How Clean Is Enough?

There's something smelly in the air these days. And it might just be you! That's because the latest trendy habit is attacking the culture of clean in nations where "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" has been the mantra since before World War II. More and more people are deliberately forgoing daily bathing and other personal hygiene rituals, such as the treasured hair shampoo and deodorant use.

The practitioners of irregular hygiene say they risk being renamed "Stinky" because daily bathing does not allow for retention of the skin's natural oils or the "good" bacteria that rests on it, and because not bathing daily is good for water conservation. Daily bathing/showering can dry out the skin and can cause eczema. And in climates where it is cool, is there really a necessity in bathing every day? Would anyone but the person him or herself even notice if you did not shower or bath each day?

Having said that, I swear I bathe every night and have never been told "you stink" (at least not literally). According to Mintel, a market research firm, ninety three percent of adult people in the U.S. shampoo almost daily. I do that as well.....err..at least I am normal that way. But it seems I have an odoriferous "French tendency" regarding the last of the cleanliness categories- deodorant. I have never used it and never will. The smell of deodorant is sickening to me, and unless a person has a body odor problem I see no necessity for using it. It was created by marketers, not from necessity but because consumers are gullible enough to buy anything if they are bombarded with enough commercials for the product..

Also, according to Mintel, Adults younger than 24 use deodorant and antiperspirant more than nine times a week. Even for older age groups, usage never falls below an average of once a day. Haha Go ahead...call me "stinky". See if I care. But I bet the average person far more often smells your sickeningly perfumy deodorant odor than would smell my natural essence.

It's probably a modern Western idea that people need to bathe everyday. There are as many non bathing as bathing people in the world today and their decision of whether to bathe or not is influenced by things like cultural tradition, availability, influence/pressure of folkways from the society, climate, occupation and more.Oh, and if you think this E mail smells, just put it in the trash where it belongs.