Illustration: Matija Medved

Optimize Me

No Showers, No Soap, Perfect Skin? Meet the Bacteria Facial

The skin microbiome is having a moment

Elemental
Published in
5 min readJan 14, 2020

Optimize Me is an Elemental column exploring (and fact-checking) the weirdest self-improvement trends. It comes out every Tuesday.

DoDo you really need to shower every day or at all? And could showering actually be bad for your skin? Scientists and skin care companies are becoming increasingly aware of the billions of bacteria that live in and on our skin and the potential roles they play there, including eating our natural oils and sweat. Modern hygiene habits may be wiping out these good bugs, leaving us greasier, flakier, and at a greater risk of skin infections than if we just left our skin alone. Consequently, a movement is growing around the idea that people should scale back on the harsh soaps and hot water that have become the norm and let the bacteria just do their thing.

One company in particular, Mother Dirt — the cosmetic arm of AOBiome — is leading the charge. It’s developed a line of products that it claims are friendly to the skin’s microbiome and will let the bugs live in peace. Going one step further, Mother Dirt sells a spray containing a live strain of bacteria to repopulate one of the microbes they say we’ve washed away. The strain — Nitrosomonas eutropha, an…

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Elemental
Elemental

Published in Elemental

Elemental is a former publication from Medium for science-backed health and wellness coverage. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Dana G Smith
Dana G Smith

Written by Dana G Smith

Health and science writer • PhD in 🧠 • Words in Scientific American, STAT, The Atlantic, The Guardian • Award-winning Covid-19 coverage for Elemental

Responses (8)

What are your thoughts?

Yes to showers. No to antibacterial soap. Try to use Dove Unscented or similar and limit to underarms, hands, feet, anal area. Women should avoid in the perineal area. That microbiome is really important and should not have scented products, and NO Douching.

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This reminds me of the no-shampoo movement — sounds great until you are someone with oily hair who sweats on a run, or hot yoga or whatever
Tonight I did a hot yoga class. I walked home in the cold so kind of dried off but ugh — micro-biome be damed. I needed to wash off.

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“David Whitlock hasn’t showered in 17 years” ??? Really? He must do something to get the encrusted salt and stink off! And scalp grease??? Geesh!

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