Did you know there is a right way to shower?
According to one dermatologist, there are four things you need to be doing in the shower to lower your risk of infection, itching, acne and dry skin.
You don't want to take super hot showers, because according to Dr. Sherry Ingraham, it can dry your skin and that can be worsened by the type of soap you use.
Ingram says to look for gentle cleaners like Aveeno, Cerave and never use bar soaps.
"Usually, older, classic bar soaps that are fragrant, that you've seen advertised for years, those really strip the skin barrier, and what I say to patients is soap is really basic," she says. "The skin wants to be an acidic ph. If you over scrub and you over soap, you're making your skin more basic and it takes hours for it to go back to its normal ph that maintains the best skin barrier."
Another way you may be stripping the skin is with a loofah or washcloth, which Ingraham says to stop using immediately.
"When we scrub off those lipids that we were literally evolutionarily designed to have, we're scrubbing away our protective barrier against the environment and making ourselves more prone to infection which is what you're trying to prevent in the first place," Ingraham says.
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