Most people tend to take one shower every day, sometimes even more. In our modern world, hygiene is often held in the highest regard, and a shower a day tends to be the norm in order to maintain the high hygiene standards that makes most people feel comfortable about their bodies. Some might see this as a good thing, but studies have shown that many people now shower too much. The more frequently you shower, the more harm you just might be doing to your skin. So how often should you shower?
How Often Should You Shower?
In the question of how often you should shower, the answer is a very individual one, based on several factors that are unique to your body and circumstance. Here are a few things to consider when you are trying to decide how often to take a shower.
1. Your Culture
A great deal of our showering ideals come from the culture we grew up in. For instance, those in Australia are often called the “cleanest people on the planet” because they rarely go a day without a shower. However, those in third world countries might go for a week or more without one, and that is entirely acceptable to those in the home, village or town. Religious and cultural beliefs might play a big part in how often you feel it is necessary to shower.
2. Your Lifestyle
How often should you shower? Well, how you live your life makes a big difference. For instance, if you work in a job that means you are sweating a great deal, then a shower once or twice a day might be a necessity for you. If you are frequently working outside, getting a lot of exercise or in a messy environment, showers can be great. But if you are sedentary and don’t come into contact with things that might get your skin dirty, then showering less might be just be fine.
3. Your Skin Type
When you are deciding how often to shower, let your skin lead the way. If you have extremely oily skin, then showering more than once a day might be required. But if you have very dry skin, showering might actually make that worse, so holding off to every other day could be your normal need. When you do shower, make sure that you use the right kind of soap and water temperature for your skin. You can figure this out over time and with some experimentation.
4. Other Factors
There are other factors that go into the question of daily showering. Elderly individuals might be much more sedentary than their younger counterparts, and therefore they might need to shower much less. But those who are very active need more frequent showers. Women who are menstruating might choose to take more than one shower a day to feel clean, while small children might need a bath only once every few days. Those who have certain medical issues should consult a doctor on whether they need to bathe more or less often.
How often should you shower? That depends greatly upon how you feel about yourself and your hygiene. If you feel you need a daily shower, or even a twice-daily one, and you simply feel too self-conscious without doing that, then by all means, continue doing what makes you feel good! But if you aren’t sure about showering every day, there is nothing wrong with that either.
Why Showering Less Might Be Good for You?
What happens when you shower too often? Depending upon your skin type, your body might face consequences of showering too much. There can be benefits to skipping the daily shower and instead, just cleaning your body when it really needs it.
Before you turn on the tap, here are a few benefits to less showering to consider:
1. Keep Your Skin Moisturized
Your skin maintains a very delicate balance of living skin cells, dead skin cells and the lipids, or oils, which keep the skin healthy. By allowing your skin to do its own thing and not upsetting that balance with too much showering, you might actually be healthier. Showers every other day might allow your skin to create the proper oils needed to keep your body soft and supple, rather than too-frequent showers that keep your body dry and open to irritation.
2. Leave Beneficial Bacteria
Studies have shown that frequent showering washes away the colonies of beneficial bacteria that live on our skin. These good germs can help protect your body from the outside world, thus keeping your rate of infection low. The more often you wash away these bacteria, the more likely you will be to develop an infection of the skin.
3. Save Water
This is a big sticking point for those who love the environment. The more showers you take, the more water you use. The more water you use, the more stress is put on water systems, and the more the environment suffers. If you use harsh soaps or other chemicals when you shower, you are also adding those to water supply – the water that goes down the drain has to end up somewhere, and it always goes back into the environment eventually. Besides that, saving water can mean saving money for you, as it takes energy to heat all that water you use for the showers.
Though these are all compelling reasons to shower less, please keep in mind that staying clean is good for your body, and these suggestions should not be taken to mean that you should forget showering regularly. However, less just might be more for you.