A review by moseslh
Clean by James Hamblin

5.0

This book (and the Atlantic and New Yorker articles that convinced me to read it) really flipped the way I think about skin care upside down. I knew close to nothing about the skin microbiome (or skin in general) before reading this, but Hamblin makes it very accessible and fun to read. Hamblin's book includes a fascinating history of soap and other skin products, focusing on the intense marketing campaigns that soap companies launched. These campaigns persuaded people that they were dirty, ugly, and unhygenic unless they scrubbed their whole body with soap every day, and they were intense! (Did you know that soap operas got their name because they were owned by soap companies for the purpose of product placement?)
Hamblin's "new science of skin" makes a convincing case that our skin is capable of reaching a healthy equilibrium without the application of any expensive products. I was surprised to learn how many skin and hair products were developed and marketed to solve problems caused by other skin and hair products (this is the shampoo-conditioner and soap-moisturizer symbiosis). Overall, this was a fascinating book that can help you improve your skin health while saving time and money, and I would highly recommend it to anyone with skin.