You’re Showering Too Much
In October, when the Canadian air starts drying out, the men flock to Sandy Skotnicki’s office. The men are itchy. Skotnicki studied microbiology before becoming an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Toronto. She has been practicing for 23 years, always with an eye to how the environment—including the microbial one on our skin—affects health. “I say to them, ‘How do you shower?’ ” she told me. “They take the squeegee thing and wash their whole body with some sort of men’s body wash. They’re showering twice a day because they’re working out. As soon as I get them to stop doing that and just wash their bits, they’re totally fine.”
Bits?
“Bits would be underarms, groin, feet,” she said. “So when you’re in the shower or the bath, do you need to wash here?” She pointed to her forearm. “No.” Even water alone, especially hot water, slowly strips away the oils in the outer layers of skin that help preserve moisture—and the drier and more porous someone’s skin, the more susceptible it is to irritants and allergens.
Skotnicki believes that this is one way overwashing prompts eczema to flare in people with a genetic predisposition to the disease. While eczema itself can be debilitating, it often does not travel alone. It seems to be part of a constellation of conditions caused by immune-system misfires. Infants with eczema have an increased risk of developing allergic rhinitis or asthma in childhood, part of a cascade of immune-system overreactions known as the “atopic march.”
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 26 | June 29, 2020 11:46 PM
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Please. Most people don't shower enough.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | June 29, 2020 5:00 PM
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Right now I’m not showering daily so I guess I’m doing what she says 😂
by Anonymous | reply 2 | June 29, 2020 5:09 PM
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I'm with the dermatologist. Too many Americans (and Brazilians worse) shower (or say that they do) more often than I have a proper meal in a day. Unless you're doing something uncommonly filthy, once should be more than sufficient for most people.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 3 | June 29, 2020 5:15 PM
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When I quit shampooing my hair every day, the overall appearance and health of my hair seemed to improve drastically over time. Now I only shampoo it once per week. I wash/rinse it every day at least once, but only use soap once per week. What a difference.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | June 29, 2020 5:16 PM
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Twenty years ago I was having constant skin problems, not only severe dryness and itching but also constant rashes. My doctor finally referred me to a dermatologist, and after examining me, the first thing he asked was how I often I showered.
I told him a long hot shower every day. He told me to take a short lukewarm shower every 2 or 3 days and all I needed to lather up were my pits, my groin, my butthole and my feet. He also told me to switch to a fragrance free soap. He said if I didn't feel clean to use a washrag to do a bird bath at the sink on the days between showers.
All my problems, which had been severe, were gone in about 10 days.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | June 29, 2020 5:23 PM
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R5 I will avoid the blow in the gay men on your derm’a patient roster. I like dick and ass to be super clean
by Anonymous | reply 6 | June 29, 2020 5:28 PM
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Damn I typed like a beginning ESL student. I’ll avoid blowing the gay men on that doctor’s roster.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | June 29, 2020 5:29 PM
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OP, are you Nan Michiganwomyn?
by Anonymous | reply 8 | June 29, 2020 5:31 PM
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Also, I used to work at Whole Foods back in the day. I walked into the Body Care department one day because I was out of soap for my face and asked the hippie-dippie skin guru what I should buy. He said "not soap", and explained that I needed to stop using any kind of lathering/soap/cleanser on my face altogether because it dries out the skin, pulls out natural oils, and makes the skin unbalanced, causing the need for MORE PRODUCTS.
He had me stop using soap entirely on my face. Use warm water to wash the face gently, and then after a shower or bath or face "rinsing", to apply a dime-sized dot of Jojoba oil to my face every day.
For about a week, I had a few pimples, and he said that was just the skin "evening out" and getting rid of toxins. And after that, I'll say my skin never felt better.
It's now been almost 20 years and while I definitely could do more to take care of my face, I'm convinced I'm aging more slowly than some of my friends because of this practice.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | June 29, 2020 6:38 PM
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R9 I wonder if the same applies to women as well. I don’t wear make up and lately just splash my face with water every day and then washing every 2 days since I’m at home all the time Then I use a facial moisturizer like oil of Olay.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | June 29, 2020 6:52 PM
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R9 that’s true, never use soap on your face, just water unless it’s filthy dirty.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | June 29, 2020 6:55 PM
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I knew that hygiene was a bad idea!
by Anonymous | reply 12 | June 29, 2020 7:01 PM
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Clearly these reports and studies were NOT conducted in FLORIDA during the SUMMER.
Anyone not showering daily during a Florida summer should not be allowed in public places and should be ticketed and fined if they do insist on strolling the aisles of stores leaving wafts of their stench behind.
At the very least, get some Hibiclens (Walgreens/CVS/Target) and wipe down your pits, private parts and under any skin folds. Thank you in advance.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | June 29, 2020 7:10 PM
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Agree with R13, Florida and ESPECIALLY uncut men such as myself. There’s no way I could go more than a day without sleeve stank.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | June 29, 2020 7:30 PM
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I haven’t showered in weeks but I know it’s not healthy. Due to depression/anxiety/self-esteem issues and my foot/leg being injured (in pain, uncomfortable when I take my boot off) I dread taking a shower. I know I stink (especially my feet/pits) but I can’t get myself to take a shower.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | June 29, 2020 8:08 PM
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r15
Can you get some baby wipes and/or Hibiclens? You will feel better just taking care of the pits/privates/feet and you can use these sitting down, watching tv...
by Anonymous | reply 16 | June 29, 2020 8:14 PM
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Shower, wash the bits and once a week get the rest of it.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | June 29, 2020 8:17 PM
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Please stop talking about bits. There are children on this site.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | June 29, 2020 8:46 PM
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That's why homeless people have gorgeous skin and hair!
by Anonymous | reply 19 | June 29, 2020 8:53 PM
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Something no one will ever accuse the French of doing. They refuse to shower even in quarantine.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | June 29, 2020 9:05 PM
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I am totally with R13 and R14. I live in South Florida now, coming from New York City. The portal to Satan’s lair is cooler than it is here right now. One, sometimes two showers a day. No skin issues.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | June 29, 2020 9:09 PM
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I shower about once a week but do the “whore’s bath (bits) daily. My skin never looked better. However I don’t sweat much even with a strenuous workout.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | June 29, 2020 9:27 PM
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[quote]Clearly these reports and studies were NOT conducted in FLORIDA during the SUMMER. Anyone not showering daily during a Florida summer should not be allowed in public places and should be ticketed and fined if they do insist on strolling the aisles of stores leaving wafts of their stench behind.
Thank you r13
In Florida, you can get drenched with sweat just walking from your air conditioned car to your air conditioned destination. If you exercise in your air conditioned gym, the A/C wont stop you from sweating from practically every pore. Sometimes in late afternoon, it gets so hot, you still get sweaty inside w/AC.
So bathing once a day with a scrub brush is a necessity for me. Super strength deodorant. IMO, you can only wear clothes once during the summer. I wash my face in morning with the Clarisonic brush, avoid moisturizer and used powder-based makeup. At night I again wash my face with a scrub consisting of mild moisturizing cleanser and baking soda. I sleep in a room so cold that my friends call Regan's room.
No dry skin. The sweat is nature's moisturizer.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | June 29, 2020 9:33 PM
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I've also moved to shampooing and soap up completely once a week, I don't really see much of a change but I never had many problems to begin with.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | June 29, 2020 9:35 PM
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I am also showering less. Depression and isolation. Horrible and I don't care about my skin. I enjoy being clean.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | June 29, 2020 10:45 PM
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