Countless times at public events some man has come up to me to say a sincere thank you. I know exactly what this is about because it is the same every time. About 20 years ago, I wrote a passionate and compelling piece against shaving cream. I argued that it was a racket.
My theory: When a young man starts getting whiskers on his face, it is a rather exciting time. But they grow very unevenly, a spot here and a spot there. It makes one curious what one’s face would look like completely covered.
That’s where shaving cream comes in. It foams up to provide a firm mask at which to stare in the mirror, at the exact time in life when young men get curious about who they are. It looks kind of crazy!
The foam is fun and exciting but then people make a mistake in thinking that the foam causes the shave to be safe and smooth, a necessary item.
They keep it up, year after year, decade after decade, wasting money on spray foams that don’t actually cause the shave to be better. It was always the case that warm water or maybe a bit of soap or oil would have been a better choice, something to disrupt the skin less.
Herein lies the problem. The face comes to be strangely addicted to the cream. Without it, you do indeed cut yourself and create irritation because your face has become used to it. In my own case, I gave it up because I kept getting a rash, and that ended when I stopped using shaving cream. That said, I had to taper it off. Within a week, my skin had strengthened and I was fine with just water and a razor.
My article from 20 years ago talked people through this, and it apparently had an effect, for both men and women. Perhaps I was among the early debunkers of the shaving cream scam.
Which reminds me: I once knew a man severely addicted to Chapstick. He carried it always and put it on hourly or more. I was puzzled by this and then realized that such is a feature of all products. The lip balm seemed like the solution but it was actually the problem because it was causing his lips not to produce their own moisture and oil.
Here, then, is a general principle. Whatever commercial product you are using to solve a problem poses the risk that the product itself actually becomes the problem. Eliminating it seems to create the conditions, even worse, that led to the purported but false solution. Persist with your detox and you may eventually find your way to health again in a natural way.
What pertains to shaving cream and Chapstick might apply to much more.
Let’s talk about deodorant. No one wants smelly armpits. Blech. Most commercial products, however, leave stains on clothes. They are mucky and strange. We believe they are necessary because no one likes to stink.
Well, what if I told you that a salt block alone works better? Don’t dismiss me as hippy. I bought a salt block and put it on. Just a bit of water on the block and rub it in. Generously. Boom: it’s perfect. Now it is a morning routine and it feels much better, no stains, no muck, nothing weird. The salt block cost $5. It seems like it will last years!
Problem solved.
Let’s revisit toothpaste. It’s an old commercial product. It is desired because it seems to make teeth clean and white. The varieties at the store are mind-boggling. They ask you to decide your priorities. Do I want to get rid of plaque, have white teeth, have gleaming white teeth, blast away tartar, make my gums healthy, give me fresh breath, or maybe all of the above?
Goodness knows I’ve been through the brands in my life, but I could never shake the sense that I was putting some strange product with uncertain ingredients on my teeth. At some point, I got the hankering to be more natural in my approach and went for pure charcoal, complete with the alarming results of a blackened mouth, tongue, and sink. It’s a bit much.
Finally after many years, someone recommended straight baking soda. Fascinating. A small box even now costs $0.75. Wet your toothbrush and stick it in. Brush. The results are over-the-top wonderful, for teeth, tongue, and breath. It’s amazing, and you save lots of money. That one box could last up to a year. I wish I had done this my whole life.
People will immediately say that this approach wears down your enamel. That’s pure propaganda from Big Toothpaste. As it turns out, pure baking soda has far less abrasive features than most commercial products. So it simply is not true that the power is more damaging in this respect. You can tell when you use it: it is clean without being invasive.
Let’s see where we are in the list. We’ve nixed lip balm, shaving cream, deodorant, and toothpaste.
What else?
Let’s talk about shampoo. It dries out your hair, especially if you follow the crazy instructions to do it twice with huge handfuls. Why might they say that? Oh, to sell more! I get it, but it will dry out your hair, and cause you to reach for more products.
What products? Oh, here is conditioner. But now your hair is tangled. That’s because you need a detangler. And you need a curling lotion. And now you need… you name it. Next thing you know, you have a whole rack of ridiculous products and your hair keeps getting worse!
Then you have to get your hair cut frequently to saw off the split ends.
You see what is happening here?
My strong suggestion is to forget your hair for about a week. The next time you wash, just run your soapy hands through and leave it. See what happens. Then don’t go back to any products. At first, your hair will be excessively oily but that settles down in time.
If you want more “body,” try the current fashion for egg yolks. No kidding. It works, but don’t use hot water for obvious reasons. Use cool water. You can throw out all your ridiculous products and save hundreds of dollars on this nonsense.
That’s fully five suggestions, but I’m going to throw in one more concerning a topic about which people are afraid to write. You will see why.
Many people live with constant rashes, dryness, and skin conditions that send them to dermatologists who prescribe this, that, and the other thing. Hey, the doctor says you need it!
You need to ask yourself a more fundamental question. Why is your skin dry? Think about what you do. Every day you blast yourself with hot water and scrap off the top layer of skin, the microbiome that keeps you healthy and well.
Why are we doing this? Because we can. We are the first people in human history to do this. Americans are truly obsessed with it for no good reason. The result is dryness, sickness, and ill-health, which we seek to fix with more, more, more, and more expensive products.
It’s a racket.
Let me suggest the unthinkable. Maybe we should shower and bathe less, maybe only every other day or twice a week. The 19th century way was to bathe on Sundays. That’s a bit extreme but it is worth considering.
Before you reject the idea, consider the Chapstick example above. The more you do something, the more you need to do it until not doing it seems unthinkable. Maybe bathing and showering less is the path to being more clean, as paradoxical as it seems, not to mention have moister, smoother, healthier skin.
Like everyone else, I adore consumer culture, but we are surrounded by too many ridiculous products that are designed to fix the problems created by the previous products and so on forever. The subscription model of profitability began long before the digital age.
Get off this preposterous treadmill one product at a time.
