I've been waiting for couple of days now,excitedly to write this post immediately! It all started when I read marry post and found out the NMDL 5 days no soap challenge. The challenge was actually 2 years ago.But hey,..bring it on! So I started my no soap challenge since January 31,It's been 7 days now!The challenge was inspired by Sean Bonner who hasn't used soap nor shampoo in a year.
First time I heard it,I was like..what the..@#??!!.Though I've been trying to live in more natural and green way these 2 years,but quiting soap and shampoo completely never got into my mind! Oh,I did stop using soap for my face(read my post here).But not for my body.And more,not for my hands and feet since I have pets so everytime after touching them,I have to wash my hands/feet in order to kill bacterias. And..thanks to the frequent touching which means frequent hand washing,now my hands are really dry and rough. See,that's how soap works!.
As I've ever posted before,soap is alkaline and that's how it works.Under some circumstances,it even destroys our skin acid mantle,making our skin even drier than before thus the skin is stimulated to produce even more oil.Natural soap(those who still has glycerine in it)is better than the non one,however it's still alkaline. The good thing about alkaline products is that they make you feel tight skin feeling,something that people associate the feeling with"clean" after whole day sweating.But it's different story when we associate it with our skin acid mantle.Both don't go the same way.
So,I decided to give the challenge a try.This is the rules:
No soap, no body wash, nada. This one isn’t about hair though, so you can totally shampoo—just don’t be cheating with those suds. (And yes, for the sake of basic human decency, we encourage you to continue to wash your hands and private parts, obviously.)
I've been doing exactly the same.No cheating. Here are my experiences by far:
Day 1:
I don't experience massive itchiness after showering.Something that become my daily"routine"after showering. Everytime I finish showering,some part of my body become very itchy that makes me scratching it badly.Last time I scratched it badly,got bleeding and left scratches mark on my arm(see pic here).
Eh,sorry for the weird pic.I have no idea how to take self pic.Last time I tried it,I broke my tripod,plus the camera :/...
Ok,so basically I got some scratches on my arm.Isn't it weird,I mean we are literally cleaner after we get shower right?So in that term I'm not supposed to be that itchy!. So,on day 1 of no soap bathing challenge,I experienced no itchiness after showering. And surprisingly,less body odor on my armpit.Even for the whole day.
Day 2:
Generally pretty much the same as day 1,less body odour and no body scratching after showering.However,it got me weird feeling like I haven't taken a proper bath.Guess this is how my body react to soap habits.My mind used to associate clean = dry skin feeling after showering.
Day 3:
In the morning when I was outside the house to feed my pets,I gained some mosquitoes arround me.Mosquitoes work targetting their prey by prey's natural smell.I haven't taken my morning shower when that happened(note:In Indonesia we take shower 2 times/day.We generally have hot weather here).That could be the factor,I think.Because when I have had a shower,I didn't find any mosquito attack. Beside that mosquitoes,I don't experience any itchiness,bad body odour and such.I even told my mom that I had"3 days no soap bathing",she couldn't believe me and even tried to smell my armpit.She was surprised by that!Because"logically",by this what we call"modern day,soap = civilized thinking",3 days no soap means a disaster body odour. Well,....it doesn't..!
Day 4:
Generally still less body odour(can't say no body odour,it's still there especially if you have lots of activities.But the smell is 75% less than when I use soap). No itchiness after showering also.My skin feels smooth and not dry,however it looks dull.I think I need to scrub it.My body scrub has no soap in it,but in order to fulfill this challenge,I'll scrub it later after 5 days.
Day 5:
Again,less body odour.No itchiness after showering.Skin feels smooth and hydrated.Less skin gunk. Overall,I'm satisfied with the result.
Even today,I still continue the challenge.Today I plan to use my non soapy body scrub.In general,I think we do need soap for some occasions like washing hands or feet in order to kill bacterias.Or to some part of our bodies that aren't covered by clothes.I generally wearing short pants and short sleeve shirt when I'm at home,sure my legs and my arms aren't covered plus I get in touch with my pets alot,so I need to wash that part with soap. Soap is just a shorcut of killing bacterias method. However,soap causing new problem that is: drying the skin!
Maybe I should ditch it and just washing it with non alcohol hand sanitizer instead.Or,washing it with teatree oil/piper bettle leaf oil diluted in water instead. After all,the idea is just to kill the bacteria.There're many ways of killing bacterias without drying out our skin.
In all,have you ever tried this no soap challenge?Or,are you interested in doing it so?I would really love to hear your opinion. Since 1st time when I heard this and tried this,I thought I was doing something crazy!!. I mean,Indonesia has hot weather.We sweat a lot.I've never thought that this method could work in this hot weather to be honest,but it works!. Not sure if there's any Indonesian out there but me who has ever done this here.
Is there any Indonesian who ever tried this?Or Singaporean,anyone from south east Asia with the same weather as Indonesia?Would love to hear your story!!:)
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Guess that's all for now.Thank you for reading,and please feel free to share some of the joy you have today to those in need bellow!:) Thank you.. Have a Nice Day!
