Miracle Soaps?

April 4, 2002

van Niekerk wrote:

<I've been a big fan of Dr Bronner's soaps for years. They are available

from most health food stores in Australia. If undiluted, it's too strong to

use in the shower, but it has a multitude of other uses - everything from

washing the dog, massage, cleaning fruit and perfect for wiping down sweaty

work out equipment! Not only is it a good product, but the good doctor uses

the product as a promotional tool for a his All One God Faith Inc. Read the

small print on the label (there's lots of it) and you'll find bizarre,

harmless and weirdly entertaining form of marketing. Reason enough to buy

the soap which is very cheap!>

*** Remember that using soap over your whole body and face is not really

necessary - or at least, not every time you shower or bath. One can simply

use any cheap mild soap for the areas which accumulate bacteria such as those

under the arms and between the legs, while hot water or a mild lotion may be

used on the face. Otherwise, hot water and manual rubbing with a sponge or

cloth, followed by astringent cold water is more than adequate to keep you

perfectly clean and pleasant smelling. If soap tends to dry you, then simply

apply a light, non-oily lotion.

If you are shampooing your hair in the shower or bath, then you don't even

need to use soap to wash other parts of your body - simply use the excess

lather to wash the " bits " that need it. Moreover, if you wish to make

yourself some cheap hand soap, use diluted bargain-priced shampoo (with or

without a conditioner) from the local supermarket in a plunger-type dispenser

bottle - this works out much cheaper than the liquid soap refills that are

sold for hand cleansing.

If you don't mind an oilier lotion for a very dry skin or for after

sunbathing, then ordinary olive oil works very well and goes a very long way.

Most important of all, no research has ever found that the most expensive

soaps are superior to the cheapest soaps as regards cleansing, health or skin

condition - despite what all the extravagantly misleading commercials may

claim. Note that, if you wash with any soap and rinse it off almost

immediately, then you are not going to suffer any side-effects than some

normal dryness which accompanies all bathing. Remember that the cosmetic

industry is one of the most lucrative and hype-ridden markets on this planet

- and you are not compelled to patronise them any more than is necessary.

The same applies to all those claims about special cleaning agents for

toilets, baths, sinks and so forth - just fill an old squirt dispenser with

water, a cap or two of household bleach, a spoon of dishwashing soap, a

little liquid washing machine soap make up your own solution for just a few

cents, as opposed to the $2 or more for the commercialised versions. Why the

washing machine soaps? Well, they froth far less in the container!

If you want to save a lot on " Windowlene " and similar window-cleaning

preparations, just make your own mixture of largely methylated spirits

(Methanol - e.g. from the anti-freeze you use for your windshield wipers) and

some household ammonia.

Just make sure that when you are mixing any soap ingredients that they can

suddenly froth vigorously, so always use plastic bottles and protect your

eyes. If you are in doubt about personal sensitivity to body soaps, then

obviously test any soap on a small more delicate part of your body, like the

inner forearm.

Dr Mel C Siff

Denver, USA

Supertraining/

April 5, 2002

Mel Siff writes:-

<If you want to save a lot on " Windowlene " and similar window-

cleaning preparations, just make your own mixture of largely

methylated spirits (Methanol - e.g. from the anti-freeze you use for

your windshield wipers) and some household ammonia.>

** My Grandmother swears by vinegar. Just add a drop or two to your

bucket and they come up a treat!

Roy Palmer

Bedford

UK

April 7, 2002

An alternative way to clean the body is a daily vigorous brush using a natural

bristle body brush moving

in circular movements from the extremities to towards the heart. No water

required. Once you're used

to it (can feel harsh at first), it gets the blood going and is incredibly

invigorating, acting as an exfoliator

of all that dead skin that accumulates. Follow that with a little oil (olive,

avocado or almond) and the skin

looks polished and feels terrific. I wonder if this would also help the many

Western women who get cellulite

- a whole industry is now devoted to outrageously expensive creams, potions and

pills for this problem.

A daily brush and healthy diet may be the cheaper option!

[The removal of all sweated by-products, superficial bacteria and other

miscellaneous agents from the skin,

especially after some vigorous exercise, by such means is never likely to be

anywhere near as effective as

a simple hot shower even without soap, especially regarding removal of body

odour. Are you also suggesting

that you also scrub under the arms and between the legs to cleanse and deodorise

these regions? Probably

only those who are into sado-masochism would go for that! In the early days

when hand washing was not

carried out before medical procedures (especially in the American Civil War),

infection and death were

very common. The simple introduction of washing the hands with hot water

reduced these events very markedly.

If anyone had briskly brushed their hands to clean them would never have removed

harmful bacteria.

Besides the dubious idea of " cellulite " even existing as some special form of

dimpled fat, it is inconceivable that

any amount of superficial brushing or massage is ever going to reduce the amount

of subcutaneous fat. Mel Siff]

van Niekerk

Melbourne Australia