Not washing

[wodgina]

I find I'm washing less and less with time. Once in two days or more when I feel clean. My showers are short anyway and cool. I do surf which cleans.

I feel better when I've got a layer of oil and/or I've been out in the sun.

What do you think?

[TylerDurden]

I once came across a series of letters written to New Scientist magazine in response to an article which showed that there is a whole sub-culture of non-rawists out there who don't like washing with soap etc. Many just used water and that was it and would be like that for months or years at a time. To them, it didn't matter as they just got used to the smell, as time went on. I can't imagine that it helped re social contact with humans who liked to use soap.

If I lived in a society which did not require clothes I would happily go without washing most of the time as clothes are what make me sweat the most (well, except for washing my hands with soap  after toilet-visits!). It's a disgrace that one can only go around topless as a man when in an urban environment if the temperature is way into the 30s/40s. Women have it so easy being able to get away with wearing almost nothing in the summer.

[sabertooth]

human body odor is a little more complex than most want to get into

not only have people become overly repulsed by natural smells, but we also feel obligated to wash away our pheromones (natural musk), so that now people freak out if they are exposed to smells that in paleo times would conjure feelings of lust and fellowship.

[Ioanna]

I think it depends where you live about being repulsed by human body odor.  When I lived in Italy, I would take a train every morning/evening to the downtown area. This train was not air conditioned.. a door remained open on both sides all the time, and we all stood crammed on this train making room for all the people.  Business people were sweating like crazy, most people carried a cloth to wipe their forehead.  No one ever complained of smell, and I don't remember any offensive smells, until one day a tourist got on the train who must have poured half a bottle of cologne on himself.  omg, that was offensive!  i just watched other people's reactions, they were making faces, lol.  That was the only day people were ever disturbed with a persons odor.

[wodgina]

I don't mind BO, I like some peoples.

If your healthy and pumping out some good pheremones you should show them off.

 

[Ioanna]

I don't mind BO, I like some peoples.

If your healthy and pumping out some good pheremones you should show them off.

I like this   I wonder if unhealthy people are in tune with this.  Smell has always been important to me for some reason.  I find cologne distracting, like I will think 'who are you?' if the natural smell is masked. Probably weird, lol.

[goodsamaritan]

I find I'm washing less and less with time. Once in two days or more when I feel clean. My showers are short anyway and cool. I do surf which cleans.

I feel better when I've got a layer of oil and/or I've been out in the sun.

What do you think?

My wife would say GROSS!
I take a shower at least once a day.
Only organic soap in the crack of my butt.

[tdister]

I rinse off most every day, usually right after sunbathing as it's ~100F here right now and I feel kinda itchy afterward from the sweat and, possibly, dust, but don't usually use soap except sometimes on the known smelly parts. Hair gets a light massage/rinse with baking soda every 5 days or so.  I do wash my hands regularly before and after eating and such.

I only rinse off at the beach to get sand off or to cool off in the room, I love how the saltwater and sun makes my skin feel.

I can't stand perfume or cologne most of the time. Once in a while a girl will have a good perfume smell, but I shouldn't ever be able to smell it more than couple feet away.

Also: Bad smell + "good" smell = worse smell

[Cinna]

I like this   I wonder if unhealthy people are in tune with this.  Smell has always been important to me for some reason.  I find cologne distracting, like I will think 'who are you?' if the natural smell is masked. Probably weird, lol.

I think less healthy people may be somewhat in tune with this, but their senses may be impaired... Smell has always been important to me, too, Ioanna!   I don't like chemical, artificial smells either and that is partly why I haven't tried online dating (yet).

There is absolutely nothing wrong with meeting people online, except that you can't smell people through a computer... you can't "smell your prey." You can def get a feel for a person online, have an intuition on them, but you're missing the visceral reaction you'd have if you could smell them in your presence/vicinity. Of course, you could set up a meeting and then meet/smell your prey - er, I mean, date!

Just as much as we sometimes forget how much smell contributes to taste (ability to taste), I think we underestimate how much smell contributes to intuition and the assessment of another person. I wonder how much our intuition tells us that we can't trust someone, etc., is due to the ability to smell that we can't trust someone, etc. We can't "smell" this through a computer... so speed-dating would be preferable, but then I hate to be rushed.   And then of course, soap/deodorant/cologne/perfume/lotion throw things off.

I very much prefer the natural, unmasked smell as well - if only for our safety.

[Cinna]

My wife would say GROSS!
I take a shower at least once a day.
Only organic soap in the crack of my butt.

I think it really depends on the person and his/her environment. In Metro Manila? With the heat, humidity, pollution, and concentration of people/metropolis living, it would be kind of gross not showering/rinsing off at least once a day.

I don't mind BO, I like some peoples.

If your healthy and pumping out some good pheremones you should show them off.

I love the smell of natural, healthy BO as well. My last guy showered maybe once a week and I always loved how he smelled - his smell was never not a turn-on. And his work was relatively hard, mostly outdoors, so he definitely sweated.

[sabertooth]

I nuzzle in the arm pit of my beloved and cherish the aroma,

I have been forced to use deodorant by my boss who doesn't appreciate my "male offence"
so I can only flaunt my pheromones on the weekend

Everyone was so sterily hygienic in my family that as soon as I had pit hair my mother and father were Bringing me sticks of deodorant(I hated the stuff).

I remember high school, I never got to smell a woman in full bloom, because everyone was covered in artificial scents. I would literally sneeze if I sat next to the perfumed beauties.

I always believed that covering up body odor may have served some social utility other than cleanliness

When people are herded together under someone Else's authority, whether it be a school or factory, the people in charge are not really wanting the herd to smell up their facility, nor do they want the more testosterone rich in the crowd asserting their masculine radiance.

I think that some people are just control freaks   

[wodgina]

I nuzzle in the arm pit of my beloved and cherish the aroma,

I have been forced to use deodorant by my boss who doesn't appreciate my "male offence"
so I can only flaunt my pheromones on the weekend

Everyone was so sterily hygienic in my family that as soon as I had pit hair my mother and father were Bringing me sticks of deodorant(I hated the stuff).

I remember high school, I never got to smell a woman in full bloom, because everyone was covered in artificial scents. I would literally sneeze if I sat next to the perfumed beauties.

I always believed that covering up body odor may have served some social utility other than cleanliness

When people are herded together under someone Else's authority, whether it be a school or factory, the people in charge are not really wanting the herd to smell up their facility, nor do they want the more testosterone rich in the crowd asserting their masculine radiance.

I think that some people are just control freaks   

Well I like my BO too...I'm proud of it.

I sometimes smell someone and like them instantly. I used to love my Grandad's BO his whole house smelt like him  he didn't even know what BO was! Even smelling inside someones car I haven't met or something I think 'I would like this person' LOL

In my work we check indoor air quality on office blocks, we climb into these huge room sized air conditioning units and you can smell hundreds of different people and their perfumes...it's trippy and a bit yuck.

[Cinna]

I sometimes smell someone and like them instantly. I used to love my Grandad's BO his whole house smelt like him  he didn't even know what BO was! Even smelling inside someones car I haven't met or something I think 'I would like this person' LOL

Awesome.

[Michael]

What do you think?

I think it's a good thing wodg!  It seems to be a trait which develops on RPD.  A poll on the subject would be interesting.

Likewise, I only shower once or twice per week - even less in winter!  I haven't used soaps, shampoos, aftershaves etc for many years with the exception of hand-washing natural soap and natural soap in the shower in one or two places!    I rinse my hair once per week with raw Apple Cider Vinegar which seems to do a great job.

When eating a healthy RPD diet, I think body odour is pleasant and attractive to others.  I've certainly never had any complaints!  But, I do think an unhealthy diet can create unhealthy bacteria and unpleasant body odour as I've certainly experienced other's odour as being offensive.  I do agree, though, that it's possible to experience positive or negative emotions towards an individual based on their scent - perhaps partially due to psychological redolence to individual experiences but also, I expect, due to sub-conscious physiological awareness of character traits contained within their unique chemically-concocted suffusion.

[Wolf]

I dislike the smell of BO and usually of other people, or even my own BO.. but after starting on this raw diet, I have noticed that my smells have completely changed, my breath no longer stinks and my sweat does not smell as bad, actually almost smells sweet, and even when i use the toilet the smells are not as bad.  Because of my changed scents, I have decided to try washing with only water and nothing else, no soap whatsoever, and see how that goes.  I think that an unhealthy SAD diet reflects in the odors from people, which is why most people do not like the smell of others, possibly because it signifies "unhealthy."  You can smell how unhealthy they are in their sweat and it doesn't smell good.  However, there are times I do like or don't mind the scent of other people, usually family who I have lived together with, and I do like the idea of being able to know people more intimately by their scent, but there aren't many people that I actually like, and those I really dislike are ones whose scent I would really never want to smell.  I also have noticed that the scents of men are usually far more powerful and noticeable than the scents of women. 

I do not have a boyfriend or anything, but I do know that there was a study done where women would smell the shirts of a bunch of men who wore them while sleeping, without any sort of colognes or scented anything so that it was just their natural scents.  What they discovered was that the women were most attracted to men's scents who had completely different immune systems from their own, so that, if based on scent alone, women would be more likely to choose a mate with whom they would produce the strongest immunity in any child they bore.  I also heard that women who were taking birth control did not assess the scents of their mates properly, and that once going off birth control could lead to a disliking of their mate's scent if their immune systems were too similar, and therefore lead to a possible dislike of the mate themselves. 

I'm pretty sure there are a load more things we could know from scent alone, but we're just out of practice with it since everyone washes with soaps and wears deodorant and perfumes/colognes, and even when they don't their scent is likely masked with the bad scent of unhealthiness.

[Cinna]

I do agree, though, that it's possible to experience positive or negative emotions towards an individual based on their scent - perhaps partially due to psychological redolence to individual experiences but also, I expect, due to sub-conscious physiological awareness of character traits contained within their unique chemically-concocted suffusion.

A nomination for quote of the week...

[sabertooth]

Its kind of tragic that most young people wash the humanity off of themselves in preparation for courtship

How can you know If you have chemistry with someone who hides behind the veil of cleanliness?

I believe that there is a strong biochemical aspect to compatibility

[Wolf]

Its kind of tragic that most young people wash the humanity off of themselves in preparation for courtship

How can you know If you have chemistry with someone who hides behind the veil of cleanliness?

I believe that there is a strong biochemical aspect to compatibility

...I do know that there was a study done where women would smell the shirts of a bunch of men who wore them while sleeping, without any sort of colognes or scented anything so that it was just their natural scents.  What they discovered was that the women were most attracted to men's scents who had completely different immune systems from their own, so that, if based on scent alone, women would be more likely to choose a mate with whom they would produce the strongest immunity in any child they bore.  I also heard that women who were taking birth control did not assess the scents of their mates properly, and that once going off birth control could lead to a disliking of their mate's scent if their immune systems were too similar, and therefore lead to a possible dislike of the mate themselves.

[Michael]

A nomination for quote of the week...

Thanks Cinna!  It took a while to come up with that.  I'm glad someone appreciated it! 

[wodgina]

The worst smell, SAD chemically-concocted suffusion  and perfume.

Good looking people smell nicer than ugly people.

http://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138%2899%2900005-7/abstract

If your good looking and eat healthy don't wash.

[TylerDurden]

Hmm, well I'm not the handsomest man around, so I'd better stick to washing regularly as usual with soap.

[klowcarb]

I eat ZC/paleo for my health. But I live in the modern world and yes, I'm using shampoo and conditioner, soap, perfumes, deoderant because I like it. All natural, but I'm not into the non-washing no-poo experiment. No point in it in my opinion. Eating for your health, yes, but not washing to prove a point?

[Wolf]

A few days ago I had someone come up to me trying to sell me perfume, I told him I don't wear perfume, but he sprayed some so I could smell it.  I got a slight whiff of it and gagged on the overwhelming smell of alcohol and other chemicals, and when I started coughing and hacking, he went away, lol.  It was pretty horrible though, especially since I still had the taste of some of the raw cheese I had just eaten in my mouth, and it made the taste go rancid.  I don't think I'll ever wear perfume.

I haven't showered with anything other than water for the passed almost two weeks, nor have I brushed my teeth at all.  My hair is pretty oily though, so I'll probably start using shampoo and conditioner again, but as far as bodywash, it's pretty much unneeded.  All it really does is dry out your skin, and my skin feels so much better and softer and less dry without using soap and lotions.  Might also use a touch of deodorant sometimes, especially while it's still hot and I'm always sweating, because even though my sweat doesn't smell nearly as bad or as strong and smells much sweeter than it used to, it still has a smell and I'm not sure if many people would like it if they got a whiff.  I like the fact that my clothes never smell though, even when I do sweat a lot in them.  It's kind of amazing to me actually. 

Teeth are also never dirty, if I get anything on them or between them, I scrape it off with my nails, and I no longer have as much fears of showing off my teeth as I used to, even though they're no less crooked than they used to be.  I haven't been to the dentist since I was about 5 or 6 years old, and I refuse to go, but I almost actually want my dad to drag me off to the dentist just so I can show off how clean my teeth are even without brushing at all.

[Brother]

After going my raw my body smell has gone away almost completely. My better half describes it has having an almost baby like quality to it. I can work out heavily for an hour and go out in the same clothes. When I was on the usual BB stodge loaded with carbs I had a strong and very bitter smell when I sweat.

[chucky]

The worst smell, SAD chemically-concocted suffusion  and perfume.

Good looking people smell nicer than ugly people.

http://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138%2899%2900005-7/abstract

If your good looking and eat healthy don't wash.

I'm not sure if the person looks good after his/her hair has gotten dirty. I'm eating pretty clean but I still get that "oily" hair after few days which looks disgusting.