An Experiment in Personal Hygiene
Introduction
I’m going to see what life is like without shampoo and body wash. People all around the world live this way, either by choice or unavoidable reasons such as poverty. I have been fortunate enough in my life to have been given this choice, and now I question whether or not it has been the correct choice.
Of course, I will still be showering. Even if it were not necessary, the feeling of the hot water and steamy air is too much fun to give up completely. The key difference in my daily routine is that my shower, which will remain once or twice daily, will be done without soap. I will, however, continue regularly washing my hands with soap.
Background
In high school I lived with depression due to living conditions I will not go into detail on, but suffice it to say my home was very unsanitary. The apathy derived from this depressing atmosphere had me showering usually only every two or three days, some times only once a week. I remember abandoning oral hygiene completely for at least a year. People at school noticed, and it was brought to my attention.
Eventually, perhaps around the time I started taking my girlfriend and our relationship seriously, I changed my habits. As is often the case, I switched with equal intensity to the other side of the spectrum. I started brushing my teeth and rinsing with mouth wash twice a day, every day. It’s now extremely difficult for me to try to sleep if, for whatever reason, I was unable to brush before bed. If I need to go out to the store, and I haven’t showered since waking up, a full body wash and shampooing must be had. I refuse to go to work without a full shower, even if I already had one earlier in the day. Friends and family don’t bug me about showering anymore, except perhaps to crack a joke about how long it takes me.
Maybe I’ve taken it too far
The last week or so has brought my thoughts to my own hygiene habits, and I can’t help but think that this isn’t the right way to do it. Sure, I smell great after a good wash, but why do I still have acne? My face is thoroughly washed every day. Why do my underarms stink before the day’s end, even with deodorant? I’m not going to go into detail about “down there”, but something does seem off. Where are all of these odors coming from when I care so much about my washing? Surely going a day without washing should cause some odor, but often it doesn’t take even 24 hours for me.
Some thoughts on culture
This whole thing started with an article I read on The New York Times, which rang a lot of bells in my mind. The article was so interesting that I read the entire comments section, all 522 of them. Many of the comments were somewhat surprising to me. There are personal accounts of those who have given up soaps for decades now and claim people haven’t even noticed. A recurring theme amongst them was that showering is a good thing, as humans have been bathing for many centuries, but perhaps it isn’t a good idea to remove everything from our skin.
We need bacteria to survive. A lot of focus lately has been on the bacteria in our gut. There are a ton of probiotic products you can buy to supplement your digestive culture, and they’re seeing more marketing attention. Yogurt commercials are abound on the television. More attention has also been given to fecal transplant treatments. The mass market is starting to see the benefits of the bacterial population inside of us, and the scientific community understands more about it every day.
What about the bacterial population on our skin? There are around a thousand different types we know of, for an estimated total population of around one trillion of the little guys on just one of us. Most of these are harmless and even beneficial. Why are we constantly wiping all of them out with soap? It is understandable that some professions would require such a degree of sanitation, surgeons immediately come to mind as an example. For the rest of us, though, why is it suddenly of such importance to remove as much of the bacteria from our skin as possible? Our species, along with most of the animal kingdom, has evolved over thousands of years to accommodate skin flora.
Soap theory
There is an organic compound in most of the soaps and detergents we use every day, called sodium laureth sulfate. The compound is partly responsible for your daily external bacteria genocide. It hasn’t been found to be particularly toxic or carcinogenic at all, so it must be harmless. Sure, to us it is harmless outside some moderate skin irritation with overuse. To the helpful and harmful bacteria alike which reside on our skin, it is not so harmless. As the NYT article linked above mentioned, after just three washes, a month’s worth of grown bacterial culture was wiped out completely.
How it’s going so far
Today is the second day I haven’t used any body wash or shampoo. I showered twice yesterday and plan to do the same today. My skin feels mostly the same, if not somewhat softer. I’m going to reserve conclusions on that until the experiment is well under way. With regular brushing, my hair doesn’t seem any greasier. My scalp does itch, though. I’m thinking that should clear up within a month or two when it’s adjusted to not having all of the oils removed completely every day. Most surprisingly, I don’t stink. Admittedly, I am still using deodorant after showering. It is doubtful I will ever give that up, though who knows what the lack of soap attack could do to my underarms. Maybe one day I won’t need deodorant anymore. One can dream.
In conclusion
To make this more interesting for myself and anyone interested enough to read this far, I have decided to keep this experiment a secret from my friends and family for as long as I can. My soap and shampoo will remain in the shower stall, but I just won’t be using them. My wife will eventually notice I haven’t needed to buy any in a while, assuming I don’t develop any unpleasant odors.
