Mary wrote:
>>>Almost every soap, cleanser, etc... is supposed to kill 99.99% of the
germs....  There are now waterless hand cleaners that will kill germs you
come in contact with when there isn't a convenient bathroom around to wash
up.  I can't help but think that we have gone overboard...

Yes!  Way overboard!  A friend who worked in a hospital told me that those
waterless hand cleaners are dangerous and that many people who've used them
in the hospitals have ended up with more infections. They destroy the acid
mantle on the skin and make it more susceptible to absorption of bacteria.

In Americans we have access to more water, more hot water, and have many
luxuries people don't have in other parts of the world.  When I lived in
England, the people I stayed with did not shower or bathe every day.  I
think they sponge bathed on alternate days.  I was wanting to fill the tub
with lots of hot water and that was "luxury" (or being spoiled!!) to them.
They were aghast!

Close to home:  My hairdresser, her husband and kids shower EVERY morning
and evening (even in the winter and not due to exercising like mad and
sweating like dogs!!).  She says she doesn't feel clean unless they all bath
every morning and before bed.  Interesting because she smokes (and I can
smell it!), drinks Coca Cola and eats fast food.  (She does a great job on
my hair and I think she's a nice lady so I go back, but to me she'd be
cleaner if she bathed once ever day or two and stopped smoking, eating junk
food, and drinking soda.)

A girlfriend of mine was worried about her body odor (and afraid people
would be offended) when she switched from many years on a vegan diet to a
Paleo diet.  She said she had very little odor on her previous diet. I
assured her that I have a stronger aroma (I call it a "personal perfume"
and don't mind at all) eating a higher protein diet but that I don't think
it's bad at all.  Don has a stronger fragrance too (and I don't mind that!)

It's perfectly natural, I assured her.  People are not "supposed
to be" odorless!

It's American advertising that tells us we should be odorless, hairless, and
all that.  They want to sell us anti-perspirants, deoderants, vaginal
deoderants, mouthwashes, breath spryas, hair removers, and a long list of
lotions, potions, and cover-ups!  To do that, they've convinced us that we
are dirty and that whatever comes out of us is dirty and that the solution
is to mask everything with artificial dyes, perfumes, and chemicals.
Never mind that the chemical foods they fabricate make many
people smell bad!

Okay, off my soap box and back to work!

Rachel