Soap & shower gel…..

Several years before I met DP, and we’ve been together 36 years, I was pretty hard up and tried to do without or make everything in order to save money. I had just been investigating how to make soap to see if I could save anything there (and remember, this was many years before the Internet), when I heard a report on the paper about a man who never washed. Of course, this turned out to be not true at all. What it actually was, was a man who never used soap. He did everything we usually do when we clean ourselves, he just didn’t use soap or anything like it while doing it.

Intrigued, I decided I would try it. After all, what was the worst that could happen? I could always wash again if I smelled or something. So the next time I washed, I did everything as usual, but just used water, no soap. It felt a bit odd, but I felt clean, I looked clean, and I smelled clean. Ok, I thought, I’ll try this for a bit and see how it goes. Well, I never went back, and even now, all those years later, I never use a cleansing agent for normal washing.

Over the years, I have tried not using shampoo for my hair. I read or heard somewhere that if you leave it long enough it balances itself out. At the time, I had long hair, that didn’t have a particular style. But I couldn’t get beyond a couple of weeks. It itched, I hated the smell and I couldn’t see how it would get any better. So that one was abandoned. I have a short style now and I use mousse and wax in it and they need washing out. I believe that you can get dreadlocks by just not washing your hair, not a look I would want for myself.

But as for the soap, I don’t miss it, and to be honest, I don’t think we need it, unless we are doing something greasily dirty that needs a solvent to remove it.

There is a good argument that it is better for our skin too. Our bodies have armies of bacteria and other inhabitants in harmony with ourselves. Many, many types are needed by our systems in order for those systems to work optimally. There is a school of thought that recommends dry brushing your skin every day as a cleaning mechanism in order to preserve the natural habitat of your skin. The ph of your skin is altered by dousing it in water the argument goes. I don’t know about that, but I do know that it is altered by soap/shower gel. Use it if you like it by all means of course, however, do be aware, you don’t actually need it to clean yourself.

If you are using shower gel etc, it could be a good idea to join forces with a pal and buy BOGOF’s to split between you. Look for the best deal, maybe using MySupermarket, and the price per 100ml and pounce when you spot a good offer. Or maybe use companies like Approved Food who sell extra special offers. Place an order with one or more friends to take advantage of bulk buying without having to fork out the entire cost yourself. Or if you can afford the outlay in one go, stock up once or twice a year, as and when the offers are available.

Moisteriser….

I adore the expensive moisterisers that you get in Boots and suchlike. I just love how they smell, the lovely little pots and the packaging, how they glide onto my skin, and how my skin feels afterwards. They are such lovely products to use.

Yet again tho, sigh, it’s not something I actually need. Skin does look better for being kept moisterised (and out of the sun, but that’s another story). My legs go lizardy if I don’t moisterise them for a couple of weeks, yuk.

For sheer moisterising power, the cheapest one I know is also the best. I have a little spray bottle a hairdresser gave me with a sample product in it. I half fill that with glycerine, from the chemist, and fill it up with water. Give it a massive shake to mix the two together, and there you have it. Moisteriser. It is very effective, more so if I’m honest, than the little pots from Boots. Sometimes, I spray a couple of small sprays of fragrance into the bottle before I start, then the whole bottle is fragranced and I have a body perfume. Even using it every day, that little bottle will last a long time.