I don’t smell!’ Meet the people who have stopped washing

The Guardian ^ | August 5, 2019 | Amy Fleming

[DoodleBob]

David Whitlock has not showered or bathed for 15 years, yet he does not have body odour. “It was kind of strange for the first few months, but after that I stopped missing it,” he says. “If I get a specific part of my body dirty, then I’ll wash that specific part” – but never with soap. As well as germs, soap gets rid of the skin’s protective oils and alters its pH level. Although Whitlock appreciated gaining an extra 15 minutes a day from soap-dodging, his primary motivation was to encourage friendly microbes to live on him in symbiotic harmony. The bacteria get to feast on the ammonia from his sweat and he gets low-maintenance, balanced skin.

Just as awareness of the importance of the gut microbiome has led to a boom in probiotic and fermented foods and supplements, there is increasing interest in our skin microbiome: the trillions of microbes that protect us from pathogens and keep us healthy by making vitamins and other useful chemicals. In this unprecedentedly sanitised era, in which eczema, acne and problems associated with dry skin are rife, consumers are hungry for solutions. Even the mainstream brand Dove claims vaguely that its products are “microbiome-gentle”.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

He also doesn’t wash his clothes. That viyella shirt he is wearing is now so course and thick from sweat and dead skin soaked into it, that he can use it as bullet proof protection! </sarc>

[piasa]

...“Ten years later another chief of this nation accompanied M. De Bourmont (sic) to Paris. The nations on the Missouri had designed to send to France ten delegates . . . but the Council of the Colony, for reasons of economy, held back five.” ...
The French “permitted to go only the young Missouri woman, one Otoptata (Otoe) and one Osage, one Missouri (Missouria), one Illinois and Chicagou, ambassador of the Metchigamias.” They arrived in Paris on September 20, 1725.
The envoys were received by the Duke of Bourbon, the Duchess of Orleans and the directors of the Company of the Indies. They were presented the King Louis XV by the Rev. Father de Beaubois.
The Native delegation presented King Louis XV with a necklace of friendship sent by Mamantonense, Chief of the Metchigamias and offered a speech of good will. Chicagou wished the Duchess of Orleans "to be fruitful in great warriors like the ancestors of your husband and yourself." Smooth talker.
Many years later, the papers of Bossu’s New Voyages to West Indies documents how the Native guests felt about the extravagantly used perfumes of Paris ladies and declared that “they smelled like alligators.”

---https://www.omtribe.org/who-we-are-history-facts

[Mr Radical]

Queen Elizabeth I of England famously bathed every two or three months, “whether necessary or not!”

[jmcenanly]

If you are exposed to an odor for a particular length of time, you no longer notice it. I think that these people have gone ‘nose-blind’.

[mewzilla]

I gather this has been popular in Europe for quite a while?

Doubtful. They still stink.

[MayflowerMadam]

Hillary may have adopted this method ogf hygiene.

[odawg]

“I’ve been in a few tight places in Europe that almost led me to puke from the B O.”

Reminds me of Dennis Miller telling about getting into a taxi in Paris. He said the man smelled so bad that after he gave him the address, he said, “There is an extra $20 if you can hit a f**** skunk!”

[June2]

My dad was stationed in Iran Way back in the 60’s. We didn’t live on base so experienced the culture first hand. My mother said that some Iranian men considered themselves more masculine the stronger they smelled. The Iranians we knew didn’t smell but there were some that would gag a maggot.

Loved the Iranian bread, the tea, and the roasted ears of corn from street vendors!

[married21]

In Ancient Rome, they used scrapers to clean their skin. A rough cloth would be similar I guess. Hmm, how about some fine grain sandpaper?