JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
I sponge-bathe or use a French showerhead, washing all of the bits that are going to be in the shorts. I’m not so worried about fecal matter, even though I don’t want to skid-mark an expensive pair of shorts. But I am concerned with the skin flora balance.
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 7 hours ago
Can you say more about the skin flora balance? I’ve met some hippy types that use soap sparingly for this reason, but not sure that’s what you mean.
JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
TL;DR: This is exactly what I’m talking about.
I am one of those dirtbag hippie types.
Some background: My skin is so oily, I could singlehandedly solve the Suez Canal blockade. I struggled my whole life with blackheads and boils, especially crotch boils from cycling and blackheads just about everywhere else. No exaggeration, when I was commuting 52 miles every day, I always had at least two crotch boils going, despite showering before and after my ride at both ends of my commute. I also always had at least one boil on my head, face, or back.
About 20 years ago, I met a dermatological researcher at a party, and he was talking about his latest clinical work. He mentioned a bunch of testing with disrupting vs maintaining skin flora and microbiota. Stuff like S. aureus and Prevotella being held in check by [other micro-organisms, can’t remember the names], but that the skin also produces antimicrobial substances (catechins? or is that the stuff in green tea?). The pH of skin also tends acidic, but soap is alkaline. His tentative hypothesis at the time was that most people shower too much and too vigorously, and that creates a whole host of downstream issues. He mentioned that based on his early findings, he stopped showering every day, instead opting to sponge-bathe with showers being a rarer occurrence. And then only to rinse off sweat from a serious workout.
With nothing to lose, I gave it a try. Sponge-bathe the foldy bits every day, and before and after rides. No more chlorhexidine soap, no more Bag Balm on my crotch before rides, only Dr Bronner’s soap. I only take quick, cold showers to rinse off from heavy sweating. Every couple days, I’ll exfoliate the long bits with just a damp cloth. My skin cleared up almost in the same week, the blackheads all went away, and no more visible puddles of skin oil. I haven’t had a crotch boil since, despite plenty of crotch abrasion and more than a few skin tears from crashing my mountain bike. I also haven’t had skin infection since changing up my wash routine.
Extra bonus points: lower water and electricity bills. Or when I lived on my sailboat, less power required for water generator and hot water heater.
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 6 hours ago
Could you explain what bag balm is?
JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Bag Balm is petrolatum, lanolin, and hydroxyquinoline sulfate, an antiseptic. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bag_Balm It’s great for an anti-chafe and on skin wounds, especially abrasions. I mostly use pure lanolin (usually marketed as an ointment for nursing mothers) on wounds now, but also keep a small tin of Bag Balm in my bike kit for all kinds of things.