# Dust baths: better than washing?



## Tony Pro (Apr 9, 2019)

Tl;dr I rubbed rock dust in my hair a week ago, and after days of doing sweaty manual labor with a hat on, my hair still looks awesome. Drying hair and armpits with dust/baking soda helps body regulate oil and odor production.

My forays into humus hygiene have not been scientific. A while back I was working on a stonewall building project as part of a small team. By god it was dusty. We were hauling granite blocks through clouds of dust thicker than a sirocco storm. I'd pause every hour to wet down my work area but the dust sucked in every drop of moisture and billowed anew with the next puff of wind.
Toward the end of the project my team and I noticed something interesting: none of us had had the chance for a proper bath in over a week, and yet everyone's hair looked fantastic. It didn't have that Loreal sheen, but it had a nice texture and wasn't greasy at all despite the sweaty 10-hour workdays. We'd run a dusty hand through our hair and find it tangle-free and malleable. I could part mine in the middle, give myself a Tintin coif or a Buckwheat spike or both as the mood suited me.
That dusty project ended, and I tried to keep my fabulous hair by rubbing it with baking soda and climber's chalk, but it didn't have the same effect (although I discovered that baking soda + water hardens and gives a nice textured hold to your hair for a day). So I went back to shampoo.
I forgot all about it until recently when I had to mill sandstone bricks with a diamond wheel. I gathered up the dust when I was done and gave my scalp a good rub-down. That was a week ago and my hair hasn't even begun to show signs of grease. I've said nothing of this experiment to my girl, and she's been complementing me on my hairdo all week.
I've been using baking soda instead of soap on my armpits for years, but I've now tried slapping a little rock dust in them as well. Anyone on this site probably knows the theory that the body ramps up oil production to compensate for soap stripping away all natural oils on a daily basis, and kicking the soap habit will allow that process to self-regulate. I've found the no-soap thing works on my body all right, but not on my hair. So the dust treatment is a revelation.
The great thing about it is it doesn't require daily application. One treatment a week seems sufficient.
I think the type of dust is important. Since I've had the best results with granite and sandstone, it seems that dust which is high in silica content is best. But since that's not necessarily easy to find, I'll keep trying other varieties. Obviously nothing with organic matter should be used; don't go treating your hair with dry dirt or sweepings from your windowsills.


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## AAAutin (Apr 9, 2019)

Seems like a good enough reason to go skinny-dippin' down at the old rock quarry...

(I mean, I _already_ enjoyed rolling around naked in rock quarries—but now I have a plausible excuse!)


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## Deleted member 125 (Apr 9, 2019)

Dry shampoo is very similar in that dust and dry shampoo basically absorb oil from yer head which can make it feel cleaner and smell less like opening up a tupperware that somebody farted into. But don't fool yerself into thinking yer any cleaner. Always boil up when you can.


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## makan kotoran (Apr 18, 2019)

Tony Pro said:


> Tl;dr I rubbed rock dust in my hair a week ago, and after days of doing sweaty manual labor with a hat on, my hair still looks awesome. Drying hair and armpits with dust/baking soda helps body regulate oil and odor production.
> 
> My forays into humus hygiene have not been scientific. A while back I was working on a stonewall building project as part of a small team. By god it was dusty. We were hauling granite blocks through clouds of dust thicker than a sirocco storm. I'd pause every hour to wet down my work area but the dust sucked in every drop of moisture and billowed anew with the next puff of wind.
> Toward the end of the project my team and I noticed something interesting: none of us had had the chance for a proper bath in over a week, and yet everyone's hair looked fantastic. It didn't have that Loreal sheen, but it had a nice texture and wasn't greasy at all despite the sweaty 10-hour workdays. We'd run a dusty hand through our hair and find it tangle-free and malleable. I could part mine in the middle, give myself a Tintin coif or a Buckwheat spike or both as the mood suited me.
> ...


Watch out for siliscosis


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## Tony Pro (Apr 18, 2019)

@makan kotoran Good call; I'm a stonemason so I know to wear a respirator when I'm fucking with silicone.


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