...And I Don't Always Use Soap, Either!
Aug. 12th, 2021 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerA few days ago I posted How Often Do You Shower? about the recent social media blowup involving celebrities who don't shower or bathe, or don't wash their kids, every day. Like some of those celebrities I don't shower every day. Though unlike a few of them I don't take it quite as far as "Wait until you can see and smell the dirt." I shower most days, and I definitely shower— even if it's in the afternoon or evening or it's my second shower of the day— to freshen up after I've done something that makes me really dirty or sweaty. But here's the other thing.... I don't always use soap!
Soap has a scientific purpose. Its molecules bond with water on one end and oils and fats on the other. Using soap with water helps water wash away certain categories of crud on the skin. Again, though, my lifestyle seldom entails getting really cruddy. I find that a simple shower with warm running water gets me clean— especially when I shower most days.
Oh, I use soap and other cleansers now and then. I use soap on my legs when I've gotten really dirty, e.g., from hiking on a dusty trail and dirt is stuck in my pores. I use shampoo in my hair 2 to 3 times a week. My hair is short and fine so water alone generally gets it clean. I use cleanser and scrub on my face once or twice a week. This is enough to keep pimples and roughness away while being infrequent enough that it doesn't overly dry out or abrade my skin— which would then require another cleaning regimen to fix.
It's that cycle of cleaning then having to fix what the cleaning did, that I see a lot of people get trapped in. IMO that's where a lot of shaming like, "OMG! If you don't do this, this, this, and that every day you're gross!" comes from. And of course what starts that cycle is cosmetics. When you cover your face with crud every day in the name of fashion you then have to clean all that crud off, then have to recondition all the damage the crud and the crud cleaners caused. Just say no. Everything's a lot easier when you say no.
Soap has a scientific purpose. Its molecules bond with water on one end and oils and fats on the other. Using soap with water helps water wash away certain categories of crud on the skin. Again, though, my lifestyle seldom entails getting really cruddy. I find that a simple shower with warm running water gets me clean— especially when I shower most days.
Oh, I use soap and other cleansers now and then. I use soap on my legs when I've gotten really dirty, e.g., from hiking on a dusty trail and dirt is stuck in my pores. I use shampoo in my hair 2 to 3 times a week. My hair is short and fine so water alone generally gets it clean. I use cleanser and scrub on my face once or twice a week. This is enough to keep pimples and roughness away while being infrequent enough that it doesn't overly dry out or abrade my skin— which would then require another cleaning regimen to fix.
It's that cycle of cleaning then having to fix what the cleaning did, that I see a lot of people get trapped in. IMO that's where a lot of shaming like, "OMG! If you don't do this, this, this, and that every day you're gross!" comes from. And of course what starts that cycle is cosmetics. When you cover your face with crud every day in the name of fashion you then have to clean all that crud off, then have to recondition all the damage the crud and the crud cleaners caused. Just say no. Everything's a lot easier when you say no.
