Bye, shower gel and shampoo: it is said that washing yourself less is the order of the day. “Non bathing” is the name of the trend. Why the body shouldn’t be lathered like a car and what Corona did in showering.
Los Angeles / Berlin – It seems to be all the rage this year – or rather dirt? Some people do not shower daily, be it for health or environmental reasons. Showering is something from yesterday, or better: from last year.
If you do it less often or even not at all, you protect the skin’s natural protective barrier and do its good – and also save a lot of water, according to the thesis. Stars from the USA are pioneers. A book by the American doctor and author James Hamblin, who tested it himself, has now been published in German: “Of course wash! What really keeps our skin healthy ”.
There was no need for styling in the pandemic
Then there is the development in the corona crisis. In the past two years with their lockdowns, many have showered less. “The reasons for styling simply fell away with millions of people,” says analyst Yvonne Hornung from the market research company Nielsen. In the home office, many were more relaxed about styling. Going out or exercising was also canceled. In the meantime, the market for shower gels and shampoo has recovered, but is not yet back at the pre-Corona level.
The trend “Non Bathing” or “Cleansing Reduction” is a kind of hype in Hollywood: Stars like Kristen Bell, Brad Pitt and Jake Gyllenhaal have already committed to it. Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts and Charlize Theron said in interviews they only showered once a week to save water. Mila Kunis said on a Spotify podcast, “I don’t wash my body every day.” She only cleans armpits, breasts, feet and private parts. Showers are overrated. Her partner Ashton Kutcher agreed. He took a bar of soap for his armpits and crotch.
Cosmetics industry has an impact on care habits
Of course, this beauty trend is also discussed controversially. Film star Dwayne Johnson (often called “The Rock”) admitted that she likes to shower more often during the day – cold in the morning after getting up and warm after exercising. He cleansed his face with a peeling.
A good 15 billion euros are spent on body care products in Germany every year, as the Munich publishing house Kunstmann writes, which had Hamblin (39) translate the bestseller “Clean: The New Science of Skin” and published it in Germany. There is hardly any agreement about what really cares for and nourishes our skin – and what harms it. “Research in this area is rarely independent of the major corporations in the cosmetics industry.”
Hamblin recently told Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin that the soap industry had greatly improved public health. “It just got out of hand at some point.” It is important to wash your hands well, with which you often touch your nose or rub your eyes. “Even when it’s not a pandemic.” However, soap is only needed in a few places, such as the feet and armpits.
How much water and soap does the body really need?
“Yet so often in commercials and films we see people lathering themselves all over their bodies like they were a car in the wash,” said Hamblin. “You then spend more time in the shower than necessary, use more water than necessary, buy products whose ingredients have been transported halfway around the world several times and then filled into plastic bottles.”
Those who give up the daily shower first smell stronger and then often think that washing more is the solution, said Hamblin. This cycle can be broken. “After a while without intervention, a new balance is created on the skin and in the hair.”
The dermatologist Marion Moers-Carpi from Munich welcomes the theses by and large: “We put a lot of strain on our bodies. Many wash too much, too hot and too long. ”Twenty minutes every day in the warm shower is unnecessary and not at all good. People who already have skin problems such as neurodermatitis should definitely be more careful, she emphasizes.
Natural skin protection can be lost
Like Hamblin, Moers-Carpi says that daily scrubbing removes the oils from the skin that the glands produce to protect the skin. This makes the skin drier and you may use moisturizers to create an artificial version of the fats. The intermediate step can actually be saved.
You yourself shower about twice a week and use little soap, says the dermatologist Moers-Carpi. The concept of the protective acid mantle, which was announced for a long time, is now controversial among dermatologists. She personally recommend curd soap, which was frowned upon for a while.
Last but not least, the Munich dermatologist points out: “Just ask your grandparents how often they washed. In the past, bathing was usually only announced once a week. And they weren’t all stinky people either. “
Literature:
James Hamblin: “Wash of course! What really keeps our skin healthy ”, 288 pages, Euro 24.00, Verlag Kunstmann, ISBN-13: 978-3-95614-461-5 dpa
