No Soap? No Shampoo? No Problem! (My 2k)

So for my 2k, I decided to make a thread which can enrich all of your lives! Back in early December, someone linked me to a blog about how someone did not use soap or shampoo in a whole year. You can read it yourselves if you want (it's a good read IMO, and not too long), but tl;dr, his skin and hair condition improved significantly after doing so. Apparently, the chemicals in soap and shampoo really dry out your skin and in order to compensate, your body tends to excrete more oils than it normally would. Once you eliminate soap and shampoo from the equation though, your body normalizes and only produces a small amount of oil. Of course, there's a period of 2-4 weeks where you'll be a bit more oily than usual because it takes some time for your body to adjust, but after that period, everything's great. Note: he did not stop showering. He only stopped using soap and shampoo when he showered.

Although I have always had pretty good skin, I was intrigued by this story and the logic behind it made sense to me, so I decided to try it out myself. I embarked on my journey of no soap/shampoo on December 10th. I decided I wasn't going to tell anybody I knew IRL about this, just to see if they would make any comments about my appearance or smell. The experiment began.

At first, there wasn't too much of a difference. My skin maybe was a little bit more oily, but it wasn't a notable change. In terms of smell, I never once smelled bad. Though I stopped using soap, using deodorant is completely fine. In fact, three weeks into this, my girlfriend came over and told me I smelled good! The big issue was my hair. I didn't start to get dandruff or anything (I've actually had flakes before in the past, so I suppose this was a good thing?), but my hair really was getting greasy. It got to the point where I could mold my hair however I liked it without using any styling products (I actually got a compliment or two about my hairstyle at this point, which made me chuckle inside). Anyways, despite it looking fine, I really didn't like how my hair felt, so I gave up on the no shampoo bit after around a month of not using shampoo. Instead, I decided to only use shampoo twice a week.

After a month or so, my skin started to look and feel really good. I no longer came out of the shower with an extremely dry face which I had to apply lotion to. My skin felt very smooth and soft and didn't look oily at all. My family members, friends, and girlfriend did not seem to notice any negative changes to me (believe me, they would have said something) and as I mentioned early, all I got were compliments from time to time. To top it all off, showering became a lot faster for me, and packing for travel became significantly easier. I basically only had to pack a toothbrush, deodorant, and a razor for shaving when I went places. Basically, it worked!

So it has been nearly 4 months now since soap has touched my skin (well, I wash my hands still), and I feel great. I'm not the only person from Smogon who started doing this, by the way. I linked that same blog to a bunch of my friends, and we've all been doing this ever since. I won't list any names other than Earthworm and zerowing, simply because I haven't asked anybody else if it would be okay to list them in this thread (I'm sure some people might be a bit embarrassed about doing this, though I personally don't see why). I understand that the idea of not using soap or shampoo might seem weird to some of you (believe me, I had my reservations before deciding to do this as well), but it has been good to everybody that I know who has tried this, so just some food for thought :).
 

Nix_Hex

Uangaana kasuttortunga!
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Researcher Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
This sounds intriguing but I don't know if I can pull this off in certain situations. I run races (5k's, not half/full marthons or anything crazy like that) a few times a year and I feel downright nasty afterwards. Have you done any exhausting physical activity, such as races, long days at the gym, etc. in these 4 months? I'm honestly considering trying this, but I think I'll shampoo my pits and crotch as much as possible while just rinsing the rest of my body with water. It's great to hear that you haven't had BO problems throughout all of this.

Very good 2k, enjoyable read. Congrats!
 

cookie

my wish like everyone else is to be seen
is a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
oh yeah I tried the whole no-shampoo thing two years ago and jesus, my hair weighed a ton from all the grease. not to mention it also smelt like crap
 
Ball sweat, I'm not too sure water alone can cure that shit, definitely depending on certain activities. I might have to run some tests.
 
This sounds intriguing but I don't know if I can pull this off in certain situations. I run races (5k's, not half/full marthons or anything crazy like that) a few times a year and I feel downright nasty afterwards. Have you done any exhausting physical activity, such as races, long days at the gym, etc. in these 4 months? I'm honestly considering trying this, but I think I'll shampoo my pits and crotch as much as possible while just rinsing the rest of my body with water. It's great to hear that you haven't had BO problems throughout all of this.

Very good 2k, enjoyable read. Congrats!
Yeah, I worked out regularly for 3 months of the 4... been lazy recently... Just scrub w/ a wash cloth.

oh yeah I tried the whole no-shampoo thing two years ago and jesus, my hair weighed a ton from all the grease. not to mention it also smelt like crap
My hair didn't smell bad, but yeah, I gave up on the no shampoo thing. Guess it works for some, not all.

Ball sweat, I'm not too sure water alone can cure that shit, definitely depending on certain activities. I might have to run some tests.
Actually, I just scrub my crotch w/ a wash cloth and tbh, it has never smelled better! Trust me, I wouldn't risk sacrificing fellatio for something like this.
 
I'm honestly considering trying this, but I think I'll shampoo my pits and crotch as much as possible while just rinsing the rest of my body with water.
I've taken many a shower using this technique as of late, after realizing that I really only sweat significantly after a full day of gymming and DDRHP3 (great cardio!). I haven't tried it for long periods of time, never going without soap for more than three or four days, but I can tell you that I never experience problems with BO so long as I apply a reasonable amount of deodorant before heading off to class in the morning.

When you say better skin, so you mean overall look and feel, or something more specific like dryness or acne? I like to think my skin is good the way it is, but I use acne products everyday and lotion every night. It'd be nice to cut those out.

And grats on 2k! I remember when I made my 2k post. I think it was in Wi-Fi and no one gave a shit :(
 

VKCA

(Virtual Circus Kareoky Act)
I'm curious to see how this would go for long hair. I've only got an inch now, but before I cut it I had a good foot and a half, and it felt fucking terrible if I didn't wash it daily.

I can comprehend this though. Short hair is so much easier to manage. Since I cut it I regularly forget to shampoo my hair and I don't even notice.
Also of note: all the money I've saved on haircuts over the past eight years has surely compensated for how much more shampoo I had to use (and subsequently buy). I never would have imagined that you could put a drop of shampoo on your finger and it would be enough to soap up your whole head.
 

norulz

excellent
VKCA, exactly, before cutting my hair, I couldn't go more than a day without washing my hair otherwise it would feel and look horrible, greasy as fuck
 

Deck Knight

Blast Off At The Speed Of Light! That's Right!
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Top CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Sorry Phil, this 2k thread doesn't pass the smell test.

Congratulations though. Please excuse me while I stand over here.
 

pookar

Banned deucer.
I'm curious to see how this would go for long hair. I've only got an inch now, but before I cut it I had a good foot and a half, and it felt fucking terrible if I didn't wash it daily.

I can comprehend this though. Short hair is so much easier to manage. Since I cut it I regularly forget to shampoo my hair and I don't even notice.
Also of note: all the money I've saved on haircuts over the past eight years has surely compensated for how much more shampoo I had to use (and subsequently buy). I never would have imagined that you could put a drop of shampoo on your finger and it would be enough to soap up your whole head.
I have long hair and I only shampoo/wash my hair once a week. Sometimes i condition it, but it gets dirtier quicker. My dad's friend's wife who runs a hair salon was astonished at how healthy my hair was. She asked what i did to it, and i don't do anything to it besides wash it once a week. I would probably wash it more often if i did intense sports/workouts more often but I don't really so i don't get too dirty on a daily basis. So take that as you will, I dont think i would ever be able to "not" shampoo it though, it would never get truly cleaned.
 
My hair is curly as fuck. Without washing it I could probably keep a few birds living up there and never have to buy eggs again. :>

Congrats on 2k.
 
If you don't use soap, you'll probably have more bacteria on your skin despite it being less greasy. They won't get washed off as effectively without it.

Congrats on the 2k, Philio.
 
Nice. I've got eczema, so I try to stay away from soap. It usually stings if my skin's not in good shape. I mean, I use a little body wash, but it's pretty minimal. Might just stick with anti-perspirants from now on. Good stuff.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top