Free the Animal: Living Without Soap & Shampoo (1 Viewer)

[Al O'Pecia]

Does anybody else want to join me in this challenge? The more people we get, the more reults to see whether soap and shampoo are necessary. We're going to go for at least a month instead of a week, however. Who's in?

Living without Soap and ShampooThere are certain things we hold as necessary–things we can’t live without, or more to the point, things that, when lived without, represent some sort of step backward in human evolution. Take soap and shampoo for example. Would you consider bathing without them? If you’re like most people, you probably wouldn’t. People get dirty in the course of the day, and soap and shampoo are our hygienic weapons. But do we really need them?

A few years ago, an article in Boing Boing claimed that we need neither soap nor shampoo. That piece’s author Sean Bonner, lived a year without either. Not only did he not stink–as verified by numerous sources intimate and otherwise–but persistent problems disappeard. He wrote of the experience:



My skin feels better than ever before. Not that it ever felt bad, really, but it feels awesome now. Still no stink at all, I swear even when I’m really active and sweating I don’t notice any B.O., and I used to be über self-conscious about this and would think I was stinking if I walked up a flight of stairs too quickly….And with the exception of changing climates drastically, even the dandruff is history. My previously wavy and mostly unmanageable hair now seems much more willing to bend to my will, a dream of mine since I first looked in a mirror, brush in hand, then tried and failed to make any sense of that monster.


Bonner was actually inspired by a guy named Richard Nikoley and his blog Free the Animal. While Nikoley wasn’t the first person to not use soap and shampoo (“Of course I didn’t come up with NOT using soap or shampoo first: that’s the whole f$%#ing point.”), he has become the one of the practice’s primary advocates. Both Bonner and he contend that human skin and hair has its own regulatory system, and to leech the oils and other goodness nature provides with artificial agents goes against our biology. More importantly, they don’t get us any cleaner.

This author has some experience with the topic. As a teenager, I used several types of hair products–gel, mousse, hair spray and the like. I had elaborate processes that got my hair to stay exactly in the right place (blowdryers, hats, etc) with the right amount of structural integrity (aka volume). It wasn’t until years later that I discovered the best hair product of all: not shampooing. By letting the oil build up in my hair, my straight, fine hair became thick and pliant. (Full disclosure: I’m still a soap user, though am considering trying to do without).

None of this is suggestive of eliminating the need to bathe. Water is our friend and regular bathing in some capacity is, for most of us, a worthwhile endeavor.

What it does suggest is that certain things that we think are immutable truths–things that should never be lived without–might not be true at all.

But don’t take Bonner, Nikoley or my word for it. Try it for yourself. Try going without soap or shampoo or both for a week. The great thing is you don’t have to buy anything to take this challenge. That’s the point.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Not a journey I care to take, but thanks for the invite.

 

[Al O'Pecia]

Not a journey I care to take, but thanks for the invite.

You can always join later when you see (or smell) the awesome results.

 

[El Floppo]

an FFAer claimed to do this a couple years ago (hooper?)- there's a thread. just *wink/wink* use the search function.

 

[Jayrok]

regular bathing in some capacity is, for most of us, a worthwhile endeavor.

^

 

[Jayrok]

Boner was actually inspired by a guy named Richard

hee hee

 

[dickey moe]

Please post results of success/failure regarding intimate relations.

 

[Al O'Pecia]

an FFAer claimed to do this a couple years ago (hooper?)- there's a thread. just *wink/wink* use the search function.

Footballguys' search engine is worse than going down on a girl with a full bush who hasn't used soap & shampoo for a year. But if you can find that thread *wink/wink*, you can feel free to post it here.

 

[El Floppo]

an FFAer claimed to do this a couple years ago (hooper?)- there's a thread. just *wink/wink* use the search function.

Footballguys' search engine is worse than going down on a girl with a full bush who hasn't used soap & shampoo for a year. But if you can find that thread *wink/wink*, you can feel free to post it here.

pretty sure you sent up the Christo-bat-signal.

winkwink

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Not a journey I care to take, but thanks for the invite.

You can always join later when you see (or smell) the awesome results.

A gracious offer.

 

[AAABatteries]

PM Postradamus

 

[Deepster]

I did this twice last year.

First time, it was unfortunately the dead of summer. I got a rough sponge/loofah type thing and took scalding hot showers with no shampoo or soap, scrubbing my skin pretty good. I went 7 days and I will say, there was no odor. My skin did feel greasier than normal though and I didn't like it. I thought part of that might be the natural oils in my skin coming through and not being stripped away by soap, but I still didn't like it.

Second time, I tried it in the dead of winter thinking my skin is usually drier and I'd see if that made a difference. Went the same period of time, same results and, at the end of the day, I just didn't like that film or feel to my skin, regardless of whether it's how your skin is "supposed" to naturally be.

Good luck.

 

[Godsbrother]

I hope the guy in the original post doesn't work in a hand-tossed pizza place. :X

 

[[icon]]

I dont like how my hair looks/feels after 1 day of not shampooing.... You can keep your week of it.

 

[Al O'Pecia]

I dont like how my hair looks/feels after 1 day of not shampooing.... You can keep your week of it.

Your hair is allegedly supposed to come around and not feel as greasy after your body gets rid of the chemicals and reaches a natural equilibrium.

 

[sublimeone]

I haven't used shampoo in over a year. I just rinse under the shower and scrub my head like I used to just without shampoo. When I first started I would go a week or so inbetween using shampoo but eventually I just stopped using it altogether. I don't really notice much of a differnece in the texture of my hair. The difference I notice is my head used to get itch or I'd get little bumps or irritations on my scalp. Since I stopped using shampoo I haven't noticed these things.

I still use soap.

 

[Rubi]

Worked with a woman who didn't use soaps or shampoo :X

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

I dont like how my hair looks/feels after 1 day of not shampooing.... You can keep your week of it.

Your hair is allegedly supposed to come around and not feel as greasy after your body gets rid of the chemicals and reaches a natural equilibrium.

Yeah, this doesn't sound like bad-science mumbo-jumbo at all.

 

[Osaurus]

Air bathing worked for Benjamin Franklin

 

[Al O'Pecia]

Air bathing worked for Benjamin Franklin

Well, Ben was a ladies man and his skullet looked good so it must have worked a little.