# Consequences of not bathing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569 "2004-11-08T01:57:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/1 "2004-11-08T01:57:40Z")
What would happen to me if I stopped bathing? (This one is purely hypothetical-- I value cleanliness very highly, I’m just curious!) Within a week, I suppose I would reek pretty badly. Within a month – what? Would someone who never bathed eventually succumb to various infections? Any information would be appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/2 "2004-11-08T01:59:38Z")
Have you ever wanted to be a rancher? In a month, you’ll have livestock. _Tiny_ livestock. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/3 "2004-11-08T03:08:35Z")
You will start to smell so bad that you will lose your job and your friends, end up living on the street, and die of an infection after getting rolled. So get into that bathtub right now, young man. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/4 "2004-11-08T03:21:03Z")
You’ll probably start to itch as well. You may develop sores, especially if you scratch your itches. They may get infected, since you’re filthy. Your hair will get really greasy and matted(assuming you won’t comb your hair either). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/5 "2004-11-08T03:57:18Z")
You make it sound almost lethal. How did people survive before the arrival of civilisation? Clearly not having baths didn’t kill them all off at once… ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/6 "2004-11-08T04:07:07Z")
One of the immediate advantages is all your friends(if you retain any), will think you lost weight, because from a distance you’ll look smaller.😃 ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/7 "2004-11-08T04:12:10Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > You make it sound almost lethal. How did people survive before the arrival of civilisation? Clearly not having baths didn’t kill them all off at once… After the fall of Rome, for some reason Europeans reverted back to not bathing, for whatever reason. Perfumes and colognes were used heavily for just this reason. And lethal? Ever hear of the Black Death? Fleas and lice loved to spread that fun little germ around. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/8 "2004-11-08T04:44:05Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > After the fall of Rome, for some reason Europeans reverted back to not bathing, for whatever reason. Perfumes and colognes were used heavily for just this reason. > . Not after the fall of Rome. Bathing was still customary during the dark ages (For instances Charlemagne loved taking lenghty baths and there were public baths in the towns). This custom dissaperead during the late middle-ages due to pressure from the church (public baths were often also brothels, and promoted promiscuity) and apparently also due to concerns about the health of people bathing too often (it could result in unhealthy changes in your “humors”, or somesuch). ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/9 "2004-11-08T05:03:58Z")
Do you intend to stop wiping as part of not bathing? Or just not bathe that which you still wipe? Either way, expect a long dry spell until you find a woman with a fetish for smelly sex. Remember, even the Tub Girl used a bathtub. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/10 "2004-11-08T05:05:40Z")
I suppose the up side is that you will not have to worry about being crowded on public transit, or being jostled in lines at the cinema. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/11 "2004-11-08T05:16:19Z")
The worst part is that people will start assuming that you’re French. 😛 Unlike not drinking water, bathing was still fine, right, as the heating of the water would work to kill most of the bacteria? ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/12 "2004-11-08T05:42:14Z")
Can’t you get Leprosy by not bathing for months? ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/13 "2004-11-08T05:43:12Z")
How about a sort of reverse of this question? What would happen if you spent all your time in a pool of water with temperature control and a carefully monitored PH level? Let’s Assume for sleeping they have some sort of harness connected to the roof or whatever that would keep your head above water but the rest of your body in the water. Talk about pruny hands :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/14 "2004-11-08T07:16:44Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > Can’t you get Leprosy by not bathing for months? Leprosy being a contagious disease caused by a bacillus, it can’t appear out of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/15 "2004-11-08T07:28:54Z")
Yes, and leprosy (now called Hansen’s disease because several other diseases were also historically called ‘leprosy’) is actually not terribly contagious. Around 90% to 95% of humans have some degree of natural immunity to leprosy, and it is spread almost exclusively by contact with an infected person, so it’s fairly unlikely that you’d get leprosy in a developed country, even if you didn’t bathe. The same goes for lice; you’d have to be in contact with someone who had them, and if you were, bathing wouldn’t help much. As far as getting diseases because you didn’t bathe goes, it’s fairly unlikely you would get sick because you didn’t bathe, and you certainly wouldn’t revert to medieval levels of health. Everyone else around you would still bathe, so they wouldn’t carry the diseases people used to get because they didn’t. The social consequences, of course, would be far greater now than in the past. One of the major reasons people didn’t bathe in middle ages, besides the fact that it’s very annoying to heat and carry enough water to fill a tub if you don’t have indoor plumbing and the Church doesn’t allow public baths, is that you have to be naked to bathe. This was considered immoral. Instead of bathing naked, people would wash certain parts of their body (their hands and faces, and probably their underarms and some other areas) but would not often undress and wash their entire bodies. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/16 "2004-11-08T07:51:48Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Not after the fall of Rome. Bathing was still customary during the dark ages (For instances Charlemagne loved taking lenghty baths and there were public baths in the towns). This custom dissaperead during the late middle-ages due to pressure from the church (public baths were often also brothels, and promoted promiscuity) and apparently also due to concerns about the health of people bathing too often (it could result in unhealthy changes in your “humors”, or somesuch). Argh! I knew it was something along those lines. Thanks for straightening me out. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/17 "2004-11-08T08:11:43Z")
Years ago, I visited Williamsburg, VA, which is a restored 18th century colonial town. I saw NO bathtubs in any house-not even in the governor’s palace! So, how did people smell back then? I did ask the tour guide about this-she said that people would bathe in rivers and ponds (in the summer time), but in winter, almosy NOBDY cleaned up (sabve for a washcloth). Soap was also very expensive (people made it at home, from tallow and lye). When was mass-produced, cheap soap commercially available? Were people in the pre-soap days infested with body lice, crabs, fleas, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/18 "2004-11-08T09:22:40Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > When was mass-produced, cheap soap commercially available? [By the 1850s.](http://www.sdahq.org/cleaning/history/soaphistory2.html) And detergent was invented in 1916. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/19 "2004-11-08T14:35:23Z")
I read somewhere that quite few west coat hippies during the 60’s were developing mysterious skin lesions. The local MD’s had never seen anything like it. It was only when a doctor was reading a century-old medical dictionary that he able to identify the lesions, and (most importantly) the cause: lack of bathing. It was later realized that it was in vogue amongst many Haight Ashbury hippies of the 60’s to forgo bathing (_yuck_), and they developed skins conditions that had not been seen for a hundred years. (And least that’s what I read.) ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569/20 "2004-11-08T15:18:41Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Years ago, I visited Williamsburg, VA, which is a restored 18th century colonial town. I saw NO bathtubs in any house-not even in the governor’s palace! So, how did people smell back then? I did ask the tour guide about this-she said that people would bathe in rivers and ponds (in the summer time), but in winter, almosy NOBDY cleaned up (sabve for a washcloth). Soap was also very expensive (people made it at home, from tallow and lye). > When was mass-produced, cheap soap commercially available? Were people in the pre-soap days infested with body lice, crabs, fleas, etc.? I think that another reason you don’t see bathtubs in restored buildings is that in past centuries, bathtubs weren’t permanent fixtures, like today. They were freestanding metal tubs that were brought out and filled when it was time to bathe. I’m pretty sure the colonial governor of Virginia didn’t usually bathe in the stream next to his house. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consequences-of-not-bathing/273569.md?page=2)