stinks then it means you are a waste dump! Your body should not stink naturally, and bad body odor and breath are reflective of toxicity in the bowel. If you currently stink then it is a warning sign from your body to clear yourself out. There are some good thoughts on how to do this at RyanPrigg.com Disclaimer It tells you how much poop you should remove each day, and how to do it naturally! Ha ha.

On the topic of soap, you can buy good coconut based cleaners from most health food and organic stores. They clean effectively, dont dry you out and dont leave residue on the shower...

[ReallyGoodIdeas]

Erki - it smells better to me than sweat and anti-persperant/deorderant. The coconut doesn't give off much odour, but apparently the lauric acid in it reduces the skin bacterial count. I tried it last summer, one armpit coconut, one armpit usual deoderant. The coconut armpit smelled better, less chemically.

Jmurphy - I don't eat much meat, and found my sweat smelled worse after eating some. So I think you're probably right there.

Enough information, I think!!

Joy to you
Hazel

[thef0x]

Originally Posted by ReallyGoodIdeas

Erki - it smells better to me than sweat and anti-persperant/deorderant. The coconut doesn't give off much odour, but apparently the lauric acid in it reduces the skin bacterial count. I tried it last summer, one armpit coconut, one armpit usual deoderant. The coconut armpit smelled better, less chemically.

Jmurphy - I don't eat much meat, and found my sweat smelled worse after eating some. So I think you're probably right there.

Enough information, I think!!

Joy to you
Hazel

I hear eating lots of fruit makes you smell better and makes your cum taste better as well. Can anyone verify this stuff?

[Erki]

Originally Posted by thef0x

I hear eating lots of fruit makes you smell better and makes your cum taste better as well. Can anyone verify this stuff?

Well, at the end of the day, it's a matter of taste so you can verify it on yourself. Here and there I've read that pineapple should be good for this one.

[Cassie]

Interesting thread, thanks for the links!

[Matthew Shea]

To my understanding, a build-up of bacteria in the armpits and groin is largely responsible for most BO. I work around a couple people who don't use soap and, to put it nicely, you can easily tell. Soap washes away and often kills that bacteria to a MUCH better extent than plain water. Soap is also much more effective at removing germs, which is especially important on your hands and face.

My high school chemistry teacher explained soap as follows: it works in a special way to dissolve both polar molecules (e.g. water) and non-polar molecules (such as most oils). Water by itself will not remove oils or anything non-polar in nature like soap will. Also, since soap greatly lowers water's surface tension, it allows the water to penetrate further into pores and other very small spaces, allowing a more thorough cleansing than you can possibly get without the soap.

[joelyle]

I use tea tree soap and tea tree oil.
It helps to remove oil from my skin.
It provides great relief to my psoriasis.

Why do we think we need to use soap? What do you think soap does (in your own words)?

The difference in being clean (hot water) vs. very clean (soap and hot-water) I see as a matter of confidence.

Does not using soap make you smell worse, or better?

better

[Amadeus]

Well, let me try to answer the question in another way. Do you know where dust comes from in your home? That is from our skin. Our body is shedding skin at all times. Most of the times we can't see it. Using soap with water helps clean our pours out of the dead skin and dirt.

I've started not to using antipersperant. A doctor on Oprah made the claim, "why would we cover up who we are". So far I have not had any problems with smelling.

I've heard a dentist state that you don't need to use toothpaste to clean. It is only used for bad breath. The brush itself gets rid of tarter and plaque.

[mjukr]

This is not a one-size-fits-all issue. Some people smell great naturally. Some people stink. Some people can wash their hair once a week. Some have to do it twice a day.

Most people who don't use soap/deodorant will smell. Most workplaces have hygiene policies. Why do we use soap? Because we respect our co-workers and don't want to cause them discomfort

And there are some environments where soap is an absolute necessity, most notably, hospitals and other medical facilities. If you're a doctor and said to me, "don't worry, I scrubbed really good with a sponge, although I didn't use soap!", I'd say come back after you wash your hands properly!

[Matthew Shea]

Very well stated, mjukr.

[Erki]

But most of us aren't doctors and (hopefully) don't have to visit doctors too often. It's obvious that doctors have to be sterile.
I don't think one should be "too clean", let's leave some fun to our immunity system as well.

I personally use (liquid) soap not too often, just sometimes, when I feel like I should. I don't use deodorants/antiperspirant/whateverants either. I'm not a hog.

Now the bad(!!) thing is that no-one had told me that I smell... don't know, maybe they don't want to offend me...but then again some new friends have just come around and said "Hello", would they do it if I smelled? I don't know... but a bit of feedback would be good...

[moltar]

This thread is starting to smell funny... But jokes aside, I do use soap (dunno why, I guess because everyone does), but I rarely use deodorant (only when doing some physically intensive activity such as dancing in a club)...

[RT Wolf]

DIY mid-air pointing device

That is some AWESOME soap.

[thef0x]

Making dietary changes CHANGES THE WAY YOU SMELL! And taste!

I know that I smell way better now I'm a veggie and I quit soda and all caffeine.

Would anyone try going w/o soap for a week and post their results? I doubt this is for everyone but if you don't smell bad without it and it hurts the natural bacteria on your skin, why use it?

I smell great and my skin is soft, no complaints from the ladies.

And no soap for me!

Here's the post I did on Soap:

Soap