Since we filthy sodomist have already made thecase against antibacterial grievous bodily harm , it ’s time to regard the case against all max . And showers . Basically all hygiene as we have intercourse it in the 21st century . In the latestNew York Times Magazine , Julia Scott gives up soap for a mist of bacteria ordinarily found in dirt — and find her skin has never been respectable .
It ’s not as kooky as it sounds . ( Really . ) While we have been check to lather , froth , and scrub every inch of ourselves with grievous bodily harm , it ’s only recently that scientist have realized kill all the bacteria on our skin may not be such a sound thing . bacterium naturally flourish on the skin , most of them harmless , and imbalances in the skin microbiome are linked to all kind of problems from acne to eczema .
That ’s why the cosmetic aisle is , like the yogurt gangway , now stock with probiotic discourse and bacterial extracts . Scott goes one step further than probiotic face creams in herNYT Magazine piece . She chucks out her intact hygiene regimen and sprays herself twice a day with AO+ Refreshing Cosmetic Mist — fancy name for a spray bottle of bacteria .
David Whitlock , the inventor of AO+ , came up with the idea while watching horses ramble around in the grease . ( Promising offset , is n’t it ? ) The dirt turned out to turn back bacterium that bolt up ammonia , which is find out in teemingness in our swither . But this natural anti - sweat bacteria , Nitrosomonas eutropha , bend out to be a delicate creature , easily killed by chemical substance common in our soap — so soap has find to go . This is how Scott trace the hygiene regime of the people behind AO+ :
The president of the company ’s board of directors , Jamie Heywood , lather up once or twice a calendar month and shampoos just three times a year . The most extreme suit is David Whitlock , the M.I.T.-trained chemical substance engineer who invented AO+ . He has not shower down for the past 12 year . He on occasion takes a sponge tub to wash away grime but trusts his skin ’s bacterial settlement to do the eternal rest . I met these workforce . I got close enough to stimulate their hand , engage in fooling conversation and mention that they in no way conveyed a sense of being “ unclean ” in either the ocular or olfactive sense .
Soon enough , Scott adjudicate to try it for herself . You should study about herexperience in full , but the scant answer is that her skin has never been better — tranquil , sonant , prison-breaking - detached .
The takeout is not necessarily that we should be rolling in dirt or even rushing out to purchase AO+ . ( cosmetic are loosely modulate , but the creators of AO+ are just now file with the FDA to try out it as a drug . ) It ’s worth reflecting on what we consider “ clean . ” The scent of soap , the mintiness of toothpaste — thousands of ads have conditioned us to associate it all with cleanliness . But what if being clean just intend having a respectable hide microbiome ? [ New York Times ]
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