What don't the Turks/Moroccans/Syrians/delete as appropriate know about bathing?

pjgh

pjgh

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Location
Halifax, Republic of Yorkshire
I hate modern life.

I'll start with that ...

I'm not one of those getting older kind of folks who whines on about how it used to be and wishes it was like that ... but I am one of those folks who really appreciates traditional ways of doing things; knowledge accumulated over generations, rather than knee-jerked because "science" says it's good.

I'm an ingredients geek ...

Anything with long multi-syllabic "science"-sounding ingredients turns me right off. I like real stuff. Not lab stuff.

Anyway ...

Over the last few months, I've been showering and pre-shaving with Moroccan black soap (Savon Noir) and after showering, rinse off, stamp to get the most off, then exfoliating with a traditional Kese (Middle Eastern exfoliating glove).

I feel great!

Not just "feel" great, but feel great! Soft, yes, but invigorated ... more so. More than that, my shaves have been super-smooth, no irritation, skin feeling just great straight away and all the time.

Folks say I glow ...

... and that is the proof in the pudding. Perhaps coupled with clean eating, tea drinking, alcohol reducing and very much enjoying my fencing, I feel on top of the world. I'm sleeping really well, too, which I attribute to no coffee, good Chinese tea, less alcohol and clean eating, but my circulation is really good, too - after fencing, I always have bruises and wounds, which used to take a long time to heal, but now ... day, two days tops.

Get a Turkish glove, folks! Get some Savon Noir. If you're high-brow about it, Le Pere Lucien make a bloomin' lovely one!
 
pjgh said:
I hate modern life.

I'll start with that ...

I'm not one of those getting older kind of folks who whines on about how it used to be and wishes it was like that ... but I am one of those folks who really appreciates traditional ways of doing things; knowledge accumulated over generations, rather than knee-jerked because "science" says it's good.

I'm an ingredients geek ...

Anything with long multi-syllabic "science"-sounding ingredients turns me right off. I like real stuff. Not lab stuff.

Anyway ...

Over the last few months, I've been showering and pre-shaving with Moroccan black soap (Savon Noir) and after showering, rinse off, stamp to get the most off, then exfoliating with a traditional Kese (Middle Eastern exfoliating glove).

I feel great!

Not just "feel" great, but feel great! Soft, yes, but invigorated ... more so. More than that, my shaves have been super-smooth, no irritation, skin feeling just great straight away and all the time.

Folks say I glow ...

... and that is the proof in the pudding. Perhaps coupled with clean eating, tea drinking, alcohol reducing and very much enjoying my fencing, I feel on top of the world. I'm sleeping really well, too, which I attribute to no coffee, good Chinese tea, less alcohol and clean eating, but my circulation is really good, too - after fencing, I always have bruises and wounds, which used to take a long time to heal, but now ... day, two days tops.

Get a Turkish glove, folks! Get some Savon Noir. If you're high-brow about it, Le Pere Lucien make a bloomin' lovely one!
Click to expand...
Well I like to try and learn something new everyday and a Turkish Glove is now one of them.
Time to investigate and thanks for sharing. :rolleyes:
 
Okay, so start with Le Pere Lucien ... see English Shaving Company.

I believe the routine is wash, wash with the soap, rinse, mostly dry off, exfoliate.

Turkish bathing seems very keen on very clean water, so for us, it's the shower, not the bath. Massaging the savon noir in just standing out of the shower is lovely. As a pre-shave soap, it's just a case of warm up with hot water, massage the soap in, hot water to clean off, lather up and shave. Hot rinse, cold rinse, alum wash, rinse and witch hazel. Lovely!

Yeah, the soap is really wonderful! Don't worry that it looks like crap.

Kesa gloves ... go for a regular white one to start with. Body to start with and maybe a wipe over the face once you get used to it. There are all manner of materials as you go, so look to Turkey and those Turkish shops on eBay for authentic. There is a rapid increase in aggression, in terms of materials.

I'm actually, quite an old-fashioned northern kind of fellow for whom creams, treatments and so on are all a bit dandy ... but I don't mind traditional, now we're all international.
 
pjgh said:
I hate modern life.

I'll start with that ...

I'm not one of those getting older kind of folks who whines on about how it used to be and wishes it was like that ... but I am one of those folks who really appreciates traditional ways of doing things; knowledge accumulated over generations, rather than knee-jerked because "science" says it's good...
Click to expand...

Oh, so you crap in an outhouse and wipe with corn cobs or old newspapers? Draw water from a well? Ride a horse to work? Hunt with a musket? Chop wood or haul coal for heat/cooking? Go to a barber for dental work? Take mercury for an STD?

Yes, those were the good ol' days before that pesky science crap. :D ;)
 
Also in passing, though slightly off topic Paul, if you suffer minor strains or aches from the fencing ( or mountain running, sheep wrestling etc ) I'm now completely off NSAI drugs such as Iboprufen etc for my osteo arthritis and recurring tendonitis since supplementing with MSM and using MSM gel as required. It's just the active ingredient of DMSO which has been used for arthritic pains and strains since Greek times. It's toxicity rating is roughly equivalent to water, so no dangers of overdosing. It's been effective enough for me to stop the codeine and other meds.

JohnnyO. o/
 
Bogeyman said:
Oh, so you crap in an outhouse and wipe with corn cobs or old newspapers? Draw water from a well? Ride a horse to work? Hunt with a musket? Chop wood or haul coal for heat/cooking? Go to a barber for dental work? Take mercury for an STD?

Yes, those were the good ol' days before that pesky science crap. :D ;)
Click to expand...

Ah, you've visited Wales or Scotland on holiday Bogester !

JohnnyO. o/
 
JohnnyO said:
Also in passing, though slightly off topic Paul, if you suffer minor strains or aches from the fencing ( or mountain running, sheep wrestling etc ) I'm now completely off NSAI drugs such as Iboprufen etc for my osteo arthritis and recurring tendonitis since supplementing with MSM and using MSM gel as required. It's just the active ingredient of DMSO which has been used for arthritic pains and strains since Greek times. It's toxicity rating is roughly equivalent to water, so no dangers of overdosing. It's been effective enough for me to stop the codeine and other meds.

JohnnyO. o/
Click to expand...

Well, that is worth knowing ... thank you.

Funnily enough, I was just looking at Aleppo soap and found sulphur as a noted ingredient in some variants.

The gel sounds good - easy to spread on before bed. Yes, I do get aches and pains, especially after competition and that horrible first steps out of bed the day after. And/or sheep wrestling. Gotta get that good lanolin somehow ...
 
Bogeyman said:
Oh, so you crap in an outhouse and wipe with corn cobs or old newspapers? Draw water from a well? Ride a horse to work? Hunt with a musket? Chop wood or haul coal for heat/cooking? Go to a barber for dental work? Take mercury for an STD?

Yes, those were the good ol' days before that pesky science crap. :D ;)
Click to expand...

Haha! Yeah ... I actually do do one of those things.

pjgh said:
I'm not one of those getting older kind of folks who whines on about how it used to be and wishes it was like that ... but I am one of those folks who really appreciates traditional ways of doing things; knowledge accumulated over generations, rather than knee-jerked because "science" says it's good.
Click to expand...

... and yes, it's not lost on me that just because something is natural is must be good: plutonium, lava, grizzly bears.

I guess I'm just looking for a simpler way of living in all areas and as per the title, those folks from Morocco, Turkey, Syria, Bulgaria, Greece and so on have already done all the thinking and come up a solid set of products and practices.

... back to the very top. I heartily endorse black soap (savon noir) and a scrubbing glove. I feel great!

Now, who knows about whipping yourself with birch twigs and plunging into sub-zero pools? :D
 
JohnnyO said:
Also in passing, though slightly off topic Paul, if you suffer minor strains or aches from the fencing ( or mountain running, sheep wrestling etc ) I'm now completely off NSAI drugs such as Iboprufen etc for my osteo arthritis and recurring tendonitis since supplementing with MSM and using MSM gel as required. It's just the active ingredient of DMSO which has been used for arthritic pains and strains since Greek times. It's toxicity rating is roughly equivalent to water, so no dangers of overdosing. It's been effective enough for me to stop the codeine and other meds.

JohnnyO. o/
Click to expand...
Interested in finding out more about this myself, as I suffer with arthritis myself in the knees and hands. Where do you acquire yours from @JohnnyO ?
 
nick_s said:
Interested in finding out more about this myself, as I suffer with arthritis myself in the knees and hands. Where do you acquire yours from @JohnnyO ?
Click to expand...

I too am interested in this, particularly any hints on mitigating RA, which breaks out from time to time. I've started necking MSM, which someone recommended to me 20+ years ago, when he got it from a horse medicines place, but which I hadn't tried till now.
 
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