MIT Engineer: "I haven't showered in 12 years" -Uses Bacteria Spray to Keep Clean

You’ve heard of taking probiotics for a healthy gut, but what about literally spraying live bacteria on your skin? As Dr. Mallika Marshall reports, a local company thinks it’s a good idea for overall health, and plans to prove it.
“I have not taken a shower in over 12 years,” says Dave Whitlock, a chemical engineer and MIT grad who says he doesn’t miss bathing at all. “No one did clinical trials on people taking showers every day. So what’s the basis for assuming that that is a healthy practice.”

Now I'll admit, I occasionally have a day here and there were I don't shower. But 12 years?! I'd normally dismiss something like this, but - it is coming from an MIT grad and chemical engineer.

In fact, what Whitlock does believe is healthy is restoring good bacteria to our skin that our ancestors enjoyed long ago and that has slowly been stripped away by excessive cleaning. To prove his theory, he helped found AOBiome, a company based in Cambridge, MA.
“We’ve confused clean with sterile,” says Jasmina Aganovic, the General Manager of Consumer Products at AOBiome. She says as humans, we need to reconnect with our environment. “We’ve taken the dirt out of our lives. We don’t spend as much time outdoors as we used to, even little children,” she explains.

I suppose this makes sense. Our ancestors most likely didn't bath everyday and they had healthy bacteria that had some kind of benefit for their skin.

To add a little dirt back into our lives, AOBiome has created Mother Dirt, specifically the AO+ Mist containing live bacteria that is sprayed directly on the skin twice a day. It has no odor and feels like water.
“Our users are able to reduce their dependence on conventional products,” says Aganovic. “Examples include cutting out or cutting down on deodorant, cutting out or cutting down on moisturizers.” There’s a Mother Dirt shampoo and cleanser that don’t contain bacteria but Aganovic says won’t interfere with it either.

They've got me sold. If you can cut out deodorant and not smell like nasty B.O. and not have to use moisturizer to replenish skin that has been dried out by all the soaps we use, I'm all for it.

Hell, all you have to do now is a quick spray down from a can. It's quick, easy, efficient and effective. They hope to have 1 billion people use this product which isn't unreasonable considering the living conditions of many of the world's population.

Buuut.... as great as this all sounds. Here is the picture of the MIT grad that hasn't showered for 12 years.



On second thought, maybe I'll just stick to my showers.

No More Showers



Ghost

I try to shower a couple times a week.
I have woken up with ants cleaning my body.

He looks healthy...on the outside.

Nah. I won't give up the feeling of water on my body for nothing in the world.
Nice try thou.

IKNOW what it smells like not to bath for a while from Desert Storm,screw that smell.

a reply to: ghostrager

Well, no matter what he says we know he doesn't have a girlfriend.


Son: no mommy! I don't want to take a bath!

Mom: get in here right,now take your clothes off,and get in this tub!

Son: when I grow up, I'm going to be an engineer and figure out the hard problem of this bathtub business! Then you'll never catch me in the water!

Mom: smiles; ok, sweety whatever you say, close your eyes and tilt your head up here comes the water!

being clean of bacteria is one thing

having actual STUFF on you, dirt, grime, film, is another.........you need to freaking shower

Hopefully English people pick up on this.
"Fee FY Fo Fum" and all that. Seriously all that powder does not cover up the stench of a Englishman!

originally posted by: proob4
Hopefully English people pick up on this.
"Fee FY Fo Fum" and all that. Seriously all that powder does not cover up the stench of a Englishman!

Now if Willy Wonka would finally invent the 'everlasting toothbrush'

Interesting... but no thanks. Bacteria removal isn't the only reason for bathing. Over cleaning your face of the good bacteria can cause the harmful bacteria to set in causing blemishes, etc. Could this maybe be lead to the same for some if they try his process. Not a fan of the "not washing hair" that people are trying either.

So if the spray has the good bacteria in it, why not just shower and then spray it on to get all the goodness back on yourself after you clean off all the dirt, sweat and all the other grime you get on yourself during various tasks.

The company should of tweaked their marketing campaign just a tiny bit :p

12 years without a shower is not right. 12 days is pressing the boundaries.
At least go swim in the river.

No...just..no. One must shower or at least take a bath with a rubber ducky maybe a battleship every once in a while. The smell of deodorant and cologne/perfume will only go so far.

originally posted by: justneo
So if the spray has the good bacteria in it, why not just shower and then spray it on to get all the goodness back on yourself after you clean off all the dirt, sweat and all the other grime you get on yourself during various tasks.

The company should of tweaked their marketing campaign just a tiny bit :p

Yep I would say they messed up the campaign on this one, but I can definitely see which way they were going with this. Just still no!

a reply to: ghostrager

Wow. That's... Kinda' racist. I've now elected not to participate. Tata!

a reply to: ghostrager

I remember reading about an experiment whereby people were told not to wash their hair for some partiular length of time.

One woman said she thought she smelt like a sheep during this but, the overall result was that all of the guinea pigs ended up with fabulous hair that adjusted to a normal scalp. e.g. those with greasy scalps or dry balanced out once they had gone through the 'back to nature' process.

Being too chicken and not wanting to smell sheepish I wouldn't try it. Its worth pointing out though that we have all survived our ancestors personal hygiene habits. Also they didn't use the products we are all busy regularly buying and managed to get it together to live together and breed very successfully, Hrm.

a reply to: proob4

Consider yourself as having received a punch in those choppers of yours for that remark.

Gosh, I remember in the 70's when people took baths once a week. My French friends never used soap, but did bath a couple times a week (water only). Are we too concientious about hygeine? Just a thought. Not to gross people out.

I heard a story about a geologist who had to go 3 weeks without a shower or bath. After 2 weeks of stinking and a rash his skin came good and the smell went away. The Spartans would rub oil on their bodies and scrape it off. I spent time in Mozambique and i am sure many of the people living in the slums did not shower, there was a bit of a bo smell but not to bad that you would turn your nose up even in the crowded "busses".

a reply to: ghostrager

I'm in Australia, a much dyrier place than the US and without telling anyone, about 9 months ago while on xmas holidays I changed my daily routine from having a full cleaning shower to a rinse type shower where I rarely use any soap or body wash at all. Neither my wife nor anyone elese has ever said anything.

I do not feel any different one way or the other but if I do get dirty such as working on the car, of course I have a full cleaning shower.

files.abovetopsecret.com...

Is this the evid dude from the green lantern movie?

Yea I caught this information a couple of years back, did a few mins of research and couldn't figure out which strains are being cultured in the product. I'm interested in doing it my own. If anyone has that info, please u2u me.

I think if people adopted this instead of bathing/showering we'd shave a few percent off water usage. Doesn't hurt, seems to help.