Is showering every day BAD for you? Cleaning with soap too often could cause you to breakout in spots

Showering too often can damage your body's microbiome
The microbiome is the collection of microbes that live in and on the human body
Without them, your immune system, digestion and heart would stop working
Damaging the microbiome could lead to an acne breakout, studies suggest

Published: 06:35 EST, 24 January 2017 | Updated: 06:36 EST, 24 January 2017

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You might think you are doing yourself good, but having a shower every day is bad for you.

There is a compelling body of evidence to say showering too much can damage our microbiome, the community of microbes that live on us.

This can lead to a breakout in acne, according to researchers in two separate studies.

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You might think you are doing yourself good, but having a shower every day is bad for you. There is a compelling body of evidence to say showering too much can damage our microbiome, the community of microbes that live on us. Stock image

SHOWERING COULD BE BAD FOR YOU

There is a compelling body of evidence to say showering too much can damage our microbiome, the community of microbes that live on us.

Studies have shown showering every day using shampoo and soap strips a person's hair and skin of its array of microbes.

A tribe of Yanomami people in South America were found to have a much more robust microbiome than westerners.

Someone's microbiome is important because without it, their immune system, digestion and heart would stop working.

A paper published in 2013 also linked acne to a disruption in the microbiome.

Although studies have looked into the effects of too much showering on our microbiome, there is no official recommended number of showers to take each week to achieve the perfect balance between a robust microbiome and not being smelly.

The microbiome is the collection of bacteria, archeae, viruses, and other microbes that live in and on the human body, and is incredibly important to a person's health.

Studies have shown showering every day using shampoo and soap strips a person's hair and skin of its array of microbes.

A tribe of Yanomami people in South America were found to have a much more robust microbiome than westerners.

Someone's microbiome is important because without it, their immune system, digestion and heart would stop working.

A paper published in 2013 also linked acne to a disruption in the microbiome.

The discovery of a sweat-eating bacteria could even lead to better treatments from acne and serious wounds, researchers claimed in 2014.

Researchers found bacteria that metabolise ammonia - a major component of sweat - may improve skin health and could even be used for the treatment of skin disorders.

They say it could be particularly effective against acne.

In the study, conducted by Cleveland firm AOBiome, human volunteers using the bacteria reported better skin condition and appearance compared with a control group.

It would be natural to think if someone stopped showering, they would begin to smell quite bad.

But this smell is only a result of showering in the first place, some say.

In June last year James Hamblin, from The Atlantic, wrote about how he stopped showering for two years to see what happened.

The discovery of a sweat-eating bacteria may lead to better treatments from acne and serious wounds, researchers claimed in 2014. For the study, the researchers used a strain of Nitrosomonas eutropha, bacteria that metabolise ammonia - a major component of sweat

THE MAN WHO HASN'T SHOWERED IN 12 YEARS

Chemical engineer and MIT grad Dave Whitlock has not showered in a dozen years because he wants to preserve bacteria on his skin.

Instead Whitlock sprays a mist containing live bacteria on his skin twice a day, Mother Dirt, which is sold by the Cambridge-based company he helped found, AOBiome, according to CBS Boston.

Whitlock said: 'I have not taken a shower in over 12 years.

'No one did clinical trials on people taking showers every day.

'So what's the basis for assuming that that is a healthy practice.

'I would like a billion people a day to use this.'

'At first, I was an oily, smelly beast,' he said.

'The odour of bodies is the product of bacteria that live on our skin and feed off of the oily secretions from the sweat and sebaceous glands at the base of our hair follicles.'

Some of the bacteria in our microbiome excrete nasty-smelling chemicals that add up to odours wafting from your body.

In a 2015 study researchers took bacteria commonly found in the armpit and added an odourless molecule found in human sweat.

'These odourless molecules come out from the underarm, they interact with the active microbiota, [and] they're broken down inside the bacteria,' said Dr Dan Bawdon, from the University of York, who led the study.

When these bacteria break down the sweat they form smelly products called thioalcohols.

But Mr Hamblin said after a while of not showering, 'your ecosystem reaches a steady state, and you stop smelling bad.

'I mean, you don’t smell like rosewater or Axe Body Spray, but you don’t smell like B.O., either. You just smell like a person.'

Chemical engineer and MIT grad Dave Whitlock (pictured) has not showered in a dozen years to save his good bacteria

The Mother Dirt mist is odorless and feels like water. The company also sells a shampoo and cleanser

One MIT graduate, called Dan Whitlock has not showered in 12 years.

He sprays himself with a fluid he invented, called 'Mother Dirt AO+ Mist’ containing bacteria that are intended to eat the ammonia in our sweat.

Mother Dirt, which is sold by the Cambridge-based company AOBiome, is odorless and feels like water.

'I have not taken a shower in over 12 years,' said Whitlock. 'No one did clinical trials on people taking showers every day.

'So what's the basis for assuming that that is a healthy practice?

'I would like a billion people a day to use this.'

AOBiome's consumer products general manager Jasmina Aganovic said: 'We've confused clean with sterile.'

Journalist Julia Scott tried the spray instead of showering for four weeks, and reported on it for New York Times magazine.

After the four weeks, instead of being convinced to give up showering, Ms Scott said: 'I tipped most of my products into the trash and purchased a basic soap and a fragrance-free shampoo with a short list of easily pronounceable ingredients.

'Then I enjoyed a very long shower, hoping my robust biofilm would hang on tight.'