Giving up soap

I use a minimum amount of stuff due to eczema. My mum spends a bomb on special shampoo and conditioner for grey hair and cleanser/moisturiser etc for older skin. My grandmother swore by domestos..used it to soak her dentures and gave her face a wash in domestos water once a week to give it a good clean. The rest of the time she used carbolic or Sunlight soap.

I stopped using soap on my face when I was about 20.I have dry skin and it made it feel tight and go red. I have to be careful what I put on my skin as I get allergic reactions to many products. the main cause seems to be parabens so I use organic paraben free products.

By preference I am a bather rather than showerer so have one every other day and wash my hair at the same time. the half crown(remember them?) size blob of shampoo I use on my hair rinses off and provides all the cleansing power I need in my bath. Wayter where I live is so hard you can throw it in lumps.

Last year I had a persistent fungal rash on my face - it started around my nose and after trying all sorts of creams to no avail, I went to my doctor. He asked me what soap I used on my face to which I replied, "none". He told me to wash my face night and morning with 'savon de marseille' (a genre of soap readily available in household and toilet form here in France). This I did and the rash gradually went away.
For the rest of me, I would go into a decline if I didn't scrub myself all over every day with Pears soap. I have to buy it in bulk when in the UK, or order it online. I use a stick deodorant just to be confident but my Mum once told me that before the days of Odorono (!) they used to swab their armpits with Milton!

We seem to have a problem in the U.K or maybe the EU as well.
Many many toiletries ( cosmetics ) are now made in China.
From very up market products to run of the mill.
Just check the label.
Imperial Leather Soap is now manufactured in Thailand!
It is not the same!

I used to use the live oil soap they sell in Greece, but I don't go to Greece any more. Buy the honey and beeswax soap from the National Trust. It seems to be quite mild. I itch terribly if I use any sort of bubble bath or shower gel [even Sanex makes me itch] so I'm trying Aveeno at the moment. Use the Forever Living Aloe Vera deodorant stick on a daily basis, but a Mitchum heavy duty one on the rare occasion when I go out somewhere.

Live oil? Sounds dangerous.

At risk of getting excessively scientific, may I point out that there is a considerable difference between soap and the various gels now available. The reason that soap feels slippery is that it is alkaline and dissolves your skin. At least you can be sure that the dirt has been removed.

A very different matter, the gel hand steriliser that is outside many hospital departments uses isopropanol as a solvent. What I have not as yet understood about this is that safety data referring to isopropanol says that skin contact should be avoided because it de-fats the skin.

I find it difficult to believe that soap dissolves your skin.

My typing these days is becoming like that bloke in Allo allo. Oh for that edit button ....

I too do not use soap on my face, can't remember when I did! although of course when your washing your hair some does trickle down your face, I don't use make up (although suppose Im getting tot he satge where a little would help I very rarely use hair spray, do use bit of mouse or wax now and then..and so far so good lol..is that how you spell "mouse" doesn't look right

absentgrana, I promise it does. I am/was a chemist. Soap is a salt of a strong base and a weak fatty acid. It is therefore strongly alkaline so it dissolves your skin. Not much, obviously. But that is precisely why it feels 'soapy' and why it stings in your eyes.

Looks like I'll be giving certain large parts of my body an extra soaping now!

I only use soap on my hands, and that is "baby" soap.
I've been in Hospital on three occaisions with severe eczema, which I've had since a baby. Fortunately since leaving work at 60 on health grounds, (20 yrs. ago) I now have only small patches which are under control! I use a shower gel, which is ok, providing I don't use too much, or leave it on for too long!

mudskipper Who lives may learn. Thank you.

biker - try mousse!

Live naturally as nature provided every thing to human but technological advancement create humans to use their new developed ways...
One of the best way of face washing is use of lemon with water....and get result in a weak..