American scientist 5 years did not take a shower: what came of it

Dr. James Gamblin made the decision to stop showering five years ago. The publication told about what came of it. with the BBC.

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“You get used to it. This is normal,” he says.

Gamblin, 37, is a professor at Yale University's School of Public Health and a physician who specializes in preventive medicine.

He also writes for the American magazine The Atlantic, where in 2016 he published an article entitled: "I gave up my shower and life was not over."

“For two full years of our lives we take a shower or a bath. How much of this time (and money and water) are we wasting?” - he writes.

In 2020, Gamblin detailed his experience in the book Clean: The New Science of Skin and the Beauty of Doing Less.

While Gamblin is convinced that we should wash our hands with soap and water and brush our teeth, he believes that other parts of our body do not need such persistence at all.

The soap-free experiment

The decision to stop taking a shower started out as an experiment.

“I wanted to understand what was going to happen,” he explains. — I know many people who bathe very little. I knew it was possible, but I wanted to test it for myself to see what the consequences would be.”

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So what were the implications after he stopped showering in 2015?

"Over time, your body gets more and more used to it and doesn't smell as bad without using deodorant and soap," he says.

“And the skin stops getting oily,” adds the doctor.

“Many people use shampoo to remove oils from their hair and then use conditioner to add synthetic oils. If you can break this cycle, your hair will end up looking the same as it did before you started using these products,” he adds.

But the doctor explains that this is a gradual process.

First, he started using less soap, shampoo, and deodorant and showering less often—instead of showering every day, he started taking showers every three days, and then stopped altogether.

“There were times when I wanted to take a shower because I missed it. I smelled bad and felt dirty,” Gamblin recalls.

“But this happened less and less,” the doctor adds.

Mr. Gamblin says that the less he used water and detergents, the less he needed them.

Bad smell and bacteria

The American academic explains that our body odor is the result of bacteria living on the skin and feeding on sweat and fat.

When we use different skin and hair products on a daily basis, we disrupt the natural balance of the skin.

“When you shower too heavily, you destroy ecosystems,” he wrote in The Atlantic in 2016.

“They recover quickly, but usually with a large number of microbes that are responsible for the smell,” explains the scientist.

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However, he says that avoiding washing triggers a regulation process that brings the ecosystem to a stable state and foul odor disappears.

“You don't smell like rosewater or body spray, but it doesn't smell bad either,” he says. “There’s just the smell of a human body.”

Odor difference

In an August 2020 interview, Gamblyn was asked if he thought he might actually smell bad, but people are just too polite to tell him.

The scientist explained that he asked colleagues, friends and acquaintances not to be shy and tell him the truth.

This is how, he said, he reached the point where his body no longer had the unpleasant odor so familiar to us.

Mr. Gamblyn claims that his wife liked his new scent, and other people recognized it as "good."

“For most of our history, we have had smells as part of our communication with other people,” he explained.

However, the doctor says that such smells have been largely removed from our social biology.

“So we hope that people don't smell anything, or that they smell like perfume or cologne or body wash,” he says.

“Otherwise it means they smell bad. If there is a noticeable human odor, it is negative,” he adds.

But did Gamblin really stop taking a shower?

He says he does wash away "noticeable dirt" or wash after exercise.

But the scientist also claims that we can exfoliate and remove grease by "simply rubbing it off with our hands and brushing our hair from time to time."

Skin is a reflection of lifestyle

Gamblin's decision to give up washing was not just an experiment.

During his research work, he communicated with a wide range of people, in particular dermatologists, immunologists, allergists, and even theologians.

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In the book, the author is quite critical about skin care products.

“The industry that sells personal care products and soaps is very focused on topical products,” he says.

While some of these remedies can be helpful, he says it's important to think about skin health from the inside out—meaning skin health is also a reflection of our lifestyle and what's going on in our bodies.

Science versus marketing

He believes that the key is the distinction between science and marketing. Gamblin claims that we are using more funds than we actually need, and we think that it will make us healthy.

The doctor also claims that our self-care routines are a modern invention.

"Most people haven't had access to running water in the last 100 years," Gamblin says.

Ordinary people could wash in rivers or lakes, but they hardly did it every day, he adds.

“Also, there was no possibility of mass production. Consequently, many people used homemade soap and they did not use it daily because it was too harsh on the skin,” explains the scientist.

In his book, Dr. Gamblin concluded that people bathe too often and may need to do it less.

One reason is that we still don't fully understand what happens when we change the microbial population on our skin.

“The bacteria on our skin are as important to our skin's appearance and our health as gut bacteria are to our digestive system,” he says.

However, the word "microbe" usually has bad associations.

“But over the last decade, because we have DNA sequencing technology, we have realized that microbes are everywhere, and they generally do not cause disease. Only a small minority do,” explains Dr. Gamblin.

“This should make people rethink the process of washing, because of course we want to get rid of the diseases that germs cause - but we don’t want to get rid of them all,” he says

The shower is overrated

First of all, the academician notes that not everyone shares the same idea of ​​what it means to be clean.

He also thinks that the shower habit can be overrated.

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“I would say it's a personal choice, but not a medical necessity,” he says. “But I don’t tell people they should give it up.”

How to try his method

The doctor notes that he has no right to decide what is right and what is not, or to say that his approach is the best for everyone.

It's just a technique that works for him.

But for people with skin problems or those who just want to try, he advises to start slowly and do everything gradually.

For example, some start out by using less shampoo, while others choose a milder deodorant.

"You can start with shorter, colder, less frequent showers, and use less soap," he says.

“You don’t need anything drastic right away,” the doctor urges.

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