My No-Soap, No-Shampoo, Bacteria-Rich Hygiene Experiment

For most of my life, if I’ve thought at all about the bacteria living on my skin, it has been while trying to scrub them away. But recently I spent four weeks rubbing them in. I was Subject 26 in testing a living bacterial skin tonic, developed by AOBiome, a biotech start-up in Cambridge, Mass. The tonic looks, feels and tastes like water, but each spray bottle of AO+ Refreshing Cosmetic Mist contains billions of cultivated Nitrosomonas eutropha, an ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) that is most commonly found in dirt and untreated water. AOBiome scientists hypothesize that it once lived happily on us too — before we started washing it away with soap and shampoo — acting as a built-in cleanser, deodorant, anti-inflammatory and immune booster by feeding on the ammonia in our sweat and converting it into nitrite and nitric oxide.

The 6th Floor Blog: Scott After 28 Soapless Days In the conference room of the cramped offices that the four-person AOBiome team rents at a start-up incubator, Spiros Jamas, the chief executive, handed me a chilled bottle of the solution from the refrigerator. “These are AOB,” he said. “They’re very innocuous.” Because the N. eutropha are alive, he said, they would need to be kept cold to remain stable. I would be required to mist my face, scalp and body with bacteria twice a day. I would be swabbed every week at a lab, and the samples would be analyzed to detect changes in my invisible microbial community.

The M.I.T.-trained chemical engineer who invented AO+ has not showered for the past 12 years.

In the last few years, the microbiome (sometimes referred to as “the second genome”) has become a focus for the health conscious and for scientists alike. Studies like the Human Microbiome Project,

My Algebra I teacher was a laid-off engineer who subjected himself to a year of teaching at my Catholic high school, in order to pay the bill, I suppose.

One of the practices he espoused was forgoing the use of underarm deodorant. He said it was unnatural. I can’t say he had an offensive odor, but we 9th graders were appalled that he walked around with huge perspiration rings under his arms in our non-air-conditioned school.

Terrible teacher, BTW. Of course, I was — and remain— a math moron.

Having “reached the limit” of free articles in the NYT for this month, I couldn’t read the entire article.

However, is this company _selling_ bacteria to put on one’s skin, as opposed to simply testing the results of zero soap/shampoo usage?

If so, then is the message not that being unwashed is healthy, but that in order to be healthy one must be unwashed _and_ add designer bacteria to the hair and skin?

How cynical are they? Here are some of the prescriptions I have encountered recently:

Don’t eat cooked food. Besides being healthier, you will *save* energy by not cooking and reduce *pollution*.

Don’t wash a specific brand of jeans. These jeans will then become an emblem of ecological correctness, reducing water usage, energy usage and gray water.

Wash hair once a week. It is better for the appearance and health of your hair and it reduces water usage, energy usage and gray water.

Don’t flush urine every time you use the commode. This will save water, save energy and reduce any sewage system use and water treatment.

Being cold is the new weight loss. Being cold will cause an increase in personal metabolism, reduce fuel use and reduce *pollution”.

The insidious part of all this is the tiny bit of truth embedded in each proscription. Cold surroundings will increase metabolism, causing weight loss. Reductions in washing clothing and bodies will reduce energy bills. etc.

However,in its entirety (and I am certain I have missed some of the new proscriptions/prescriptions), there is a pattern. The carrot of improving something like metabolism,skin and hair health, energy and water bills along with the “feel good about oneself” for “saving the environment”.

Just what are we saving all this “environment” for?

Hygiene is the cornerstone of modern civilization. It has increased lifespan and reduced many opportunistic diseases. It has made living in cities bearable. Why is it being attacked in what appears to be a systematic manner?

“He said after a time without bathing, the body produces a natural insect repellent”

Decades ago I read a book about the Lewis and Clark Expedition — by Irving Stone, IIRC. At least one person in their party swore by this and was totally freaked out when something happened to wash away this... whatever... crust or something. I believe he thought it went beyond insect repellant and protected him from other illnesses. Not sure about all of this; I read it in the ‘70s.

Decades ago, on “That’s Incredible!”, they did a thing about bacteria and microscopic “ bugs” that lived on the body. The host, (John Davidson?), was then shown to jump in the shower to remove them. But wait! Showering and getting clean made more, not less! And these micro-bugs made us healthier. Being filthy made you sicker and one more susceptible to getting seriously ill.

I prefer to bathe daily, using my handmade lye-based soap and using my homemade deodorant that works much better the commercially-made junk that causes rashes and does little to stop odor. Still working on a good homemade shampoo that works well with hard water. The “no ‘poo” thing is nasty...

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