In order to verify the claims that soaps, baths and deodorants destroy the "good" bacteria on our skin and to find out what this can mean for our health, Daily Mail journalist Adam Lee-Potter decided on an experiment: he used neither soap nor antiperspirant. , no deodorant for 4 weeks.
It is known that soaps and deodorants can damage the natural way in which the skin hydrates itself, and more and more scientists indicate that these products can radically change our ecosystem - the trillions of tiny organisms that live in and on us.
The average human body contains 37 trillion bacterial cells - about 370 billion of them live on the skin - in addition to 30 trillion human cells.
Scientists believe that frequent use of baths and soaps when bathing can damage this balance, which is essential for protecting the skin from conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.
"Our preoccupation with cleanliness and smell may not be such a good idea," said Dr Adam Roberts, professor of molecular microbiology at University College London.
"More research needs to be done, but we evolved with these bacteria and we need them as much as we need them."
He was only allowed to wash his hands with soap, and his hair with shampoo, but everything else, lotions, baths, was not allowed in the experiment.
For regular check-ups, he gave weekly swabs from the skin on the nose, spine, armpits, groin and skin between the toes, because different bacteria are found in these places. The samples were analyzed in the "IS diagnosis" laboratory in Amsterdam.
The results were astonishing, not only did he have an explosion in the number of "good" bacteria, but he also had more types of bacteria - the number increased from 192 to 234.
Bacteria have become more diverse, and medical microbiologist Dries Bading, from the VU University in Amsterdam, says that resistance to invasions by other species has also increased, that is, the diversity of bacteria means greater protection against infections.
"If you often use soaps, baths, you are more exposed to fungal infections, such as athlete's foot and eczema."
Although he struggled with natural skin odors at first, after 4 weeks his skin looked perfect.
"My skin was clean and elastic, not dry, and my wife confirmed that I looked better," Adam writes for the Daily Mail.
"This experiment showed that bathing with only water will not harm you, on the contrary. After all, we lived like that for millions of years," Dr. Bading concluded.
At the end, he added that in this way the skin hydrates itself and restores its balance, which has been disturbed by various products.
After the experiment, journalist Adam began to use various bath products less frequently.
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