Life Experiment #33 – Take Soap-Less Showers For A Month
The ladies are really going to love this one. I’ve swearing off the shower suds this month for a water only bathing routine. No soap. No shampoo. Just me and some H20. I just finished reading The Moneyless Man by Mark Boyle and was interested to find out that this guy takes a water only shower. Ever since I’ve switched to only using Dr. Bonner’s Magic Soap for all of my hygiene I thought about giving up soap in the shower completely. I realized that I didn’t actually need deodorant or toothpaste, I started to question whether I even needed soap. Is body odor actually caused by not using soap or can we get clean just will water alone? I’m about to find out in my water only adventure as I take on 30 days of soap-less showers.
Hypothesis: I believe that body odor is more a byproduct of diet and habits, like smoking, then it is a matter of what type of soap you use. Some people seem to smell regardless of how often the bathe. People in different cultures give off diet smells primarily by the types of food that they eat. I think my skin and hair will come away feeling better and smoother than ever as a result of no soap.
The History Of Bathing
Bathing has a long and rich history. From Roman bath houses to modern day Jacuzzis. From rubbing herbs and oils on the skin to high tech micro beads, getting clean has fundamentally always been the same. A person is rinsed or immersed in water to remove sweat and dirt from the body. The only thing that’s changed in the thousands of years humans have been bathing is what we use to get clean.
It seems like our answer to almost every problem now a days is to buy a product to solve our problems. You stink? Buy this body wash. Your skin is dry. Use this moisturizer…it’s on sale. It seems like no one is stopping and considering that maybe there’s other ways to go about solving our problems. Every time I’ve talked to people about my idea not to use soap in the shower I get the instant reaction of …”Eww that’s gross. Don’t you stink?” Where did all these beliefs about being clean come from? Why are we all so obsessed about using as many hygiene products as possible? One answer…advertising.
Companies have made people so self-conscious about being clean and fresh that people will gladly pay for that right. I remember the sure/unsure deodorant commercials that ran in the late 90′s. It was a series of situations where people were in public and they were either confident or unsure of themselves based on the type of deodorant they used. If you ask me, my level of self confidence shouldn’t be based on what hygiene products I use. Why should our self-worth be based on the products we buy. Why don’t we just do like animals do and rinse off with a little water.
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