Does anyone else find shower-gel just completely ineffective?
After using it I don't feel clean. I feel like I just rubbed cooking oil on my body.
With regular soap bars you get the "clean" feeling which no other product seems to match.
After using it I don't feel clean. I feel like I just rubbed cooking oil on my body.
With regular soap bars you get the "clean" feeling which no other product seems to match.
I tried to find out whether it was actually recommended for the skin and it's an ungoogleable topic infested by a toxic combination of beauty product snake-oil and "chemicals are evil" antivaxish insanity so I'm none the wiser.
The ingredients list sodium tallowate or sodium palmitate, which are soaps from animal or vegetable fat, respectively.
Interestingly, the "Palm" in Napalm is also Sodium Palmitate.
"Napalm doesn't dry you skin like soap can"
Wife gets QV Wash, which is less harsh and generally recommended as a gentle cleanser. Expensive, though. Also Australian-made. If you have dry skin, atopic dermatitis, etc. this is what you need.
Cetaphil is in the same section. About as expensive. Doesn't lather as well. Not sure if Australian-made.
> Given the war against plastic, maybe there will be a reaction to all these bottles of handwash. The bar of soap might yet stage a resurgence.
Once there's enough demand, I'm sure manufacturers will follow the dollars.
Bathing is more a social issue than a health issue.
I use soap and just apply jojoba oil (and aloe) after showering, which I understand is similar to human oil, but it's unclear to me whether it's truly a good enough 1:1 replacement or if I could be doing some kind of harm longer-term.
But all of my knowledge in this area came from someone trying to sell me something so it should be taken with a grain of salt. I'm sure there's a microbiologist somewhere on HN who could explain the relationship between soap/skin microbiome much better.
What were they selling? Not washing doesn't seem to provide many business opportunities that I can think of. Posies?
I bought the Mist on a whim after chatting with someone at OpenBiome (AFAIK unaffiliated). I figured I’d try using it instead of face wash for a few months as a little experiment to see how my skin felt.
Well I have lupus so I sometimes get the “butterfly rash” across my cheeks. Anything from hot water to alcohol to a cold can trigger it. I hadn’t even considered that the mist might help with it but I was shockingly and pleasantly surprised that over time the butterfly rash became much more faint so I just kept using it.
It’s entirely possible that it’s the placebo effect but when I get the butterfly rash now it’s imperceptible to anyone who isn’t looking for it. If I were a true scientist I’d stop for a few months and see if if returns with the same intensity but I guess I’m too vain.
Homemade or clasical bar soap contains glycerin naturally. Commercially made bar soap usually has the glycerin stipped out because they can resell it at a much higher price in cosmetics and skin care products.
Body oils have compounds in them that do things other than act as a simple emollient.
I'm not trying to convince you to change what you're doing. I'm just saying it's not as simple as you're making it out to be.
I wash hands tens of times per day. Every time before touching food, or after touching something potentially poisonous (like eliquid, strong detergents, gasoline, etc).
I can't imagine using liquid soap, it doesn't clean at all! It's horrible, hands covered in some oil, can't remove it with water.
I'm using this https://www.ladymakeup.com/shop/barwa_hypoallergenic_traditi... 0.99 PLN (0.26 USD) for a 100g bar at Carrefour. It's the best soap: vegan, available, cheap.
You may want to read this from the US CDC: When is clean too clean? https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/7/2/70-0225_article
But from the article:
> Soaps and detergents have been described as the most damaging of all substances routinely applied to skin (43). Anionic and cationic detergents are more harmful than nonionic detergents (54), and increased concentrations of surfactant result in more rapid, severe damage (55). Each time the skin is washed, it undergoes profound changes, most of them transient. However, among persons in occupations such as health care in which frequent handwashing is required, long-term changes in the skin can result in chronic damage, irritant contact dermatitis and eczema, and concomitant changes in flora.
> Irritant contact dermatitis, which is associated with frequent handwashing, is an occupational risks for health-care professionals, with a prevalence of 10% to 45% (56-58). The prevalence of damaged skin on the hands of 410 nurses was reported to be 25.9% in one survey, with 85.6% of nurses reported to have problems at some time. Skin damage was correlated with frequency of glove use and handwashing (56). Washing with plain soap may actually increase the potential for microbial transmission because of a 17-fold increase in the dispersal of bacterial colonies from the skin of the hands (59). Skin condition clearly plays a major role in risk for transmission.
Alcohol based cleaners don't work against a variety of germs that are important in healthcare settings. (eg norovirus).
There was a study not so long ago. The alcohol will kill all the bacteria, but the first to return are all the nasties, and there aren't any good bacteria to keep them in check. You basically destroy the balanced ecosystem on your hands.