What is the most misunderstood hygiene habit?
Written by Thomas Caine
Every single dermatologist discourages the habit to shower every day, because it’s (very) bad for your skin to begin with.
And virtually every single person refuses to accept this.
For those people who persist anyhow despite the medical advice, the second skin sin is to use shower gels every which way — most every shower gel is very aggressive for our skin because it destroys our natural protective skin oils and protective bacteria, and in the end we usually reap what we (almost literally) sow: skin rashes, itches and scratches, eczema flares, skin infections, fungal problems, and what have you.
People refuse to accept these scientific facts though, and choose the direct effect: the shower gel makes us smell good, and one day without a shower makes us feel dirty. But it is actually the other way around, as the typical skin problems clearly show. Daily showering with body washes actually makes us dirty.
In the genital department, things are even worse.
The most sensitive body parts when it comes to cleaning up, are down there, and our private parts cannot handle your average shower gel at all: the acidity of commercial scented soap is all wrong, and often leads to bad genital hygiene, irritation, yeast infections and the like.
The vaginal flora can be so much affected by distorted showering and shower gel habits, that it often leads to bacterial vaginosis; if you initially went for fragrance, this is definitely not the smell you wished for. (Think rotting fish, even with your pants on.)
Use mild, fragrance-free soap instead which respects the physiological pH of the genital area (which is slightly acidic) — or even better: use only water. Again: I know you won’t believe me, and I know you won’t believe your dermatologist or urologist either.
But once you or your spouse catch bacterial vaginosis, you might be inclined to think otherwise, because that kind of stench converts even the most devoted believer.
There’s only so much that meets the nose.
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-misunderstood-hygiene- habit/answer/Thomas-Cayne-1