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Your
Skin:
How You
Shower
Matters
More
Than
When,
Dermatologists
Say
By
Allyson
Chiu
washingtonpost.com
person
showering,
lathering
their
hair
Photo by
iStock
For
as long
as Jay
Maharath
can
remember,
he’s
showered
at night
— a
habit
instilled
in him
at a
young
age by
his
Asian
parents,
who
didn’t
want
traces
of the
outdoors
dirtying
up their
home.
Though
always
having
to wash
at the
end of
the day
was
bothersome
when he
was a
child,
Maharath,
who is
Laotian
American,
said
he’s
grown to
appreciate
the
night
shower.
“It
just
feels,
to be
honest,
a bit
cleaner,”
said
Maharath,
26, of
Hanover,
Md.
“Once
you go
outside,
especially
here in
the
summer
right
now,
you’re
dealing
with all
these
kinds of
bugs,
you’re
dealing
with the
dust,
you’re
dealing
with the
dirt.”
It
also
serves
another
function,
he said.
“Being
able to
shower
at night
lets me
calm
down a
little
bit, and
then
it’s
like I
can get
into the
mode of
actually
being
able to
sleep.”
Zaid
Al-Hamdan
is more
concerned
about
waking
up. A
former
night
showerer
who
switched
about 10
years
ago, he
said he
noticed
an
immediate
improvement
in his
mood and
productivity
after
making
the
change.
“It’s
made a
world of
a
difference,”
said
Al-Hamdan,
28, an
entrepreneur
alternately
based in
D.C. and
Doha,
Qatar.
Beyond
starting
the day
feeling
clean,
Al-Hamdan
said,
stepping
under
the
shower
spray
“just
shocks
you and
wakes
you up.”
“When I
go into
the
office,
I’m more
prepared
to work
as soon
as I
walk
in,” he
said. “I
don’t
spend 30
minutes
waking
up and
just
drinking
coffee
after
coffee.”
The
“right”
time to
shower
is an
age-old
debate.
Although
sleep
experts
say
there is
some
evidence
that a
nightly
rinse at
the
right
temperature
could
help if
you’re
struggling
to fall
asleep
and a
morning
shower
may be
beneficial
for
waking
you up,
dermatologists
say skin
health
and
hygiene
depend
much
more on
how, not
when,
you’re
showering.
When
you
prefer
to
shower
“is not
a
scientific
decision,”
said
Mona
Gohara,
an
associate
clinical
professor
of
dermatology
at Yale
School
of
Medicine.
“This is
a
personal
decision.
“The
benefit
of the
skin
really
comes
from
what
you’re
using in
the
shower,
what you
do right
after
the
shower,”
Gohara
said.
“You
could be
showering
in the
morning
or you
could be
showering
at night
and
using
crappy
products
and
ruining
your
skin.”
Anecdotally,
dermatologists
say,
many
people
seem to
be
showering
less
during
the
coronavirus
pandemic
— part
of a
larger
trend of
embracing
minimalism
in daily
routines.
This
actually
dovetails
with
some of
their
guidance
about
washing
and
shampooing.
Time of
day
aside,
here are
the
factors
to
consider
when you
shower.
Temperature,
shower
length
matter
There
are few
things
more
soothing
than a
long,
hot
shower.
But for
some
people,
especially
those
who have
drier
skin or
skin
conditions
such as
eczema,
prolonged
exposure
to hot
water
can
often do
more
harm
than
good,
dermatologists
say.
For
one
thing,
its
relaxing
effect
can
encourage
people
to take
longer
showers
or
baths,
said Ivy
Lee, a
Los
Angeles-based
dermatologist,
which
“can
actually
draw out
and
dehydrate
the
skin.”
That’s
because
when
“you’re
opening
up that
skin
barrier
and
creating
that
permeability,
it
really
just
decreases
[the
skin’s]
ability
to hold
on to
water,”
Lee
said.
Lee
and
other
dermatologists
recommend
shorter
showers
of no
more
than 10
minutes,
using
warm or
room-temperature
water —
or even
cold
water —
which is
less
drying
to skin.
Water
temperature
and
timing
are also
important
factors
to
consider
if
you’re a
night
showerer
who
hopes it
will
help you
sleep,
said
Phyllis
Zee,
chief of
sleep
medicine
at
Northwestern
University’s
Feinberg
School
of
Medicine.
For best
results,
Zee
recommends
taking a
warm
shower
between
one and
two
hours
before
going to
bed.
This
would
warm up
your
hands,
feet and
head,
causing
heat to
dissipate
from
more
central
parts of
your
body,
such as
your
chest or
abdominal
area,
and
helping
to
decrease
your
body
temperature,
Zee
said.
Because
the body
naturally
begins
to cool
down as
it
approaches
bedtime,
this may
help you
fall
asleep,
she
said.
But
showering
at
extreme
temperatures
right
before
bed
could be
a
problem,
said
Rachel
Salas, a
sleep
neurologist
at the
Johns
Hopkins
Center
for
Sleep
and
Wellness.
“If you
take a
shower
close to
bedtime
and it’s
a very
hot or
cold
shower,
that
temperature
can
negatively
affect
your
sleep,
because
what
you’re
doing is
you’re
making
your
body
temperature
so
different
from
baseline.”
Less
is more
For skin
health
and
hygiene,
when and
how
often
you
shower
should
depend
on your
skin
type and
activity
levels,
said
Chad
Prather,
a
clinical
assistant
professor
in the
dermatology
department
at
Louisiana
State
University.
If you
have
drier
skin or
aren’t
doing
many
activities
that may
result
in
sweating
or
exposures
to dirt,
other
irritants
or
germs,
you
could
shower
less
frequently.
Gohara
said she
generally
recommends
people
wash
their
bodies
once a
day, or
twice at
the
most.
For
those
with
conditions
such as
eczema,
even
showering
once a
day
might be
too
much,
she
said.
The
“less is
more”
approach
should
also be
applied
during
the
shower,
said
Jules
Lipoff,
an
assistant
professor
of
clinical
dermatology
at the
University
of
Pennsylvania’s
Perelman
School
of
Medicine.
Though
Lipoff
and
other
experts
noted
that
indulging
in a
long
shower
or bath
can be
important
for
mental
health,
much of
what
people
do when
they
bathe is
“certainly
not
medically
or
hygienically
necessary.”
When
it comes
to
bathing,
Prather
said, he
encourages
people
to focus
on “the
three
P’s” —
“pits,
privates
and
piggies.”
Your
armpits,
groin
and rear
area,
and feet
are the
only
parts of
the body
that
emit bad
odors,
Gohara
said.
Hair-washing,
Prather
said,
can be
more
variable.
“Not
everyone
has to
wash
hair
every
day,” he
said,
and it’s
important
to find
the
routine
that
“fits
your
lifestyle.”
Lee
added:
“It
really
depends
on hair
texture
and also
what
that
balance
and
equilibrium
is for
an
individual.”
If
your
hair is
brittle,
has a
coarser
texture
or you
notice
split
ends,
that may
be a
sign
that
you’re
washing
too
frequently
and
stripping
the
natural
moisture,
Lee
said.
Alternatively,
not
washing
your
hair
enough
can lead
to a
greasy
appearance,
as well
as more
buildup
on the
scalp
and
dandruff.
When
washing
your
hair,
Prather
suggests
focusing
shampoo
on your
scalp.
“Washing
your
hair
should
feel
like
you’re
giving
yourself
a scalp
massage,”
he said.
But if
you use
conditioner,
he said,
make
sure to
work
that
through
the
length
of your
hair.
Pick
body-friendly
products
According
to the
Food and
Drug
Administration,
there
are very
few
“true
soaps”
(made
with a
combination
of fats
or oils
and an
alkali,
such as
lye) on
the
market
today,
as most
body
cleansers
— liquid
and bar
forms —
are
synthetic
detergents,
which
are less
irritating
to the
skin.
The
dermatologists
suggested
looking
for a
soap or
body
wash
described
as a
“gentle
cleanser”
and
sulfate-free
shampoos.
One
sign you
may be
using
something
too
harsh is
if you
emerge
from the
shower
feeling
“squeaky
clean,”
Gohara
said.
“When
you feel
like
your
face is
tight,
that is
basically
your
skin
barrier
giving
you an
SOS,
like,
‘You
destroyed
me.’ ”
Lipoff
also
cautioned
against
using
antibacterial
cleansers,
which
tend to
be more
drying,
too.
“It’s
not
necessarily
healthier
and in
our
interest
to
reduce
bacteria
all the
time,”
he said,
though
he added
that in
a
pandemic
when
people
are
worried
about
infections,
it can
be a
“tricky
balance.”
Resist
the urge
to scrub
Dermatologists
also
caution
against
scrubbing
too
vigorously
or
over-exfoliating
in the
shower.
“Scrubbing
is like
synonymous
with
cleansing,
and
that’s a
really
big
fallacy,”
Gohara
said. “I
always
tell my
patients
that
scrubbing
is for
your
appliances,
not your
skin.”
Consider
soaping
yourself
with
only
your
hands,
and if
you want
to use
an
applicator,
try a
soft
shower
pouf or
cotton
washcloth,
she
said.
Traditional
loofahs
would
probably
be too
abrasive.
Similarly,
some
exfoliating
products
and
tools
can be
“very
irritating”
to the
skin,
Lee
said.
Though
there
may be
cosmetic
benefits
to
removing
your
dead
skin
cells
with
manual
or
chemical
exfoliants,
“your
skin
will
naturally
exfoliate,”
she
said.
If
you do
choose
to
exfoliate
and
don’t
have any
existing
skin
conditions,
avoid
doing it
more
than
once a
week and
take a
gentle
approach,
experts
said.
Gritty
washes
or
scrubs
“can
lead to
little
microtraumas
and
exacerbation
of
dryness
and
problems
with the
skin,”
Prather
said.
Don't
forget
aftercare
Once
you get
out of
the
shower,
don’t do
the
classic
“towel
shimmy”
and rub
your
skin,
Gohara
and
other
experts
said.
Pat
yourself
dry and
focus on
moisturizing.
Gohara
suggests
moisturizing
immediately
post-shower
in the
bathroom,
because
the skin
is still
damp and
you can
capitalize
on the
“ambient
humidity.”
Although
there
are many
types of
moisturizers
—
including
ointments,
creams
and
lotions
— Lee
recommends
using a
fragrance-free
moisturizing
cream,
which
can lock
in more
moisture
than
lighter-weight
lotions
that
have a
higher
water
content.
Skin
health
“really
starts
in the
shower,”
Gohara
said.
“Maintaining
the
integrity
of the
skin
barrier
is
important,
and
showering
can
either
make
that or
break
that,
depending
on what
you’re
doing.”
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