[HN Gopher] Doctor advises only using soap on your hands and now...
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       Doctor advises only using soap on your hands and nowhere else
        
       Author : oska
       Score  : 20 points
       Date   : 2020-07-28 22:32 UTC (28 minutes ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theguardian.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
        
       | m0zg wrote:
       | This "doctor" has never been in the same room with a 15 year old
       | who hasn't showered for a week. The "body odor" of that magnitude
       | should be prohibited under the Geneva Convention.
        
       | Tarq0n wrote:
       | Doctors are required to get a doctorate for their career. This
       | has two major consequences. For one, research standards are lower
       | because many doctors are only doing it because it's mandatory,
       | and there's a lot more people doing simple medical research than
       | in most other areas of inquiry. This causes a lot of
       | underqualified opinions to surface for prestigious-sounding
       | doctors.
       | 
       | As always, be skeptical of claims that go against consensus.
       | Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
        
       | TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
       | I'm a naturopathy by certification, I don't practice because I
       | prefer to work in my trade. Four years studying in a formal
       | capacity, Western Herbal Medicine, Clinical Nutrition (diet and
       | supplements), and enough anatomy & physiology and pathophysiology
       | to be able to converse with experts in the field and keep up, and
       | the resulting life-long passion to seek out and critically
       | analyse new information relating to chemistry, biochemistry,
       | neurology, immunology, etc etc etc.
       | 
       | I have fond memories of one lecturer always saying "don't put
       | anything on your skin you wouldn't put in your mouth _and
       | swallow_ ".
       | 
       | Your skin is _permeable_ , the fats and oils the skin exude are
       | part of it's protective systems, and, as the article points out,
       | the regular surface of the skin is a veritable smorgasbord of
       | _commensal_ organisms.
       | 
       | We should probably stop treating out bodies as fundamentally
       | broken. They've gotten us this far, and, more generally, you
       | don't see other animals obsessed with hygiene. Although I did
       | recently see a video of a rat soaping itself up for a shower, so
       | there's that I guess.
        
         | caturopath wrote:
         | > don't put anything on your skin you wouldn't put in your
         | mouth and swallow
         | 
         | I'd ask this lecturer to join me this weekend as I wade in a
         | giardia-infested river, toes feeling the silt and mud, but I'm
         | a bit of a prude and I can only assume they're naked.
         | 
         | Myself, I'll not hesitate to put on some sunscreen.
        
         | Apocryphon wrote:
         | Animals don't wear clothing, so already we're starting with a
         | default that's different from nature. It's much easier to trap
         | in sweat, oils, and other byproducts if you're rubbing up
         | against fabrics all day.
        
           | swinglock wrote:
           | Also few animals sweat like humans do.
        
       | eczema_haver wrote:
       | I have eczema, and at one point it got so severe from taking
       | (too-)hot showers, that I could hardly sleep for weeks because of
       | the discomfort. Out of desperation I gave up showering altogether
       | so that I could heal. I eventually realized that I didn't really
       | smell. After my skin healed I didn't resume showering. That was
       | about four years ago. I've never had anyone (including my partner
       | whom I live with) tell me I smell under normal circumstances (in
       | fact I asked my partner directly), nor that my skin looks or
       | feels oily or abnormal in any way. Same with my hair. I do smell
       | for a few hours right after vigorous exercise or something, but
       | it's nothing a little deodorant and a fresh shirt can't fix.
       | 
       | I don't know if everybody is this way - I'm sure it varies a lot
       | by body chemistry - but for me at least there have been no
       | downsides. In addition to saving time, I have to think I've saved
       | an enormous amount of water. From the article, it sounds like I
       | may be healthier for it too.
        
       | jhloa2 wrote:
       | This is certainly an interesting perspective. I have a friend
       | that refuses to wear sunscreen because he feels like the risk to
       | his health from rubbing all the "unknown chemicals" into his skin
       | outweigh the health risk of skin cancer. While I still use
       | sunscreen, his perspective did get me thinking about all the
       | unknowns I've introduced into my body through the skin.
       | 
       | Logically, it makes sense that our skin can adapt to be less oily
       | and odorous with taking a break from using a lot of soap. I've
       | been only using shampoo to wash my hair every other time I shower
       | and I've noticed that my hair now seems to take longer to get
       | oily. It's basically the same concept as using soap on the rest
       | of our skin.
        
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       (page generated 2020-07-28 23:00 UTC)