Hippies for hygiene

I like to bathe. I like to shower. I like hygiene. And I love all things bath-oriented. From shower gels to bath salts to exfoliating scrubs, I am drawn to it all. Our bathroom, in fact, is a tribute to my love of all things sudsy and soapy. The edge of our tub is cluttered with gels, scrubs, masques and shampoos. Our linen closet also has fallen prey to this obsession, crammed full (much to Cynical's daily dismay) with lotions, moisturizers and products yet to graduate to the tub area.

I blame my fascination with hygiene in part on my dad. He's a stickler when it comes to his shower and has been known to take up to an hour to get ready, meaning 50 minutes are devoted to hygiene and 10 to dressing. Make no mistake, this guy is not a fashion plate or adverse to getting dirty, but when it comes time to clean up, well, he cleans up well.

While I seemed to have inherited the hygiene gene, somehow my brothers instead got the opposite. It's just never been a priority for them. My siblings, you see, are free thinkers, hippies if you will, not giving into the man, and by "man", I mean Mr. Clean.

Several years ago, we trekked to the San Francisco area where my brother and his lovely bride exchanged vows in a Redwood forest. It was an incredible ceremony, personal and simple and organic in every way. They were surrounded by friends and loved ones of like thought and purpose. The men were heavily bearded. The women with beautiful long, flowing hair. Clothes of organic fibers and shoes, well who needs shoes really. We were so touched by the outpouring from their friends, the freedom the entire group had and their love for one another. The burdenless life they were leading.

As we sat at our table amongst the redwoods, we pondered a bit adopting a similar lifestyle free from schedules, free from the pressures of the "outside" world. And just before we purchased an old school bus, painted it with bright flowers and stars, we had a thought: would we still be able to bathe regularly? One good whiff of those around us and we started to fear we wouldn't quite fit in. Hmmmmm, we loved our bathing rituals. We liked being clean and smelling good. I am fond of deodorants and not a fan of patchouli (which for some reason my brothers believe masks all forms of odor.)

Everything about the lifestyle appealed to me. Cynical and I, well we are free thinkers ourselves and often find ourselves in opposition to the status quo. And we were good to go until the issue of cleanliness came up. So, we thought a bit and were disappointed at giving up our line of daydreaming when it occurred to us, we could still be hippies, it's just that we'd have to be "Hippies for hygiene".