From Van-Life Showers to the Post-Workout Refresh, BODDI Helps You Shower On-the-Go With a No Rinse Cleanser
by Elon Jones *
I was one-week post-surgery, postpartum. And I needed to bathe. No rinse cleanser?
Have you ever noticed how hospitals provide amazing lifesaving care, while simultaneously employing some of the most dehumanizing practices?
Observe. You go in and the first thing they do is make you – a woman who’s nine months pregnant and going into labor – wait…for hours…without eating.
Next, they give you the most awkward one-size-covers-NONE garment to wear as they escort you from one room to the next.
And, finally, after sweating through a labor that ended in a C-section, they tell you not to shower for 2-4 weeks.
The first three I can deal with – they’re busy saving people’s lives after all.
But even in a sanitary environment – the hospital – after a week my skin felt thick and clammy with hospital air. Old sweat, natural oils, and hospital-grade peroxide clogged my pores.
I needed to bathe!
That’s when the wound care nurse finally brought me some rinse-free body cleanser. I was able to wipe myself down with a little water. And when I was done I felt…
Human again. Normal.
Such a simple act of cleanliness goes a long way to restoring our dignity.
Post-surgery is where most of us have heard of no-rinse or rinse-free cleansers. You don’t want to get the wound wet. You also don’t want bacteria multiplying on your skin near the wound either.
But there are many more practical day-to-day applications where using a no-rinse cleanser greatly amplifies your life – especially if you don’t have access to clean water.
But sometimes, even when water’s available, it’s just easier to use BODDI.
What is BODDI?
BODDI is a no-rinse foam cleanser that allows you to live an on-the-run lifestyle without sacrificing your hygiene. Unlike typical rinse-free cleansers, BODDI contains natural ingredients that hydrate the skin. Made with ingredients like witch hazel, aloe vera, and niacinamide, BODDI cleanses, deodorizes, and nourishes a variety of skin types, from sensitive skin to oily skin.
This makes BODDI a great option for camping, backpacking, and van-life enthusiasts. But BODDI is also a practical hygiene product you can use every day if you’re…
- a busy mom who doesn’t have time for a shower
- biking to work and want to avoid offending your coworkers all day
- recovering from post-surgery at home
- going through a season of pain or chronic illness
- cleaning up the kids before a picnic lunch
- a full-time van-lifer who may not always have access to water
What Makes BODDI Different?
Unlike other drugstore rinse-free cleansers that use harsh surfactants like ammonium lauryl sulfate, BODDI uses high-quality ingredients to gently remove dirt and oils from every skin type.
Here’s what makes BODDI’s no-rinse body cleanser different:
1. Ingredients That Nourish Without Harming Sensitive Skin Types
Traditional cleansers use surfactants that strip the skin of beneficial oils and leave it dry and itchy. BODDI uses high-quality ingredients that nourish and moisturize the skin without leaving a sticky residue or stripping your skin of beneficial oils. Similar to gentle micellar water, BODDI removes makeup and grime, leaving your skin smooth and preparing you to meet the day.
HEPTYL GLUCOSIDE
A natural ingredient derived from sugar and castor seeds. It gently cleanses the skin from dirt and makeup, removes impurities, and unclogs pores in one step.
NIACINAMIDE
Most famous for visibly reducing enlarged pores and improving dull and uneven skin tone. It boosts the skin’s barrier strength and increases hydration.
BENZOIC ACID
Encourages the skin to produce collagen. Collagen is one of the skin’s proteins that boosts elasticity and youthful fullness.
ALOE VERA
Retains moisture in the skin while being a natural anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, and antiseptic cleanser.
TEA TREE OIL
An acne treatment because of its strong antibacterial properties. And that’s not just crunchy mom talk. Tea tree oil has been tested in parallel with Benzoyl Peroxide – a popular acne treatment – and tea tree is just as effective without the harsh side effects.
2. Biodegradable Materials & Ingredients That Don’t Harm Our World
Killing bacteria on your body is (generally) good. Killing bacteria in nature is not good.
Our world is made up of beautifully balanced, complex ecosystems. Animals, plants, fungi, humidity, water, and land; all these things work together on a macro and micro scale.
But when you remove even the smallest bit of life from that picture – say some bacteria – the balance of the whole ecosystem suffers. When you rinse away your average antibacterial soap antibacterial soap outside, you’re killing good bacteria in that ecosystem.
That’s why we only use ingredients that don’t need to be washed away. We believe that pollutants in any form are bad. You can be inspired to face whatever the morning or evening may bring when you add this pollution-free and gentle, no-rinse cleanser to the routine you follow.
There are a lot of ways that BODDI just makes sense for those who live on-the-go lifestyles.
Let’s review two places where you may find yourself in need of a shower without water and two others where water is available but BODDI just makes your life easier.
The Van Life Shower: How to Maintain Daily Hygiene When You Have No Water
You see the beautiful Instagram lives of van-lifers. Traveling the country, working remotely, and experiencing life without all the stuff is a beautiful way to bond with nature and your travel buddies – whether they be family, friends, or pets.
These hardy souls are powered by possibilities. But there are other reasons besides the freedom of travel for choosing the van life, and one is to break the cycle of renting.
Millennials who already have to pay off large amounts of student debt found a way to manage their monthly bills and live more financially free. Move into a van and quit paying astronomical rent on a one-room apartment.
So, putting the romance aside for a moment, one of the challenges of van life is …
Where Will I Shower Next?
Now if you’ve got one of those fancy Storyteller Overland vans, then you already have a convertible shower in your van. But for the rest of us, there are several ways to cope with the van life shower.
- Stop at a travel center to pay for a shower like the truck drivers do
- Make sure campgrounds have adequate showering facilities. (Some of those also charge so save your change)
- Keep an outdoor shower head that can hook up to a standard garden hose on hand
- Buy a camp shower to keep in the back of the van, and set it up when you need one
All of those van life shower options require access to water or water hookups of some sort. But sometimes you don’t have access to water. And the last thing you want to do is have to use your precious drinking or cooking water to shower.
That’s when you pull out BODDI.
- No searching for loose change to pay for a shower
- No camp shower contraptions to set up
- No water hookups needed
- No water necessary
BODDI lets you get that clean feeling without having to get wet.
Showering Off-the-Grid: How to Shower Safely While Camping
The best off-the-grid shower I ever took was in a flowing mountain stream. A small waterfall trickled down from the rocks, and we bathed our sweaty faces and bodies. Best cold shower ever.
But as refreshing as that shower was, it did little to remove the day’s allotment of bug spray, sunscreen, and smoke.
You can see where having a no-rinse cleanser like BODDI turns a conundrum into cleanliness.
Showering off the grid while primitive camping can be a dicey proposition for three reasons:
- Leave-No-Trace states you should be 200 feet from your water source before you do any washing
- Water is limited, so you need to use it sparingly
- Biodegradable soaps leave skin sticky and feeling worse than before if you have sensitive skin
But with BODDI, you rub the body cleanser over your skin, and then wipe it clean with a bandana or camp towel to enjoy on-the-go freshness
- No built-up bug spray on your skin
- No sticky residue left over
- No water wasted, while still keeping you feeling rinsed and refreshed
That’s a win-win-win for showering while off-the-grid.
Your Best Biking Commute: Get the Workout Without the Worry
Biking to work is a great way to fit some exercise into your busy schedule. You’ve figured out where to store your bike safely and what to wear, but you’re still hesitant to commit to the biking commute because you know how much you sweat.
You don’t just glisten a little here and there. You get drenched in smelly sweat that dries in huge salt patches on your clothes. And you don’t want your co-workers to have to smell your stench all day long.
You’d be happy to shower off first, but there aren’t any showers at or near your office.
BODDI helps you get clean after your biking commute, so you squeeze in a workout without torturing your coworkers.
- No shower
- No water
- No towel or cotton pad
- No sweat
Simplify your biking commute. Use BODDI.
Mental Health in America: Yes, Even Showering Takes Too Much Energy
How do you let it get this bad?
Have you ever thought that about somebody?
Maybe when you were watching Hoarder’s or another show tackling extreme mental health in America. Or maybe it’s every time you drive past your neighbor’s wildly overgrown yard that has several junk cars and random buckets of who-knows-what.
For me, it was a woman who sat in my chair when I was in hair school. Her hair was not a texture that tangles easily, yet her hair had formed itself into a mass of build and tangles.
Being a polite hair stylist, I didn’t say it out loud, but I was young and I thought: How do you let it get this bad?
I let her know that I’d take care of it, and next time just come in a little sooner and it’ll be easier. But I had no idea what she was going through.
Since that client, I’ve had good friends go through hard times, debilitating diseases, and chronic illnesses like lupus, fibromyalgia, and depression. They showed me how easily it gets that bad.
It’s not that they don’t care. They aren’t filthy. It’s not that they don’t want better. Solely, it’s a wholly unique combination.
“You don’t have the energy to spare.”
“I can clean the kitchen or I can clean myself. I can clean my children or I can clean myself. So I just don’t get clean.”
“I don’t have the energy to get out of bed. I sleep 15 hours a day. Before you know it. It’s been a month, and I haven’t showered. Yeah, it makes you feel worse, but you don’t have the energy to do anything about it. So it just gets worse…”
That’s what they told me. I listened to them. I helped where I could, but I still didn’t really understand it until I had kids…
One night, after I finally got the twins to sleep, I sat down on the couch utterly exhausted. That day I’d been spat-up on, pooped on, and sprayed with mud. I cooked food for the family and wrestled the dog back into her kennel.
What I needed was a bath.
But there I sat for the next two hours trying to get up the energy to do it.
And that’s when it hit me. This is how my friends feel every day.
Then I understood how personal hygiene could be so hard for those with a chronic illness.
And just like how in the hospital after having my firstborn, I felt human again after a quick wipe down, BODDI offers a low-energy commitment to personal hygiene for those who can’t spare the energy.
You’re not a dirty person. You deserve the dignity of cleanliness in your life. You just need personal hygiene habits that work for you.
- No getting up
- No getting wet
- No energy wasted
Wipe off and feel like a normal human again. Contribute to your mental health. Try the shower-in-a-bottle.
Find out more about BODDI and how it can help
Why BODDI?
Are there other no-rinse cleansers you can use? Sure. But at BODDI, cleanliness is a vital part of our human-ness.
We’ve seen with our own eyes how the shame associated with feeling dirty sends at-risk populations into depressive cycles of guilt and vulnerability.
But for over 2 billion people in the world, basic hygiene is a complicated formula. One of those complications is access to clean water.
Creating a no-rinse cleanser helps those in marginalized situations retain the dignity of a cleansing shower even if they aren’t connected to a steady source of water.
We back our beliefs and are working to partner with and support shelters and other organizations right here in NY.
If your organization would like to partner with BODDI to provide dignified hygiene to vulnerable populations, contact us by email at contact@boddilife.com.
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Please refer to boddiskin.com for the most accurate and up-to-date information about BODDI products.
* Elon is a freelance SEO copywriter for outdoor brands. She’s a Venturing Silver Award Recipient who grew up in Tampa, FL. Now, she lives the camping lifestyle in a travel trailer with her husband and three girls. She believes the world would be a better place if we all got outside more. You can learn more about her at ElonJones.com.