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Random Internet dude goes over a year without using soap/shampoo. Surprising results

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Aesius

Member
bionic77 said:
So GAF is onboard with updating their computer, laptop, game console and cellphone when something newer comes along. We apparently have no distrust of this technology.

But the three evil technologies of personal hygiene toothpaste, soap and shampoo we are openly skeptical of?

And you guys wonder why you are forever alone...

Bu bu but....not using it makes their skin feel so soft!!
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
bionic77 said:
So GAF is onboard with updating their computer, laptop, game console and cellphone when something newer comes along. We apparently have no distrust of this technology.

But the three evil technologies of personal hygiene toothpaste, soap and shampoo we are openly skeptical of?

And you guys wonder why you are forever alone...
you're such a front runner i dont know why anyone listens to you.

I'm on 3+ weeks of no soap and no shampoo in the shower. I feel fine I notice no real difference. I still shower daily. I told my gf of 1.5 years last night and she hadn't noticed any smell or anything.

I still use deodorant and soap on my hands if i get them dirty.

Also i meant to post a while back about deodorant causing cancer because it has aluminum. This is incorrect most deodorant does not contain aluminum, but most anti-perspirant does.
 

bionic77

Member
captive said:
you're such a front runner i dont know why anyone listens to you.

I'm on 3+ weeks of no soap and no shampoo in the shower. I feel fine I notice no real difference. I still shower daily. I told my gf of 1.5 years last night and she hadn't noticed any smell or anything.

I still use deodorant and soap on my hands if i get them dirty.

Also i meant to post a while back about deodorant causing cancer because it has aluminum. This is incorrect most deodorant does not contain aluminum, but most anti-perspirant does.
Guilty as charged.

I have been on the soap and toothpaste bandwagon for a long time now.
 
Tomorrow it will be three weeks since I've stopped using soap and shampoo. I only use water every day. Skin feels a little bit better but it wasn't really bad before. As far as hair goes it feels like I've been going through these greasy then dry periods but overall it's definitely greasier then when I still used shampoo regularly. But I hope that it will stabilize soon. Since I have curly hair I kind of like the greasier hair though. :p So far no smells, no itches and no dandruff so I'm sticking with it.

More as it develops...
 
Staccat0 said:
I'm interested in doing this, but I do a lot of corporate work and must look classy with a suit ans hit...
How long would I have to wait for my hair to get non-greased? I gets greasy pretty fast.

Yeah, I wouldn't think this would work for people who actually get really dirty doing real-ass work.

I'm part time construction worker atm and I come home messy and dirty as fuck sometimes.
Hair and body covered in concrete, cement and stuff.
as long as it isn't something oily, water does the job just fine*.
When i worked as a mechanic I had to use that special soap with abrasives to get rid of the grease and oil though

*I only use soap for my armpits and genitales sometimes(mabye once a week). skin and scalp had never felt better. no more dry skin etc
and I do not stink at all. people tell me my skin smells neutral(means like "nothing") and my hair smells like hair.
 

Schrade

Member
Here's what you guys can look forward to!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2007220/Kailash-Singh-The-farm-worker-washed-37-years.html

2j3lmvp.jpg
 

Mistake

Member
Schrade said:
Here's what you guys can look forward to!

It says that guy doesn't go in water at all. We're not giving up a hot shower or anything. Just soap or shampoo. I don't see anything wrong it, and I'm sure shampoo hasn't always existed either. If I'm going on a date or something, or I'm really dirty for some reason, I'll use soap. Otherwise there really is no point. I still use shampoo though because my hair is thick.
 
I stopped using shampoo and soap on my face/arms on the 4th just to see what would happen.

My hair is slightly more greasy than when I used shampoo but now it's a little thicker (I have super-fine hair) and stays where I put it instead of being completely flat.

I always used to put lotion on my face and arms after showering because if I didn't, they would get dry and itchy after a few hours. I haven't used lotion at all since and they feel nice and smooth.

Feels good, man.
It has also reduced my shower time from ~16min to 10min
 
TUROK said:
Well, I'm on week 2 of this. Hair feels awesome, but skin feels the same. I only use soap for my junk, my ass, and my armpits, but that's it. I may just go back to using soap so I don't have to scrape the grime off of my skin every time I shower, it's kind of a hassle.

I don't smell like shit, my hair isn't "nasty", and I feel as clean as I did when I used soap all over my body.

Started on June 7th and I echo the above words. I can't stop touching my hair, it has never felt or looked this good.
 
Okay, I've been doing this for 4 weeks now and I've come to the conclusion that it probably works, but not for everyone (wow, makes it so much different than everything else in the world!)

Like I said in an earlier post, I'm a part time dishwasher, and I'm constantly exposed to different types of greasy shit and chemicals that get on my skin...and going the no soap showers after work doesn't exactly take them all off. I've had incidents of minor irritation on my skin in areas where different types of cleaners spilled on me that I'm sure if I used soap would have neutralized that shit. I still have roughly the same amount of acne.

My hair is perfect though, will never use shampoo again.
 
I've been on it for almost 4 weeks, was going so well, no grease whatsoever in my hair.

Went to a BBQ recently and unfortunately water alone wouldn't clean my hair, stank of smoke. Will be restarting this though!
 

felipeko

Member
I was about to bump this thread for the same reason.

My hair is way better without shampoo.

I still didn't stop using soap though.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
bionic77 said:
So GAF is onboard with updating their computer, laptop, game console and cellphone when something newer comes along. We apparently have no distrust of this technology.

But the three evil technologies of personal hygiene toothpaste, soap and shampoo we are openly skeptical of?

And you guys wonder why you are forever alone...

Yes, because electronic devices are chemicals that we apply to our skin on a daily basis, right?

You aren't seriously this stupid, are you?
 

Anteater

Member
felipeko said:
I was about to bump this thread for the same reason.

My hair is way better without shampoo.

I still didn't stop using soap though.

What do you find different with your hair now?

I think it would be bad for people with oily hair, but I'm kind of curious and wants to know if there're improvements instead.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Anteater said:
What do you find different with your hair now?

I think it would be bad for people with oily hair, but I'm kind of curious and wants to know if there're improvements instead.

Just like with dandruff, a lot of people who have oily hair may have it as a direct result of using shampoo.
 

Anteater

Member
Zefah said:
Just like with dandruff, a lot of people who have oily hair may have it as a direct result of using shampoo.

I heard about that too, but it's kind of bad if I don't wash it with shampoo :(
but then I guess I haven't stick with it for longer to see if it would adjust..
 
sfedai0 said:
For those of you not using shampoo....are you using hair products?

Personally I use this, so it's pretty easy to take off with just water. My guess is hair gel may be a little harder to come off.

Anteater said:
What do you find different with your hair now?

I think it would be bad for people with oily hair, but I'm kind of curious and wants to know if there're improvements instead.

Right now my hair feels kind of like a puppy, or soft kitty or something. When I used shampoo it felt a bit more like straws.
 
Dandruff has always been a problem for me so maybe I'll do the no shampoo thing again.

I shaved my hair and tried it once for 6 days (no shampoo or scalp grease) and my scalp was itchy as fuck and my armpits were mad smelly.

Water leaves my skin insanely dry, I have to still use lotion.
 
clearacell said:
Right now my hair feels kind of like a puppy, or soft kitty or something. When I used shampoo it felt a bit more like straws.
Bad shampoo or not rinsing it out properly then.
Or washing it way too often.
I always have hollywood soft and shiney hair and I use shampoo on it 3x a week.

The soap thing does work though.
 
It's been a good 3 weeks now since yall started this and i bet you can already tell.


And seriously, you fucking cool guys making sly statements about forever alone and other stupid shit, or saying "heh im on the soap bandwagon" are fools.

I've been doing this for a while now and my embarrassing dandruff i had for 5 years? gone completely. dry skin? pretty damn soft now. smell? what smell?
 

felipeko

Member
Anteater said:
What do you find different with your hair now?

I think it would be bad for people with oily hair, but I'm kind of curious and wants to know if there're improvements instead.
My hair was too frizzy and hard to comb, even with hair gel. Now it bends to my will easily using my hands.
 

way more

Member
Alpha-Bromega said:
It's been a good 3 weeks now since yall started this and i bet you can already tell.


And seriously, you fucking cool guys making sly statements about forever alone and other stupid shit, or saying "heh im on the soap bandwagon" are fools.

I've been doing this for a while now and my embarrassing dandruff i had for 5 years? gone completely. dry skin? pretty damn soft now. smell? what smell?


Well, if you can't smell yourself that's all the proof I need.
 
I'm surprised I didn't see this thread before.

I've been showering without soap for about 10 years and stopped using shampoo last year.

Concerning the soap, I stopped using it basically on accident. I ran out and just kept forgetting to buy more. After two months of this, I noticed my skin felt a lot better. It felt like it had a better texture to it and just seemed healthier.

I decided to deny soap for another few months and that turned into years. I get complimented on the feel/look of my skin by almost everyone I date. I highly recommend everyone give this lifestyle a try. You don't really save much money but you do feel better in the long run.

The shampoo use I decided to cut out because I've had bad dandruff my whole life. I finally started using head and shoulders a few years ago, but my hair started falling out. I've tried everything and none of it worked without some kind of horrible side effect.

So I stopped using shampoo and it cut down on my dandruff by a huge amount. I'd say I generate about 75% less dead skin on my face/scalp now.

For those that are worrying about the smell: don't. Even someone like me that comes home covered in piles on man sweat (
jiu jitsu training
) several times a week can use minimal to no soap and still smell great.

If anyone has more specific questions, I'll try to answer them.
 

Muerte_X

Member
This is sort of related I guess. I tried one of those body wash + shampoo bottles for a while and when I ran out, I thought I'd try regular body wash in place of shampoo. They seemed pretty much the same anyway, only body wash doesn't have all the detergents. I think the detergents are the cause of all these bad reactions people seem to be having to using shampoo. I guess that's what conditioner tries to counteract.

I've been using shower gel as shampoo for a while now, mostly because it's more convenient to carry around and to just buy one bottle. And I like the scents available in the shower gels more than shampoo. I never use conditioner, and my hair feels better than when I used to use shampoo by itself, or even with shampoo and conditioner. I always thought they were basically the same thing but I guess not quite. I have pretty long hair now (~9") and I never have a problem with tangles or knots or anything. In fact I rarely even brush it.

I suppose this is similar to what it'd be like to get rid of shampoo altogether. I don't think I could not use soap on my skin. I mostly use it on my privates and armpits exclusively, unless I think I need to use it more and I've always had pretty soft skin. Other than handwashing of course, I don't think water is good enough for oils and grease on your hands. I've never had a problem with dandruff or anything, though if I don't wash my hair everyday, it does get pretty oily, but I've never tried only water.
 
I've been showering with water only for almost 2 years now (with rare exceptions when I'd lightly soap my body once in a blue moon, and more frequently my armpits only). No issues with smell whatsoever, I've even had compliments from guys I've been intimate with about my smell. I still use deodrant though but one without Aluminum.

Applying scientifically sound evolutionary reasoning to many aspects of my biology, physiology, nutrition and exercise has transformed my life.

It's truly maddening how off the mark conventional wisdom is nowadays on so many fronts. That's no surprise when profit-driven corporations are the strongest and most influential agents in the world today.

Edit: It's worth noting that my face gets pretty greasy at the end of the day, and what I do is I wash it in hot water by repeatedly swiping my hands over it, but I wash my hands with soap* between swipes to get the grease off them, and always completely rinse the soap off my hands before I put them on my face again. I repeat the process several times covering portions of my face each time until my face doesn't feel greasy anymore. All without getting any soap directly on my face, just my hands.

*I use facial wash for "sensitive skin" because it has no added fragrance and the least amount of nasty chemicals.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Naked Snake said:
I've been showering with water only for almost 2 years now (with rare exceptions when I'd lightly soap my body once in a blue moon, and more frequently my armpits only). No issues with smell whatsoever, I've even had compliments from guys I've been intimate with about my smell. I still use deodrant though but one without Aluminum.

Applying scientifically sound evolutionary reasoning to many aspects of my biology, physiology, nutrition and exercise has transformed my life.

It's truly maddening how off the mark conventional wisdom is nowadays on so many fronts. That's no surprise when profit-driven corporations are the strongest and most influential agents in the world today.

Gotta figure out how to make money wherever you can, no matter what the cost is!
 

zeeaykay

Member
I just wanted to add that I haven't used shampoo in about three weeks and it really does look and feel better than ever! My hair is really thing and used to just fall flat if I didn't put anything in it. Now it actually has some more volume and shape (wow do I sound like a girl shampoo comercial!). So yep. I will probably never use shampoo/conditioner again in my life! Crazy.

I'm still not quite sold on the no soap thing, I work outside teaching tennis 8 hours a day and if I have a feeling that I would smell pretty bad during the middle of a hot and humid day. How long does it take for your body to get used to no soap? Or should you stop smelling right away?
 
DrFunk said:
If no shampoo, how long does it take for the dandruff to subside?

I noticed results in 2 weeks and it started to even out in about 3 months that there was no more noticeable improvement.

zeeaykay said:
I'm still not quite sold on the no soap thing, I work outside teaching tennis 8 hours a day and if I have a feeling that I would smell pretty bad during the middle of a hot and humid day. How long does it take for your body to get used to no soap? Or should you stop smelling right away?

I should also mention I do use deodorant. I don't see the point in giving that up.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
zeeaykay said:
I just wanted to add that I haven't used shampoo in about three weeks and it really does look and feel better than ever! My hair is really thing and used to just fall flat if I didn't put anything in it. Now it actually has some more volume and shape (wow do I sound like a girl shampoo comercial!). So yep. I will probably never use shampoo/conditioner again in my life! Crazy.

I'm still not quite sold on the no soap thing, I work outside teaching tennis 8 hours a day and if I have a feeling that I would smell pretty bad during the middle of a hot and humid day. How long does it take for your body to get used to no soap? Or should you stop smelling right away?

I don't understand this. Have you tried taking a shower with just water before? Did you stink afterward? Probably not. The reason you stink after hours of teaching tennis outside is because of sweat. Taking a shower with soap the night before or on the same morning won't stop that.
 

Everdred

Member
I'm another one testing the idea. Soap/shampoo free since June 1st. My hair is a million times better, feels healthy and thicker than before. Skin wise, it's much softer and healthier looking but I am still nervous about smell when I'm being physical. I wear only deodorant.

Normally when I sweat I don't smell like BO but whatever body wash I was using. Now I smell different. Its body odor of course but not bad smelling. I still prefer the body wash smell and get paranoid about smelling.

I'm going to continue, I may use body wash again but I will definitely never use shampoo.
 

Valhalla

Banned
Personally ever since i was a bathing myself, i never used soap. Or body wash. The few times i have used it, it made me feel disgusting, slimy and oily all over. So i stopped. Never had a complaint about the way i smell and my skin feels awesome, never really had a problem with zits(some occasionally), even through puberty.... Im 24.

I use shampoo every so often, i brush teeth and use deodorant..

So, i guess, i am proof this does work. ...
 

Anteater

Member
I think I'll experiment with this, at least the shampoo part, I've always had oily hair, I've heard that if you wash it everyday, it only gets greasier, I've tried washing it only once every 2 days but it gets greasy as fuck, but it never occur to me to just wash it without shampoo :lol So I guess I'll try without shampoo and scrub those oil out hard! Though I guess it's kind of a whole different reason for trying this out, I just get a lot of mixed answers for it so I'll find out for myself.

Could always go back to shampoo or use it less if it doesn't work.
 

bionic77

Member
Zefah said:
Yes, because electronic devices are chemicals that we apply to our skin on a daily basis, right?

You aren't seriously this stupid, are you?
:lol @ being called stupid by the person that completely missed the point/joke.

And I agree with the person who plays tennis all day. At least for me, I just don't feel clean after I work out unless I use soap.
 
Been over 4 weeks. And Sunday was like the hottest day in the UK for like years or something, but no smells or anything at all, and I sweat like fuck.

Hair is starting to feel better now. It looks like it has taken more than 3 weeks to sort itself, but it is very thick and wavey.

I do feel like I need to wash my hands even more though, but I don't know if that's a self concious thing or not.

As well as my skin feeling softer, it feels cooler as well. Strange that.
 
I was thinking about this thread the other day in the shower: I just can't do it, man. I like soap and what it brings to the experience way too much. But I'll be damned if it's not one of those little, fleeting thoughts I'm gonna have every time I shower now for the rest of my life.
 

-KRS-

Member
Yeah another person testing here since the third of June because of this thread. I have to say that my hair has never felt healthier. It's a bit more rough now though compared to before, but not in a bad way. It's a lot stronger and it never gets dry and thin anymore.

I also stopped using body wash but I haven't really noticed much difference there so I might just start using it again, at least every once in a while. Not that I've gotten any complaints about odor or anything. But I'll probably never use shampoo and conditioner again.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
bionic77 said:
:lol @ being called stupid by the person that completely missed the point/joke.

And I agree with the person who plays tennis all day. At least for me, I just don't feel clean after I work out unless I use soap.

How the hell was anyone supposed to tell that was a joke?

Okay man...
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Zefah said:
Just like with dandruff, a lot of people who have oily hair may have it as a direct result of using shampoo.
I'll test this out for a couple days. I use a very expensive special shampoo because of my scalp condition. If I use normal shampoo for even a couple days, it goes from flaky to cracked and bleeding.

I'll go without until the weekend and see what happens. I don't expect good things.
 
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