[SustainableTompkins] less bathing

Tue Feb 26 08:38:59 PST 2008

My godmother, who lived to age 99 and grew up in CT, told me that when they 
were kids they were not allowed to wash their hair all winter long because 
their parents feared feared pneumonia, which was often fatal. They'd brush 
their hair and re-braid it every morning. They took a full bath only once a 
week, every Sunday morning before church -- by heating the water on their 
cast-iron wood stove, and pouring it into the clawfoot tub.

When I lived in France in early 70s, one of my French friends told me he 
thought we'd been brainwashed by the shampoo and soap commercials into 
believing we needed full showers every day. He said most of the French just 
"sponge bathed" every day the necessary body areas, with a washcloth.

- Jan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Margaret McCasland" <mmccasla at twcny.rr.com>
To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv" 
<sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 11:20 AM
Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] household "green" suggestions

> Along the same lines: spending time in Australia (where there are
> major water restrictions due to the changed climate) reminded me of
> how we did things in "the good old days:"  we washed our hair every
> Saturday night, whether it needed it or not.  But more girls and
> women had medium to long hair then.  I remember my grandmother (who
> had very long hair, put up in a grandmotherly bun) stressing that we
> needed to brush our hair 100 strokes every night to distribute the
> oils and keep our scalp healthy.
>
> When I started having "pixie" and other very short hair cuts in the
> 1960s, I found that I needed to wash my hair much more often (every
> 2-3 days) or it became much too oily. But gradually "clean hair
> standards" changed, and hair wasn't considered clean unless it had
> that "squeaky clean" shine everyday--which means all the natural oils
> get stripped every day. So we are not only buying more shampoo, we
> also need to buy a variety of conditioners to replace what we have
> removed.
>
> Now that my hair is again longer, I find I can wash it twice a week
> instead of every other day (I never did got to daily hair washing). I
> still use a "Fuller Brush" hairbrush from 50 years ago because I
> haven't found a replacement that's as good at giving my scalp a
> gentle tingle.  And I don't need to use a conditioner nearly as often
> as I did with shorter hair washed more often.
>
> I also try to buy local shampoo so that a product that is mostly
> water isn't generating lots of green house gases during transport.
> 17th c Suds refills bottles for you at their Farmers Market booth, so
> even less plastic gets produced.  And olive oil-based shampoo has
> conditioning properties (umm, maybe the oil--but really, it's soapy,
> not oily; I love it).
>
> One final "watch how you wash your hair" caution:  many commercial
> shampoo etc bottles are made with vinyl (#3), which cannot be
> recycled easily, releases dioxin when burned, and which is often
> softened with hormone disrupters.  Look for bottles that are made of
> #2 (high density polyethylene).
>
> Margaret
>
>
>
>
>>that's what my son says!
>>-marlo
>>On Feb 25, 2008, at 9:50 PM, Cnielsen56 at aol.com wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>  In England, Elizabeth I declared that she bathed once a month
>>>  "whether I
>>>  need it or not."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  _http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?
>>>  fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=369017_
>>>  (http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?
>>>  fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=369017)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  In a message dated 2/25/2008 9:03:08 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
>>>  marloco at verizon.net writes:
>>>
>>>  i didn't  think i had anything to add when someone asked recently what
>>>  types  of things mundane things people could do to reduce consumption-
>>>  i  forget how it was phrased- but thought of something really basic
>>>  and  important the other day when showering.
>>>
>>>  one thing we all do in my house  is that we don't shower every day.
>>>  some people get upset at  the thought of this, but i think that's been
>>>  conditioned into us  more than it is a point of health or cleanliness
>>>  or anything.   we began it for practical reasons- in the winter
>>>  showering every day  causes our skin to dry out so we began showering
>>>  every other  day.  not only does it help with the state of our skin
>>>  (skin  creams are rarely necessary), it reduces the amount of soap and
>>>  shampoo we use, the amount of water, and energy for heating water.   i
>>>  really do love to shower so i reward myself by taking a  slightly
>>>  longer shower on shower days, but ultimately we are using  far fewer
>>>  resources than other families of smaller size.   (there are five of us
>>>  in my house)
>>>
>>>  -marlo
>>>
>>>
>>>  Marlo  Capoccia
>>>  Garden  Gate
>>  > www.gardengatedelivery.com
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