Day 27 of My 40 Day Fast: The Importance of Soap Is a Lie

A week into my fast I felt guided to stop cleansing with soap, shampoo/conditioner, even laundry detergent. I had to refrain from putting any moisturizing products on my face, lips, and body. I even had to stop putting contact lenses into my eyes. My guess is that the skin, scalp, and eyeballs absorb everything that goes onto it into the body, and I’m meant to keep this fast as pure as possible.

A year ago I switched to all natural shampoo/conditioner, and body lotion. I recognize every ingredient listed on these products. I replaced expensive facial moisturizers and hair products with pure oils.

I was interested in seeing what would happen to my skin and hair during this fast. I have been applying lip balms and chapstick to my lips since I was a teenager. It's safe to say my lips have developed a dependence on products for moisture. I will be happy if by the end of this fast my lips will be free of their addiction, like how men never put anything on their lips and they’re fine. Currently my lips are chapped as chapped can be.

I’m surprised to find my scalp is not oily, though it is quite flaky at the moment. My hair feels clean and soft, but the ends are dry as usual. I have always had frizzy hair.

My hope during this process is that I restore my skin's natural pH balance by washing it with water and no cleanser. At first my face was dry and flaky, but it seems to have levelled out and feels soft. I do exfoliate it with a facial scrubbing pad twice a week. In the shower I use a scrub glove and water. I let the water run through my hair and massage my scalp with my fingers.

My hands feel rough. They are used to being moisturized everyday, so they’re going through their adjustment period. I thought my body would become ashy because I always moisturize after a shower, but it's not though there is some dryness on my arms. I’m hopeful this will also level out considering I’m not using any cleaning agents that suck moisture out of the skin.

I only do laundry once a week and for the past few weeks I have been washing my clothes with only water. My clothes are never really that dirty. I mostly wash clothes that I practically lived in during the week and workout clothes. So far my clothes have come out looking clean and there’s no smell.

Before I began this fast I was also guided to use soap less when washing dishes and instead to rinse with water and give them a good scrub with my hands when needed. I used soap when I had oily dishes, but this made me realize that perhaps I shouldn't rely on oil so much to cook. I also wondered if raw meats even really require soap. We’ve been dealing with raw meat since the cave days and they didn't have antibacterial soap.

I realize I will have to do a follow up to this post. My body is not producing its natural oils because I’m not eating. My scalp may react differently once I break my fast. All my life I have never had a need to use deodorant under my arms, but my healing journey has led me to believe that strong body odours are the result diet and health.

This experience has got me reevaluating society’s belief in the importance of cleansing agents. We were born into a system that’s lost in the illusion that cleaning agents must be used for everything, and we don’t know anything different.

All of these products come in plastic containers. A lifetime’s worth of laundry detergents, shampoos/conditioners, moisturizers, cleaning products, etc., are thrown into landfills. These plastics cannot be recycled. You can read about the plastic problem by clicking on the story I wrote below.

There are experts of the opinion that society has become too clean, and it's having a negative effect on our immune systems. A little dirt never hurt anybody; it's full of essential bacteria.

The earliest findings of soap consisted of fats and ashes, and this is what cave people used. The theory is they used this soap to clean their butchering tools. The ancient Greeks and Romans used oils, scraping tools, and baths to cleanse their bodies.

The first antibacterial soap was invented about 75 years ago. Since then all cleansing agents have become antibacterial. Antibacterial cleansers cause changes to our bodies natural chemistry, which forces us to buy products like moisturizers and antidandruff shampoos to fix the problems they cause.

The question that's been plaguing me since beginning this process is why have we become so repelled by our own natural scent? We are the only species like this. We replace our natural scent with artificial chemical smells. This in essence removes us further from nature where we came from, and has the effect of making us forget who we truly are.

We even do this to dogs. We wash and shampoo them to replace their natural scent with an artificial one, which they hate because they will roll around in grass and dirt to rub it off. They understand there is something unnatural on them.

Again, I will have to do a follow up in a few months time to see how all this fares. At first I was repelled by the idea of only cleansing with water, but I now I kind of like it. I feel like I’m getting back to my naturalness. I’m moving closer to earth and back to my true self.