Tuesday, June 24, 2014

No shower for 12 years?

The New York Times recently ran an article on a research project on encouraging bacteria that live on our skin rather than discouraging them ... for example, by showering with the kind of soaps and shampoos and deodorants we typically use in industrialized societies.


The article describes a startup AOBiome that has been collecting bacteria that feed on ammonia. One of the researchers has been working with such bacteria (with himself) as a subject and hasn't had a shower in 12 years, according to the article. (Supposedly he still smells OK according to those he works with due to the action of the bacteria doing their job.)

Fascinating article. Anybody else here tried such a thing? Hard to imagine giving up showering but if the benefits turn out to be compelling I could certainly see changing out soaps and shampoos for something more bacteria-friendly.

Amazing times we live in ...


1 comment:

jeffy said...

I gave up soap and shampoo a couple of years ago after reading this on boingboing. I've had no complaints and I only shower every three or four days. A long-time dandruff issue went away after a couple of months of this. I do use a moisturizing lotion, but otherwise my skin seems to be capable of taking care of itself.