LISTEN: Why doctors do not recommend showering with a loofah
What makes you feel super clean?
Everyone has their way of taking a shower or bath.
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No matter what your preferred cleaning method is, the result should remain the same.
However, like many topics, there has always been some debate about personal hygiene.
Should you brush your teeth after you wake up in the morning or after eating breakfast?
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Let's not even go into the lack of hand washing after going to the bathroom.
So what do the actual experts say?
There's no guidebook to showering or bathing but here are some recommendations:
- If you have specific skin concerns, you should use a product that helps manage them. Otherwise, you really just need water and your favourite soap or body wash.
Water is excellent at washing off sweat and dust and the normal lint that we pick up around us every day, [while] soap is really good at pulling oils out of the skin.
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You can skip using soap on areas that produce less oil such as your legs, arms, back, and chest.
- There isn't a specific order in which you need to wash your body parts. Currently, there is little to no research that proves washing in a specific direction spreads bacteria, fungi or viruses. Spreading microorganisms around your body isn't harmful unless you have picked up a pathogen like ringworm.
- Dr Greiling recommends washing certain parts first - underarms, chest, feet, and hands.
Hands interact with the outside world the most. Feet are just really good at growing all kinds of bacteria and fungus, so lots of soap and water are great for your hands and feet.
- Which is cleaner, a bath or a shower? If your bathtub is dirty, the microbes could cause you to get sick. In a bath, you are washing yourself, but you are also sitting in the water filled with the many microorganisms that live on your skin.
There are bacteria on every surface of your body, and you’ll never eradicate them by taking a shower or bath.
Ultimately, you just have to ensure you don't have any open cuts when taking a bath, and you'll be fine.
- The long-standing debate: washcloth, loofah, or hands? This is really a personal preference. It is important to note that washcloths and loofahs can have problems.
Loofahs are interesting. They’re used in a wet environment and you hang them up in the shower, which is also a wet environment. They don’t ever totally dry out, so the loofah is a beautiful breeding ground for bacteria.
This may sound unappealing, but the risk of contracting an infection is still quite low. Using your hands is the top recommendation and is the best option for people with sensitive skin.
Rob Forbes and Rozanne McKenzie were curious to find out what people prefer to use and which is the most popular, so they asked the Jacaranda FM listeners.
Tune in to 'The Drive with Rob & Roz' on weekdays from 16:00 - 19:00. Stream the show live here or download our mobile app here.
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