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Sugar Cookie

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We all know a person who's boasted about the length of time they've abstained from showering or bathing.

It's either an odd point of pride or a self-deprecating knock on their personal hygiene.

Either way, if they kept it up — say, for an entire year — they'd smell awful, would run the risk of infection and could be covered in acne and bumps.

Keeping it au naturel for that long is, besides a slow way to alienate yourself, not recommended, advises Dr. Cameron Rokhsar, an associate clinical professor of dermatology at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York.
You'd smell
Unsurprisingly, a person would develop quite a funk after 365 showerless days.

Rokhsar said your stench likely would come as a result of the bacteria and dead skin accumulating on you.

After a year, he said, you'd have a build-up of skin stratum corneum, or dead skin on top of your skin. It includes a build-up of a protein our skin produces that has a funky odor to it. Bacteria also would accumulate on the skin, giving off a nasty smell when it mixes with our sweat.
Brown clumps would grow on you
Initially, said dermatologist Dr. Lauren Ploch, the skin would become oily or dry and become infected with fungus or yeast and then bacteria. The dirt on the skin could then cause warty growths.

Dr. Caroyln Jacob, director of Chicago Cosmetic Surgery and Dermatology, said the oily parts of your body would collect dirt and pollutants. This would happen most in places where your body produces the most oils, such as your underarms, behind the ears, on the neck and under a woman's breasts.
Your head would itch
Dead skin would build on the scalp. We commonly call this dandruff, which causes your head to itch. But after a year, explains Rokhsar, your head would become "extremely itchy."

If not groomed, Jacob said hair becomes heavy with oil secreted from the scalp and the collected dirt and pollutants that stick to it. It would later, Rokhsar said, look matted and knotty.
You could break out in acne or puss bumps
As bacteria builds on your skin, said Jacob, it risks inflaming hair follicles, causing pimples. Rokhsar adds something called sebum would build up on your face, causing acne or puss bumps.
Your groin area will become a big problem
Jacob warns people to watch out for the groin area. She said you're likely to get rashes or something called intertrigo, a yeast and inflammation combination that goes from itchy and red to burning and painful.
Scum between your toes
Speaking of the groin, the fungus that will grow between your toes could easily spread to the pelvic area.

Jacob said dead skin would build up between your toes and become crusty. It could then harbor fungus, which could be transferred to your groin while putting your feet through your pants or underwear.

How often you should bath read in link
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Showering/bathin is a relatively new practice amongst humankind. This article is pretty fucking stupid. Too lazy to do some actual research and write up the health problems faced(or more likely not faced, since much of this shit didnt happen to folks 100s of years ago), by earlier societies.
 
Showering/bathin is a relatively new practice amongst humankind. This article is pretty fucking stupid. Too lazy to do some actual research and write up the health problems faced(or more likely not faced, since much of this shit didnt happen to folks 100s of years ago), by earlier societies.
All this shit happened, it was just normal.
 
Just fucking GROSS! I have a cousin who I haven't seen in 20 years who didn't bathe, he smelled like something dead and he didn't care, not one bit, that he stank. I hope he has changed, but most likely, he has not.
 
For much of history, and in some places still today, daily showering is not an option. The article makes it sound as though showering daily or being filthy dirty are the only two possibilities. It is possible to be clean without taking a daily shower. Millions of people clean themselves daily without a shower or bathtub.

It is only modern Western (especially American) society that thinks a daily shower or more is the only way to be clean. In fact, considering the type of cleansers most Westerners use (basically detergents), daily showering using those cleansers can actually be unhealthy. It strips away the acid mantle of the skin, which is there to protect the largest human organ. If you do this daily, the acid mantle is being stripped away so often that you almost never have the protection against bacteria, viruses and contaminants that it naturally gives.

A very recent study further indicates that healthy, non-dried out skin may even be linked to a reduction in major chronic illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes and even Alzheimer's.
 
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