How to Find Good Soaps

If you feel as though you need a softer, or stronger, soap, this article will help you to find the choice you are seeking.

Steps

1. Decide what you are looking for. Are you seeking hand soap, body soap, for facial soap?
2. Determine your skin type. Do you have dry skin, sensitive skin, or normal skin? (Or any other skin type.)
3. Choose brands that are made especially for your skin. Look at the labels and ingredients if necessary.
4. Look for unscented/fragrance-free brands. These may smell good, but they can possibly cause mild or severe irritation for some people.
5. Look for products with natural ingredients. These can naturally smell good, exfoliate, or moisturize depending on what you buy.
6. Browse the skin-care aisles at your local grocery store for soaps. Keep your options open.
7. Once you have an idea of the choices available to you, read product reviews on the internet of the brands that you seemed to like and look for any advertisements/commercials of that brand/product.
8. Go back to the store and buy the one(s) that appealed to you the most.
9. Go home, get in the shower, and use it!


Tips

* Develop a routine.
* Follow the directions listed on the container.

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How to Shower Quickly

Ever woken up and discovered you have ten minutes to get out of the house? And (eek!) you still have to shower! Read this article for advice on taking a quick shower.
Steps

1. Turn on the water. It always depends on the shower, but it usually only takes a minute, two at the most, for the water to heat up. While you're waiting, get undressed, get out "shower supplies" (powder, deodorant, towel, etc.), your clothes, and do other things that need to be accomplished before you leave.
2. When the water is warm enough for you to go in, jump in the shower and wet your hair. If you have long hair, this may take more time than people with shorter cuts. If your shower has a nozzle with adjustable water pressure, turn the knob so the water sprays harder. It will get your hair wet faster.
3. When you've wet your hair, take a handful of shampoo. Put some on your hair, and rub the rest together between your hands. Scrub your hair using mostly your fingertips and nails (but don't hurt yourself!). When you think you're done washing, scratch your scalp with your fingernails. If little white stuff comes out, and it's not shampoo, keep washing!
4. Once you're done washing your hair, don't rinse it! Leave the shampoo on your head, while you wash the rest off your body. If you have long hair, take your hand and S-Q-U-E-E-Z-E as much shampoo as you can out before rinsing with water. The actual rinsing will go much, much faster.
5. Pour a couple of drops of liquid body wash on your hand. Divide it into four. Use one fourth on your left foot, and one on your right. Use the remaining half on your torso.And rinse.

Tips

* Try using a special face soap for your face. Also, if you plan to use liquid body wash on the genital area, make sure the label says that's okay.
* Use a two in one shampoo/conditioner...put the shampoo/conditioner in your hair and some soap all over your body...rinse all together and you will be done in less than three minutes! You'll have clean and soft hair if you use a 2 in 1 shampoo conditioner bottle.
* It helps if you have some sort of body brush or washcloth. Squirt a little bit of the bodywash onto it and rub it onto your body quickly. It rinses off easily.

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Make the bathroom safe

* Never leave the person alone in the bathroom.
* Lower the thermostat on your hot-water heater to prevent scalding injuries.
* Always check the water temperature, even if the person draws his or her own bath.
* Always put a nonskid mat in the tub or shower.
* Install grab bars and use a tub bench or bath chair that can adjust to different heights.
* Make sure there are no puddles on the bathroom floor; think about installing carpet.

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After-bath care

* Check for rashes and sores, especially if the person is incontinent or unable to move around.
* Seat the person while drying and putting on fresh clothes.
* Be gentle on the skin. The person’s skin may be very sensitive. Avoid scrubbing, and pat skin dry instead of rubbing.
* Use cotton swabs to dry between the toes.
* Apply lotion to keep skin soft.
* Use cornstarch or talcum powder under the breasts and in the creases and folds of skin. If the person won’t use deodorant, use baking soda.

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Adapt the bathing process

* Set a regular time of day for bathing. If the person usually bathes in the morning, it may confuse him or her to bathe at night.
* Use simple phrases to coach the person through each step of the bathing process, such as: “Put your feet in the tub.” “Sit down.” “Here is the soap.” “Wash your arm.”
* Use other cues to remind the person what to do such as the “watch me” technique. Put your hand over the
person’s hand, gently guiding the washing actions.
* Use a tub bench or bath chair that can adjust to different heights. The person can sit while showering if it is easier.
* Washing the person’s hair may be the most difficult task. Use a washcloth to soap and rinse hair in the sink to reduce the amount of water on the person’s face.
* Be sure the person’s genital areas are washed, especially if incontinence is a problem.
* Be sure the person is washed between folds of skin and under the breasts.
* Simply the bathing process by sewing pockets into washcloths to hold soap or using soap that washes both hair and body.

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Focus on the person, not the bathing task

* Help the person feel in control. Involve or coach the person through each step of bathing. Be sure the person has a role. For example, have the person hold a washcloth or shampoo bottle.
* Give the person choices. For example, ask if he or she would like to bathe now or in 15 minutes, or take a bath or a shower. Try saying “Let’s wash up” instead of “Let’s take a bath.”
* Be aware that the person may perceive bathing to be threatening. If the person resists bathing or acts out, distract him or her and try again later.
* Often praise the person for his or her efforts and cooperation.
* Always protect the person’s dignity, privacy and comfort. Try to help the person feel less vulnerable by covering the person with a bath blanket while undressing.
* Cover or remove the mirrors if a reflection in the bathroom mirror leads the person to believe there’s a stranger in the room.
* Have a familiar person of the same sex help, if possible.
* Be flexible. Allow the person to get into the tub or shower with clothes on. He or she may want to undress once clothes are wet.
* Don’t worry about how often the person bathes. Try sponge baths in between showers or baths. Wash one part of the body each day of the week. Or, consider shampooing hair at another time or on a different day.
* Pad the shower seat and other cold or uncomfortable surfaces with towels.
* Have activities ready in case the person becomes agitated. For example, play soothing music or sing together.

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Prepare the bathroom in advance

* Gather bathing supplies such as towels, washcloths, shampoo and soap before you tell the person that it’s time to bathe.
* Make sure the room is warm.
* Use large beach towels or bath blankets that completely wrap around the person for privacy and warmth.
* Have a washcloth ready to cover the person’s eyes to prevent stinging from water or shampoo.
* Make sure that soap and shampoo are easy to reach. Try using hotel-sized plastic containers of shampoo.
* Fill the tub and then assess the person’s reaction to getting into the water. It may be better to fill the tub
after the person is seated.
* Use only two or three inches of water.
* Try using a hand-held shower head and make sure the spray isn’t too intense.
* Monitor the water temperature. The person may not sense when the water is dangerously hot or may resist bathing if the water is too cool.

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Know the person's abilities

* Encourage the person to do as much as possible, but be ready to assist when needed. Assess his or her ability to:
* Find the bathroom.
* See clearly.
* Keep balance without fear of falling.
* Reach and stretch arms.
* Remember steps in the bathing process, follow cues or examples.
* Know how to use different products (soap, shampoo, washcloth, etc.).
* Sense water temperature.

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Bathing Introduction

Bathing is often the most difficult personal-care activity that caregivers face. Because it is such an intimate experience, people with dementia may perceive it as unpleasant or threatening. In turn, they may act in disruptive ways, like screaming, resisting or hitting.

Such behavior often occurs because the person doesn’t remember what bathing is for or doesn’t have the patience to endure such unpleasant parts of the task like lack of modesty, being cold or other discomforts. Here are some tips to make bathing the person with dementia easier.

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ROMAN BATHS AND BATHING

Of all the leisure activities, bathing was surely the most important for the greatest number of Romans, since it was part of the daily regimen for men of all classes, and many women as well. We think of bathing as a very private activity conducted in the home, but bathing in Rome was a communal activity, conducted for the most part in public facilities that in some ways resembled modern spas or health clubs (although they were far less expensive). A modern scholar, Fikret Yegül, sums up the significance of Roman baths in the following way (Baths and Bathing in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge: MIT, 1992):

The universal acceptance of bathing as a central event in daily life belongs to the Roman world and it is hardly an exaggeration to say that at the height of the empire, the baths embodied the ideal Roman way of urban life. Apart from their normal hygienic functions, they provided facilities for sports and recreation. Their public nature created the proper environment—much like a city club or community center—for social intercourse varying from neighborhood gossip to business discussions. There was even a cultural and intellectual side to the baths since the truly grand establishments, the thermae, incorporated libraries, lecture halls, colonnades, and promenades and assumed a character like the Greek gymnasium. (30)

Although wealthy Romans might set up a bath in their town houses or especially in their country villas, heating a series of rooms or even a separate building especially for this purpose, even they often frequented the numerous public bathhouses in the cities and towns throughout the empire. Small bathhouses, called balneae, might be privately owned, but they were public in the sense that they were open to the populace for a fee, which was usually quite reasonable. The large baths, called thermae, were owned by the state and often covered several city blocks. Fees for both types of baths were quite reasonable, within the budget of most free Roman males. Since the Roman workday began at sunrise, work was usually over at little after noon. About 2:00-3:00 pm, men would go to the baths and plan to stay for several hours of sport, bathing, and conversation, after which they would be ready for a relaxing dinner. Republican bathhouses often had separate bathing facilities for women and men, but by the empire the custom was to open the bathhouses to women during the early part of the day and reserve it for men from 2:00 pm until closing time (usually sundown, though we occasionally hear of a bath being used at night). For example, one contract for the management of a provincial bath specified that the facility would be open to women from daybreak until about noon, and to men from about 2:00 pm until sunset; although the women got the less desirable hours, their fee was twice as high as the men's, 1 as (a copper coin) for a woman and ½ as for a man. Mixed bathing was generally frowned upon, although the fact that various emperors repeatedly forbade it seems to indicate that the prohibitions did not always work. Certainly women who were concerned about their respectability did not frequent the baths when the men were there, but of course the baths were an excellent place for prostitutes to ply their trade.
Piazza Armerina gymnast

Exercise: Bathing had a fairly regular ritual, and bathhouses were built to accommodate this. Upon entering the baths, individuals went first to the dressing room (apodyterium—this reconstruction drawing shows the men's dressing room in the Forum Baths in Pompeii), where there were niches and cabinets to store their street clothes and shoes (in the model above, the dressing room is on the left, farthest from the furnace; click here for a closer look). Many bathers were accompanied by one or more slaves to carry their gear and guard their clothes in the dressing rooms, but the bathhouses provided attendants who would watch over the belongings of the poorest for a fee. Sometimes the dressing room did double duty; for example, in the Stabian Baths in Pompeii the women's dressing room also served as a frigidarium, containing a small cold-water pool (note the graffito of a ship scratched into the post separating two niches in this room). Although the evidence is not clear about exactly what Romans wore when bathing, it seems probable that they did not exercise in the nude (as Greek males did) and may also have worn some light covering in the baths—perhaps the subligaculum. Within the baths special sandals with thick soles were needed to protect the feet from the heated floors.

This plan of the Stabian Baths shows the efficient design of a relatively small Republican bathhouse with separate facilities for men and women. The large central courtyard was the exercise ground (palaestra); it was surrounded by a shady portico which led into the bathing rooms. They might also take a swim in the large outdoor pool (natatio) such as this one in the Stabian Baths. After changing clothes and oiling their bodies, male bathers typically began their regimen with exercise, ranging from mild weight-lifting (as shown in the image at left), wrestling, various types of ball playing, running, and swimming (click here to find out more about Roman ball games). Although women athletes (like the one at left) are shown in the famous fourth-century CE mosaics from Piazza Armerina in Sicily, these apparently depict some sort of contest or competition rather than ordinary practice. Most of those exercising in the palaestrae were likely to be men.

Bathing: After exercise, bathers would have the dirt and oil scraped from their bodies with a curved metal implement called a strigil. Then the bathing proper began. Accompanied by a slave carrying their towels, oil flasks and strigils, bathers would progress at a leisurely pace through rooms of various temperature. They might start in the warm room (tepidarium), which had heated walls and floors but sometimes had no pool, and then proceed to the hot bath (caldarium), which was closest to the furnace. This room had a large tub or small pool with very hot water and a waist-high fountain (labrum) with cool water to splash on the face and neck. After this the bather might spend some time in the tepidarium again before finishing in the cold room (frigidarium) with a refreshing dip in the cold pool. Other rooms provided moist steam, dry heat like a sauna (laconicum), and massage with perfumed oils.
model of baths of Trajan

After their baths, patrons could stroll in the gardens, visit the library, watch performances of jugglers or acrobats, listen to a literary recital, or buy a snack from the many food vendors. Doubtless the baths were noisy, as the philosopher Seneca complained when he lived near a bathhouse in Rome, but the baths were probably very attractive places. Although most of the fine decor has not survived, many writers comment on the beauty and luxury of the bathhouses, with their well-lighted, airy rooms with high vaulted ceilings, lovely mosaics, paintings and colored marble panels, and silver faucets and fittings. This computer-generated reconstruction of the frigidarium of the baths of Hadrian at Lepcis Magna in Libya gives some idea of the splendor of the Roman thermae. The model at right depicts the baths of Trajan, located near the Colosseum. Enjoy a virtual bath by visiting these baths in Region III of VRoma, either via the web gateway or the anonymous browser.)

Heating System: Roman engineers devised an ingenious system of heating the baths—the hypocaust. The floor was raised off the ground by pillars and spaces were left inside the walls so that hot air from the furnace (praefurnium) could circulate through these open areas. Rooms requiring the most heat were placed closest to the furnace, whose heat could be increased by adding more wood. Click here to see the skeleton of a dog found in the hypocaust of a bath in Germany; it had apparently crawled beneath the floor seeking warmth and been asphyxiated by the fumes.

Latrines: Bathhouses also had large public latrines, often with marble seats over channels whose continuous flow of water constituted the first “flush toilets.” A shallow water channel in front of the seats was furnished with sponges attached to sticks for patrons to wipe themselves.

Sources

Barbara F. McManus, The College of New Rochelle
bmcmanus@cnr.edu
revised July, 2003

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Bath And Body Care

After an exhausting day your body needs to be relaxed and pampered in order to get a good night's sleep. You must take care of your body not only in the day but in the night as well. While you sleep at the night, the body is resting and replenishing itself. There are a few things that you can do to relax the body to help in the replenishing process. Here are a few ideas for bath and body care in the night:

* Take a warm, soothing bath. Fill your bathtub with warm water and some lavender that helps in calming and relaxing the body and reduces muscle tension. You can add chamomile, which is a skin soother and helps in reducing swelling and pain in the skin. Lie in the bath for some time and let these herbs relax your body and mind.
* If you want to wake up with a tan you can use a self-tanning lotion overnight. Exfoliate your skin with a scrub and moisturize. Once the moisturizer is fully absorbed spread the self-tanning lotion evenly all over your body, working on one portion of the body at a time. Use wipes to wipe the tanner off your palm and fingers as you apply the lotion. Today there are many self-tanning lotions that dry in five minutes.
* Your hands are the first to show signs of aging and often neglected as well. Give your hands a new lease of life. Apply a generous amount of rich hand cream to restore lost moisture. This is an important part of night body care.
* While sleeping in your bed, ensure that your neck is properly supported through the night. Buy a good quality people to help keep the stress off your neck. Your sleep should rejuvenate you so ensure that every part of your body is taken care of properly.
* Ingrown hairs block pores and can cause bacteria to develop, resulting in redness and swelling. Use a cream that has glycolic and salicylic acid that removes the bacteria. Make it a part of your night care routine for a few nights and you will get rid of ingrown hairs.
* Your feet support the weight of your entire body. Find time to take care of them. If they are callused and cracked moisturize them well. If they are cracked use a foot cream that has glycolic acid. Apply this cream before you sleep and slip on a pair of clean cotton socks. This should be another important part of your body care routine every night.
* Light aromatic candles in your bedroom. These candles will provide a soothing atmosphere and relax your senses. Just remember to blow them out before you sleep.
* Keep the humidifier running in the bedroom to keep the air moist. You skin will glow and be replenished by the moist air through the night.
* Use a "hot stone massage" to heat your heart. This treatment that is common in spas can be done at home too. You need a smooth flat stone as large as the human hand. You can find one on the beach or buy one in a skin care boutique. Follow the instructions given below:

· Boil water in a pot.
· Add rosemary, clove and peppermint into the water.
· Put the rock into the water and let it stay there till it is heated.
· Put off the heat and allow the rock to turn nice and warm.
· Lie down in a dark or softly lit bedroom and place the warm rock between your breasts, on your chest. Allow the warmth and aroma of the stone to relax you and soothe you into a deep peaceful sleep.

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Bathing

One of the most important ways of taking care of your body is to have a good bath. There is no doubt that a good bath cleans and refreshes your body but it can be relaxing for the mind as well. It is important to have a bath everyday in order to maintain good hygiene as well. A bath in the evening or night removes all the dust, grime and sweat that you have gathered throughout day. A bath early in the morning refreshes you and makes you ready for the whole day. Bathing can be made a relaxing and enjoyable experience. Making the right kind of arrangements in the bathroom and adding the right kind accessories in the bathroom can make your bath refreshing and soothing.

Here are a few bathroom ideas to create a luxurious bathing experience:

* Keep a stock of soft fluffy bath towels. Use a heated towel rail to warm them. This will make you feel nice and pampered after your bath.
* Invest in a good bath pillow, as it will help you relax while soaking in the bath.
* Create a soothing and relaxing environment in the bathroom by using tea lights and scented candles, as it will create a peaceful environment.
* Spoil yourself with luxurious, fragrant soaps and bath oils.
* Turn off the phone and switch of the answering machine and your mobile and anything else that can disturb your bath.
* Play some calming music that will help you relax better.


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