James Hamblin

We treat our skin as a surface to be kept clean and clear, requiring daily application of soap, moisturisers and many other products. But while hygiene - and hand-washing especially - is essential to prevent the spread of disease, this attitude to skincare might actually be damaging our health. In fact, our skin is a complex and diverse ecosystem, playing host to trillions of bacteria that are integral to our immune system. By removing them with soap, we potentially compromise the protection they afford.

Not only is our overuse of soap and skincare products harming the environment, it is likely to be exacerbating or even causing many of the skin conditions we seek to remedy or avoid, and increasing our vulnerability to allergies. In Clean, specialist in preventive medicine James Hamblin shows that this is a relatively recent development, and a healthier, simpler way is available. An irreverent and entertaining journey through our complex relationship with our bodies and cleanliness arrives at a new and scientific conception of skincare that is now taking hold: the cultivation of a healthy biome and a natural approach to being clean.