Body Wash...

is the bomb, baby!

i've determined that dealing with bar soap in communal showers is truly not worth the effort, all the "don't drop the soap" clichés aside. not only do you feel several times more vulnerable (which is saying quite a bit when one is already baring their most tender bits to a roomful of large dudes) when you bend to pick it up, but even if it's an antibacterial brand, you have to throw it out. who knows with what it came into contact? is that hair yours, or someone else's? is it even human? is it perhaps from that yeti over there? oh, wait, no, that's senior chief. is it senior chief's? then, if the bar impacts a porous surface and the rough impression is left, you wonder what organisms are making themselves at home in those crevices, and every time your fingers slide over them you throw up a little in your mouth. you needs must throw it out. supposing you're one of the more dextrous of us, and manage to maintain positive control of the bar: you then house it in a plastic carton which invariably retains some measure of water, no matter how great an effort you make to drain it--and the next time you open it the bar is a decomposing mess. also, you have to worry about that dish slipping open in your seabag and sliming everything.

body wash on the other hand? blessed, blessed topical-application-only nectar of the gods! it doubles as shampoo... and triples as conditioner if you get one with moisturizer! one bottle does it all... and wipes down easily with a wetnap when you're done! i purchased the dial lavendar and oatmeal moisturizer stuff (lavendar being an aromatherapy relaxant, and since i cannot self-medicate within twenty-four hours of going to the shooting range, it's all i've got), and somehow managed in a shower room full of men to elicit a positive response on the smell. normally i would blanche at the prospect of gabbing with another swinging cod, but when a guy is gracious enough to compliment your smell, it's just good manners to thank him kindly and offer to squirt some in his hand.

damn'dest way to make friends i've ever seen.