You may be seeing elaborate shower cleansing routines on social media: daily exfoliation, double cleansing, antibacterial soap, loads of scented body scrubs and shower oils.
“I’m kind of appalled by the shower routines,” said Dr. Olga Bunimovich, a practicing dermatologist and assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
The multistep processes that have inspired people to spend endless amounts of time sudsing up can harm your skin — and the environment. Dermatologists say it’s all mostly unnecessary.
Maybe I’m a little extra? In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I’ll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do a thousand now. After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.
A good shower is a cold shower.
Indeed. Simplified, skin is kind of like a building: collagen fibers (rebar), bricks (cells), and mortar (sebum). All of them are necessary.
Hot showers strip away the sebum, letting the skin’s moisture escape, but also leaving it vulnerable to bacteria and fungus. The latter is why the armpits and feet pump out substances which feed smelly bacteria— to ward off infections. Post-shower oils, as recommended in the article, are good, but even better is not stripping the natural oils in the first place. If moisture escapes, then you have to exfoliate to remove the skin cells which died, and follow up with “moisturizing” lotion with urea to break down the collagen strands.
The whole skincare regimen is a scam to get you to buy more, expensive products. All you need is lukewarm water, and a spritz of mild soap for pits and crotch. Amazingly, once you establish a healthy skin microbiome, your feet and pits don’t stink, and you no longer reek after 3 days of camping without a shower.
If I go for a swim in the morning I’m pretty sure a shower for that day is redundant
Showers are more than contact with water. Soap/cleansers help remove surface bacteria that water contact alone cannot. Also if you are rubbing your crack in a pool to clean that up then nobody else wants to swim there. You are supposed to shower before getting in a pool for a reason.
Hmmm… you must have acess to pools without 5 year olds.
I feel bad for the people around you.
Would that not depend on where they swim? If it’s a private pool or the ocean (saline solution) they should be good to go, no? I used to have access to both many many years ago and would forego a shower if I had done either.
No, you need soap to remove the bacteria that make you stink, unless you’re lucky genetically.
Hmm, 2 decades of it and I was just ducky. Guess I am anecdotal.
