Can you be too clean?

[spoodle]

I wonder if purifying our bodies makes us too clean?
even if that means taking too many baths/showers,
brushing/flossing teeth too much, too much deodorant, etc, are we not better being a bit 'dirty'?!

[Shadow Man]

Not so much the body but I read somewhere that our infatuation with ablutions and cleansiness have resulted in the rise of conditions such as asthma etc. The reason being a child builds up little or no "natural" resistance to pollutants, bacteria and infections.

I know when I was a child I bathed once a week whether I needed it or not. If I went out to play I wore dirty clothes and can not recall wearing deodourant until at least puberty.

The family dogs licked my face and I recall not washing my hands obligatory before every meal. To the best of my memory, I have never been ill in my life. I get one maybe two colds a year, if that, and have never had a stomach virus in my life.

[cruella]

I totally agree that we are too obsessed with cleanliness, I being one of the worst people going. lol
We seems to live in a plastic bubble now and the Health and safety issues laid down at work are just taking things a bit too far.
Probably the reason why antibiotics do not work so well either now.
We are no healthier a nation now than forty years ago.