How often do you have to shower to have clean and healthy skin? Many people believe that the right thing or the healthy thing is to shower daily, so more than one has been scandalized by the news about the Hollywood star couple, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis who confessed in an interview that they only showered their children When they saw them dirty, in addition to adding that they themselves do not shower daily, what do dermatologists think about it?
How often do you have to shower? This is the answer to the controversy of Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis
The words of Kutcher and Kunis, made in an interview for the Armchair Expert podcast by fellow actor Dax Shepard, have caused much controversy. Specifically, the “Bad Moms” actress explained that she did not have hot water herself when she was little so that for her it is customary not to shower daily, adding “When I have had children, I don’t wash them every day either … I have never been that kind of mother who bathes her newborns . And her partner and father of her children, Kutcher, wanted to add, “Here’s the thing: if you can see the dirt on them, you have to bathe them. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense.
Many people have put their hands to their heads and more in the case of small children ( the couple’s children are currently 6 and 4 years old ), but the truth is that the frequency of cleaning the skin is not something that dermatologists advise not even in children on a daily basis. So, are Kunis and Kutcher right? How often do you have to go through the shower? And children?
The frequency of showers per week according to dermatologists
The correct answer to the question how often do you have to shower? It could be perfectly “it depends ” since there will be people who sweat a lot or get dirty constantly (it is not the same to work in an office with air conditioning than in a construction job or for example, a mechanical workshop) while other people hardly get dirty . So am I doing the right thing to shower every day to ensure a good smell and that my skin is clean or should I stop?
All dermatologists agree that in the case of wanting to protect the skin, a daily shower is not advisable, much less showering more than once a day, but of course then there are the rules of coexistence . The fact of being sociable and having to relate to each other implies maintaining hygiene and cleanliness standards. Nobody has to put up with bad smells, so if a person sweats a lot, it is clear that they will have to go through the shower almost every day .
The problem here is that the skin has a hydrolipidic film and this must be protected as much as possible so that it in turn fulfills its protective function. If we are constantly applying soap that layer weakens , is lost and little by little the skin protects less. Conclusion: experts advise showering but not daily or in the case of doing so at least use a soap that does not contain chemicals , surfactants and any ingredient that may affect our epidermis in the long run.
How often should children shower?
As for children, it seems that the answer is going along the same lines. Some years ago, the Association of the American Academy of Dermatology released hygiene guidelines for children that it maintains on its website and in which it explains that children between 6 and 11 years old can bathe only about twice a week although It clarifies that in the event that the child is very dirty, such as when he plays with the sand in the park or in the mud, it is evident that he will have to shower him after having finished playing. In the same way, they respond in the event that the child has carried out a physical activity in which he has sweated a lot, it will be necessary to go through the shower.
From the age of 11 , the Association of the American Academy of Dermatology advises that the shower be already daily since during puberty and adolescence it is possible that due to hormones body odor increases and therefore it is advisable for young people to have the habit of showering every day.
For babies and especially for newborns they advise one or two baths a week, although they affect something that is important: that when we bathe the baby we do it only with water and without the need to use soap, especially in its first weeks and even months of life. The skin of newborns is very delicate and the use of conventional soaps could be counterproductive.
What type of soap should be used?
Precisely, both for the children’s shower and for our own, the dermatological advice is to use a soap that is neutral and without perfume, since as we have mentioned they “attack” the skin less but of course for many people it is unthinkable to go through the shower and get out of it without smelling anything.
It will then be a matter of changing your mentality a bit and thinking more about protecting the hydrolipidic mantle of the skin, the layer that naturally protects us thanks to benign bacteria that fight infections, than thinking about whether our skin smells perfumed or not.
We can then start trying other alternatives to the scented soap that we use every day. The experts’ recommendation is to use a shower gel that does not contain soap, one that is 100% glycerin (especially to wash intimate areas) or also a shower oil since all of them are products that are manufactured without
preservatives, no parabens and no allergenic substances. In addition, they are soaps that can be used for all skin types, especially those that are sensitive or suffer from dermatological problems such as atopic skin.
