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Is it possible to wash with laundry soap, wash your hair, wash yourself? The benefits and harms of laundry soap as a hygiene product. Scientists have figured out how often to wash

Laundry soap is used by housewives not only to fight stains or disinfect premises. Some women strongly believe that such a product is great for cleansing the skin of excess oily sheen, acne and acne. But this use of soap is a rather controversial issue. Whether this product can be used to cleanse the skin, you will learn from this article.

You will learn more about laundry soap in the following video.

Composition

The use of laundry soap for cosmetic purposes is really a controversial issue. Someone doubts at least some effectiveness of this product and refers it to the remnants of our Soviet past, when normal cosmetics were in short supply, and someone, on the contrary, considers it to be as useful as possible. To understand who will really benefit from using laundry soap, you need to familiarize yourself with its composition.



The first impression can be made simply by smelling it. The pungent scent scares off many girls who decide to use it. The next thing that scares girls away is the stories that this product is made from "dead dogs". There is some truth in this. In fact, animal fats are used to make laundry soap.



In addition, the soap, of course, contains calcium chloride.

There is a lot of this component in the composition, which makes the product harmful for naturally dry skin. But at the same time, the remedy works as a natural antiseptic. This is very beneficial for the oily epidermis.

In addition to other components, soda with glycerin is also part of the laundry soap. Due to this, the product is suitable for the treatment of all kinds of burns and wounds. So it is also suitable for combating acne and minor redness.

Who came up with the idea for the face?

Girls and women began to wash their faces with laundry soap during the Soviet Union. At that time, expensive cosmetics were simply not available to many, so they tried to replace it with all available products. To combat oily skin, acne and acne, a simple washing of the skin with soap was suitable. Although the smell was unpleasant, for the sake of the result, the girls did not pay attention to it.

Then the tradition was forgotten. Now lovers of natural cosmetics have paid attention to laundry soap, because this product does not contain chemical additives and all kinds of harmful components. So if you are interested in taking care of yourself safely, then you will also appreciate this natural self-care product.


Benefit and harm

Initially, the girls considered this remedy almost a panacea for all problems. It has been used both against oily skin and to slow down aging. But in practice, this remedy does not work so well on all skin types.


So, it is a mistake to believe that laundry soap helps to get rid of the problems that arise with age. As practice shows, the product does not help against wrinkles, but, on the contrary, promotes their appearance on the face, as the skin dries out and tightens.

The properties of laundry soap, however, help well the owners of oily epidermis. The fact is that when washing your face, household soap creates a negative alkaline environment on the skin surface. In it, bacteria cannot survive in any way.



It provides a deep enough cleansing so that no new pimples or blackheads appear on the face.

So this remedy is useful for actively cleansing the skin and from the dirt accumulated on the face during the day, and from acne and blackheads that can appear due to clogged pores. And it dries the existing ones well, after which they can simply be squeezed out without injuring the face.

So, in fact, laundry soap works in the same way as regular antibacterial, that is, it actively cleans the face and fights bacteria. But the antibacterial product contains surfactants, which I also call surfactants, as well as sulfates. These ingredients can harm you as they destroy the structure of our skin.

Therefore, this kind of soap is much more useful than antibacterial. And it is recommended to use it just to cleanse the skin, but not to "preserve" the skin and fight wrinkles.



Which one is right?

Only for the product to work, you need to choose a quality manufacturer, the one whose products are still manufactured according to Soviet standards. An example of such a manufacturer is Vesna. But if you do not find the brand's product on the shelves, then just carefully review the composition.

Modern soaps like Duru are not suitable for skin care. Such a remedy, on the contrary, can cause you an allergic reaction, itching, or simply dry out the skin.


Mode of application

The most interesting question is the peculiarities of using the tool. For skin care, it will be enough just to regularly wash with soap. But you can go the other way. For example, cleanse at home, exfoliate or apply a soapy mask to the skin.

  • Wash your face regularly to keep your skin clean.... In this case, acne can really go away. After all, soap is capable of breaking down fats and freeing clogged pores from dirt. Thus, the skin becomes cleaner, and the work of the sebaceous glands is normalized.
  • Home peeling is done according to the same principle. Dried pimples and blackheads can be safely squeezed out. Unlike simple extrusion, in this case, you do not injure the walls of the follicle. And the infection does not spread further either. After such cleansing, there will be no post-acne and ugly scars on the skin.
  • For this kind of cleansing, acne is best treated with a point treatment. This will prevent the main part of your face from drying out. Therefore, the skin will remain healthy. But if there are a lot of acne, and the skin, in general, is greasy, then the product can be used on the entire face. After cleaning the epidermis, it is best to moisturize. For this purpose, a good nourishing cream, quality oils or a product for gentle care of baby skin will do.
  • The product can also be used for active skin whitening. Of course, the soap itself will not be enough. But in combination with other care products, it will help get rid of age spots, or at least make them less noticeable.


All dermatologists unanimously say that those who like to wash under hot water, and even with a washcloth, gel and soap, should stop. Ideally - go to warm water and a contrast shower and definitely not torment the skin several times a day with such a "strong". The reasons, it seems, have already been spoken out more than once: the frequent use of detergents with chemical additives (the same parabens) violates the skin's hydrolipid barrier and even promotes the penetration of bacteria into the deep layers of the skin (we ourselves wash off oils and sebum that prevent this), and the high temperature dries out the skin.

What to wash

It is clear that 100% natural cosmetics for washing do not exist - so that they foam, they add not the most unambiguous ingredients. But pay attention to, they contain substances that help the skin not to peel off after a shower.

Irritation, peeling, redness, dermatitis are all the consequences of too frequent shower. The skin seems to be covered with a layer of powder, and it takes 1.5-2 months to recover. Frequent washing affects not only the skin, but also the hair and nails. Keratin is damaged, and the curls become dull and lifeless. I personally recommend washing your hair and body with shampoo, gel or soap twice a week.

Elena Kovtunova, dermatovenerologist, cosmetologist, head of the center of aesthetic medicine "Armida"

And be especially careful with antibacterial triclosan soaps, which are often the go-to choice for sterile cleaners. It is primarily recommended for doctors and surgeons, but for everyone else (especially children) it only harms: it kills 99% of bacteria, including beneficial ones. Cosmetic soap will be more appropriate for anyone who does not work in a hospital.

Baby cleansers are also a good choice, they go through more testing and are considered suitable for adult skin as well.

If you love sports

Nobody forbids people who are involved in active sports (or physical labor), and obviously sweating, to take a shower after each workout. But we are talking about the shower, not washing with soap and a washcloth. Armpits or legs (if the smell is very disturbing) can be washed separately with soap or gel, and a special product can be used for intimate hygiene. By the way, we write about all the rules and mistakes that are important when washing this delicate area.

After a hot shower with soap or a bath, when the skin is steamed and there is no protective layer, it is very sensitive. In no case do not rub it with a towel, just dab gently on the skin. Ideally, letting the water dry naturally so that moisture is retained in the upper layers of the skin.

In this article, you will find out whether it is good to swim every day, and how much doctors advise to swim.

Some people bathe once a day, others - 2 times a day, and still others advise to bathe with soap no more than 2 times a week. So which one is right? Let's find out in this article.

Is it useful or harmful to wash, swim every day for men and women: the opinion of scientists

Do I need to wash every day? Scientists from different countries, among them Germany, Israel, the USA, dealt with this issue, and came to the following conclusion:

  • You need to bathe with soap and shampoo no more than 2 times a week, and every day with soap or gel, you need to wash your hands, armpits and intimate places.

According to doctors, dermatologists and scientists, washing with soap every day is harmful to our skin:

  • The acid-base balance of the skin is disturbed.
  • Reduced immunity.
  • After soap, scrubs and shampoos, especially in autumn and winter, the skin becomes dry, irritable, red, begins to peel off - and this is an open gateway to infections.
  • Washing every day with the chemicals abundant in modern body and hair care products destroys much needed vitamin D from the skin.

How often and correctly does an adult need to wash?



Scientists sometimes poll the population about how often they wash. After one such survey, it turned out that some people take a shower several times a day. When asked why, they answer in order to wash off infections and bacteria from the body. In reality, there are not so many infections on the body. Often only hands need to be washed, with them we in public places touch objects on which there are a lot of infections. And through the hands you can get infected with both colds and sexually transmitted diseases.

American scientist Brandon Mitchell compares the human body to a working machine that does not need a shower every day.

Dr. Mitchell is joined by another American doctor, Elaine Larson, they claim that you need to swim 2 times a week, every day it is enough to wash only some places, meaning intimate ones.

Is it possible and necessary to wash every day in the shower, bathroom with soap?



But what if a person is physically working hard, playing sports or sweating a lot in the heat? How often should I wash myself? Do I need to wash every day?

Every day you do not need to wash your hair and the whole body with soap, shampoo, you just need to wash off those areas that are contaminated, and rinse the rest of the body with just warm water without anything, so the skin will be less in contact with chemistry.

And people who are not engaged in physical labor, sitting in offices, are advised by dermatologists to take a shower, even without detergents, once every 2-3 days. Your skin is not as dirty as you might think.

Can I wash myself with tar or laundry soap every day?

Tar soap



Tar soap is medicinal.

Tar soap consists of 90% regular soap and 10% birch tar.

Useful properties of tar soap:

  • Destroys fungi and bacteria on oily skin prone to acne and rashes
  • Prevents purulent formations on the face
  • Eliminates skin diseases such as dermatitis, psoriasis
  • Gives sore skin a healthy look
  • Eliminates dandruff in hair

Tar soap is suitable for oily and normal skin... Soap can be washed:

  • Whole body for preventive purposes
  • The whole body for healing purposes
  • Intimate parts
  • Hair

For what diseases can you wash with tar soap, and how often:

  • For the treatment of oily skin from acne and rashes, you can wash with soap no more than 2 times a day.
  • A person with normal skin type, for prophylactic purposes, can be washed with soap 3-4 times a month.
  • Intimate areas with tar soap are washed with thrush in the morning and evening.
  • After curing the disease in intimate places, for prophylactic purposes, you can wash with soap 1-2 times a week, the rest of the week use a more gentle, special gel for intimate places.
  • Hair with tar soap is washed to remove excessive oiliness, with dandruff and head lice, to strengthen the hair. They are lathered and the foam is kept like that for 15-20 minutes. Soap can be washed once a week.

Contraindications: Tar soap should not be washed for people with dry skin of the face and head, as well as those who are allergic to birch tar.

Laundry soap



Laundry soap- an effective antibacterial agent, washes away fuel oil, paint from hands. It is an environmentally friendly product consisting of sodium salt and fatty acids. According to the content of fatty acids, soap is divided into categories:

  • With a content of 72%
  • With a content of 65%

Laundry soap is the basis of other types of soap, but with the addition of dyes and fragrances, and, accordingly, the percentage of fatty acids decreases.

Sodium alkali in soap during washing corrodes dirt well, kills germs. Soap also copes well with bacteria on our skin, destroying its protective layer. If we wash ourselves with laundry soap every day, then we are provided with:

  • Redness and irritation of the skin
  • Dehydration of her
  • Premature aging

If there are no problems with the skin, then you should not wash with laundry soap, but if popped acne, then the soap works well, but you only need to apply it on the pimple, and not on the whole face.

It is not worth washing intimate areas with laundry soap, it can cause serious consequences:

  • Dryness, cracks and redness
  • Destruction of beneficial microflora
  • Treatment of thrush only for the duration of use, and after stopping washing with soap, thrush returns again

As for hair washing, only healthy, shiny hair can be washed with laundry soap, and if you wash dull, brittle hair, you can further aggravate the problem. According to doctors, laundry soap has a detrimental effect on hair., they become lifeless, covered with a gray coating, which is then difficult to wash off.

What will happen if you wash every day, swim 2, 3 times a day?



Washing often in a bath or shower with soap is not beneficial, and even harmful to the skin- this is how you wash away the natural oils secreted by the skin for natural lubrication. To restore natural lubrication, the skin needs 8 hours, at least, and if you bathe 2 times a day, then the protective elements of the skin are not restored at all, and unprotected skin is more susceptible to infections, and you often catch various infections and allergies.

So, now we know that swimming every day will not be beneficial.

Video: 6 reasons why you can't shower every day

After conducting research, scientists have found that daily hygiene procedures can indeed do some harm. But not in all cases. A negative effect occurs when often harsh antibacterial soap, which completely destroys the top layer on the skin - this is the thinnest fatty film that protects it from external influences and bacteria. It is this film that provides elasticity and a fresh look to the skin.

Of course, from time to time you need to wash off it in order to allow a new layer to appear, clean and refreshed. But if this is too often, then the skin simply does not have time to recover. This has several consequences. Firstly, these are microcracks that form on overdried skin, into which microbes easily enter, causing inflammation. Secondly, the pores of the skin begin to intensively produce sebum to cover the lack of it. If your skin was already oily, it becomes even more oily.

To negate the negative effect of bath procedures, but not to become dirty, you can advise a few things. For starters, don't use harsh cleansers. In general, do not wash with a washcloth daily: if you have not had heavy physical activity, then it is enough just to rinse your body. Next, adjust the water temperature to your usual temperature. It shouldn't be too hot.

Daily shampooing

Whether to wash your hair every day: such a question for many is not even. If your hair is short and needs to be styled, it is often almost impossible to do this without washing your hair. Nevertheless, this can cause the same problems, but one more is added: from frequent washing, the hair begins to fall out.

How can you minimize the negative? Almost the same. Choose the shampoo that's right for you. If you wash your hair every day, then the shampoo should be appropriate. Usually in this case they write on the bottle: "Suitable for daily use."

Do not wash your hair with hot water. At the end of the bath procedures, rinse the scalp with cool water. This will narrow the hair follicles on your scalp, so you won't lose more than usual.

Don't forget about the various balms and conditioners that allow your hair and scalp to "recover" from the shock of washing. Do not blow dry your hair immediately after turning off the water. Give them 10-15 minutes to dry, at which time you can blot them with an additional towel. Also, be careful when choosing a comb so that it does not pull out your hair. Since the hair follicles are always somewhat relaxed after washing, it is better not to comb wet hair at all.

It's hard to believe, but until the 19th century, Europeans washed only 1-2 times a year, or even less. For example, the Spanish queen Isabella I of Castile claimed that she took a bath only twice in her life - at birth and on her wedding day.

Today in Europe and America, showers are taken at least 2 times a day. Anyone who deviates from this rule is considered unwashed barbarians.

But is it really necessary, from a hygiene point of view, to shower so often? After all, in Russia, since ancient times, they washed only once a week.

Disgusting is the engine of progress

In Antiquity, people washed not only, and not so much, for the sake of cleanliness. Roman baths were in no way inferior to modern SPA: marble, mosaics, heated floors, essential oils and baths with water of different temperatures.

In the Middle Ages, washing was expensive and troublesome. Baths, which were huge wooden tubs, were found not in every castle. Bathing water was heated on the hearths (it took a lot of firewood). The water quickly cooled down - the nobles were afraid of catching a cold.

But the main thing is that it was a sin to wash in the Middle Ages. The Church believed: the body is decay, it is impermissible to take care of it, you need to think about the purity of the spirit. In addition, the washing of the body is inevitably associated with nakedness, which after the "offense" of Adam and Eve is shame and shame.

Physically healthy and especially young in age should wash as little as possible.

St. Benedict

Surprisingly, the unsanitary conditions of medieval Europe dictated fashion and moved science forward. For example, in the XIV century, bre became terribly fashionable - men's underwear with a wide base and narrow legs. The trend was set by Louis X, who suffered from dysentery.

In addition, evil tongues say that the famous French spirits did not serve the purpose of seduction, but the purpose of muffling ... the stench emanating from ladies and gentlemen.

Dirty conspiracy

Unlike Europe, they loved to wash in Russia. The words "bathhouse", "soap", "soapy", "movnitsa" are found in chronicles from the 11th century.

I saw a miracle in the Slavic land on my way here. I saw wooden baths, and they will heat them strongly, and they will undress and be naked, and doused with leather kvass, and take brooms and begin to tail themselves, and they will finish themselves to such an extent that they barely crawl out, a little alive, and drown in chill water, and only so will they come to life ... And they do this constantly, they are not tormented by anyone, but they torment themselves, and then they do washing for themselves, and not torture. Tale of Bygone Years

Almost every hut had its own bathhouse. She was drowning "in black". If there was no bath, they washed in a Russian stove: after the firebox, they removed the ash and laid straw, climbed inside and steamed, giving it water or kvass.

Public baths operated in the cities. Moreover, until 1743 there was no gender division in them - women and men washed together. Even small county townships had their own "Sanduns".

Both in their own and in public baths, they washed themselves once a week, on Saturdays or before major Christian holidays. In some places this tradition is followed to this day.

But why does popular culture insist that we bathe twice a day?

65% of Americans shower once a day; 21% - every other day; 10% - once a week; 4% - 2 or more times a day. Data from AOL Inc.

Shower when I woke up, shower after work, shower before bed, shower after workout, shower before going to the store.

According to the sociologist, Elizabeth Lancaster (Elizabeth Lancaster) such behavior is imposed on society.

What do you think will happen to cosmetic companies that produce various care products - soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions?

Do not forget also that the shower gives not only a feeling of cleanliness, but also lightness. A shower is a great way to relax. But from a psychological point of view, it gives something more. In society, people with "oily" hair are scornfully squinting at a person. The more you wash, the more confident you feel.

To wash or not to wash - that is the question?

According to Dr. Sanjay Jain, author of a book on the optimal, spiritually and physically balanced life, there are no rules for when and how much a person should wash.

It all depends on the environment, lifestyle and anatomical features of the person. If you live in a humid climate, more dirt "sticks" to your body, and you should shower more often.

More physical activity means more sweating, which means you need to wash.

At the same time, according to hygienic scientists, it is not at all necessary to use soap. Plain water will do just fine with sweat and odor. After all, historically, in the Roman baths, in the Russian baths, they washed only with water, and were clean.

Water is our foundation for purity.

Sanjay Jane

A warm, short shower once a day or two, without the use of gels and shampoos, will do well with maintaining body hygiene. After all, most of it is hidden by clothing, and, therefore, is protected from the effects of environmental bacteria. The only part of the body that is recommended to be washed with soap, and as often as possible, are the hands.

How often do you shower?