Shampoo II

Shampoo II
Andre Willers
23 Feb 2011

Synopsis :
Grooming of horses has evolved over thousands of years and in all sorts of conditions into a minimum-necessary-sufficient process to ensure the horse's health .
It can be adapted to humans with minmal changes .
The major advantage is that it is an entirely cost-benefit driven process .
Hence the minimum-necessary-sufficient bit .

Discussion :
See
http://andreswhy.blogspot.com "Shampoo" Feb 2011

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

From Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_grooming

Shampoo :
"Too-frequent shampooing can strip the hair coat of natural oils and cause it to dry out. Though horses in heavy work, such as racehorses, may be rinsed off after their daily workout, it is generally not advisable to shampoo a horse more than once a week, even in the show season. A well-groomed, clean horse can be kept clean by wearing a horse blanket or horse sheet." (Ie clothes)

Descendants of the Compound-Comb :
The Compound Comp has broken into 6 elements :

1."Curry or Currycomb: A tool made of rubber or plastic with short "teeth" on one side, that slides onto the hand of the groom. It is usually the first tool used in daily grooming. The horse is rubbed or "curried" to help loosen dirt, hair, and other detritus, plus stimulate the skin to produce natural oils. The curry comb is usually used in a circular motion to work loose embedded material. Curries are generally too harsh to be used on the legs or head, though varieties made of softer rubber are available."

2.Dandy brush or Hard-bristled brush: A stiff-bristled brush is used to remove the dirt, hair and other material stirred up by the curry

3.Body brush or Soft brush: A soft-bristled brush removes finer particles and dust, adds a shine to the coat and is soothing to the horse.

4.Grooming rag or towel, also called a Stable Rubber: A linen or terrycloth towel or similar type of cloth can be used to give a final polish to a horse's coat and is also used after riding to help remove sweat.
5.Mane brush or comb: Horses with short, pulled manes have their manes combed with a wide-toothed plastic or metal comb. The mane comb is also used for pulling the mane. Tails and long manes are brushed with either a dandy brush or a suitable human hairbrush.

6.Bot knife or pumice stone used to remove botfly eggs from the horse, which are usually laid on the legs or shoulder. Bot eggs are yellow and roughly the size of a grain of sand, they are clearly visible on dark hair, harder to spot on white hair.
(This morphed into strigils)


Health reasons :
"The main reasons for daily grooming include:
§ improved health of the skin and coat
§ decreases the chance of various health problems such as thrush, scratches, and other skin problems
§ cleans the horse, so chafing does not occur under areas of tack (ie clothes)
§ gives the groom a chance to check the horse's health, such as looking for cuts, heat, swelling, lameness, a change in temperament (such as depression) which could indicate the horse is sick, and look to see if the horse has loose or missing horseshoes
§ helps to form a relationship between horse and handler, which can carry over to other handling duties and riding" (Cf king and barber/surgeon)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Diet :
Horses , fur animals and leather animals and humans
MSM is necessary for skin and fur health . Supplements are given , even necessary , given the dearth of biologically assimilable sulfur as discussed previously .
(The fur and leather lot is a notoriously unsentimental industry .)

War and Farmers :
The two main users of horses had it drummed into them : always take care of the horse first , or Bad Things Happen . This starts with currying as a minimum .
This has been found out the hard way over thousands of years .

Are humans so different ? Is the ungroomed soldier a second-class soldier ?
Note the spit-and-polish brigade .
It certainly makes sense in terms of typhoid , fleas , nits , morale etc .

Adaptation to Humans :
Skin ecology :
The skin oils with their load of friendly skin bacteria should be kept intact , but pores should be kept open from detritus for temperature control . Harmful bacteria should be kept under control .

Hair wash :
Do not shampoo more than once a week at most .
Instead , use and array of brushes (The Compound Comb) in the shower without a soap .
These are in order : Curry , Hard-bristle , Soft-bristle , Coarse facecloth , Wide-toothed comb , pumice stone (or loofah) . You can make your own Compound Comb with a bit of ingenuity or simply use the brushes in order .

If the head is shampooed , only the head should be done . The soap should not go over the body .
Before the shampoo , rub the hair with a reasonably sterile head-towel or use The Compound Comb .
After the shampoo , rub the hair with the same head-towel .. Or use The Compound Comb
This is to transfer friendly bacteria .
The towel would be better , since some oil would be restored .
(Of course , do not do this if a disease was present . Then simply sterilize the whole apparatus by dumping it in bleach for half an hour and then rinsing)

Note that many hair-salons do something similar , but without knowing why it works .

Keep bodyhair short
(as discussed in http://andreswhy.blogspot.com "Old age Markers" Dec 2007 )

Note that strigils removed bodyhair and parasites in ancient Greece and Rome . Only scalp-hair remained , and this was carefully groomed with compound combs or multiple brushes .

Deoderants :
The variety using fine metallic particles (usually silver) to short the electrostatic processes of sweating on the pore mouth should be avoided . This is like choking the radiator of your car .
Bactericides should be avoided for the same reason , unless some disease is present .
Wiping the smelly regions with a coarse cloth once a day under a shower should be sufficient .
From evolutionary considerations , friendly skin bacteria (neutral smelling) are quite capable of keeping bad smelling ones in check ,

Marketing opportunity :
These bacteria can be genetically tweaked to give off an appealing perfume .
But knowing humans , it is quite likely that the bastards will build in a timer that will switch on a stench unless overridden by a later version .
This is possible even now .

Scents :
Alcohol based scents or aftershaves kills off the friendly bacteria . It sells more because more scent is then needed to disguise the bad smells resulting from the elimination of friendly skin-bacteria
Water or oil-based variants are freely available .

Body Wash :
The above holds for body wash as well , except the nether regions .
Pubic hairs and anal hairs have evolved to carry large numbers of scent molecules as old-age markers . These should be washed in soap , especially if older than 30 .
See http://andreswhy.blogspot.com "Old age Markers" Dec 2007

Feet Wash
Ever seen an ancient Greek or Roman statue with cracked heels ? No ?
Why not ?
The first thought is that the sculptor edited it out , but many were sticklers for reality .
The "warts-and-all" school .
The only alternative is then that the models had no cracked heels .
Why ?

They normally wore variants of sandals made of leather .
These had to be oiled to remain supple . So the foot and heels were continuously oiled by chafing with the sandal .The sandal stored oil in micropores and cracks in the leather . (Olive oil or lanolin) .

Croc shoes .
These are made of silicones , with no oil adsorption . Wearing them without some woollen sock results in disruption of the skin-ecology on the soles and heels of the feet .
Water , then oil-molecules are wicked away by osmotic pressure .This results in eczema , dry skin , cracked heels and fungi infections .
Wiping the croc's insides with an oily rag (lanolin or olive oil) before wearing them barefoot should solve the problem . Else wear woollen socks . (Artificial fibres that do not soak up oils will not work .)

Dubbin , anyone ?

Andre