It turns out you may be showering way too often

A new study into the washing habits of over 2,000 women by skin care range Flint + Flint found that 57 per cent of women do not shower or bathe every day.

Shocking, right?

Except they might be onto something.

A different study, which looked at the Yanomami people in the Amazon – who previously had no contact with Western civilisation – found that their skin, had a “rich” collection of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistance species.

While an MIT graduate, who hasn’t washed for 12 years, has created a spray called Mother Dirt AO+ Mist, containing a strain of “safe live-cultured Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria", which lives off the ammonia you produce through sweating.

Although the company encourages you to wash your hands and reduce your bathing time, its creator, a chemical engineer and MIT graduate Dave Whitlock, says he hasn’t taken a shower in 12 years (as of 2015).

He told CBS Boston:

No one did clinical trials on people taking showers every day. So what’s the basis for assuming that that is a healthy practise?

Despite this, certain professions require the utmost care with hygiene – and it is unlikely that doctors and nurses will skip wash days.

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