Man shuns bathing for 12 years, sprays live bacteria to stay clean

In what could be a modern-day solution to conserve water in the face of climate change, a chemical engineer claims he has not showered for 12 years but was able to keep clean by spraying live bacteria on his body. Dave Whitlock, co-founder of leading microbiome startup AOBiome, hopes others will catch on the no-shower trend he has started.

Whitlock says taking a bath is overrated since there is no scientific basis that proves it is the foundation of healthy human hygiene. According to him, no one has conducted clinical trials on people taking showers every day, and that the activity and related products such as shampoo strip good bacteria from human skin. Instead of showering, Whitlock uses a spray that he invented, called Mother Dirt AO+ Mist, to keep his skin healthy and clean. The spray has recently been made available for purchase in the company’s online store at $49 for a bottle of 3.4 fluid ounces.

The product works, according to Whitlock, because it contains billions of cultivated Nitrosomonas eutropha, a friendly ammonia-oxidising bacteria, or AOB, which can act as skin cleansers to clean sweat and oil on the skin. Commonly found in dirt and untreated water, AOB feeds off urea and ammonia in sweat and turns the substances into nitric oxide, which is good for the body’s blood vessels, among other benefits.

“AOB were once a crucial part of the skin’s ecosystem, but they’ve been lost due to modern chemistry in today’s products and our lifestyles. With Mother Dirt, we’re creating products that enhance and protect the skin biome. Last year, we launched the AO+ Mist to a limited group and the response was overwhelmingly positive,” says Jasmina Aganovic, AOBiome general manager of consumer products.

In May 2014, New York Times Magazine writer Julia Scott accepted an assignment that required her to take brief, three-minute showers without soap, shampoo or deodorant for a month. During her experiment, Scott tried the AO+ Mist based on the company’s instructions, spraying herself before leaving the house and again when she came home.

Scott claimed that after letting the spray dry on her skin, she smelled better and her feet did not smell at all. Her skin, she said, began to change for the better, becoming softer and smoother rather than dry and flaky. She also observed that her complexion, which was prone to hormone-related breakouts, became clear and her pores seemed smaller. As she ended her experiment, Scott said she was reluctant to return to her old routine of daily shampooing.

According to AOBiome, Scott asked which products pose the biggest threat to the skin’s good bacteria. Sodium lauryl sulfate, which is found in many shampoos, may reportedly be the deadliest to AOB, but nearly all common liquid cleansers remove at least some of the bacteria.

The company said antibacterial soaps are worst at stripping the skin of AOB, but soaps made with only vegetable oils or animal fats can also be considered culprits. While AOBiome does not market its product as an alternative to conventional cleansers, the company claims that some regular users may find themselves less reliant on soaps, moisturizers and deodorants after as little as a month.

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