Going cleanser-free

It has been some time since I tried a dubious personal experiment, and I am getting cranky and restless. So here's the latest.

While discussing the ill-effect of shampoos, someone online made the excellent point this morning, that you never see a bald homeless guy.

My idea for an experiment is born. Starting from today, I go cleansing-agent free. Now, you've probably read about my going soap-free. I switch between home-made scrubs and carbolic soap, and for my hair, I've used home-improved shampoos and herbal cleansers.

Now I am talking about going completely cleanser-free. Before you decide to delete my name from your acquaintance list and clear out of the neighborhood, pay attention to the fact that I didn't say wash-free. I said cleanser-free. That means no soap, "bathing bar" (scam), body wash gel (SLES), soap-free face wash, homemade bio-degradable scrub, shampoo, herbal hair wash powder/ paste, nothing. Nada. Zilch. Henceforth, until I decide to end the experiment, washing shall merely involve showering twice a day, with tap water and a good brush.
 
Also, seek temporary comfort from the fact that this is not (yet) a lifestyle decision, it is just an experiment based on some interesting reading I've been doing.

Furthermore, rejoice in the fact that I am not eschewing toothpaste, and shall continue to use soap / sanitizers thoroughly and regularly for my hands, at all the standard intervals that polite society requires; after the loo, before handling food, and so on. Hand sanitizing is my gift to you, gentle world.

First, let us start with arguments AGAINST going cleanser-free.

1. Soaps are decent people. They do clean you out sufficiently well. Much of modern health / infection-free wellness and perhaps even longevity comes from the salutary effects of soap use. Do not demonize the soap.

2. "Our ancestors didn't use soap" is a lame argument in my view. Our paleo ancestors also died at the ripe old age of thirty.

3. Culture requires it. People seek solace and comfort in the fact that your person, whilst circulating amidst them, is not a smelly germ bag (at least not obviously so, and not from the outside).

Now for arguments in favor of the CF lifestyle (cleanser-free, not child-free, which is a whole other bag of goodies):

1. How much cleaning do you need? If you have a regular old white collar job, you spend little time in situations where you get truly dirty. Most of us don't get grease, grit, grime or nasty bugs on to ourselves as part of our work life. The usual doses of sweat and dust, water will wash off, with a loofah to help along.

2. If you have dry / flaky / irritated / splotchy skin, your product probably has something to do with it. The skin is a self-cleaning organ and secretes oils that do the required maintenance. Do help with water and a rub down, but products that strip your skin of oils are likely hurting, not helping.

3. Use a cleanser, and you will likely need its friends - moisturizers. Shampoo, and you will likely need conditioners. You are going to have to replace the oils that your soap just stripped, and you are doing it with parabens and propelyne glycol. Hmm.

4. Soap clearly does not deodorize. Ergo the existence of the deo.

Why I decided to try it:

Let me clear my name by saying it is NOT because of admiration for the paleo lifestyle, of which I have precious little. I am grateful for modern science and what it has done for the daily health and wellness that most of us take for granted.

However, I have had hyper-sensitive skin all my life. On the average day, I have an oily forehead prone to pimples, dry cheeks and yawning pores, rough elbows and chapped knees, ashen legs and leathery feet. My skin breaks out in itchy rashes. My scalp erupts with little provocation, and gets flaky and irritable if it quarrels with my shampoo. If you have read my previous posts, I've switched to home-made herbal scrubs. They are bio-degradable, work reasonably well, though are messy and a bit tedious to prepare and use.

The minimalist in me is now questioning the need any of this at all. My lifestyle exposes me to very little dirt. Chennai is dusty, and god knows we all sweat profusely here. But apart from that, there tends to be no true grease or grime on me that just water wont take care of. Moreover, my shopping bags are lighter and my wallet heavier because there is less snake oil to buy. Travel is a breeze, and best of all, I dream of a stark bathroom - a rainshower and a block of alum. That is it. Just picture that. No mess of bottles crowding the counter. Just a serene, functional little space. Isn't it beautiful?
 
Today is day 1, and this is the plan. I shower twice a day in just water. I scrub thoroughly with a natural fibre loofah (Rs. 20 in any chennai provision shop, Rs. 100 for the flattened, tailored version from Health & Glow).  Post showering, I use alum as usual, for deodorizing.

As for hair washing, I thoroughly wet hair and scalp, rub with finger tips, use a wide toothed comb on the scalp. It feels like a massage. Caveat: some people complain that this causes hair fall - I have straight tangle-free hair so this works for me. Use the comb gently, untangle hair with fingers first. You could alternatively try massaging your scalp with a round brush with short fat stubs, like the one below.

Maybe once a fortnight (or a week, it depends on how the scalp holds up), I will add lemon / beer to the hair wash ritual. We shall see.

I am quite confident that I will have no trouble with the skin, but I expect the hair to be a bother for the next couple of weeks, while the oil and PH levels recover. I plan to wash my scalp out once every day, but it is going to take me some time to adjust to the oils that my scalp will now start secreting. My hair will feel different from what I am used to.

I will post updates here.

Full disclosure: I will continue to use a mix of aloe vera gelly and propolis cream for my facial skin. It is helping with some pigmentation issues that I am having. it is probably mostly snake oil too, but I am liking it for the moment.

My Zen hour

For an hour everyday, I draw. Pen on paper, roughly 3 X 3 inches. It is absorbing, relaxing and utterly calming. Pen and ink sketching is unfussy and minimalist to the core. I use a rotring pen, black ink and heavy grade paper.

My little floor desk fits the purpose ideally, and I intend to do this every day going forward.

Update on "How many things?"

I posted in How many things? about my long term dream of working towards 100 things or less. Clearly, I possess more than a 100. pProbably by a factor of another 100. Am not kidding you.

I knew the 100 things goal is steep, and wanted to develop an interim goal- say 1000, or 10000 things. I didn't even know what an interim number could be, because I realized I don't know how many things I currently have.

When the opportunity came to downsize commonly owned possessions because we had to split furniture between two of our family homes, I seized the opportunity with both hands.

I sent almost all of our furniture, several appliances (the TV goes tomorow!) and some garden stuff to the other home. In the process, we discovered stuff that we didin't require in either household, and I got to sell (for a pittance, but I am not complaining) about 30 kilograms of steel utensils.

I have so far taken out about 8 large bags of trash, and more goes out every day.

I would say my house is now about 60 % downsized.

And there is still all of my stuff and Danny's to go through!

The living room is redone in a spare, simple style. There are a couple of bean bags, some floor seating and a couple of foldable floor chairs in bamboo that are as comfortable as they are cool. Danny's homemade box projector doubles as a coffee table.

The bedroom is utterly empty. We roll out a flaxen mattress every night, and promptly roll it back up in the morning so it forms a low, cushiony seating.

As I always suspected, stark rooms have a silent, peaceful atmosphere that is utterly soothing. These two rooms are now giving me the energy and motivation to tackle the gnarly messes that are my two other rooms. I find that clean, spare rooms are "quiet", while a mess is "noisy", almost literally for my synesthetic self.

While I am enthusiastic about downsizing, I am not all that sharp with reorganizing what I do have. I have picked up some tips on the internet to help with this:

1. Everytime you leave a room, take something superfluous out. Sell it, donate it or trash it. When the room has absolutely nothing that you cannot do without, the room is done.

2. When you enter a space, don't leave without setting something right. This means if you go into the kitchen to get a drink of water, see if your utensils need stacking before you leave. This way, mess does not get a chance to develop.

3. NEVER sleep in a messy house. You can begin by ensuring that at least your bedroom is orderly before you hit the sack. The next day, make that the bedroom + another room. And so on till the house is all set.

4. Invite people over. Despite what I like to think of myself, I am terrified of public opinion, especially when the opinion flirts dangerously with the truth. basically, I don't want to be outed as a slob by guests. Short notice visits are an excellent motivation for me to clean and set right. If you find yourself especially lethargic about decluttering and cleaning, pick up the phone and call someone over, especially someone who is very inclined to find fault with your house. If there isn't a female in-law available, mothers do just as nicely. As do aunts.

Right after I hit "publish" on this post, I have to go back to the war room at the back of the house, where "my" stuff sits. I have a lot of preparatory cleaning up to do before I can even start counting "my" stuff. Each personal object will count as 1, while commonly owned article will count as 0.5 (article divided by number of housefold members - in my case, 2)

Off I go now.

Tiny house again

Say, buy a plot of land and set up 1-sized houses like this. Read more here.

Who me? I am ok!

No, I am not glossing over the fact that for two years, I have basically just disappeared. I am embarassed and run out of excuses, so I am pretending nothing is amiss.

Thing is, I procrastinate. Chronically. What to do?

How many things?

I am very drawn to "100 things or less". While that might be a long way away, I want to make a start.

I am giving myself till end of May to come up with a personal inventory list, and this is how I am planning to do it:

1. Start counting from the toothbrush upwards.
2. Disposables / renewables (soap etc) are technically not possessions (rookie slack please!).
3. Food and groceries are not posessions either, so do not count
4. Commonly owned household articles are to be divided equally among the number of householders.

This comes at a good time for me because we are in the process of a massive clearance of decades of accumulated, vaguely useful but thoroughly ignored collection of things. Junk, basically.

Will post updates here.

I've gone soap free

While Carbolic is still my favorite soap to use, I've gone soap free for the past 3 weeks, and am loving it. I use a home mad bath scrub, and it is working wonderfully well for me.

Here is why this scrub is a sensible, minimalist solution:

1.       No chenimcal load - it is skin-friendly and non-toxic

2.       It is cheap

3.       It is soil-friendly

The thing is extremely simple to make. You will need

1.       Dried green peas (Rs. 44 per kilo)

2.       Raw rice (Optional – and the cheapest you can find)

I like to use just peas, but rice adds it a coarser texture that you might like. Dry grind peas and rice separately, mix together. If you want it finer, grind further, or sieve. A kilo of mix should last you a couple of months.

Refrigirate the powder to preserve it - remember, no chemical preservatives = risk of worms. You can also add a tablespoon of salt to the mix - this will keep worms away, and will add a safe anti-microbial kick to your scrub.

Fish out a couple of spoonsful before every bath.

While this mix is absolutely complete for you bathing needs, you can, if you wish, add a bit of powdered wild turmeric (curcuma aromatica) for anti-microbial action - about a table spoon for a kilo of ground mix. Wild turmeric doesn't stain clothes the way cooking turmeric does.

Add whatever other herbs you think will boost your scrub with fragrance or healing properties. Frankly, the basic scrub is what will get you clean.

That's it. I follow my usual coconut oil moisturizing routine at the end of my bath, and deodorize with alum.