The average person will spend about 2 years of their life showering and washing themselves,
but what would happen if you decided to take some of your life back and stop showering
all together?
Many people actually shower too much- while a daily rinse is fine, you can make do with
a scrub of your armpits, groin and feet and save a full-body scrubdown for every other
or even every three days.
That’s because your body naturally builds up a defensive layer against infection called
the stratum corneum.
This is a layer of dead skin cells bound together by fat cells called lipids that acts as a
shield against bacteria and infections for the new skin being grown underneath.
When you shower with too hot water, or scrub too often, you strip this layer away and leave
your skin unprotected which can lead to infections or dry, itchy skin.
But what happens when you don’t shower at all?
Well, the first thing you and likely all your friends will notice is that you’ll start
to smell pretty bad.
While we commonly assume this is because of sweat, it turns out sweat is actually odorless-
the smell instead comes from bacteria that absolutely thrive in sweat and rapidly multiply
out of control, releasing the pungent aroma of bad B.O.
The second thing you’ll likely notice when you stop showering is an explosion of acne
across your face and body.
Throughout your day your skin is constantly secreting oils to help keep itself moisturized.
When you stop washing though that oil can get backed up in your pores and cause blockages.
Dirt and other grime can also become stuck in all that oil and further block your pores,
sending you straight back to your pimply-faced high school days.
But some people are naturally resistant to acne, and report their faces actually clearing
up when they stop showering.
Though they may not suffer from increased acne, their dead skin cells, normally removed
by regular washing, would also begin to clump, glued together by oils secreted by the body.
These oils would also trap dirt and other pollutants, creating large patches of dead
skin which would gradually turn darker and eventually become infected with fungus and
bacteria.
This could lead to the development of warty growths and leave you vulnerable to infections.
Whether you shower daily or not though, your body is always covered in bacteria and fungus-
the average person has about 1,000 different types of bacteria and 80 funguses growing
on them at any time.
These are mostly beneficial to us though, helping to crowd out bad bacteria/fungus,
and creating antimicrobial secretions that protect us from infections.
But if you stop washing they can start to grow completely out of control, and eventually
enter the eyes, mouth, nose or ears, causing everything from internal infections to diarrhea.
Everyone has skipped a shower or two, and though 2 years of your life may seem like
a lot of time wasted just cleaning yourself- trust us, it’s worth it.
While it’s ok, and even beneficial, to limit how often you do a full-body scrubdown, not
cleaning yourself at all is not just bad for your friends, but can be potentially really
bad for your health too!
You don’t want to be the smelly kid at school, but you definitely don’t want to be the
sick one stuck in bed either!