It’s become a hot topic on 5ch that TV personality Tamori reportedly keeps up a bathing routine where he skips soap and shampoo entirely, just soaking in lukewarm water and rubbing off dead skin with his hands. On the thread, some pointed out that this might be fine for elderly people whose slowed metabolism keeps body odor at bay, but doing the same thing as a middle-aged person could be risky, while others countered that merely softening and sloughing off dead skin doesn’t count as actually being clean. A few posters even tried it themselves and reported back on how their bodies reacted, leading to a split between supporters and skeptics.
What people said
1AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:17
Soak in lukewarm water to loosen the grime, then gently rub it off with your hands.
Basically no soap or shampoo at all.
Won't that make you smell?
4AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:21
Old folks' metabolism slows down, so they don't get body odor or dandruff.
Young people shouldn't copy this.
5AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:21
Sweat starts smelling after about 12 hours, so as long as you rinse off just the old stuff on the surface, you won't smell.
8AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:27
I tried copying this for a while and haven't caught a cold or the flu.
(I still wash my armpits and dick with soap, though.)
9AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:27
The smelly guys on job sites — are they just not bathing, or not getting the smell out of their T-shirts? What's with those guys?
11AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:29
Fine for old folks whose metabolism has completely bottomed out, but risky for middle-aged people.
12AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:32
Are people talking like Tamori-san just started doing this bathing method recently?
13AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:32
Re: #1
He's soaking for like 40 minutes, right?
What a waste of hot water.
14AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:34
If you soak long enough to get waterlogged, of course the surface skin is going to come off.
He's basically using the whole bath just for that.
15AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:36
I just shower my body with hot water and a hostess (bar/club girl) told me I smelled nice.
28AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:47
Re: #15
Women sometimes say a smell is nice if it matches their preferred pheromones/antibodies, even if it's technically stinky.
Or it was just her buttering up a customer (service talk).
16AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:36
Just washing properly is easier and cleaner anyway.
17AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:37
Tamori looks like he'd use a ton of hair product, so I can't believe he skips shampoo.
21AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:39
Someone at Tamori's level probably has a private hot spring piped up from underground.
22AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:41
There might be some people who really don't smell, but I think most of them just can't smell themselves.
23AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:42
Over-washing isn't good.
Body wash is out of the question.
24AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:43
Unless you have dry skin, there's really no such thing as washing too much.
25AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:44
Smell might fade as you age.
When you're young, dead skin comes off like crazy — it'd even float in the bathwater.
58AnonymousOct 29, 2026 14:50
Re: #25
If anything, you get old-person odor instead.
26AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:45
So it's a method where you only remove the dead skin that comes off by rubbing with your hands.
I don't think the body would smell, but I'd still want shampoo to get my hair feeling clean.
I've got oily skin anyway.
27AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:45
If you soaked every day in strongly acidic water like the hot springs at Kusatsu (a famous acidic hot spring town), wouldn't that keep the smell away?
29AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:48
Wash your hair though — Matsuko's show said even women can end up thinning on top.
30AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:50
Even if Tamori did smell, nobody would dare say so.
33AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:57
Re: #30
If the smell came through the TV, that'd actually be kind of thrilling lol
39AnonymousOct 29, 2026 13:06
Re: #30
Ah, so that's the trick behind it.
31AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:53
The trap where the more you wash, the smellier you get.
The media sure loves setting that trap.
34AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:58
At the very least, you shouldn't scrub hard.
35AnonymousOct 29, 2026 12:59
When you're thinning on top, shampooing leaves a scary amount of hair in your hands and clogging the drain.
So I get the feeling behind 'shampoo makes you bald.'
36AnonymousOct 29, 2026 13:03
Same logic as not washing your dick too much.
38AnonymousOct 29, 2026 13:04
This bathing method is only hyped up by stinky guys.
41AnonymousOct 29, 2026 13:16
I bet everyone on-site actually bathes and does laundry properly — the thing that smells is the backpack.
49AnonymousOct 29, 2026 14:09
Re: #41
And that damp-laundry smell on clothes that didn't dry right.
42AnonymousOct 29, 2026 13:23
Most of the reasons you bathe and groom yourself aren't really for your own sake — they're so you don't bother other people.
Only a self-centered person could settle for 'just hot water is fine.'
62AnonymousOct 29, 2026 15:27
Re: #42
Smelling like nothing is better than smelling like perfume, though.
48AnonymousOct 29, 2026 14:06
Babies' bodies don't smell, right? That's because they're brand new and haven't been wrecked by surfactants yet.
Once cosmetics companies trick you into slathering on surfactants, your body goes into defense mode and pumps out sebum like crazy.
End result: a body that smells if you don't wash it every day.
52AnonymousOct 29, 2026 14:16
Re: #48
If you don't wash, you end up covered in piss and shit and reeking.
51AnonymousOct 29, 2026 14:14
Back in the day, a veteran actor went on 'Waratte Iitomo!' and talked about this bathing method, and Tamori was surprised.
After that, Tamori started doing it too.
53AnonymousOct 29, 2026 14:20
Re: #51
First I've heard of that.
Which veteran actor was it?
Background and Key Points of This Topic
As for where this bathing method originated, the thread notes that a veteran actor revealed the same habit on ‘Waratte Iitomo!,’ and Tamori, surprised, started doing it himself. However, there’s no record of Tamori ever officially commenting on his own body odor, so whether the method actually works remains purely speculative. The thread split between a theory that using soap and surfactants actually increases sebum production and makes you smell worse, and a counter-argument that skipping washing simply leaves sweat and grime behind, which is unhygienic — both sides leaning on personal anecdotes rather than medical evidence. Several posters noted that while this might apply to elderly people whose metabolism has slowed, it would be risky for younger and middle-aged people with higher sebum production to casually copy, suggesting this is a topic where individual differences in age and body type matter a great deal.
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