The "Grandmother Rule" Of Washing Your Body Is Backed By Science

Scientists investigated what they call "The Grandmother Hypothesis" when it comes to washing your skin, finding that people tend to miss several key areas, and their microbiome is less healthy as a result. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

The team from the George Washington University Computational Biology Institute was investigating the skin microbiome – that is, the community of microorganisms living on people's skin – of healthy individuals, with a particular focus on variations across skin areas, such as between the arms and those neglected areas of washing like the navel and behind the ears.

Keith Crandall, Director of the Computational Biology Institute and professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics at George