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Comment by NhanH | Hacker News Reader

As someone who has a pretty simple life (my most valuable possession would probably be ~100kgs of books, stacked in 2 fairly small boxes), I'd love to know a couple of practical details in your life (if it isn't too snooping, that is)! The question will be fairly personal, because pretty much most other stuffs won't be essential.

Do you take a bath daily? How do you brush your teeth? You seems pretty young, and things like teeth cavity might not be a problem yet, but it's hard to say what will happen in a few year.

Why did you make a decision to not have any soapy substance? It seems like a single small bottle of something that can be used both as shampoo and body soap would accomplish the same thing. And bathing after sweating without soap just never seems to work for me.

And are you sure that you're not smelly? I'm honestly wondering since it's fairly hard to for one to detect our own smell - we just get used to it.

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I noticed myself that if I wash daily, I would not need shower gel. I use it nonetheless, but I could go days without soap (or the perfume contained). EXCEPT if I drink coffee - that makes my sweat somewhat smelly (you probably won't notice it though, only I do) :)

Toothpaste: There are people who get cavities while using toothpaste 3x a day, while I haven't gotten any cavities in the last few years although I have limited brushing to 1x per day (evening). I had minor tooth surgery once, but that seems to have stemmed from an overzealous dentist drilling too fast into a minor cavity which he should just have left alone (causing shock within the tooth, leading to inflammation). But, I'm not sure whether I would ever go entirely without toothpaste. I might research into natural substitutes with similar chemical compounds.

Deo: You certainly don't need it if you eat clean and shower every day.

Shampoo: Some people report that omitting shampoo works well, but there's a nasty transition period of a few weeks in which you might look like you dipped your head in grease. Reportedly, skalp skin reduces the amount of fat secreted if you stop constantly washing it away.

From what I've gathered, toothpaste is "nice-to-have" - the mechanical aspect of brushing (gently, with a soft brush, lest you damage your gums!) and flossing is much more important (which is why you need not go with anything more extravagant than the cheapest brands, so long as they contain fluoride. It just doesn't matter that much).

> Shampoo: Some people report that omitting shampoo works well, but there's a nasty transition period of a few weeks in which you might look like you dipped your head in grease. Reportedly, skalp skin reduces the amount of fat secreted if you stop constantly washing it away.

Who are those people? I'm genuinely interested. I got rashes that are made worse by shampoo.

I've been shampoo free for three years, now. It's like the parent says. My transition period lasted 4 weeks and I wore a hat the entire time. After that, my hair was the softest it's been in its life. No fuss, no muss. I wash it daily with water, when I shower. I use neither shampoo nor conditioner, just water.

Here's an article[1] by a guy who did it as well. He was linked on boingboing in 2009 and 2011. His site also has several updates, as much as a year later[2]. I think one of the boingboing guys did it too. There are links to the boingboing articles in the first link[1].

On the soap issue, I remember reading a study conducted a while back about the difference in bacteria counts after going to the bathroom. They compared not washing to washing with water to washing with soap and water. There was one particular bacteria that was only effectively eliminated when soap was used. Apparently, it was small enough to hide deep enough in the folds of your skin that water alone couldn't touch it. So, I do wash with soap after going to the bathroom, but I don't use soap on my body when I shower.

[1] http://freetheanimal.com/2009/12/paleo-i-dont-care-i-like-no... [2] http://freetheanimal.com/2010/02/no-soap-or-poo-update.html

Threads like this one seem to be a good starting point: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=68552

Although I must say, advice like this:

  if your goal was to go product free (as in chemical free) you can always try Water Only but instead of baking soda you can try doing the egg 'shampoo'. You take one egg, one tea spoon of honey and one tea spoon of extra vigrin olive oil; mix that up very well as in whip it and then add few drops of lemon or lime juice. (if you have dark hair I would suggest heating up the oil with honey in the microwave for 30 seconds. Just make sure it cools off before you add it to the egg).

is not exactly my cup of tea :)

Great questions.

Every morning I wake up, exercise, take a shower, brush my teeth, and floss without shampoo/soap/toothpaste. Soapy substances have never seemed necessary for me.

I consulted my dentist about my decision not to use toothpaste. She said that if it works for me (which it currently is, according to her) then I'm fine.

I'm 99% sure I'm not smelly. Whenever I make a lifestyle choice that causes me to smell bad, my parents inform me of my foul odor. I've found that by keeping my hair short, eating healthy, and showering daily, I can avoid smelling bad. I did go a few days without showering once. I smelled bad after that, so the daily shower seems to play an important role in my smelling ok. I also shave my armpits to reduce the risk of smell even further. When they're clean-shaven, they pretty much don't sweat if I'm not exercising, so they don't produce much of a smell.

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