Studies of a remote indigenous tribe suggest that washing with soap products can reduce the number of helpful microbes on our skin. It might be time to join the great unwashed

A year ago James Hamblin, a senior editor at The Atlantic, started showering a lot less. Then he gave up altogether. “It was a very gradual process,” he tells me. “I weaned myself off it over six months and found myself getting less grimy, oily and smelly.” How often does he wash now? “I’m vigilant about washing my hands,” he says. “I will rinse off if I’m drenched in sweat after a run and need to be at dinner in ten minutes, or if I have terrible bedhead and look unprofessional. Other than that, basically nothing.”

Some scientists argue that regular showering disrupts the body’s delicate ecosystem and damages our microbiome: the rich community of bacteria residing in and on our bodies. One recent study found the Yanomami, one of the world’s most remote indigenous tribes living deep in the Venezuelan Amazon, hosts the most diverse constellation of microbes ever discovered in humans. The message is that washing less may not only be good for the environment – less water, fewer products – it might be good for us, too.

The no-showering challenge: why we should all take part Read more

What prompted Hamblin to give up? “I was pursuing a story about a company selling a bacterial spray that’s supposed to change your skin biome,” he says, referring to a product launched in 2015, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by a chemical engineer who claims he hasn’t showered in 12 years. “I don’t go as far as spraying myself with bacteria but it got me thinking … maybe it doesn’t make sense to be destroying this ecosystem by scrubbing ourselves with soap every single day.”

The big question is, how smelly is he? “The best evidence is from my girlfriend, who says I have a smell but not an offensive one,” he says. “I smell like a person, instead of smelling like a product.” As for Hamblin’s signature scent, he has no idea whether he smells like “birch, cinnamon, or anything else” and stresses that he wouldn’t necessarily recommend everyone quits showering. “I’ve had a unique experience,” he notes. “I don’t want to say this is the way it would go for everybody, and you don’t have to go as extreme as I did. But most of us could stand to question the need to perform such elaborate cleansing rituals every single day.”

How have people reacted to his decision? During the weaning period there were times when he would give off what he calls the “onion smell” of body odour. “Then I would do some emergency covering up or cleaning of myself,” he notes. “I don’t think I ever offended anybody but if I did, I apologise.”