Kutcher, Kunis aren’t fans of frequent baths
It looks like the KutcherKunis family is saving money on soap.
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis appeared on an episode of Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast and the talk turned to bathing.
After Shepard told cohost Monica Padman that using soap every day rids the body of natural oils, Kutcher and Kunis agreed, saying they only wash vitals every day.
Padman was stunned to be in the daily full-body wash minority and asked, “Who taught you to not wash?”
“I didn’t have hot water growing up as a child so I didn’t shower very much anyway,” Kunis said.
That has apparently continued with her and Kutcher’s two kids, Wyatt, 6, and Dimitri, 4.
“I wasn’t that parent that bathed my newborns, ever,” Kunis said.
And now that they are older, Kutcher said they have a system.
“If you can see the dirt on them, clean them,” he said. “Otherwise, there’s no point.”
Kutcher said he does wash his “armpits and my crotch daily and nothing else ever,” and has a tendency to “throw some water on my face after a workout to get all the salts out.”
Kunis said she washes her face twice a day.
How often you should bathe really depends on your daily activities, according to Elaine Larson, senior scholar in residence at the New York Academy of Medicine and professor emerita of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
“I think people are sort of stuck on, ‘How often should I bathe?’ or ‘How often should I clean my hands?’ but it has more to do with what you’ve done,” Larson said. “I think the question is, ‘When are the appropriate times to bathe or to wash your hands?’ and it’s when they get contaminated.”
The emergence of modern hygiene practices has been responsible for reductions in many diseases, Larson said. Now, however, most people in developed countries have clean water, soap and clean places to live. This means the main reason for bathing is no longer to prevent disease, but for aesthetic purposes — to look and smell clean, she said.
Bathing recommendations vary by age. Infants should be cleaned with soap once or twice a week, said Dr. Andrew Doyle.