Is hand washing with soap necessary?

[riy freeman]

Personally I believe washing with soap is necessary because we live in a age of "chemicals" (technically everything is a chemical but here I mean, industrially produced) and ingesting and getting in contact with these is harmful in a cumulative way.

As far as food bacteria goes, IMO, you can get sick. I dropped a piece of meat on the kitchen floor once for a brief instant and I picked it up immediately. When I ate it, later I became pretty ill for a day or two.

[miles]

I wouldn't eat anything dropped on the floor of my house... Tons of horrible stuff down there.

[TylerDurden]

I view such phobias as absurd. I have often eaten something I previously dropped on the street floor by accident.

[Josh]

I only ever use soap if I have a load of grease on my hands and it won't come off.

I've never had any problems, but I never bothered about it since I was a kid so maybe I've got immunities.

[Techydude]

I haven't used soap in a month since my previous post and my hands have been rubbing in the floor and dirt (washed with water only) and i've been fine. No problems.

[CitrusHigh]

I've got to cast one more vote for no soap. I don't ever use the stuff except, out of consideration for others while working at my restaurant job. But even then I only do it cursory and if I'm able I'll do gloves instead. That is 3 yrs now without the shit and I don't miss it at all. If I ever have fats or things that wont wash off then all I do is check for the most natural solvents, or if the fat is something I don't mind eating (typically the case) then I'll just lick it off my fingers and then wash. Natural solvents for me are vinegar, lemon, lime (though I prefer not to waste food items such as these on cleaning) OR another option is to use something abrasive like paper towel, or better a cloth.

Then again I don't typically do high meat unless some of my meat sits for too long.

If you use soap though, on anything more than a couple times a week basis, your skin will most likely suffer. Your skin and hair have a natural oil balance, and if you upset it too often, you'll pay the price.

[miles]

I view such phobias as absurd. I have often eaten something I previously dropped on the street floor by accident.

I've eaten rabbit meat where there has been rabbit shit on it, and I'd eat something I dropped on the floor in the woods...

On my floor there is man-made stuff.

[Josh]

How much will a dropped thing pick up though, compared to all the crap we live around and breathe every day anyway. I say bollocks to it.

[PaleoPhil]

I'm curious--not trying to be critical or corrective--is it a UK-thing to call the ground or a street "the floor"? I hadn't heard that usage here in the USA, but I've noticed it on the Internet. I was familiar with UK folks calling a soccer/football field/pitch "the carpet" (as in "keep it on the carpet"), which I like and which is particularly appropriate in the case of artificial turf. Is that another aspect of the same usage?

What do you all think about washing with alternatives to soap, like cleansing mud, sand, leaves, coconut oil, suet, tallow, baking soda or another option you might suggest?

[Josh]

Salt does actually help get grease off now I come to think of it as it's abrasive.

[miles]

Salt does actually help get grease off now I come to think of it as it's abrasive.

Washing your hands with cold water and then drying on a full-bodied towel gets the grease off.

[PaleoPhil]

What if you've been eating raw fish and you have fish smell on your hands or you've been working on your car and have oil, dirt and grease on your hands or you were helping a friend clean a spill of toxic chemicals in their garage and got some on you?

[tdister]

Rubber gloves are not always acceptable or tough enough when getting greasy but a great way to make grease come off easy is to pre oil your hands with  with olive oil or the like. Baking soda will then help scrub 98% of what's there.

I use baking soda to wash my hair once a week or so, depending sometimes a touch hippy dippy shampoo too.

About the only soap I use anymore is Grandpa's pine tar soap. I've only used the bar, but it's great stuff and even medicinal if you have skin issues. Not overly drying but I still only use it on the stinky parts. And it doesn't smell of synthetic flowers...more like a campfire.

http://www.grandpabrands.com/pinetar1280.html

[Josh]

What if you've been eating raw fish and you have fish smell on your hands or you've been working on your car and have oil, dirt and grease on your hands or you were helping a friend clean a spill of toxic chemicals in their garage and got some on you?

Yeh, that's your excuse. What have you really been doing?

[HIT_it_RAW]

Yes, Soap washing is necessary, as you all are saying that by using soap you skin became dry. I suggest you that, choose a soap which protect your skin from getting dry.

http://www.chefsecrets.info/tips

Are you gonna spam in every thread?? Can someone adress this situation please...

[wodgina]

Banning is a real pain but I'll do this one.

[HIT_it_RAW]

Banning is a real pain but I'll do this one.

Much appreciated.

[Wolf]

The only times I ever use any sort of soap is to wash my hands at work everyday after touching money.. because I deal with a lot of money and money disgusts me, think of how many of the ones you touch have been through a strip bar!  ugh, gross, and I also keep food in my car to eat when I get hungry so that I'm not as tempted to eat pizza at work, since I work at domino's, and I don't want to touch and eat my food after touching money, without first washing my hands.. and I also use soap to wash my hair every other day or so, but only because I have very oily hair, and it doesn't look good if I only wash it with water.

Coincidentally, the only places my skin ever gets dry is on the back of my hands and on my scalp.  I don't use body wash in the shower at all, because I hate how lotion feels, and soap dries out my skin to needing lotion.. I'd rather have the natural oils of my skin instead.  Well, I'd also rather have the natural oils in my hair, too, but my hair looks dirty when it gets all oily when washing it without soap.  However, I have been searching for soaps that contain no chemicals, and only contain natural ingredients.. I found a couple of soaps, one is a sandlewood bar soap I got from whole foods that has no chemicals, although I don't like how it makes my skin and hair feel, and the other is a liquid soap I got from my organics store that the only chemical it contains is potassium hydroxide, the rest of the ingredients are all fruit and flower oil extracts.. that one doesn't lather up very much though.  

But for my hands, I have to use the liquid soap they have at the sink, and the back of my hands had been getting very dry.. until I started rubbing the oil from my raw cheese onto the back of my hand, and then it went away, and I also try to use soap less.

Otherwise, I just wash with water.. even brush my teeth with only water, and shave with only water..

[stevesurv]

Here's a tip. If you shit on your hands, wash them.

[Aaaaaa]

I work as a nurse right now, and I'm sure you all know how the "health"care industry is about handwashing LOL.  I use my own castile soap in a little spray bottle instead of thier antibacterial crap, and never use those nasty alcohol sanitizers (besides, they make your hands feel even MORE dirty and sticky!)
I probably wash my hands a lot less than the other nurses, but I do randomly throughout my shift, plus after doing anything "dirty", after using the bathroom, before eating etc.  I'm not scared of germs, but there is some NASTY %$#&* that grows in a hospital/nursing home environment!  I don't think nature ever intended for a large amount of very sick people to live in close, indoor quarters for a long period of time...:-S
Can't WAIT to quit this job!!!!!

[CitrusHigh]

Here's a tip. If you shit on your hands, wash them.

um thanks for that illuminating bit off rhetoric.

[stevesurv]

um thanks for that illuminating bit off rhetoric.

My pleasure.

[Wolf]

The back of my hands started getting really badly dry lately and I have stopped using soap on my hands at all whatsoever, even after the toilet.  I haven't gotten sick from eating anything directly after the bathroom, and if I'm at home I don't even wash with water.. however, I do use a large amount of toilet paper to prevent anything from getting on my hands, plus most of the time the toilet paper comes up clean anyways.  And after re-reading this thread and reading about the way soap can off-balance hormones, I don't think I ever want to use regular soap again.

When I do wash my hands, which is usually only at work, but very often at work, I just take my time washing my hands with water for a long time until my hands feel clean, and then also scrub them with paper towels afterwards, and they always feel clean.  I also only shower once a week now, sometimes twice, but more often only once a week.. which is the only time I ever use soap, though I only wash my hair with it, and I only use the sandlewood bar soap that I got from whole foods.  the ingredients for it are:

Saponified palm oil, water, fragrance, natural mineral pigments, butyrospermum parkii [shea butter], olea eurpaea [olive] fruit oil.

and that's it.  I haven't been able to find any soap with any less amount of chemicals or ingredients in it, though I haven't checked every single soap out there, but I'll check other soaps when this one runs out.  I also don't use tooth paste and will avoid using deodorant when I can, although when showering once a week only sometimes I have to, but I use some organic aluminum free stuff, and half the time I forget to use it anyways.  I've never had anyone complain to me about smell, but then I also don't stand too close/near to other people very often either.  My hair still does get very oily, but at work I am required to wear a hat so no one really sees it.  My lips have also been dry lately so I bought some organic lip balm, ingredients being: 

Organic safflower seed oil, organic beeswax, organic vanilla oil, organic lemon balm, organic comfrey, organic calendula mixed tocopherols, organic licorice root, organic lemon oil.

other than that, I avoid all chemicals like the plague, and I refuse to touch any of the sanitizers at my work.  I don't eat high meat though, so I don't have to worry about getting that smell off..

[Alive]

My son goes to a democratic school were all are involved in making the school rules. He often spends all day playing in the dirt making huts and stuff and can get quite dirty. Once I asked him to wash his hands since they were dirty and he simply started licking the dirt off! He is very healthy and rarely gets sick. He also rarely wears shoes. It makes sense that unpolluted dirt is good for our immune systems. If you had man made chemicals on your hands then washing them with soap is very important. I put coconut oil on my hands as a kind of barrier against chemicals and to stop them drying out from washing.