I am about to expose my extremism to my family and friends who read this, and hopefully they’ll be truly shocked. Stick with me to find out why I want to shock them…

Advancements in science have shown us that bacteria is not only an inevitable part of our life and body, but also quite important. We have learned that certain bacteria near our sweat glands affect the way our sweat smells, and therefore influences our body odor. 

But did you know that there are groups of people who skip the soaps and fragrances on their body all together, and have no unpleasant body odor whatsoever?  Many people living in remote areas not influenced by western culture do practice hygiene related to food and cooking, but not with their bodies in the way we are accustomed to in the U.S. In other words, most still wash their hands before preparing or consuming food, and before medical-related applications, but do not wash their body with soap, or apply deodorants, antiperspirants, lotions, or perfumes. They go about their day- even performing physical activity, with no detectable body odor. 

Yes, their skin has microbes, as does ours, but their habits have not interrupted the work of ammonia-oxidising bacteria as most of us have. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOBs) are a vast group of bacterial species that are found all over the world in soil, water, and on human skin. This group of bacteria oxidises ammonia in our sweat with the end byproduct being nitric oxide and nitrite, which have a scent, but not at the levels present in our armpits. This byproduct has been shown to improve the health of the skin by reducing pathogenic bacteria, lowering the area’s pH, and producing anti-inflammatory compounds. 

The sad truth:

So far this is generally the extent of our knowledge of AOBs regarding the human skin microbiome. Much more research has been dedicated to finding the source of body odor and designing profitable products to counteract said smell. However…

The application of traditional deodorants and antiperspirants has been shown to stimulate the odor-causing bacteria. Yes. Read it again.

These underarm products perform well at reducing odor and wetness, but you can also think of it like putting concealer on a pimple- the concealer does its job and you move on, but the cause of the pimple is not addressed, and you just possibly made it worse by adding the concealer. 

Just like how the food we eat can determine what kinds of gut bacteria thrive inside of us, the things we do to our skin help shape the bacteria types in our underarms and skin overall.  If we can restore ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and phase out our thioalcohol-producing bacteria, our level of stinky-ness will gradually decline. Not just adding a few hours longer without bad BO, but days, depending on the activity level. Still, a truly scentless body is a very difficult goal because our synthetic fabrics, treated water in our pipes, and other environmental factors outside of our control will still play some role in our skin microbiome. 

After reading about scientist and entrepreneur David Whitlock (founder of AOBiome), who is famous for not showering since 2002, I was shook and the idea wouldn’t stop rattling around in my brain. Whitlock spritzes himself with his own concoction of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria to freshen up, but skips soapy showers and underarm products. He’ll occasionally take a sponge bath to scrub, and yes he does still wash his hands with soap. For the rest though, he relies on his skin microbiome to do their best work! He maintains interpersonal relationships, a successful business and academic career, all without showering… mind blowing, right? His special concoction is still in clinical-trial phase because the company wants to be a proven treatment for skin conditions, but you can find a similar product here. 

Here’s where I start to get personal.

Do I shower? Yes! However, I have not bathed with soap since 2014. Whitlock’s extreme strategy intrigued me for many reasons. I dreaded showering because with the way it dried out my skin,  I had a whole routine just to get my skin feeling better post-shower; instead of dry and tight, even itchy sometimes. It was time consuming and somewhat expensive since I had special products that worked for my skin. Secondly, the concept appealed to me because I was at a stage of wanting to examine the ingredients of what I was putting in and on my body, and to reduce my consumption and consumerism. If I could successfully eliminate a couple product categories completely, that would be an unexpected plus! 

Then began my risky personal experiment. I started with waiting an extra day between showering (shout out to dry shampoo- that’s a whole other topic too!), and then phased out my use of body wash. I tried fluffy loofahs and natural sponges, but it took a few years to find my top tool. I noticed that my skin dryness was slightly improved, and over time no one mentioned that I smelled bad. I did periodic check-ins with my spouse, and so far so good!

So what DO I do to clean myself?

First, I have to make it clear, I DO wash my hands with soap before handling food or eating, after using the restroom, and any other time I feel the need, like when coming home from work or shopping, or working outside. I prefer hand soap over hand sanitizer, but I do keep hand sanitizer in the car for use after pumping gas or getting take-out. This is the soap I use at home for my hands. It’s so good, and made by a brilliant female engineer. 

I also do use traditional cleansers and products on my face. I wear makeup most days, so I remove my makeup and cleanse my face. I also use traditional shampoos found in any store, but try to only wash my hair a couple times each week. 

I do not shower everyday, but I do shower if I have exercised vigorously or spent time outside and need to rinse off environmental allergens or sunscreen. In the shower, I skip the body wash and instead do a scrub with this microfiber mitt. Once I get out of the shower, I use a strong lotion that works for my genetic skin condition, and then apply a very light amount of a natural deodorant. Since I still use skin products and occasional deodorant, I may not have gone as far as David Whitlock, or people who live in remote areas not influenced by western hygiene habits, but I do lean more on my microbes and allow them to work for me!

Now you know why I hoped to shock people! If they actually think I smell bad and just haven’t told me, well, then then my no-soap news would not be a surprise. I hope I have cultivated relationships based on authenticity and candor which would allow them space to call me out. 

As is true for all of my writing, when I share a personal choice or experience, it is not a recommendation for you or complete reflection of the topic at hand. Every body, every microbiome, every culture, experience, and personal preference, is unique. You are free to make your own choices for your body, bacteria, and world, using information shared here and elsewhere, along with your trusted medical professionals. 

TLDR: Sarah, your microbiome advocate, doesn’t wash her body in the shower with soap, and hasn’t since 2014. What started as an experiment for skin issues, inspired by David Whitlock of AOBiome, turned out to help Sarah’s dry skin and nearly eliminate body odor! Soap is still great and necessary for hand-washing! Fostering ammonia-oxidizing bacteria instead of the ones that produce unpleasant smells can be done with special bacteria-restoring sprays, or by reducing daily reliance on soaps and skin products.

Sources and helpful info:

Callewaert, C., Hutapea, P., Van de Wiele, T., & Boon, N. (2014). Deodorants and antiperspirants affect the axillary bacterial community. Archives of dermatological research, 306(8), 701–710. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-014-1487-1 

Collen, A. (2015). 10% Human: How your body’s microbes hold the key to health and happiness. HarperCollins.

Hara T, Matsui H, Shimizu H (2014, November 12). Suppression of microbial metabolic pathways inhibits the generation of the human body odor component diacetyl by staphylococcus spp.. PLoS ONE 9(11). https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111833 

Lam, T.H., Verzotto, D., Brahma, P. et al. (2018). Understanding the microbial basis of body odor in pre-pubescent children and teenagers. Microbiome 6, 213. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-018-0588-z 

Lehtovirta-Morley, L. E. (2018, May). Ammonia oxidation: Ecology, physiology, biochemistry and why they must all come together, FEMS Microbiology Letters, 365(9). https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fny058

Scott, J. (2014, May 22). My no-soap, no-shampoo, bacteria-rich hygiene experiment. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-shampoo-bacteria-rich-hygiene-experiment.html