Do you really need your daily shower? Just to be healthy? We asked the question to a general practitioner and a dermatologist
Recently, a tiktokeuse admitted the unavowable, or almost, by explaining that she only takes two showers a week… before receiving a deluge of particularly critical comments. But what do the doctors think, and isn’t Allison McCarthy right?
No health obligation
“Bathing every day is not a medical necessity strictly speaking, explains Doctor Jean-Christophe Nogrette, general practitioner. The problem is the smells. We are a species that regulates its temperature by sweating. And we find in the folds, the genital areas, the armpits or the feet sweat glands which produce a particularly greasy sweat intended to limit friction. However, these are excellent culture media for bacteria, which generate unpleasant odors.
But if these areas can therefore be washed every day for social convenience, “nothing obliges you to wash with soap all the rest of the body daily“, reacts dermatologist Marie Jourdan. For what ? “Because soap is a detergent, which will certainly capture dirt, but also remove the hydrolipidic film that protects the skin. However, its recreation requires several hours.” And if some people tolerate it relatively well, others “who have dry, atopic or simply sensitive skin” will experience it more difficultly. “Especially when it’s cold and we don’t sweat a lot.”
The right way to wash
To take care of your skin, it is therefore recommended to use specific soaps and shower gels, less detergent than classic soap or shower gels sold in supermarkets, “but also to compensate after the shower with a moisturizer”, adds the expert.
Also, although your hygiene needs depend on different factors like your physical activity or where you live, “You can absolutely just wash the smelly areas every day and expand to the rest of the body once every three days.” And then, after all, the planet will thank you!