DailyDirt: How Clean Is Your Soap?
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Soap has saved countless lives by preventing the spread of disease and reducing the number of disease-causing microbes in our world. But we've become a bit too focused on killing germs with soap, and we might want to cut back a bit on the over-use of antimicrobial agents. The human microbiome is changing according to our habits and environment, and it might only take a few soapy showers to kill off a healthy microflora balance.- No matter how obsessive you are about cleaning your hands, you can't get rid of ALL the germs. Soap itself contains live bacteria. It's rare to get infected by soaps and other hygiene products because manufacturers follow FDA guidelines for maximum bacteria content, but even soap can go bad with time. [url]
- Maybe there's an extreme of using too much soap and killing off the "good bacteria" on your skin. But would you consider using a probiotic lotion/treatment on your skin and skip showering? The inventor of a "skin tonic" hasn't showered in 12 years. The skin microbiome isn't well understood, but maybe "microbiomics" will help treat eczema or other skin problems -- and decrease the use of soap products. [url]
- Antibacterial soaps with triclosan are being phased out as manufacturers find out about how widespread triclosan is becoming in the environment -- and in people's bodies. Soap without antimicrobial agents works, but the ubiquity of triclosan and other antimicrobials can make it inconvenient to stop using it. [url]
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Filed Under: antibacterial, antibiotics, antimicrobial, germs, microbes, microbiome, microbiomics, microflora, probiotic, soap, triclosan
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no other animal gets clean with soap!
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Re: no other animal gets clean with soap!
Honestly.
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Re: Re: no other animal gets clean with soap!
Scent free means scent free ... and a body that smells (like onions or pot) isn't scent free. Also not big on greasy hair.
I transitioned to natural scent free products a while ago, but it seems they still would kill the little devils just as fast as chemical products.
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Re: Re: Re: no other animal gets clean with soap!
The stuff you use is also chemical products.
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Re: no other animal gets clean with soap!
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Re: Re: no other animal gets clean with soap!
Not true! It's common knowledge that dogs have been doing it for years....
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There Are Good Bugs, And There Are Bad Bugs
Surgeons have to use antibacterial soap, because bugs that might be good on the surface of the skin may not be so good if they get inside you.
One interesting side effect of this is that they are prone to warts, caused by viral infections, which are normally held in check by the good bugs on the skin.
There are natural bugs that live in your hair and keep it clean. Unfortunately they are killed by soap and shampoo, and can take weeks to come back.
Going weeks without washing your hair is hard, but many people have found it worthwhile.
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Re: There Are Good Bugs, And There Are Bad Bugs
I went through a time where I did that when I was younger. It didn't make my hair clean, just greasy. So greasy that it would actually leave stains on pillows.
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