In the fashion world, I track a number of trends and fads. Many of them make a quick appearance on the scene and are just as quickly gone. But others, and those tend to be the long-lasting trends, make their appearance slowly growing gradually in popularity until one year they are completely pedestrian. Leggings for example.
But now a rising trend in the beauty and fashion industry is the all-natural. Women, and men, are forgoing soaps and shampoos. They are neglecting to purchase deodorant and don’t bother to deep cleanse their hair. And no, these aren’t some hippie recluses who walk around in their own smelly oblivion. These are normal every day people – and it’s a number that is growing by the month.
The first time I heard of someone not wearing deodorant was two years ago. At the time I worked retail and a number of my co-workers had a crush on a manager who always smelled good. Imagine our shock when he announced one day when we were all out for after-work drinks that he hadn’t used deodorant in more than 5 years. *gasp* His theory, which he happened to be right about, was that the use of deodorant is a kind of addiction, the more you use the more your body needs. Hmmm…
Then late this summer a number of beauty bloggers challenged each other to go a couple weeks without washing their hair with traditional shampoos. They had to go all-natural. The results were amazing. Most of the bloggers swore off shampoo for good. By the end of the two weeks they were all-natural all the time.
And then this weekend in the New York Times Sunday Styles section the lead story was ‘The Great Unwashed.’ It tells about a couple who have given up on deodorant, showering daily and constantly washing their hair. Their theory is the same as my previous co-worker’s. The more we wash the more we need to and that is damaging to our hair and bodies because we are depleting the natural oils and necessary chemicals.
I’m seeing this as the wave of the future. We’ve gone back to more natural foods. We’re looking for more environmental forms of transportation and energy. And now we’re going natural in the area of personal hygiene.
Could you forgo deodorant? What about only showering two or three times a week and washing your hair even less often?
