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December 03, 2005
Being nice to my body
My body's pretty pleased with me this week, I think... first, I finally stopped using aluminum-based deodorant... which means I stopped using an antiperspirant. I've been really resistant to this, even though numerous people have urged me away from my clear gel Mitchum. I finally muscle tested it, though, and my body was pretty clear that they were right.
So I'm trying out one of those crystal salt rocks. I'm worried about the sweat thing, but a friend of mine said when he switched, his body sweated more than usual for a bit, but then calmed down. Anyway, the crystal seems to be working just fine for odor control so far.
Plus, I smell good anyway, because I also stopped using fake soap (the stuff in the grocery stores). I got a natural bar with powdered sandalwood in it, which is great. Most "sandalwood" soaps are scented with synthetic fragrance oils, because sandalwood is expensive. Using powdered allows the maker to offer a highly scented, authentic soap at a less expensive price (compared to using essential oils). It really seems to result in a more scented, perhaps more authentic Josh as well ;-) Either way, I smell like sandalwood.
FYI, most things sold as soap in the conventional grocery store are really what the industry calls "syndet bars", short for "synthetic detergent. These can have, technically, some soap (only in the chemical, "fatty acid salt", sense) in them, but they are usually not primarily soap. Plus, real soap (in the "bar of stuff I clean myself with" sense) has good stuff in it (naturally) besides what chemists call soap, for example glycerin, which the commercial soap industry removes because it's more profitable to sell it on its own than leave it in the bars.
Other weird disconnects between advertising and label ingredients exist as well. For example, a group of soapmakers dissected the label on a Dove bar for me, and we couldn't find any moisturizer in it, let alone 1/4 of the bar worth.
Posted by Josh A. at December 3, 2005 08:09 AM
Comments
I switched to organic soup and the crystals a while back, I think in the middle of massage school. None of my classmates noticed the difference in practice, but I did in my own body. I use a lot of www.kissmyface.com products, those are just my personal preferance. :)
And yes, I agree on ther weird ingredients in stuff. I find they try to slip interesting things into lotions and oils too.
Posted by: Autumn at December 10, 2005 12:44 PM