When you think about hygiene, you know that you want to keep it well, and that is why you do the basic things such as washing your hands after using the bathroom or before eating, brushing your teeth twice a day, and changing your underwear daily. You also make sure you get a chance to shower to keep yourself clean. That is why you need to keep your personal hygiene up to par so you can stay clean and presentable. However, there are several hygienic mistakes you are making because you feel that you mean well, but you are causing more harm than good. Let’s go over several of these common hygienic mistakes.
Bathing Too Much
You want to get a good lather when you are cleaning yourself. That is because bathing will remove all of the dirt, excess oil, sweat, dead cells, and other debris. You also want to bathe or shower because that will help your skin breathe and function, but here is the issue. You may go overboard when it comes to bathing. You may do it too much, and you may think that the more you bathe, the healthier your skin will be.
But here is some bad news. If you bathe or shower excessively, then that can defeat the purpose because it can strip the natural oils known as sebum from your skin and hair. That causes excess dryness and irritation. And the dryness will cause cracks, which means germs will get in. That means you will end up with an infection. It can also worsen existing skin disorders. It is best to shower every other day if you are naturally oily, and if you have dry or normal skin, twice a week is best.
You Forget To Floss
You brush your teeth, and you brush your teeth well, but the one thing that you may be forgetting to do is flossing. Or perhaps if you do floss, you are not doing so properly. You can brush your teeth well, but if you don’t floss properly, or floss at all, you are allowing bacteria to fester in between the teeth, which will end up causing gum disease and tooth decay, and halitosis.
Therefore, if you brush your teeth well twice a day and have bad breath, you will want to begin flossing, which will help resolve that issue.
You Don’t Cover Your Mouth Or Nose When Coughing Or Sneezing With A Sleeve
If you cough or sneeze, you know to cover your mouth or nose, but you don’t do it with your sleeve. You do it with your hand instead. The problem with that is when you cover your mouth or nose while coughing or sneezing with your hand, you will transfer the germs on your hands onto whatever you touch. Therefore, that will end up causing those germs to get to others and cause them to get sick. Therefore, you will want to remember to cover your nose and mouth the next time you sneeze or cough with your sleeve instead of your hands.
Cleaning Your Ears With Cotton Swabs
If your ears have too much wax, you need to use a Q-Tip or a cotton swab to clean them. But the problem is, if you use one to clean your ears, you will not only keep pushing the wax further into your ear but also risk the chance of rupturing your eardrum. That will lead to hearing loss if you do.
However, you can still use the Q-Tip, but you will want to clean the outer periphery of the ear as you can clean the dead skin and wax instead of the inside of it. There are OTC solutions you can get at the pharmacy to help remove wax build-up.
Now you know about these common hygienic mistakes, you will want to begin making some changes, so you practice much better hygiene!
