“Balance” and “Breath Odor”: What Happens to the Body After 8 Years Without Bathing | Health

For many people, taking a shower is a moment of self-care, of embracing your body. But not for James Hamblin, a preventive medicine physician and professor at the Yale School of Public Health. In 2015, he made a radical decision: stop showering.

Through this experiment, the doctor had a clear goal: to study the effects of minimal hygiene on skin health and general well-being.

In a 2020 interview with the BBC, Hamblin said that over time, the body becomes more accustomed to not showering, and “the person doesn't smell as bad” and the skin doesn't become oily.

“A lot of people use shampoo to remove the oil from their hair and then apply conditioner to add the artificial oils. If you can break that cycle, your hair will look the same as it did when you started using these products,” he told the BBC.

He gradually became less and less bathing. He started using less soap, shampoo, and deodorant, and then reduced the number of times he showered, which he did almost every day.

Hamblin continues to wash his hands with soap and brush his teeth. For him, these are still essential items in his cleaning regimen.

“There were times when I wanted to shower because I missed it, and it smelled bad and my skin felt really oily,” he recalls. “But that started happening less and less.”

He said he had been asking his colleagues and friends for a long time to be honest about any kind of bad smell. And so it got to the point where it no longer produced that bad smell we were used to.

“For most of our history, we had smells that were part of how we communicated with others,” he explained in an interview with the BBC.

He also mentioned that over time, the odor produced becomes its own smell, and not necessarily bad.

Hamblem explained that when he talks about not showering, refers to the traditional meaning. And he continues to wash himself with water when he needs or wants to, especially when his hair is visibly dirty. “You can exfoliate or remove the oils simply by rubbing them in with your hands and combing your hair from time to time.”

“The microbes on our skin are just as important to our appearance and health as our gut microbes are to our digestive system,” he said.

Although he is a fan of not showering, the doctor stressed that he is not saying that it is right or wrong, but the habit has worked for him.

“But for those people who have skin issues or who just want to try, I would advise them to shower less. Start slow and continue as long as you feel good. You can start with shorter, less frequent, cooler showers, with less soap,” he advised.

Hamblin noted that skin health is largely a result of our lifestyle — how we sleep, what we eat, our stress levels, our physical activity, and the beverages we drink, among other factors.

living with microorganisms

Another important goal of Hamblin's research was to seek a better understanding of how we interact daily with the microorganisms we come into contact with.

“The microbes on our skin are just as important to our appearance and health as the microbes in our gut are to our digestive system,” he told the BBC.

The professor further explained that when we wash our skin, we change these microbial communities and we still don't fully understand whether this is good or bad.

The presence of microorganisms on the skin is like the first barrier against pathogens and is therefore important for the immune system.