Iatros' Journal

Soap is Bullshit I know this sounds ridiculous, but you don't need soap in order to be clean on a daily basis. If you look at the various functions of the intergumentary system (IE the system of the outermost layer of the body) what you will find is that the skin cleans itsself through the process of shedding. This process happens continously, which is why you don't see people shedding large chunks of skin like you do with snakes. Its main purpose is to get rid of bacteria, sweat, and dirt; on the surface of the body. Meaning, no matter how dirty you get eventually the body will take care of it. Now, if you need to look presentable to other people in the span of a few hours relying on this natural process is sometimes not the best idea because its kind of slow. Meaning, if you're really dirty it will take awhile for all of it to be shed off. In most of those cases a rag and water do just fine. However, there are times where the dirt is too stubborn to come off, and I think that's what soap was meant to take care of. Lucky for us, the majority of people in the first world don't have issues like that very often, and that's why you should cut down on soap usage. Of course, this is all assuming you don't find the act of lathering soapy water appealing enough to dedicate any time to it, but if that is you then at least keep the information in mind because it saves a lot of time in a pinch.

Drawing of the Day: