Should we take a shower every day?From the pandemic, many have arrested
Par l’édition du soir
Confinés chez eux à cause du Covid-19, bon nombre d’Américains (mais pas seulement) ont renoncé à prendre une douche tous les jours. Un changement d’habitude dans leur hygiène quotidienne, qui pourrait s’avérer bénéfique à la santé tout comme à l’environnement.
"Don't get me wrong: I still like showering. Mais je suis une maman et je travaille à plein temps, c’est juste une chose en moins à faire sur ma liste de tâches quotidiennes et comme mes interactions sociales ont diminué…»» Robin Harper, une Américaine de 43 ans, assistante administrative dans une école maternelle, a confié auNew York Times que depuis qu’elle a dû se confiner chez elle à cause de la pandémie de Covid-19, elle a cessé de se doucher tous les jours.She only does it once a week, and it suits her very well like that.
Men even less attentive than women
According to the American newspaper, Robin Harper's case is not isolated.From the pandemic, many Americans would have given up their daily shower to adopt a different pace from a shower every two days at a shower per week.And the Americans are not the only ones.On the other side of the Channel, in the United Kingdom, a country which experienced a very long confinement, a survey revealed that 17 % of the British had also given up showering daily during the Pandemia.
Among the French, the observation is similar.There has been a certain relaxation in daily hygiene, with confinement.A recent IFOP study revealed that people tended to spend less time in the bathroom, especially people living alone ... concentrated behind the computer, in telework at home, not washed and hair in battle:Many of us hardly care about passing in the shower every morning.
From now on, only 74 % of women do a complete daily toilet (compared to 81 % before confinement).In men, there are only 61 % to wash every day (30 % twice a week).
Lire aussi : Faut-il se doucher le matin, le midi ou le soir quand on télétravaille ?
A quarter of French people are not washing every day
Although it is recommended to wash your hands frequently and respect a social distancing to limit the spread of the coronavirus, confinement has not resulted in a general improvement in bodily hygiene and dress of the French.On the contrary.
This IFOP survey on the hygiene of the French, published on February 26, 2020, already revealed that a quarter of the population was not washed every day.Men would be even less concerned with cleanliness than women: a third of them do not wash their hands after having gone to the toilet, and almost a quarter of gentlemen do not change underwear daily ...
Before confinement, 94 % of women changed panties every day.The rate has now been a bit 91 %.In men, the percentage was not already very brilliant before the crisis (73 %).With confinements, the Slip or the underpants is now put in the dirty laundry basket daily that in 68 % of them ...
A not so new practice
To return to the United States, not taking showers every day is a trend that is not completely new.The followers of the "Cleansing Reduction" had already been heard in the 1990s.
American chemist David Whitlock, in particular, was one of the first to claim his refusal of the daily shower.He washed his body only using a spray he had made himself.Researcher at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Whitlock started from the principle that the epidermis did not need, to be clean, only a natural bacteria, named nitrosomonas eutropha.It was with this bacteria, present on the ground, that he had therefore made his "cleaning" spray.
The researcher believed that excess hygiene could cause allergies and leave the way for other infectious agents. « Se laver trop souvent décape et agresse la peau. Elle se craquelle et il se crée des brèches où peuvent s’installer des germes»», résumait-il.
Do not attack the skin
Nina Roos, dermatologue à Paris contactée par l’édition du soir, rejoint le raisonnement du chercheur, en précisant les besoins de notre peau en termes d’hygiène : « Notre organisme a besoin d’être en contact avec des bactéries et d’autres microbes pour être en bonne santé, souligne-t-elle. Se laver est un geste qui consiste à s’appliquer des cosmétiques moussants, donc décapants, sur la peau.The lipids which ensure the "intercellular cement" of the skin do not like to be dissolved in this way.It is an assault for the skin barrier.»»
Result, wash every day drying out the skin. Et de conclure : « En dermatologie, nous recommandons de ne se laver qu’un jour sur deux lorsqu’on veut limiter ces problèmes de peau, notamment chez les enfants.»»
