Taking a bath or shower does a number of things. It removes some of the germs that your body comes in contact with throughout the day, germs that come from the air you pass through and from the objects, animals, and people you touch. A good washing of the skin also removes some of the dead cells that makes up its surface, allowing newer cells to take their place. Washing removes odors that may be caused by sweating; along with water and salt, perspiration contains waste products from body processes. Certain sweat glands called apocrines release a kind of sweat that can become particularly strong smelling.Today we also wash to look good-washing with soap and water is the best way to avoid oily, dirty skin and hair, and it's generally agreed that those are things we want to avoid. But that wasn't always what people thought. Over the centuries, different people in various parts of the world have done crazy things in the name of personal cleanliness and beauty. A few thousand years ago, for instance, people in Europe washed themselves with mud, scraping it off with an iron tool. They then rubbed oil on themselves because oily skin was considered attractive. And long ago the Gauls of what is now southern France tried to make themselves more appealing by stiffening their hair with a mixture of fat and ash. Unexpectedly, they found that-when combined with water-their hair mixture made a good soap!