"Common Showering and Bathing Mistakes"

Bathing Too Often: Showering every day may be a habit, but unless you’re grimy or sweaty, you may not need to bathe more than a few times a week. Washing removes healthy oil and bacteria from your skin, so bathing too often could cause dry, itchy skin and allow bad bacteria to enter through cracked skin. When you expose your body to normal dirt and bacteria, it actually helps strengthen your immune system. Plus, showering too often wastes water.

Using the Wrong Soap: Antibacterial soaps can kill too much bacteria, including the good kind. This can allow bad bacteria that’s resistant to antibiotics to move in. Harsh soaps can dry out your skin, so stick with mild soaps with added oils, gentle cleansers, or shower gels with added moisturizers. If you have eczema or sensitive skin, scented soaps can irritate your skin. Use fragrance-free soaps instead.

Not Washing Your Towel Often Enough: Damp towels are a breeding ground for bacteria, yeasts, mold, and viruses. A dirty towel can cause toenail fungus, jock itch, athlete’s foot, and warts. Yikes! To avoid this, change or launder your towel at least once a week and make sure it dries between uses. Hang it spread out on a towel bar rather than from a hook to help it dry quicker. Wash towels more often when you’re sick and if your home is humid, like during the summer.

Not Cleaning Your Loofah: Loofahs are great for scrubbing, but their nooks are the perfect hiding place for germs. You should clean your loofah weekly by soaking it in diluted bleach for five minutes and rinsing well. Although it’s convenient to store your loofah in the shower, it’s safer to shake it out and hang it somewhere cool where it will dry faster. You should replace a natural loofah at least every 3 to 4 weeks and a plastic one every 2 months.

Blasting Hot Water: A long, hot shower feels so good, especially in winter, but hot water removes your skin’s natural oils and can leave you dry and itchy. Protect your skin by sticking with warm water and keeping your shower to 5 to 10 minutes. This is especially important if you have a skin condition like eczema or psoriasis.

Washing Your Hair Too Often: Unless you have an oily scalp, you probably don’t need to wash your hair daily. If you have curly, coarse, or chemically treated hair, wash your hair less often to keep it from getting too dry. Try going longer between washes and see how it feels. Even if you exercise or sweat every day, it’s best to keep a regular hair-washing schedule. As you get older, you don’t need to shampoo as often because your scalp makes less oil.

Not Installing a Grab Bar: Tens of thousands of people in the U.S. fall and get hurt each year while bathing or getting in or out of the tub or shower. A grab bar can help prevent falls. It’s also a good idea to put nonslip mats inside bathtubs and showers.

Not Cleaning Your Showerhead: Your showerhead is an ideal home for bacteria, which love to grow in its small, damp, dark holes. When the water runs, the bacteria can enter the air you breathe. This is hard to avoid, but you can remove and clean the showerhead in boiling water to help kill the bacteria. It also helps to run hot water for a minute before you get in the shower, and drain as much water as possible from the showerhead when you’re done bathing.

Not Moisturizing Right After: Lotion, cream, or any moisturizer works by trapping the moisture in your skin. The best time to put it on is right after you bathe. Apply moisturizer within a few minutes of drying off.

Using Soap Where You Shouldn’t: Not all areas of your body need soap in order to get clean. Limit soap to your armpits, groin, feet, hands, and face, and stick to warm water for the rest of your body. This will help keep your skin from getting too dry. Using soap on your vagina could irritate it and upset the balance of natural bacteria, which can lead to bacterial vaginosis.

Keeping Minor Cuts Covered: There’s no need to keep minor cuts dry or cover them for showering. If you have a minor wound, it’s best to take the bandage off and clean it every day with soap and warm water, and the shower is a great place to do that. Put on a new bandage after you dry off. Your doctor will tell you how to care for more serious wounds. 

Not Running the Bathroom Fan: The bathroom can get mighty humid during a bath or shower, and over time that moisture in the air can damage your woodwork and drywall. It also makes a welcome home for mold and bacteria to grow. Turn on the bathroom fan or vent every time you bathe to help control the humidity, and leave it on until the humidity goes down after you’re done showering.

Not Cleaning Your Shower Curtain: Shower curtains can be a sneaky place for bacteria to hide. For most people, the soap scum that builds up is just gross, but if your immune system is compromised it could be a problem. Clean or change your shower curtain regularly to stay safe.

Reviewed by: Melinda Ratini, DO, MS on October 22, 2019

Sources:

Harvard Health Publishing: “Showering daily — is it necessary?”
Mayo Clinic: “Dry Skin.”
American Academy of Dermatology: “How Can I Find Eczema Friendly Products?”
Cleveland Clinic: “How Often Should You Wash Your (Germ Magnet of a) Bath Towel?”
Cleveland Clinic: “Do You Know What’s Growing on Your Loofah?”
Cleveland Clinic: “Why You May Want to Rethink That Long, Hot Shower.”
National Eczema Association: “Eczema and Bathing.”
National Psoriasis Foundation: “Managing Itch.”
American Academy of Dermatology: “Tips For Healthy Hair.”
Cleveland Clinic: “The Dirty Truth About Washing Your Hair.”
CDC: "Nonfatal Bathroom Injuries Among Persons Aged ≥15 Years — United States, 2008."
Consumer Reports: “Why you need grab bars in the bathroom.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: “Opportunistic pathogens enriched in showerhead biofilms.”
Consumer Reports: “Recent study points to showerheads as bacterial breeding ground.”
American Academy of Dermatology: “Dermatologists’ Top Tips for Relieving Dry Skin.”
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health: “Bacterial vaginosis.”
Cleveland Clinic: “Handling Injuries: From Small Cuts to Serious Wounds.”
WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: Dampness and Mold, World Health Organization, 2009.
U.S. Department of Energy: “Ventilation Systems for Cooling.”
Applied and Environmental Microbiology: “Molecular Analysis of Shower Curtain Biofilm Microbes.”

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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