Tag Archive for: Clean

The Skin Microbiome: Birth and Water

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I began last week’s focus on the skin microbiome based on reading an interview with a scientist who hasn’t taken a shower in over five years (Clean by James Hamblin). We’ve established the basics about skin and the microbes that are supposed to reside in the skin microbiome. This week we’ll cover how the skin microbiome is affected by our environment. What are we doing to our skin that may be impacting our health?

It actually can begin at birth. If we are delivered via the birth canal, we are immersed in vaginal microbes that seed our skin with microbes. In the 1970s, C-sections began to rise from 5% to the current rate of 30%. That means close to one-third of newborns don’t get the initial exposure to skin microbes. Does that result in an increase in skin conditions such as dermatitis? Maybe, but there’s no confirming research to date.

Depending on your water supply, the water may be treated with chlorine and fluoride. While they can kill bacteria to make the water safer, those chemicals may also damage the microbes that live on our skin, hence Hamblin’s avoidance of showers. That impacts the skin microbiome and consequently, our immune system.

What else can impact our skin? I’ll cover more on Thursday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Int Microbiol. 2019 Mar;22(1):1-6. doi: 10.1007/s10123-018-00049-x.

No More Showers!

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If you saw a book called Clean, you probably wouldn’t think the author decided not to take any more showers. But you would be wrong, because that’s exactly what Dr. James Hamblin announced he would do about five years ago in a magazine article. Over time and a whole lot of research, the article became the basis for his book. In an interview I read with the author, he’s constantly irritated because the most frequent question he gets when people find out he hasn’t taken a shower in five years is “Do you stink?” My thought is if that you’re close enough to ask the question, you probably should know the answer, even with social distancing.

His primary concern over taking showers is our addiction to cleanliness, which is something I’ve thought about as well. (Never fear, I’m not going to quit taking showers.) His concern is with the microbiome of the skin. We all hear research on the microbiome within the digestive system just about every day, but the microbiome of our skin is actually the first line of defense in our immune system. Whatever we do to our skin affects the microbiome of our skin. With all the various soaps, detergents, and shampoos, as well as the chlorine that’s in most water treatment systems, that has to have some impact. Is the impact good or bad?

That’s what we’re going to take a look at in this week’s memos. Could how we treat our skin microbiome impact our immune system? We’ll look at the state of research to date.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Clean The New Science of Skin. James Hamblin. Penguin Random House. 2020.