Abhishek
Do you shower every day? Wash your hands often with hot water? Eat that candy within 5 seconds of it falling down? Is it really worth it? There are several myths about hygiene that have been passed on from generation to generation and we blindly follow them without truly understanding them. Keeping oneself clean is one thing but if you clean obsessively it might turn against you.
Many pieces of research over the years have busted some of the common myths related to hygiene that we follow. Like showering twice a day or cleaning out ears with q-tips. Everybody has a different hygiene routine but there are some things that everyone commonly believes in. You may be aware of some myths that aren’t true but there will be some that will take you by surprise. We are going to debunk some of these myths that aren’t true and you should stop doing them.
Shower twice a day
According to many studies, showering strips away the natural oil that the body produces to moisturize the skin. A soap bar removes dirt and oils as well. Many doctors suggest that you don’t need to shower every day or twice a day with soap. You can very well do with a mild soap or no soap at all.
Contrary to this belief, doctors also suggest that people with certain skin conditions like eczema or atopic dermatitis do need to shower often to control the skin conditions. There are medicated anti-bacterial soaps that can kill our natural skin flora and normal soap can dry out the skin causing rashes or itching.
Q-tips clean your ears
Another myth is cleaning ears often with q-tips. Q-tips have been used for many years now but many specialists believe it is not safe and can cause potential damage to the ears. We usually stick the q-tips too deep inside the ear canal which is unnecessary and risky.
Our ear canals are designed to clean themselves out. The ear is in a continuous process of shedding cells that are dead and making wax, but it also naturally has a pattern of migration that pushes out any extra buildup from the ear canal.
Not many people are aware that the wax produced in our ears has antimicrobial properties and it keeps bacterial activity away that can cause an infection. It also moisturizes the inside of our ears.
Your sweat stinks
Nobody likes sweating and stinking. It is a myth that many people believe that sweat smells or has an odor. It is not true, as sweat is made of 99% water and has no odor. There are glands in our armpits called the apocrine glands which are responsible for producing sweat. This sweat has a high content of proteins and there are odorant molecules that are bonded to some proteins. Our armpits have bacteria that decompose the protein found in sweat, this releases the molecules that have an odor. This is the reason sweat has an odor, sometimes it is too strong.
5-second rule
You may have heard the 5-second rule as a child where you would allow yourself to pick up any fallen food within seconds and consume it. This used to be popular back in school but how safe is it to eat something that has fallen down? A simple answer is, it is not safe. Anything that falls on the ground will have dirt and bacteria attached to it and eating it is not a good idea. Even if it falls for a second there is a sure chance of contamination which makes it unsafe to eat.
Next time when you see kids talk follow the 5-second rule, stop allowing them to eat anything that has been on the floor especially if the surface isn’t cleaned often.
Vaginal Douching
Many women believe douching cleans the vagina but it is not true. A vagina is a self-cleaning structure that needs no forceful cleaning. Douching can cause damage more than being beneficial in any way. It can disturb the natural pH level and destroy the natural flora required for maintaining a healthy vagina. Douching can cause many problems like increased risk of bacterial or fungal infection, pelvic inflammatory disease, and many more.
Final Words
These were some of the myths that you shouldn’t believe in or follow to keep good hygiene. These myths are not correct yet have existed for so long that you start believing them to be true. It can make it difficult to keep facts away from certain ideas thanks to many people turning a blind eye to it. Next time, somebody talks about showering twice, consider showing these debunked myths to them and educate them.
