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For many of us, showers are amazing. Warm water, soapy suds, good-smelling body washes, and soft, silky hair can really make or break someone's day. For others with minimal activity throughout the day, showering every day or even twice a day (as some people do) can seem particularly excessive--but in terms of science, how many times should you be showering a week?
BuzzFeed recently spoke to two dermatologists who say that Americans tend to show way more often than necessary.
According to Dr. Joshua Zeichner, assistant professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, how frequently we shower and what we perceive as body odor is “really more of a cultural phenomenon.” Boston dermatologist Dr. Ranella Hirsch shares this sentiment. “We overbathe in this country and that’s really important to realize,” she says. “A lot of the reason we do it is because of societal norms.”
These norms can actually be traced back to advertisements back in the Civil War era and the 1920s.
"After the Civil War, both advertising and “toilet soap” (i.e., soap for the body) became more prevalent in the United States," says Katherine Ashenburg, author of The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History. “Americans turned out to be much more gullible and susceptible to these things than Europeans."
Fast forward to the 1920s and '30s, and more women than ever are entering the workforce working closely together in factories--this meant that cleanliness and bathing became a major cultural focus. In fact, it came from "business books" like Dale Carnergie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People." His book mainly focused on attractiveness in terms of success.
“Germ theory didn’t matter half as much as promises of beauty,” Ashenburg says.
What people didn't know, however, is that showering too much can actually be a bad thing.
Zeichner and Hirsch explain that showering too much, especially with hot water, "can dry out and irritate skin, wash away the good bacteria that naturally exists on your skin, and introduce small cracks that put you at a higher risk of infection."
Of course, it depends on where you live and what you do throughout your day, but for the most part, you don't need to shower more than once every two or three days.
If you're worried about cleanliness, Zeichner and Hirsch suggest taking a soapy washcloth and washing your most dirt-prone: in other words, your "face, underarms, under the breasts, genitals, and rear end."
You should, however, put on clean undergarments every day. One study showed that we shed far more dirt and oil onto our clothes than we do in the shower--so keep clean by keeping your clothes clean!
What do you think about all this? Let us know what you think in the comments!
Photo Copyright © 2011 anieto2k/Flickr
