How Often Should You Shower? Tips and Advices for Health

When it comes to the question of the adequate frequency, opinions differ – experts clarify. For some it is the relaxation after a long day at work, others simply won’t wake up in the morning without it. The fact is: the daily shower is a must for almost everyone. But apart from the individual feeling for cleanliness: is it necessary that often?

Baths in particular can spice up us. They strengthen the immune, alleviate muscle pain if necessary, improve circulation and make it easier for us to breathe. These advantages also come into play when showering in a slightly weakened form. In addition, there is the simply necessary cleaning of the skin, which has to be freed from bacteria which would otherwise lead to irritation.

Everyone thinks that they shower for hygienic reasons or to be clean. But from a bacteriological point of view, that is not the case. Regular removal of the fats dries out the skin and would encourage the accumulation. Especially advertised as cleansing products, the skin only would additionally burden and would have no better side than a conventional soap.

So how often should you shower? Your body is a well-oiled mechanism. Daily showering is not necessary. According to experts, once or twice a week is enough to preserve both the skin oils and the bacteria necessary for the skin. However, you don’t have to sit down smelly in the office. The face, armpits and genital area can be cleaned daily.

How Often Should You Shower?

Showering Too Often Can Actually Harm Us

Because frequent showering attacks the skin and makes it dry. And dry, damaged skin is much more susceptible to infections – especially as we get older and our skin becomes thinner and drier. Most over-wash themselves. With too frequent and too hot showers, we wash off the protective barrier of our skin, making it much more prone to skin irritation and other infections.

In principle, the answer to this is yes, although the consequences should not be too drastic as a rule. Since showering is supposed to rid us of bacteria, those that actually offer protection are also attacked. If you use shampoo and soap too often, you also run the risk of drying out your skin and hair.

A real risk of exposing yourself to a health risk by showering too much exists only in very few cases. For example, irritations in the presence of a skin disease are conceivable, especially if the person concerned uses unsuitable soap. Showering excesses are likely to cause more damage to the environment than to humans. Thanks to shampoo and gel, substances that have lost little there also get into the groundwater.