He most likely died of being fucking 94.
I imagine that if they managed to convince him is because he wasn’t feeling too well.
In other words, maybe what killed him wasn’t having bath but what made him change his mind about the bath.
Almost certainly a correlation ≠ causation situation. Bathing wouldn’t suddenly destroy his probably insanely resistant immune system.
That is true, but bathing after avoiding it for 60 years is still a significant change in environment that probably isn’t great if you’re 94 years old.
This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen posited.
That’s too harsh, unless you are a medical expert who is 100% confident this cannot be. I doubt that you are.
Skin has its own microbial flora and is the largest organ of our body. Imagine you take antibiotics. This can lead to all kinds of side effects, because good bacteria just as bad are killed and your gut needs to repopulate.
If you did not wash your skin for decades, I’m pretty certain that you will acquire a pretty unique and rich microbiome on your skin that co-exists with you in symbiosis if you are healthy. Now you just wash it away.
That’s also why some people believe in snake oil. People get desperate to try something after a few days of illness and then suddenly feel better after doing the thing. They would have gotten better without it, but the timing makes it seem like the thing cured them. It’s why we use double blind studies instead of anecdotes like this.
Did you know actual snake oil was used in traditional Chinese medicine for arthritis. Aparently it’s quite high in Omega-3. But it got popular and then grifters started selling random concoctions and calling it snake oil and that’s how it became synonymous with quackery.
Not really related to the point of your comment, I just read about it recently and thought it was interesting.
Neat! Thanks for sharing
That was probably a big stressful change after a lifetime of avoiding bathing. I wouldn’t rule out incidental causation.
No. It was the curse.
He used to smoke dried animal shit through an old car exhaust pipe too.
Why though
Might be nice.
Have you tried it?
In today’s news: In the fight between correlation vs causation most people will still bet on correlation.
You’re right but:
Despite his extreme uncleanliness his health remained remarkably intact for most of his life. Medical experts in Iran observed that while he tested positive for a parasite infection called trichinosis the condition appeared asymptomatic. One public health professor speculated that his unconventional immune system may have adapted to his environment.
I’d bet on causation here.
Bummer. Bath time is glorious.
We needed a negative control, dammit!
And to honor this man, I’ve never showered since.
There are USAians who believe that showering is bad for health and don’t do it. They say “everybody says I smell fine”. I’d have to find the article about it.
From what I’ve been told, the smell of BO disappears after a while. Instead, they smell like a farm animal. But they have to skip bathing long enough for that change to occur, and it gets undone whenever they bathe.
As for people saying they smell fine, as obnoxious as we are, very few people are willing to tell someone they smell like shit. Most of us will even directly lie to them to avoid the difficult conversation.
A shower is just a bidet for the whole body, and some people are weirdly opposed to bidets, so I guess being anti-shower could just be an extension of that
No offense, StraponStratos, but imma keeping a few feet away…
Your loss. I’ve been told I’m very funky and cultured.
By ‘cultured’ they actually meant ‘fungi’.
Thanks, I am pretty fun. I like to get out on the weekends and work up a sweat.
