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While you may be adapting to a number of new habits to get a glowy skin and healthier hair, there are a number of things that you might just be doing wrong in the shower itself. And the worst part? You are not even aware of these bad shower habits.
It is rather hard to let go off of your old habits because as the saying goes, “Old habits die hard.” That being said, if you want to make a significant change in your lifestyle, start by getting rid of these pesky bad habits because that is exactly what hampers your overall well being (without you even knowing about it).
In this article, our primary focus will be to highlight the top 20 shower habits that you are doing wrong all along. Switch it up and notice how it affects your skin, hair, well being – the whole lot.
1. Splashing Your Face With Water
If you prefer hot showers and tend to wash your face while you are showering, chances are that you are making the situation worse than good. While it definitely might seem a lot less time consuming and you achieve what you want with a single stone, it tends to adversely affect your skin.
The hot scalding water often tears down the natural moisture off of your face which leaves your face dry and scaly. Not just that, if you have underlying skin problems, washing your face during showers can cause irritation and redness on your face as well.
2. Let Go Off the Soap Dishes (Switch to Shower Gels)
The concept of soap dishes in the bathrooms is something that dates way back in history. Almost all the bathrooms in the houses come with a pre-installed soap dish in the shower. But, did you know that keeping the soap out in the open on the soap dish after showering is one of the worst shower habits that you need to stop.
Why?
The open bar of soap is the perfect breeding ground for the germs which is more than enough to make you understand why its usage might inflict negative effects on your skin.
Instead of using the soap dishes, try and store it in a dry place and wash off the outer layer before you decide to lather it up and wash your body. For the best option, it is best to switch to shower gels instead.
3. Taking Your Legs and Feet for Granted
One of the most common bad shower habits is not paying heed to your legs and feet while showering. While you scrub down your entire body, there are maximum possibilities that you won’t do the same for your legs and feet which is where you go wrong.
You might feel like the soap and water runs down to your legs and feet then what’s the purpose of tending to it separately, right? This is one of the shower habits that you are doing wrong.
Your feet tend to sweat the most in comparison to the other body parts which acts as a breeding ground for bacteria (R) and other microbes. Not scrubbing your feet lets these bacteria stick around which is not just unhygienic but unsanitary too.
4. Sticking to the Same Old Shampoo Brand
We all have our OG when it comes to skin care or even hair care. But have you ever encountered situations where the shampoo that you trusted for so long isn’t giving you the healthy and shiny hair that it did just a few months back. Ever wondered why?
Our hair is exposed to different kinds of weather, body functionalities and even the internal hormonal turmoil, which definitely does affect the quality of the hair. Switch your shampoo (R) based on the climates and even just to test out new brands and see if there’s something that suits you better.
This might necessarily not account as one of the bad shower habits but sure does affect the quality of your hair, so, try and switch it up!
5. Forgetting the Last Splash of Cold Water
Let’s be real, showering with hot or warm water is definitely relaxing for the muscles, but is not always the best for the skin. The consistent pouring of the scalding hot water often tears off the moisture off of the skin which leaves the skin very rough and dry in the long haul.
If you are also washing your hair with warm water, it is considered as one of the shower habits that you are doing wrong. Why? Because, the warm water tends to make the roots of the hair weak, thus causing extensive hairfall.
The only resolution is to wash your body and hair with cold water in the end before you leave the shower. This often tends to counteract the ill effects that the hot water leaves behind on the skin. Wash your entire body with a splash of cold water before stepping out of the shower.
6. Not Replacing the Loofah
And by changing or replacing, I am not asking you to do so every single day, rather, do it every month or every 4-6 weeks (R) because after that, you lose the fine line between scrubbing your body with a loofah or a mesh full of bacteria.
If you were wondering that just because it has been washed thoroughly with soap that it is safe to be used for a lifetime, you were sadly mistaken. Switch it up every month instead of dragging it over your body will the mesh falls apart completely. It is not just unhygienic but is definitely one of the shower habits that you need to stop for good.
7. Not Changing the Shower Head in Frequent Intervals
You might not realize but the shower head that is sprinkling your body with the water is a good site for the microbes to have a feast in. These tend to harbor an array of microbes, ranging from the pesky bacteria to the mouldy fungi.
If you haven’t changed your shower head ever since you moved into your house, I hate to break it to you, but you have been infesting one of the worst shower habits that you need to stop right now. Some of the alarming signs that show that it is time to change the shower head include reduced water pressure, moulds around the head or even sedimentation.
8. Not Washing the Towels Frequently
How often do you wash your bath towels? Every other day? Once a Week? Once a month?
Bacteria can infest and claw their way in into anything that’s damp and warm. Damp towels are definitely one such thing that tops their list for their breeding grounds. While there is no ground rule of when you need to wash your towels, it is best advised to wash them at least after three showers (R) or baths.
Don’t just dump them in water and wring out the excess water. If you actually want to avoid committing one of these bad shower habits for good, try and wash the towels with good detergents and softeners to get rid of all the microbes.
9. Vigorously Drying the Skin Off With Towels
Every single one of us has their very own post-shower regime, don’t we? If you are someone who likes to vigorously dry your body by rubbing it with a towel, it is one of the shower habits that you are doing wrong; not to mention that it is very harsh on the skin as well.
Experts from the renowned Petrin Dermatology exclaimed that instead of the rubbing motion, one should opt for the patting motion on their body to dry the water off. It is best suggested to stick to this because it is gentle on the skin and doesn’t cause irritation or tear.
10. Wrapping Damp Hair in A Towel
Damp hair in itself is very brittle and fragile. When you secure the hair with a towel around your hair to stop the excess water from seeping down your shoulders, you are most likely causing more stress on the hair strands and roots (R) as well.
When you tighten your damp hair around with a towel, you are more likely causing more stress on the hair strands which is considered as one of the bad shower habits because it ends up causing hair fall and weakened roots.
Try to wring out the moisture with a towel rather than putting your damp hair inside a towel. Avoid this step ASAP if you don’t want to end up losing all your precious hair.
11. Don’t Moisturize After Showering
There are several people who take a shower, dry themselves and skip out on one of the most important steps of post showering regime – Moisturising (R). Showering under a warm spray often tends to strip the skin cells dry which is not something favourable for your body.
Instantly moisturizing after stepping out a shower is a necessity because it restores back the moisture into the skin and keeps it soft and supple. It is considered as one of those shower habits that you are doing wrong if you moisturize 84 years after you are done showering.
12. Avoiding Post-Workout Showers
If you are with the notion that you need to take a shower post-workout just to wring out that awful smell off your body, you are slightly mistaken.
The excessive sweating during workouts often tend to inflict a very bad bacterial interaction in the body which you need to get rid off for good of you don’t wish to make it worse. If you tend to skip out on a shower after a workout session, this is definitely one of those shower habits you need to stop.
Taking a shower after a workout is a must, without a speck of doubt. Skipping it often tends to trap the bacteria and cause breakouts and skin problems that you could have easily averted if you showered.
13. Applying Conditioner on The Top of the head
Application of conditioner is a must for keeping your hair smooth, healthy and shiny but some people can go a bit overboard with the application which is where the bad shower habits creep in.
Avoid applying the conditioner on the middle of your scalp (and that too in generous quantity). The thick and heavy consistency of the conditioner on the scalp (R) tends to weigh down the hair and the roots as well which is definitely not something worthwhile for the hair.
The ends of the hair are what needs the maximum amount of moisturisation but are given the bare minimum. Understand this as one of the shower habits that you are doing wrong and switch it up with paying more attention to the ends of your hair.
14. Scratching the Scalp with Nails
The last thing you want to do is scratch your scalp with your nails to clean it. While the slight sharp edged roughness might feel good on your scalp, it is not good for the long haul. It is amidst the top bad shower habits because of the fact that it is what sometimes contributes to the inception of dandruff on the scalp.
Vigorous scratching motion on the scalp with nails end up causing tears in the scalp tissue which is what causes the dandruff and the flakiness that you often see in your scalp.
Instead of using the sharp edged nails, use just your fingertips instead.
15. Exfoliating the Skin (EVERY DAY!)
While exfoliation of the skin is a definite necessity to rid the body off of the unwanted dirt, germs and bacteria, doing it every day isn’t. Exfoliating the skin every day (R) ends up ripping off the moisture from the skin and leaves it very dry and rough.
If you want to talk science, it is believed that excess exfoliation of the skin ends up stripping off the layer of the corneum cells; thereby depleting the levels of barrier oils which is what keeps the skin moist and hydrated.
Consider this as one of the shower habits that you need to stop if you don’t want to shed off your skin moisture completely. Repeat this process twice or thrice a week and that itself should be more than enough to keep your skin healthy and clean.
16. Leaving Behind Soap Residue
Rinsing off your body to get rid of all the applied soap is a very crucial step. Soap residues are an act of lazy showering and are considered as one of the bad shower habits. Leaving behind soap or cleansers on the skin can have adverse effects on it.
The chemicals in the soaps along with the compounds used for fragrances don’t necessarily react well with the skin when exposed for a longer duration of time which is why it is necessary to rinse out all the soap and even shampoos off your head to avoid causing dryness and irritation to the skin.
17. Keeping the Loofahs and Bath Sponges Out in the Open
We tend to have a habit of always leaving the loofah or even the bath sponge hanging round the shower head after we are done showering. Do you do it too? It is believed that it is one of the shower habits you are doing wrong.
Why?
Because of the fact that when kept out in the open, the damp loofah or sponge acts as a perfect site for the bacteria to infest and divide and grow. So, just imagine the amount of bacteria that must be growing inside it when you leave it out in the open inside the shower.
Instead of just leaving it out in the open, wring out the excess moisture, dry it and store it in the cabinets.
18. Using Body Wash as a Face Wash
There are often times when you might end up using body wash or body soap for washing your face thinking, after all, it is just soap at the end of the day, right? WRONG!
Soap bars or even the body washes you use to clean the rest of the body are very harsh on the face. Because of the presence of the harsh chemicals in it, the body washes tend to dry the moisture out of the face which is definitely not beneficial for your facial skin.
Even if you are using a bar of soap for cleaning your face, opt for a variant that won’t strip off all the moisture off your face.
19. Not Having a Bathroom Mat out of the Shower
Would you believe if I said that back in 2011, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 20% of the accidental bathroom accidents were because of slipping on the bathroom floor after the shower.
As much as a bathroom mat might seem like a luxury that you see posh people stepping out on, it is more of a necessity than a luxury. Having a bathmat outside the shower helps to soak the excess dripping water which prevents you from slipping and hurting yourself.
It is one of those shower habits that you need to stop and switch because nothing is more important than your health, now, is it?
20. Showering in the Middle of a Thunderstorm
I am pretty sure you have heard of this before because this “superstition” is a popular one. As much as you want to disregard it as nothing major, it actually has a scientific reasoning behind it (for a change).
If the lightning strikes any of the pipeline, there are chances that showering whilst may cause in electrocution which, I am pretty sure, is not the kind of fate that one expects for.
More than being regarded as one bad shower habits, it is considered as a life threatening condition which is why it is best to stay away from pipelines and showers. Getting yourself cleaned must not be bigger than your life, now, should it?
Now that you have made it to the end of this article, we hope these 20 bad shower habits will help you switch them up with something more sanitary and hygienic. After all, you shower to stay clean, is it not?
