Did you know that Amou Haji, an Iranian man known for not bathing for more than 60 years, died a few months after bathing for the first time in 60 years?

Amou Haji (not real names) was an Iranian that was born on 20 August 1928, and earned the title as the "World's Dirtiest Man" for not bathing for more than 60 years from c. 1957–62 until shortly before his death in 2022. He received the name 'Amou Haji' which is an affectionate nickname generally given to elderly people, roughly meaning "old timer".

Amou Haji, who lived in the village of Dezh Gah in Fars province, one of the 31 provinces of Iran, did not bathe for over 60 years because he feared that soap and water might cause disease. He claimed that he had become a hermit (living in solitude) due to "emotional setbacks" after a heartbreak.

Amou Hajji was celibate in lifestyle. He ate meat from dead animals he found (especially rotting porcupines), drank water from puddles and rusty oil cans, smoked animal dung using an old pipe, donned a war helmet to fend off the cold, and lived in a hole that he had dug himself. To manage his hair, he burned off the excesses with a flame. His skin was covered with soot and pus as a result of his refusal to bathe.

He was photographed smoking multiple cigarettes simultaneously, and refused water, food, and other basic necessities offered to him. He said that these attempts to care for him made him sad. Once, a few young men attempted to forcefully give him a shower, but he managed to escape.

British Author and frequent radio presenter and podcast host for BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, Claudia Hammond, described Haji as having a "face and beard caked in mustard-brown earth" and that he "blends in" to the "barren landscape of southern Iran" and that, when he sits still, he "resembles a rock". His story was covered in a 2013 documentary titled 'The Strange Life of Amou Haji'.

Despite his unhygienic lifestyle, he lived to the age of 94. He died a few months after bathing for the first time in 60 years, having been persuaded by the inhabitants of the village to do so.

After Haji’s death, the unofficial record could go to an Indian man, Kailash “Kalau” Singh, who also had not bathed for much of his life. In 2009, the Hindustan Times reported that Singh, from a village outside the holy city of Varanasi, had not washed for more than 30 years in an attempt to help end “all the problems confronting the nation”.

Singh would reject water in favour of what he called a “fire bath”. He was even reported to have said: “It’s just like using water to take a bath. Fire bath helps kill all the germs and infections in the body.”

“Every evening as villagers gather, Kalau … lights a bonfire, smokes marijuana and stands on a leg praying to Lord Shiva,” the paper said. 

Sources: The Guardian | Wikipedia

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