Posted on 01/23/2025 12:26:26 PM PST by Red Badger
Have you ever looked at a bath and thought “Nah, not today!”? Well, you are not alone, as bathing has been a very up-and-down trend across history and from culture to culture. Ancient Rome’s public baths could be a grand affair, with all classes of Roman society taking frequent hot soaks. This contrasts with people in early-modern Europe who avoided clean water altogether for fear that it caused illnesses. Then there are more recent times, when having baths and showers in the house is basically considered essential. These different trends raise the important question: what happens when humans decide not to bathe?
Dirty outliers
At 94 years of age, Amou Haji was known as the “world’s dirtiest man”. In pictures, his body was caked in dirt, and he was often seen smoking multiple cigarettes at once. For over half a century, this Iranian hermit refused to go near clean water or bubbly soap as he thought it would make him sick.
This non-washing habit first occurred after emotional setbacks in his youth that caused him to have an isolated life. Even the thought of clean water and food reportedly made him uneasy, with his favorite food being rotten meat (that of porcupines being a specialty) with a side of animal feces to burn in his smoking pipe.
Eventually, after many years of resistance, he finally caved to peer pressure and washed. Unfortunately, a few months later, in October 2022, he became ill and died. Despite people speculating that the bath was the root of his demise, there is no current evidence to suggest this, and we cannot rule out the cause of death was simply old age – he was 94, after all.
Amou Haji was not the only well-known non-washer. In 2009, it was reported that Kailash Singh (a farm worker in Varanasi, India) had not bathed or brushed his teeth in over 35 years. The father to seven daughters claimed he didn’t wash due to love for his country, however, neighbors claim it was because a seer said if he did not wash he would be blessed with a son. Therefore, he used a “fire bath” to keep himself clean, believing that lighting a bonfire helps kill germs and infections in the body.
This is not a modern phenomenon either. Back in the 18th Century, there was a man called Nathaniel Bentley, a London-dwelling merchant who apparently refused to wash or clean after his fiancée tragically died on their wedding day. His dirty ways turned him into a celebrity at the time and gained him the name “Dirty Dick”. His house and warehouse were so filthy that any letters addressed to “The Dirty Warehouse, London” were delivered to him.
Portrait of Dirty Dick / Nathaniel Bentley
Dirty Dick.
Image credit: The Book of Wonderful Characters: Memoirs and Anecdotes of Remarkable and Eccentric Persons in All Ages and Countries, published in 1869 via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
These are obviously extreme cases. In all instances, the individuals appear to have stopped cleaning themselves as a result of deeply personal experiences. It is also difficult to know the extent to which their peculiar habits directly impacted their health, but there is a good reason why we should not try to emulate their example.
What happens if you do not wash for a long time? There exists a delicate balance on the skin between good bacteria and other microorganisms (too much washing/ scrubbing or too little bathing can disrupt the balance).
Dr Samantha Eisman
There are no specific recommendations for how often you should bathe, even the scientific experts may vary in opinion. That being said, the most common complaint for someone who does not scrub regularly is that they can produce an unpleasant odor. This is caused by bacteria and sweat being trapped in the crevices of the skin.
“There exists a delicate balance on the skin between good bacteria and other microorganisms (too much washing/ scrubbing or too little bathing can disrupt the balance)”, Dr Samantha Eisman from Sinclair Dermatology told IFLScience. “Without washing, many skin bacteria/organisms can overgrow, however the most concerning would be Staphylococcus aureus”.
Staphylococcus aureus is a gram-positive bacteria (a bacteria with a thick cell wall) that can cause a lot of clinical diseases, including infections that we commonly refer to as “staph infections”. In most settings, they do not cause harm, however, sometimes staph infections can become serious and even fatal.
A lack of washing can also cause a build-up of dead skin. This layer is known as the stratum corneum, which in Latin means “horny layer”, although it has nothing to do with feeling a bit frisky. Instead, it refers to skin cells that have become toughened like animal horns.
Another issue with not washing is the possible risk of passing on diseases. Whenever flu season comes around, or when there is an increase in COVID cases, one of the first things people start talking about is hand hygiene. This is not just a protective measure designed to help individuals, it is also a vital step in stopping the transference of infections from person to person, especially within medical settings.
What conditions can not washing aggravate? Eisman suggested that many skin conditions can be made worse if you do not wash, some of them include:
Acne – a common skin condition that causes oily skin, spots, and sometimes areas that are painful or hot to touch.
Atopic dermatitis/eczema – Inflammation that damages the skin barrier, which causes dryness, itchiness, and rashes.
Seborrheic dermatitis – Often affecting places on the body with many sebaceous glands (e.g. scalp), it can cause rashes on the body and dandruff.
Skin infections – These can include folliculitis (where the hair follicles become inflamed) and ulcers (sores that are difficult to heal).
Hidradenitis suppurativa – a chronic inflammatory skin condition.
What can happen if you wash too much?
Then there are people on the other side of the extreme, who happen to shower multiple times a day, like Al Roker. Lo and behold, there can also be conditions that occur if you wash too much, including eczema, dry skin, and rosacea.
Eisman explained that if these conditions get bad, it is recommended that people use soap-free and fragrance-free washes, short showers over lengthy showers or hot baths, warm water instead of scorching hot, avoid vigorous scrubbing or exfoliants, pat dry with a towel, and moisturize the face and body after washing.
So, despite seeing examples of the extremes of people washing multiple times a day to years without so much as a sliver of soap, the actual bathing recommendation varies from expert to expert. Some professionals think you should shower everyday, and some think two or three times a week is the sweet spot. Probably, the best thing to do is listen to your body and tweak the frequency of taking a dunk in the tub until you find what’s best for you.
The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text, images, and links may be edited, removed, or added to at a later date to keep information current.
I recently saw some YouTube clip about the marriage of George IV to Caroline of Brunswick. Apparently Caroline did not believe in bathing or in cleaning her underwear and her smell was reportedly so appalling that wedding guests were nauseated - this at a time when few people bathed regularly and bad smells were common.
Washcloth cat spit bath once a month, whether I need it or not.
This is why French perfume is so ....................strong..............😁
I have often thought if you had to hand pump the water you bathed in you would get the perfect amount of bathing.
Dirty Dick.....
Nah.....too easy 😁
We don’t bathe in California because no water comes out of our faucets!
You gain a protective shell of filth and stink that keeps others away.
IDK. Here in the south we will sometimes shower twice in the same day.
I was behind this guy at the grocery store the other day. I couldn’t tell about his girlfriend/mother who paid for everything because he was in the way.
Boy, did he stink!
Shower in the morning. Shower before bed. Can’t sleep without it.
As an Infantry guy that at one point in Iraq, didn’t shower for over 30 days in June weather...I can attest that nothing happens other than you clothes get stiff, riddled with salt, and everyone smells like ammonia.
Other than that...you can smell someone who HAS taken a shower or shaved, if the wind is favorable, from a 50 yards away.
“ Boy, did he stink!”
Just like people today wearing cat turd hair, aka dread locks.
Aristotle discussed the concept of moderation primarily in his work Nicomachean Ethics, where he introduced the idea of the “Golden Mean.” According to Aristotle:
Virtue as a Mean: Aristotle posited that virtue lies between two extremes, which he referred to as vices. These extremes are excess on one side and deficiency on the other. For example, courage is the mean between rashness (excess) and cowardice (deficiency).
I remember that in Vietnam soldiers were cautioned to NOT wear colognes or use scented soaps as the Viet Cong could smell you from a mile away!..............
I spent most of my life in South Florida. Two showers a day, especially in summer, were not unheard of.
Moved to New Mexico almost 20 years ago. I was shocked to hear that people around here often only shower twice a week.
Some people in Europe still only bathe once a week on Saturday night....................
TWICE A DAY? ain’t nobody got time for that!
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