When a colleague says that they haven’t showered today, do you turn up your nose at the thought of a smelly board room? Do you feel disgusted by the thought of being so close to an unwashed body? Do you suddenly wish you had worked from home?
If you answered yes to this, you might be the one in the wrong. The Genetic Science Centre at the University of Utah have found that showering too often can be damaging to the skin.
The human body has multiple layers of skin, with the outermost surface, being a barrier of hardened dead skin that protects the softer, newer skin underneath. Showering and scrubbing strips this vital top layer away, and the more often you shower, the harder it is for the body to regenerate it.
On top of this, the heat and moisture from hot showers affects and disrupts the body’s natural microbiome—the complex and intricate system of bacteria that live and work on your skin to protect it from unfriendly bacteria and weather conditions.
Basically, it might not be advisable to go for that third hot shower of the day.
Students going for biology can look at how the skin functions as an organ, and how different animals create different protective outer coatings. HSPS students can look at how overwashing is a western phenomenon and what may have caused it.
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