It may sound obvious, but keeping yourself clean is key to living a healthy life. You may be thinking, “I shower once a day and brush my teeth. That’s enough, right?’’ Well, it’s actually the bare minimum.
There are plenty more personal hygiene practices to incorporate into your life in order to prevent infection, promote personal comfort, and boost self-confidence.
Daily Personal Hygiene Practices
There are certain things you should be doing every day, no matter what. If you skip a day here and there, you’ll be okay, but it’s not recommended.
1. Shower with soap
Yes, it seems obvious, but it needs to be said nonetheless. Taking daily showers, with soap and warm water, is key to keeping your body healthy and getting rid of bacteria that may be living on the skin.
Don’t forget to clean around your genitals, between your toes, and under your armpits!
If you are prone to dry skin, showering every day may exacerbate your symptoms. Moisturizing all over your body can help combat that.
2. Shave
Even if all you have is stubble, shaving your face regularly is incredibly important for keeping up a healthy routine. Shaving will get rid of dead skin and dirt buildup on the face, helping to limit oil production and prevent acne.
If you choose to grow out a beard, be sure to wash it daily when you wash your face, and brush and trim it regularly.
3. Bring in skincare
Keep your skin looking young and healthy by incorporating proper skincare into your daily routine.
Now you may be thinking, “Isn’t skincare for women?” The answer is simple: no. Skincare can and will benefit all skin types, no matter the gender. Incorporating the right products can help you build a skincare routine that keeps you looking youthful and healthy.
Daily habits like washing your face, moisturizing, and wearing sunscreen are all key when it comes to caring for your skin.
Oral Hygiene
1. Brush your teeth twice a day
On average, men take worse care of their teeth than women and visit the dentist much less often.
Break this stereotype, and start prioritizing your oral care! Start with the basics: brush your teeth twice a day with a clean toothbrush and good-quality toothpaste. It’s that easy.
2. Floss
Flossing is easy to forget to do, but it’s one of the most beneficial practices you can incorporate into your daily routine. According to the American Dental Association, it doesn’t matter when you floss. What’s key is that you do it once a day!
3. Rinse your mouth with mouthwash
Though not as essential as brushing and flossing, rinsing your mouth with mouthwash is an easy additional step to optimal oral health.
Depending on the mouthwash, adding a rinse to your teeth-cleaning routine will help decrease the risk of bad breath, cavities, and gum disease.
Hand Hygiene
1. Wash your hands
After you go to the bathroom, before and after handling food, after being in crowded spaces, practically anytime you feel a bit dirty — wash your hands!
Get your hands sudsy with soap under running water for just 20 seconds. According to the CDC, washing your hands will do wonders in preventing both viral and bacterial diseases, as hands are the perfect vessel for the transfer of germs.
2. Use hand sanitizer
If soap and running water aren’t readily available to you, hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol is the next best thing.
Hand sanitizer is useful and saves time, but does not fully replace handwashing. It doesn’t get rid of all types of germs and may not remove harmful chemicals from pesticides or heavy metals if on the hands.
Foot Hygiene
1. Don’t forget to wash your feet
Ever had athlete’s foot or another fungal infection on your feet? Then you may not be washing your feet well enough. Even if you think your feet are being cleaned when showering or bathing, keep this in mind: in order to get your feet truly clean, you need to actively wash between your toes and around each foot.
Pretty much all skin-related foot conditions can be avoided if you keep your feet clean. This includes athlete’s foot, which affects over 70% of the population during their lifetime.
2. Dry your feet thoroughly
Equally as important as washing your feet is drying them thoroughly after bathing. The damp crevices between your toes can be breeding grounds for fungal infections if not dried properly.
Prevent athlete’s foot and other fungal infections by taking a towel to the toes after your shower.
Nail Hygiene
1. Trim your nails
Carefully trimming your nails and keeping them clean and healthy is key. Overgrown nails can harbor germs and dirt, which have the potential to cause infection. Therefore, keeping your nails short to avoid hangnails — which open up the skin to infection — is key.
Make it a point to clip your nails every 1-2 weeks and your toenails every 3-4 weeks. This will help you avoid infection from scraggly cuticles.
2. Keep your nails clean and moisturized
In addition to keeping your nails trimmed and healthy, it’s equally essential to ensure they stay well-hydrated.
Moisturizing your hands and cuticles will help prevent them from peeling and cracking, and will keep them protected from infection.
3. Avoid biting and picking at your nails
Keeping your cuticles away from your mouth and your other fingers is another way to prevent infection. Picking and biting your nails opens them up to inflammation and infection (in addition to making them look unkept and unattractive).
4. Wear proper-fitting shoes and moisture-wicking socks
Moisture-wicking, proper-fitting socks and shoes will not only keep your feet clean and healthy, but your toenails as well. Making this a priority can help promote healthy toenail growth and prevent fungal infections.
Tight shoes put pressure on the nails, putting them at risk for fungal growth and ingrown toenails. Socks that wick moisture away are useful for people who are constantly on their feet, as they keep sweat from creating odors, infection, or blisters.
Clothing Hygiene
1. Change your underwear and socks after working out or sweating
Your groin is covered in hair follicles and sweat glands, as well as bacteria. Therefore, sweating down there fosters infection, emphasizing the importance of changing your underwear anytime you sweat.
Take a shower, thoroughly dry off, and change into clean undergarments after a workout or midway through a hot day to keep your genitals clean.
2. Wash your clothing often
It’s easy to change into clean clothes, throw your dirty laundry into the hamper, and forget about it for weeks on end. Or, you may convince yourself that the tee shirt you wore yesterday smells fine and that it’s fine to wear again.
Both habits aren’t ideal for personal hygiene, with dirty clothes turning into breeding grounds for bacteria. As laundry piles up, especially if some of it is sweat-covered workout clothes, oils and germs accumulate. Putting on dirty clothing can worsen body odor and lead to skin rashes or infections.
3. Wear breathable fabrics, not tight-fitting clothing
Wearing clothing made of breathable fabrics like linen, cotton, and polyester are great for avoiding sweat accumulation.
Tight clothing promotes moisture buildup and increases the risk of infection. Therefore, loose and breathable clothing goes a long way in protecting your skin.
The Takeaway
It’s so important to keep your body, skin, nails, and mouth clean and healthy. There is no shortage of benefits to following a regimented personal hygiene routine. Taking steps to keep yourself clean will help reduce the chances of illness and prevent awkward conversations with the people in your life.
