Shampoo And Soap...Are They Really Necessary?

Etheric Warriors Archive Misc. section
1

This is a subject wich I wanted to share with all of you here. Many peoples would not want to talk about this with other peoples because you can see there reactions coming from a mile away…reaction like: “This is crazy” or “What kind of drugged hippie stuff is this?”

Well I’ve been free of using soap for about two year now. I also completly stoped using shampoo for a year and more (I’m not sure when I stoped using it). Guess what, my coporal hygiene is has good as it could be. My hair are healtier than ever and I don’t have any probllem with my corporal odor.

I started researching this topic when I began to really think of what my body need(nutrition,etc.). Sometime we do things because it’s profondly enchored in our culture but when we stop and look at them we see that something is not normal. Many question came to my mind like:

  • What where people doing before the invention of soap? They did not die because they did not use soap…

(Of course we all remember the story of the bad hygiene in Europe during a certain period and people where getting pretty sick and some people will probably point at that if you say to them that you don’t use soap. The fact is, people did not get sick because they did not use soap. They where getting sick because they did not shower or bath at all (or very rarely). Plus there where lots of vermines, open sewer, trash thrown directly on the street, etc.)

  • Animals don’t use shampoo and there fur are most often in perfect condition…why then would human need it?

  • Did god (or nature) created the human body with imperfection that we need to compassate for with manufactured product(vaccine, soap, shampoo,etc.)? OF COURSE NOT!

During my research I found many peoples who stoped using soap and shampoo(less comon than soap) and they where all very happy they did. So I gave it a try and started not to use soap. I tought it was just the natural thing to do. Here is how my experience went…

Soap: Soap was really the most easy of the two to stop using. At first it is a bit strange not to use any soap on your body because you are used to the feeling it do on your skin. You may feel you are still dirty after a shower because you are used to the feelling of washing with soap but you will soon forget about it. I just rub my body as I did with a flannel but without soap. I don’t stink because I don’t use soap and nobody ever told me that I was till that time.

Shampoo: Shampoo is a much more complex issue. There is an adaptation period wich depend on your previous use of soap.

Before I go on, here is an explanation of how your natural oil work on your hair with the use of shampoo. Shampoo basicly link with the molecul of oil in your hair and when you rinse all this oil is taken away with the dirt that might be in it. Most hair specialist will recomand to use shampoo 2-3 time a week…why? Because it break the natural cycle and strip your hair from all the oil that are protecting it and making them smooth. That’s why your hair will feel really dry after you use shampoo. Because your hair his always striped of it’s natural oil it will react by producing more oil because he think he is in lack of it. That’s why many people will get oily hair pretty quickly if they don’t shampoo each day.

The adaptation period can range from one week to about a mounth depending on your previous use of shampoo. If you fall in the last category I suggest you to reduce your use of shampoo before completly stoping it, because oily hair are not nice and I’m sure no one would want to go a full mounth like that. For myself the adaptation period was between one or two week. I used shampoo 1-2 times a week before I stoped using it that’s why the adaptation perod was not too long. Of course I still wash my hair(each time I take a shower) but only with water. I did test to see how my hair would look without cleaning them at all and I can last about 3 days before they start to look dirty. This was just a test because I now wash my hair on a daily basis because water do not hurt them in any way (as far as I know). Like for the soap, no one ever told me my hair smell or look dirty since I stoped using shampoo. My hair now look stronger and healtier than ever!

That’s about it. I don’t know in detail how just using water is enough to be clean but I sure know that it work pretty fine for me and for many others who did the same thing as me. If you want more testimonies just google this subject and you will find many sucess story about ending the use of soap/shampoo. I have to mention that I still use soap to clean my hand when they are really dirty beacause of work before I eat. I also still use deodorent (aluminium free of course, if you don’t know about that yet do some research).

My body is now free of corporate soap/shampoo and I’m pretty happy to be finally free of those things. For me it was just another step in breaking free from the corporate agenda. I’m curious to know if anybody here are free of soap/shampoo? If you want to give a go at this and have any more questions, I’ll be happy to help you.

Love and positivity to you all!
Oli.

2

I totally agree with that, I actually still use shampoo once in a while, and just simple natural soap made with clay and earth material and it is really good.
I started wondering about these things also when I started thinking about my general personal hygiene and food hygiene. If you wouldn’t eat these chemicals, why would you put them on your skin I thought? so I stopped most of it and yes there is small adaptation period but it’s really quick [Image Can Not Be Found] The less you use shampoo, the slower they will become oily that’s a fact I noticed quite well.
No more deodorant, almost no shampoo, and something similar to clay for soap. But also another point to add, is for myself, I started trying to see what makes me stink! Do you know about koreans? Well I heard that because of watching starcraft games online, an english guy was discussing with a korean that he couldn’t find any deodorant there! And the korean replied, yeah obviously we just eat vegetables and light things, not a heavy meat diet like yours, so we don’t stink and don’t need deodorant.
Haha! that made me go on the path to experiment what food brings the most bad stenches, and yes heavy meat diet and processed food is the worst! When you eat mostly vegetables, nuts, musli and stuff like that, natural and unprocessed without too much meat, you actually almost don’t stink! You can shower less often just thanks to that. And anyway it turns out the food that makes me personally almost not stink is the food that’s best for my health!
What a great way to find out what food is the best for us, just check how bad you smell [Image Can Not Be Found] (well except garlic maybe and some things with heavy tastes/smells) ANd maybe it’s not a general rule, but it did the trick for me.
Well I might go into a disgusting area [Image Can Not Be Found], but even poop smells nicer!

That’s for me [Image Can Not Be Found]
I would like to add something else too.

Oli you might want also stop brushing teeths with toothpaste, I just discovered that a week ago (I don’t use tooth paste) but I read somewhere that toothpaste coats the teeths with glycerine and other things and that it takes ages to go away, you would need to brush everyday for 2-3 weeks heavily to get all these coatings of the teeth! And the amazing part of the stories I read, is that teeth can repair naturally, they just need the proper nutrients (by coating them with the normal toothpaste stuff, we prevent teeth from reparing naturally, because they cannot absorb nutrients). So actually brushing with a homemade paste could make the teeth all better. People in these stories said they had fillings repairs that just fall off because the teeth were regrowing naturally. I am gathering all I need to make that paste, I have a broken tooth (I broke as a kid) and some fake coated teeths (braces and I never really brushed my teeths…), I will let you know what happens.
That story is just amazing, even better than repair! A guy made a new tooth grow back a third time… just massaging the area apparently promotes tooth grow.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Regrow-Teeth
And that’s for the tooth paste
[http://www.curebum.com/20/how-to-regrow]
I would personally add pressed cucumber skin (which is made mostly of silicate… yeah there is silicon in almost every vegetable, cucumber has a lot in the skin, and why it’s actually used for beauty treatements… well it can be used for teeth it seems)

I’ll try stopping all soap and shampoo forever, to see how it changes, thanks for the info

3

Talking about brushing your teeth, I had a colleague who came from the islands tell me that they don’t have toothpaste there. They simply dip the brush in a little salt and brush with that. Though I still use toothpaste I’ve tried the salt and it does leave your mouth feeling really clean and your gums feel great. Since salt is alkaline and since bacteria (almost all of them) can’t survive in an alkaline environment, the salt also does a number on any odors from your mouth.

Only downside is getting used to the taste.

And talking about soap, what you can buy in the store I wouldn’t even consider calling soap. I’ve made cold process soap and this stuff is in a completely different league than store-bought soap. You can design the soap with as much excess oil as you want – the more unconverted oil, the gentler it gets and add things that make your skin feel great. Soap that doesn’t dry your skin out. Imagine that!

Gene

4

You are right about possibility for teeth to self heal in normal conditions – meaning no corporate stuff put on it and proper nutrition. I have listened to Dr. Waterman radio show SimplyYourHealth and he invited guy who explained this topic. There was a dentist doctor from Canada, Dr. Weston A. Price, in 1930’s who traveled around the world and check teeth of different tribes and influence of modern food leading to ruining their smiles. He wrote a book about all this.

I strongly recommend listening to this show:

Dr. Waterman radio show (listen from 51:00 min)
[http://www.argusoogradio.org/en/2010/12]

and read or listen to the original book (you can download it via torrents found here):

ebook
[http://btjunkie.org/torrent/Nutrition-a]

audio book
[http://btjunkie.org/torrent/Weston-A-Pr]

5

This is an excellent thread. I to have given up store bought shampoos and soaps for well over a year now. I use 100 percent natural soaps made from herbs and plants from an herbalist. They smell so much nicer and last longer as well, offsetting the more expensive cost. Have you ever read the ingredients on a shampoo bottle from Procter & Gamble or any other company? You need a degree in chemistry to understand it. That stuff is being absorbed through your skin and into your bloodstream. Is it any wonder people get sickened by disease? Its an all out corporate led chemical assault on all facets of your life…water, food, hygiene, etc.

6

These days, shampoo and some soaps are detergents and not soaps.

Even toothpaste has a detergent in it – sodium lauryl sulfate.

Homemade cold process soap is amazing stuff. Basically lye (sodium hydroxide) and various fats and oils and added organics if you so choose designed for at least a 5% excess fat/oil balance so the stuff doesn’t rip your skin off and so it leaves a little good oils on your skin.

Oils are triglyceride molecules. That means a molecule of 3 chains of what looks like plus signs bonded together at one end with a single glycerine molecule. The lye rips off the glycerine molecule and bonds to it and to that end of the now monoglycerides so they can’t recombine.

What you now have are monoglyceride molecules where one end LOVES water and the other end LOVES oil/dirt. Soap is also VERY alkaline, coming in at a PH of between 10 and 12 which is why soap is so antibacterial. Not much, if any “bugs” can live in this high a PH. Its also why you need enough excess fats and oils in soap because a PH that high would seriously dry out your skin in a heartbeat. With fats/oils in the soap that don’t convert, it buffers things and makes the soap luxurious.

Just for fun, here’s an animation of how oils get converted to soap with the introduction of sodium hydroxide (lye):

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects20 … mation.gif

Interesting tidbit of trivia most people don’t know. Grease (like you use on your car) is nothing more than oil mixed with soap -I’m serious!

Most store bought soaps that aren’t detergents are simply what they call a “rebatching” operation. The soap companies don’t mix all the oils and fats together and convert this with lye (how its supposed to be done). They buy the individual oils and fats pre-converted using lye (process is called sapponification), simply mix so much of this with so much of that,… heat them all up to re-liquefy, stir to mix and just pour the resulting goo into bar soap molds. Makes a VERY inferior product but hey, cost reigns supreme in the consumer market and its quite obvious they don’t give a rats arse about our health – just the bottom line.

Cold process soap making is fun and with the right recipes you can make some really amazing soaps.

Gene

7

Hmm what you say intrigues me, actually it made me think of something else. Alkaline ‘stuff’ sure is antibacterial. But then why is honey aswell? because honey is acid! 3-5ph?? This idea justed popped in my mind and I can’t make sense of it…

8

There are lots of reasons why Honey is so antibacterial – better if you just read up on it yourself than me restating it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey

Though its not said there is another agent present. Propolis. This is something that honey bees produce which they use to coat the combs (inside and out) with which is highly antibacterial/antifungal. In the process of recovering and processing the honey, they are able to remove most of this (but not all) and its used to make tinctures and is sold in health food stores. A half an eyedropper full under the tongue before bed, letting it coat the throat without any further drink till morning can completely kill a sore throat overnight – I’ve done it. It can also cure ulcers. I read about a Chinese doctor in China doing this and since I had them (job stress) I tried it and it worked very well.

Propolis has kind of a burnt (or perhaps more correctly “carmelized”) honey taste to it which isn’t unpleasant.

That there is still some left in honey also lends to its antibacterial/antimicrobial/antifungal nature.

There is also not enough water in honey to support fermentation or the growth of bacteria and there is an enzymatic process when honey mixes or absorbs water that also produces hydrogen peroxide which we all know is VERY antibacterial/antimicrobial.

Pretty sophisticated stuff!

Gene

9

Honey also (usually) has a very good energetic vibration to it. Pure beeswax candles give off negative ions (the nice ones) when they burn. The ancient Egyptians used it to preserve things. If you can get the bee products where no chemicals have been used to treat a hive for mites or fungus and they’ve fed on non-chemically treated blossoms, it’s practically glowing. I knew someone who treated their hives only with essential oils and it was quite an amazing scent with the smell of honey mixed with patchouli and other oils floating on the warm breeze in the summer.

If you are interested in exfoliating and improving circulation to the skin, look into dry brushing.

10

Not too mention toxic chemicals added to shampoo: SLF’s, Parabens, and tar for dandruff. After suffering with dandruff since childhood, I discovered the cure about 5 years ago, COCONUT OIL!!! Above 77 it turns to liquid, use a dropper to apply to scalp before bed. Within in a week it’ll be gone. Than apply once per week for prevention. Great for hair, as a sunscreen , and has antibacterial and antiviral properties.‘The Coconut Oil Miracle’ is a great read.

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Interesting bit of trivia. When making soap, if you don’t use at least 25% or so coconut oil in the mix you won’t get any bubbles. I’m not sure anyone knows why but its a fact.

12

Hey I will share a bit. Keep in mind, this is just my perspective, I am not saying I am “right”, and I may choose to re-evaluate any of these opinions in the future, they are not set in stone…

First of all, I feel that I must make a diagnostic distinction between soap, and detergent. I am not against soap, but I am very much against chemical detergents. Here is some information that I will quote and cite the source:

The problem with today’s detergents is that many people do not understand that they are no longer just soap. Ordinary soap is relatively harmless and has been used for thousands of years. Today’s detergents, however, are chemical products that include foam boosters, perfumes, enzymes, cleaning agents, fillers, and brighteners. If a little gets in your eye, you can experience severe corneal burns and eye damage. Ingestion causes serious harm to the upper digestive tract. You should be very careful to avoid using detergent the way you would use ordinary soap. Clothes washed in these detergents become permeated with artificial perfumes and other residues that are irritating to both the skin and the lungs. Enzyme detergents are often blamed for dermatitis, attacks of asthma, and flulike symptoms.
—-Harvey and Marilyn Diamond Fit For Life II: Living Health The Complete Health Program! page 220

So some personal observations, I have done my best to eliminate detergents from my house, and use natural soaps and products that are widely available in the States these days. This includes dish soap, laundry soap, and soap and shampoo.

I use a local soap these days, that is absolutely marvelous, I would love to give them a plug, since I don’t make a dime off of it, and they have free shipping all over the states, but I don’t know if that is against the rules or not. They have about 40 different scents, hand-made with natural ingredients. I can get a bar of soap for $6 at the farmer’s market, slightly cheaper than their internet price, and it lasts me over a month. Right now I am using one with mint and it makes my skin tingle in a really delightful and positive way when I shower. I gave their soap to a lot of folks for Christmas and everyone liked it. I too went without using a shampoo for about 4 months, and then picked up a local product made with local and organic, noni, aloe vera and other all-natural plant ingredients, and the stuff is really nice. My scalp prefers this stuff to no shampoo…

Many fine folks hand-make natural soap and shampoo all over the world, and I would urge someone to get that and try it rather than using a corporate product made using detergents that will absorb into your skin or epidermis. Consider, the epidermis is the largest organ in the body, and chemicals (such as flouride in tap water) are absorbed directly by one’s skin. Now I love taking a hot bath to relax. Did I love it as much when I lived in flouride-water land? Heck no! And all those chemicals in corporate soap can go right into the skin also…

Now on a metaphysical level, it is superior (in my opinion) to get a hand-made soap made by A PERSON, rather than a corporate pseudo-soap which is MADE BY A MACHINE. Now, others have noted, before me, that when someone, a mother or a grandmother for example, makes food, makes a home-cooked meal, energy from their heart chakra goes into the food, and makes it more nourishing spiritually than food cooked elsewhere. Nothing tastes better than food from Grandma! Now you can go out to eat, and the cook may be having a horrible day, maybe their boss just screamed at them, that energy goes into the food they prepare, and then YOU EAT ALL THAT NEGATIVITY…

I think that the same principle (heart chakra energy) can be at work with local, hand-made soap. The people I get soap from are really nice, make a quality product, and it shows. And food (and soap) that is made by a machine, perhaps it is lacking in soul-creative-energy…

We now know that a clean body inside and out is a major prerequisite for health. Unfortunately, trying to compensate for the effects of a dirty inner body, many people just plain “overdo it” in maintaining a clan outer body. The chemicals and detergents that they use in the name of cleanliness are toxic and many contribute to disease. Shampoos, hair sprays, mouthwashes, toothpaste, breath sprays, scrubs and astringents, face lotions, powders, creams of every imaginable form, underarm deodorants and antiperspirants, feminine hygiene sprays, and foot deodorizers are used in unbelievable amounts in our culture. It’s overkill. A lot of the television commercials for personal hygiene products are downright embarrassing; they really attest to our hangup about being dirty.

The irony of it is that if we are not dirty on the outside, we are dirty on the inside, and no amount of perfumed sprays and creams can mask that. Even worse, they create problems. These sprays and creams are for the most part caustic chemicals that have no place on or near our bodies. They block the cleansing process by forcing the body to close the pores through which it releases toxins. Furthermore, since we are obsessively demand the manufacture of these products, we can hardly fault the chemical companies for dumping the by-products of their manufacture into our waters. We asked for it, didn’t we?

Are these products harmful? You bet they are! Feminine hygiene sprays are irritants, often containing talc, which is a known carcinogen. Antiperspirants actually clog the sweat glands with aluminum chloride, and aluminum has been directly linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The mouth sprays we use to kill odor-causing bacteria also kill beneficial bacteria. Toothpastes contain abrasives that take the enamel off our teeth, plus dyes and flouride, which are poisonous. A study by DuPont Labs revealed the freon content of propellants for hair sprays and spray deodorants to be dangerously high, and the particles in these sprays are often so small that they can penetrate the lung tissue and be absorbed directly into the bloodstream. In studies done on heavy spray users, all those tested had precancerous lung cell changes.

[…]

Since most commercial body products and soaps are just full of chemicals, why not investigate some of the natural alternatives? There are many now available which contain all-natural ingredients. Look for them in natural food stores. There are other truly natural alternatives. The pulp that remains when you strain almond milk is an excellent body scrub and contains natural almond oil, so it moisturizes at the same time. Mint tea makes a good facial astringent. Instead of using feminine hygiene spray, douche with two quarts warm water in which you’ve mixed two tablespoons of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Substitute non-aerosol gels and mousses for hair sprays containing chemical propellants.

The best way to keep clean on the outside is with a warm, not hot, bath or shower every day–and a minimum of “products”. Brush your teeth and gums with a soft brush and water only, and use dental floss regularly to remove plaque. Massage your gums to keep them healthy. Sweet breath comes from the inside, not from toothpaste. Instead of lathering your skin with creams for softness, drink plenty of water and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. In addition, before bathing, dry-brush your skin with a medium-soft skin brush made of natural bristles. This will remove the dead skin cells that otherwise build up and roughen the skin. What’s worse, these dead skin cells hamper elimination, much of which takes place through the skin. After dry-brushing, soak in a bath or shower and then thoroughly scrub your entire body with a loofah sponge—a natural sea sponge. This will really leave your skin soft and fresh. If you wish then to use oil, a little pure coconut oil is the best.

Avoid using talcum on babies. Just feed them properly with breast milk and nut and seed milk, fruit juices, and fruit. Wash them in warm water with a mild coconut oil soap if you feel you must use soap. Change them frequently. They will be sweet and rash free. (Jae Duckhorn of Pasadena, California, wrote to inform me that whenever she gave her baby dairy products, the baby had a diaper rash the next morning. I have heard the same from many other mothers.)

In keeping your body clean, the simplest, most natural solutions are the most intelligent. All those chemical body products are doing a lot more for the “big board on Wall Street” than they are for your health. Eliminate them! You’ll save a lot of money, and you’ll feel better without them.

—-Harvey & Marilyn Diamond Fit For Life II: Living Health The complete Health Program! page 215-217
Published and Copyright 1987

All of the material quoted above is used for non-profit, educational purposes, in accordance with “Fair Use” copyright law…

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To add a new wrinkle to this thread, I was given a great water filter that really cuts down on the irritating chemicals in the muncipal water supply. It makes taking a shower a pleasurable experience, as opposed to the toxic chlorine cloud that used to fill my bathroom and cause me to leave after only a few minutes.

I used to shower quickly, then leave and close the bathroom door and turn on the fan to disperse the toxic mist that would fill the whole room. Maybe I’m just more sensitive to it than most, but it really used to bother me. With this filter the water feels fresh and clear, and breathing the mist doesn’t bother me at all. I can now luxuriate in a nice hot shower for however long I feel like it, and when I’m done I don’t feel that squeaky, harsh, dry, “clean” I used to feel. I think all the chemicals in the water used to strip away my body’s natural oils, so I would feel irritated and dried out after a shower. Now that those chemicals are largely gone I feel normal, properly moisturized, hydrated and healthy.

The condensation on my bathroom mirror also clears a lot faster than it used to, I guess because the chemicals that used to cling to it are no longer present. The fog is just water vapour now, so it evaporates quickly.

This is the filter I’m talking about:
http://www.whol-health.com/ShowerPure.htm

Installing the filter is as easy as unscrewing your shower head, screwing the filter to the wall pipe, then screwing the shower head to the other end of the filter. It’s a snap and takes only a few minutes.

Mike