I’ve recently been washed away by the ongoing debate about whether hopping into a bath or shower is more of an option than a necessity, writes Cape {town} Etc’s Lynn Cupido. I’d like to believe that I’m an open-minded person, but I’ll admit that I found my nose spontaneously wrinkling up in disgust.
So, why the sudden interest in everyone’s personal hygiene habits? Well, the debate appears to have been started by a group of celebrities (obviously). Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are apparently strong advocates of “no bath time,” especially when it comes to their kids.
The revelation sent social media users into an absolute frenzy, clearly drawing a line between the bathers and the non-bathers. Spending endless hours at home during a pandemic and enjoying months in quarantine appears to have helped the latter, as a poll taken by Millennial Podcast in May 2020 revealed that listeners were showering less frequently throughout quarantine. These numbers were bolstered by The Daily Mail who disclosed that at least 25% of people in the United Kingdom gave up on showering during the pandemic.
A dermatologist recently spoke to Healthline to help shed some light on the ongoing “debate”. Derrick Phillips states that while showering or bathing once a day is ideal for social reasons, it’s not a necessity when it comes to our overall health.
“Washing once a day is adequate for most children and adults to maintain a socially acceptable level of personal hygiene and cleanliness.
“The skin is self-cleaning and naturally exfoliates,” he says. “Scrubbing helps to remove physical dirt and reinforce the perception of cleanliness, but isn’t necessary,” he adds.
The conclusion? While scrubbing yourself daily will help you to smell like a bouquet of roses, it doesn’t affect your overall health and is neither good nor bad. However, there’s been a lot of talk around the negative impact of scrubbing yourself from head to toe each day. However, Healthline concludes that this is not harmful to our skin, despite the negative effects reported in the media.
“Bathing daily can make the skin drier if you don’t moisturize, but that’s about all that can be proven. Its effects on our microbiome are speculative,” says dermatologist Dr Adarsh Mudgil.
Eco-warriors may be jumping for joy at the thought of bathing once in a while as it’s a great way to help the planet. According to numerous studies, around 20% of water is lost when hopping in the shower. We’ve all had moments where we’ve just stood under a hot shower and zoned out, well, researchers have a name for this – behavioural waste. Despite taking your time and indulging in some self-care while running some hot water, this can be detrimental to the planet, with consequences being another Day Zero.
As a regular schmoe in society, I say: to each their own, but just make sure you’ve slathered your underarms in roll-on when choosing to stand near me when taking the train.
Also read:
Picture: Instagram Kiara King