A few days ago, Lin asked me if I had read the latest post on Amy Hadley’s blog, because he said it was interesting (as in weird, I think). Well, I had read it, because I check her blog for new posts religiously, because I still miss seeing her every morning when I turn on the local news. I didn’t find it weird at all that Amy and her husband have given up using soap. I hadn’t announced it to my husband (or anyone yet), but a couple months ago, I too gave up bathing with soap.

It probably seems insane to give up soap. I’ll admit, when I decided to stop using soap, I thought it was crazy and wasn’t going to work either, but I was at the end of my rope. I’ve been dealing with a skin condition for the last six months or so. I’m allergic to the world, so I always have some kind of skin condition, but this one was more annoying and more awful than usual. It was really bringing me down, and so I had spent some months trying all manner of cleansers and soap and other ointments and creams to make it go away … with no success. In fact, it just seemed to get worse and worse, to the point where even I –the person who hates dealing with the world of healthcare– had considered seeking medical help with it. There are few things short of immediate death that get me to see a doctor (what with not having money or health insurance).

I have a habit of splashing water on my face every time I wash my hands, because it feels good, and if I am washing my hands, there’s probably a reason … and I probably already touched my face with the hands I had determined needing washing. What I began to notice was my skin problem seemed better after just washing my face with water a few times a day. This got me thinking, so I stopped using soap on my face except when showering. That was when I noticed that no matter what soap I used on my face in the shower, the skin problem was always worse after a shower. I stopped using soap on my face at all. My skin problem started to get better.

Then I started on this major art project, and bathing became a task I had to do but felt like time wasted that could be devoted to getting some art done. I cut my shower time in half and just started jumping in the shower to rinse off when I felt the need (or was having one of those awful middle-aged hot flash moments). No soap, just water. After a couple of weeks, I noticed something amazing. The skin all over my body felt and looked better. Dry spots I have been battling for ages went away. Blotches that had been around so long I determined they were now permanent vanished. Cuts and scrapes and bug bites healed more quickly. Also, I wasn’t dirty, and I didn’t smell or feel gross, because I wasn’t gross. Soap, it would appear, is not necessary for cleanliness.

Now I suppose should I find myself being terribly grubby and filthy or having gotten into something truly disgusting I will probably use soap to clean up, but how often in our modern lives do most of us really get terribly dirty with anything more than dust and sweat, both of which wash off skin easily? Well, most of us don’t. We sit at desks or in other air conditioned environments, and the worst thing we get on ourselves is food, dust, and sweat, yet most of us hop in the shower daily and scrub down with a number of soap products to get squeaky clean. To me, that now seems like a waste of money as well as exposures to chemicals we really don’t need to expose ourselves to on a daily basis … chemicals, which in my case at least, seemed to be causing more problems than they were solving.

Sans soap during bathing, I have also given up pouring tons of moisturizer on every square inch of my skin every day. I find I don’t need them anymore. My skin isn’t dry like it used to be. Since nothing else in my life has changed, it does feel like it was the soaps –all those “moisturizing” soaps– causing my skin to be dry. So now not only am I saving some cash by not buying all those special soaps for sensitive dry skin, I’m saving money not buying gallons of pricey moisturizers as well.

My skin seems happier for all the changes to my bathing routine. Seriously, it’s looking better than it has in my entire adult life. My skin problem hasn’t completely cleared up yet, but it’s about a thousand times better, and it seems like in a couple more weeks, it will be a thing of the past. I couldn’t be more pleased, and it was such a simple change to make (though it is a little scary to give up soap, seeing as it seems like such an insane thing to do).

Like Amy, I haven’t given up shampoo yet. I would love to do so. I have friends who have, and their hair is fabulous. But they all have short hair, and the transition from shampooing to not shampooing does require a stage where your hair feels awful as the natural oils equalize and do what they are supposed to do. I have very long hair, and this transition stage is going to be a bit longer for me, and I hate the feeling of having gross hair. I have cut back to only using shampoo once a week or when my hair is really, really dirty (like after sweating in the garden out in the heat), but someday I will make a real effort to stop using shampoo. Maybe this winter when I’m not outside getting sweaty and covered in dirt. It’s going to be more difficult than giving up soap, but I think my hair and skin will be happy about the lack of those chemicals in my life too. Eventually. Once that annoying dirty-feeling hair stage passes. LOL!

So there you have it … something I have been doing I didn’t think to tell you about. I gave up soap, and I am a happier skin-owner for it. I would suggest everyone try it, especially people who have problems with their skin. Might not work for everyone, but it helped with some long-term problems I was having, and maybe you’ll be surprised that it helps your skin issues too!

Now if I can just solve the twenty-hot-flashes-a-day problem, my life would even more awesome. I kid you not, hot flashes SUCK.