by I'm With Stupid wrote:Spearthrower wrote:Finally, there's also the smell factor, even when soap does not contain a fragrance, it helps remove sweat from the body thereby removing the source for body flora bacteria to metabolize and produce that the nasty odor which is again, a social cost, but also can become very uncomfortable even when it's you who smells - if you've ever spent days trekking in a hot place, you'll know it's just unpleasant and the first thing you want to do is soap that off.
My last holiday was in Borneo and I had a few days where I had no soap, just a shower. I can't say I noticed much difference to be honest. There's definitely a psychological factor, where you don't feel as clean because you didn't use it, but there's no increase in smell. If you have a shower after exercise, the sweat doesn't stay on you regardless of whether you use soap, and leaving sweat there is what causes the smell. There are people online doing the 'no soap or shampoo' challenge who say that their girlfriends didn't even notice. The shampoo one is odd, because there's a transition period where your hair feels shit, but after a couple of weeks, the hair starts to produce natural oils again. Although it's worth mentioning that the people doing the challenge say they still use soap to wash their hands before cooking and stuff like that.
To me the issue is not so much if we really need soap, it's the juxtaposition with actual criminal inmates who do reserve soap, when innocent children don't.
