How to be healthy, look attractive and stimulate your brain at the same time

A short and easy tip…, and a more general one

  • Stop washing your face or evil bacteria will move in
  • Copy Retard’s Playbook for more “rules”

You are bacteria – don’t kill you

The skin evolved over millions of years as a delicate ecosystem.

It’s not “just” a skin, just a simple tarpaulin. No, it’s a complicated and living organ. Just as more than 99% of the genes we carry around are bacterial, the skin, including the face, is covered by a layer of bacteria.

Those little guys, good and bad, are exactly everywhere, and excessive cleaning kills the good bacteria that have developed a stable culture on your face and leaves a void for the first visitor to fill. Quite recently that knowledge has inspired new routines for C-sections, where bacteria from the birth canal are applied to the newborns within seconds from delivery.

 

A spotless face is everything but

Have you noticed, like I have, that you can keep your face spotless as long as you wash, moisturize and nourish yourself perfectly, but the least miss in the routine (morning, evening or around gym, partying or other activities) can make you go from your best to your worst in a couple of days (I used to, after partying, drinking, eating sugar and not following my routine before going to bed, perhaps not the morning after either due to the hangover, and topping it all off with a pizza).

As I mentioned in this post about managing short term decisions and long term consequences, I stopped using soap, scrubs, cleansers etc on my face seven months ago.

Now my face looks better than ever, not to mention withstands “attacks” (alcohol, candy, sun, sweat, touching etc.) better than ever. Perhaps best of all, I save time and mental energy, by not having to think about washing my face or about missing washing after a night out or somebody touching me. Science also tells me my skin looks much better under a microscope as well as will look better for longer.

The short and easy tip is to stop washing your face you too. Try it. Give it a month to allow for the right bacteria to establish a stable culture. Also try rubbing some armpit bacteria in your face, to speed up the process.

 

Do much more than stop washing

The more general tip is to try stuff like this every once in a while. Read blogs, and listen to science pod casts for inspiration (e.g., 60-Second science, Nature, Science Talk, TED Radio Hour, Gastropod, Brain Science, Discovery and Freakonomics). In general, simply keep your eyes, ears and mind open to discoveries and ideas that could benefit you directly.

Don’t believe or try everything you find, at least not on the first occurrence. However, once a concept and its applications keep surfacing; once you develop an understanding or get a strong recommendation from a trusted source it is time to give it a try.

It took me quite some time from the first time I heard about it until I came to trust and first tried and then made into habits things like fasting, not washing my face, mobility exercises, omega3-oil, lactobacillus reuteri pills and D-vitamin. There are many other things I’ve considered and discarded with or without trying, and there are a few contenders awaiting more information (power poses, bulletproof coffee, brain activation, meditation).

4 in the morning on May 1, after 14 hours of drinking. Luckily, my habits protect me

 

Retard’s Playbook is coming

I’m not saying you should blindly copy my tried and tested “lifehacks” from Retard’s Playbook (yes, there will be a book about my philosophy, ethics, investing, tips and tricks, quotes, thoughts on efficiency, education, career, happiness, health, bodybuilding etc. – just don’t hold your breath. Do however subscribe, and tell other interested friends to subscribe, to be sure to get it, as well as my first book about my time at the Hedge Fund Of The Decade).

However, I am saying you should look for your own science-based rules for health and happiness (which, on the other hand, I think will turn out to be more or less the same ones I have identified, so if you trust me, go ahead and take my short cut).

Please note that this post is not about vanity, it’s about discovery and health, about feeding and stimulating your inner pattern recognition drive. Then again…, a clean face is a sign of health, which in itself is attractive and trustworthy.

 

Trust me, stop cleansing, keep calm and subscribe

And as a friendly reminder, trust me on the face thing. Let your last face wash earlier today be just that… your last. Oh, and please subscribe or share this article with somebody who might like it.