No soap: preface and day 1

I was taking a dump the other day while my phone was on the charger. Forced to read the back of the shampoo bottle twenty times over, I got depraved enough to read the ingredients. What is this all this crap? I took my shampoo to my desk and consulted the google. I won't go into the down and dirty of it since it's covered extensively elsewhere, but for a quick rundown: shampoo, soap, and deodorant is full of all sorts of terrible shit. Carcinogens and chemicals that mimic estrogen are not things I want in or on my body. Soaps also unnaturally remove all the natural oils you produce. While doing my research, I discovered there is a "pooless" movement where people swear off shampoo. Some use baking soda and/or apple cider vinegar, others seems to just use water. When you make the switch, your body has to adjust to not having all of it's natural oils cleaned off every day. This results in a sort of overcompensation while you return to equilibrium. Most users reported feeling greasy and stinky for anywhere from a week to a month. The benefits were better hair and healthier skin. Many users who experience itching or other sensitive skin issues report that they go away. I personally experience pretty severe itching on my arms and legs every time I step out of the shower, to the point where I won't be in the water for more than a couple minutes.

So last night I got off work early and hit the gym for an hour. I got home and took a five minute shower, doing nothing more than rinsing and massaging my scalp. I didn't itch, and didn't feel dirty. I also didn't feel "clean," in the sense of how I am accustomed to feeling "clean." I stood in the mirror and reached for my deodorant, but then set it back down. That was around 7PM. I did some things around the house, cooked dinner, 4 then played some vidja games until about 2AM. You know that feeling when it's a hot, muggy day and you feel like you're sweating and its just sticking to you? That's kind of how I felt. My armpits kind of felt sticky. Or ticklish. I was definitely uncomfortable. Thanks to my absent sleep schedule, I was awake at 6AM. The sticky feeling didn't go away. I went for a run and took another shower, a little longer this time. I finished it off with a minute of cold water.

So two showers and a day in, my skin doesn't feel tight or crusty like it does after a normal shower. My armpits are uncomfortable. I feel my hairs tickling me and I want to put deodorant on to make them stop feeling like that. They don't smell, which is nice. I feel little itchies around my body occasionally.

I don't know if I'll make it a full month or however long it takes to adjust. I have a four day weekend now, but I don't really want to show up to work smelling like ass.