Amou Haji, a man who chose to live in complete isolation and forego bathing for nearly seven decades.
Bathing is a people’s habit everyday, though there’s discusion on how often it’s necessary. For Amou Haji, however, bathing simply wasn’t part of his life. For 67 years, he avoided water and soap entirely, and his reasons were deeply personal.
Over many years, his skin and hair took on a uniform grey color, blending in with the dusty surroundings of his simple shack.
Despite his unorthodox choices, he was known to drink up to five liters of water daily. Moreover, he also had a distinct diet: rather than accepting fresh food from villagers, he preferred to scavenge and consume roadkill, favoring porcupine. He was even rumored to eat his findings raw, no matter the state of decay.
Especially, despite these unusual practices, Amou Haji seemed in good health, and he lived to the impressive age of 94.
A few months before his passing, villagers had managed to persuade him to take his first bath in decades. Whether coincidental or not, he di:ed shortly afterward.
Prior to his death, Dr. Gholamreza Molavi, a professor at Tehran University’s School of Public Health, conducted tests on him, finding his health relatively stable in spite of his extreme lifestyle.
Amou Haji’s life reminds us of the countless ways people adapt to circumstances or personal beliefs, even if they seem strange to others. His story is an example in the resilience of the human body and the mysteries of human behavior.
