[Our skin is our largest organ, with a surface area of approximately 15 to 20 square feet, and it’s our body’s first line of defense. We like to keep our skin squeaky clean, especially in the United States, where the beauty and personal care products market amounts to more than $100 billion. However, Dr. James Hamblin, a preventive medicine and public health doctor, questioned how much of it is necessary for health and how much is just a personal preference.
Hamblin stopped showering for about five years to explore the science of skin. He tried different products and regimens, and found that there is a large health halo around personal care products. Many products make medical-sounding claims, but most are just making us look and feel good. Soap is valuable mainly to break up sticky, oily substances, and the mechanical force of rubbing hands together under water is what gets most of the dirt off.
Hamblin was inspired to write his book “Clean, The New Science of Skin” because of a new health trend at the time. People were taking probiotics to optimize their gut flora, and he saw the same potential happening in skin health. He found that the skin microbiome is a go-between, interacting with both our body’s internal world and the external world. Constantly washing it away can create issues, and disrupting the microbiome can exacerbate problems like eczema or acne.
Hamblin has five things to keep in mind for nurturing a more natural skin microbiome: hygiene is done to prevent the transmission of infectious disease, while cleansing is more personal and ritualistic. Lathering up from head to toe every day is purely a cosmetic and recreational choice, and it’s not necessary for your health. For some people, rinsing off is good enough, while others want the whole pampering experience.
Hamblin believes that what you choose to slather on your hair and body is a personal preference, and it comes down to aesthetics. He wouldn’t do things based on medical claims made on packages, and instead would go with the cheapest thing if it feels and smells similar. The pandemic set back interest in the microbiome, but now people are becoming more open to the idea of healthy microbes on the skin.
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