Topic · 8 articles
History
Romans, Victorians, and the ways humans have cleaned (and over-cleaned) their skin for millennia.
Are We Still Paying for the Beauty Routines of the 1950s?
How postwar antibacterial mania reshaped the skin microbiome of an entire generation—and may still be affecting yours.
Read articleHow the Romans Cleaned Their Skin Without Soap (And Why It Worked)
Ancient Romans scraped oil and sweat off with metal blades. Turns out, their skin microbiome may have been healthier for it.
Read articleIs There 2,000-Year-Old Microbial Logic Behind the Korean Double Cleanse?
Ancient cleansing rituals may have preserved skin bacteria better than modern soap. Here's the microbial science behind oil-then-water.
Read articleIs Your Skin Microbiome Older Than Your Species?
The bacteria on your face may have been evolving with primates for 20 million years—long before humans existed.
Read articleThe Silent Extinction of the Skin Microbiome
Your skin used to be a rainforest. Now it's a parking lot. An extinction event is happening on every square inch of your skin.
Read articleWe Got Too Clean
Germ theory saved the world, then we took it too far. 150 years of sanitization, and the ecosystem we're only just learning we need.
Read articleWesternization and Skin: Which Microbes Did We Lose When We Moved Indoors?
What happened to our skin bacteria when we traded open air for climate control, soil for sanitizer, and sunlight for fluorescents?
Read articleWhat Hunter-Gatherer Skin Reveals About Our Modern Microbiome
Swab a Hadza forager's skin and you'll find species city dwellers lost generations ago. What happened—and does it matter?
Read article