I just don’t want to mix them because I feel like it would make me less clean.
Relatedly, what’s the best way I can follow the Patrick Bateman skincare routine as a simplified version that’s actually practical to follow and contains the most important steps?
I’ve only ever used one towel for drying and 2-3 washcloths in the shower. If you do your shower right you will come out clean enough. If any body area still stinks up the towel even slightly you havent done a good enough job.
Here’s my wash routine, its simple and effective. Warning it may be a little moein detail than you want to read about.
When washing I soap up the first cloth ad startwith the face then armpits, then crotch, then taint, finally ass crack. Get in there and be thorough, use a lot of soap. I use Dr.bronners 18 in 1 hemp tea tree liquid soap with water in a spray bottle.
Rinse soap, then use sterilizer on your pits and if you are brave enough the tiniest bit on crotch. alcohol is more powerful but quickly dries the skin so its a quick spritz and rinse. vinegar is more gentle for people with sensitive skin.
Retire first wash cloth, get second one soap it up and do a general scrub down of the body. Torso, shoulders, arms, legs, hands and feet,scrub nails. Then do part 1 again (minus the sterilizer)
If you do this properly you will come out so clean one towel is enough. I still start with the face and work my way down to crotch when drying anyways lol. Doing a final sniff test with the towel afterward is the best way to know if you did really well.
Do people really “sterilize” their armpits and taint with vinegar and I have been out of the loop for all this time? The hell are you sterilizing them for?
Honestly, the washcloth is mostly there for convenience and not having to touch your asshole with your hands. Water and friction with literally anything, including your other hand, is enough for a cleaning effect to happen. Soap helps dissolving the greases and oils. Only potential thing left is actual dirt, which would need a bit more scrubbing, but from a cleanliness perspective, that’s all there is to it, really. If it’s clean enough for surgeons to wash their hands by rubbing them together with water and hand soap before playing with your insides, it’s clean enough for me to dry with a single towel after just washing everything once properly.
Yes people really do sterilize those areas. Its more common when you need to take a farmers bath. You sterilize because the main cause of stink is not dirt or oil or sweat but microorganisms.
Bacteria that live on your skin colonize and thrive in those areas. That smell is sulphur based waste they produce.
Soap does not kill microorganisms very well on its own, instead it helps the water pick them up and wash them away. If you have a lot of clean running water and a lot of soap it works well enough but doesnt 100% get rid of the colony. sterilizer kills off whats left.
That being said most people (me included) who use sterilizer are cautious about putting it on the groin/taint since those areas are so sensitive but a teeny tiny bit on a realy wet washrag seems to be okay imo. I mainly use it for the pits and just soap and scrub really well down below.
Also about the surgeon thing I’m pretty sure they still use sterilized gloves in a sterilized environment with equipment that’s been through riggerous decontamination. They probably use hand sanitizer too lol.
Interesting, I didn’t know about that term at all. What’s a farmer’s bath, some kind of deep-wash, basically?
Which is why I mentioned soap as a degreasing agent, removing oils and the vast, vast majority of microorganisms with it, alongside water and friction.
Because they’re gonna play with your insides, where the smallest thing could infect and kill you.
While washing their hands with soap and water?
A farmers bath is a term for taking a small tub of water and washing yourself with it and a rag. Its how people usually kept themselves clean historically before running water was a thing. Still very common in rural areas, with campers, and nomadic people who live in vehicles.
About the other stuff, look dude I’m not trying to get into an argument or debate you on semantics. You asked a question and I answered it honestly. Sorry if it sounded like I was talking down to you or insulted your intelligence. I hope that I helped you learn something interesting. Have a nice day.
It’s not a semantics thing, nor was it a debate, I’m trying to understand lol
Doc Bronner’s tea tree on your taint is at least as effective as coffee in the morning, but I like the peppermint for that all-day tingle