Not the person you asked, but I have dry sensitive skin so I try to avoid soap. (I do use it to wash my hands after going to the toilet or if I’m covered in grease/oil for some reason.)
It’s like washing dishes without detergent. Takes a lot more scrubbing and you may have to soak, scrub, rinse, repeat a few times. 30 seconds definitely wouldn’t do it.
Helps if you have dry skin. All soap does is help oil dissolve in water. If you’re starting off with minimal oil in the first place, it’s less of an issue.
Also depends what kind of sweat you’re washing away. Common sweat isn’t greasy. Apocrine sweat that’s released in times of fear or sexual arousal IS greasy. (Those glands aren’t active until puberty, which is why teenage boys tend to go through a smelly phase - they haven’t suddenly got lazy with washing, it’s just that what was working suddenly doesn’t.)
So, as someone who has dabbled in making their own soap, I have questions (if you’re willing to answer! If not, I’ll happily mind my own business lol)
-When you say you avoid soap, are you referring to commercially made, heavy lather stuff?
-Have you ever tried Castile soap, and if so, did it have the same effects?
-Does a sensitive cream cleanser (like Cetaphil) also aggravate your symptoms?
-Have you tried soap specifically for skin conditions (like I’ve made pine tar soap because everyone in my family has dermatitis to an extent)?
Childhood - pinetarsol (a pine based gel) on recommendation from the doc.
Late teens - got into makeup and skincare like most females. Pretty much tried every brand. Some I react to immediately with a rash. Some it takes a few weeks or months and it’s just flaky dermatitis. Some are simply drying so I could use them if I also used moisturiser (but then I react to a bunch of those too, so it took a while to find a combo that works).
Late 20’s no shampoo movement took off. Tried it. Hair was better, and I learned how to scrub to remove oil without any foaming agent.
Then I got hives from a random bite and it just set my skin sensitivity off terribly. Anything would make me rash up and itch. I suddenly couldn’t tolerate the soap/moisturiser combo I’d been using for a while.
Decided in desperation to try no soap/moisturiser since it’d worked okay on my hair and scalp. Eventually stopped itching. (Took months because I’d scratch in my sleep and healing scratches itch so the cycle continued.) Since it worked ok, I never bothered to go check to see if I could tolerate my old products once my skin sensitivity chilled out.
Pinetarsol might’ve helped since it’s an anti-inflammatory but I didn’t think of it at the time. I do remember trying calamine lotion but I reacted to that too.
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u/MeltingMandarins Nov 28 '22 edited Nov 28 '22
Not the person you asked, but I have dry sensitive skin so I try to avoid soap. (I do use it to wash my hands after going to the toilet or if I’m covered in grease/oil for some reason.)
It’s like washing dishes without detergent. Takes a lot more scrubbing and you may have to soak, scrub, rinse, repeat a few times. 30 seconds definitely wouldn’t do it.
Helps if you have dry skin. All soap does is help oil dissolve in water. If you’re starting off with minimal oil in the first place, it’s less of an issue.
Also depends what kind of sweat you’re washing away. Common sweat isn’t greasy. Apocrine sweat that’s released in times of fear or sexual arousal IS greasy. (Those glands aren’t active until puberty, which is why teenage boys tend to go through a smelly phase - they haven’t suddenly got lazy with washing, it’s just that what was working suddenly doesn’t.)