How To Take A Shower The Right Way

                    

Your daily shower is an important aspect of maintaining personal hygiene and good health. Tips and tricks like showering in lukewarm water, avoiding long and frequent showers, using mild soaps, and applying hydrating oils or lotions immediately post-shower should be taken care of. Ayurveda suggests, to avoid bathing soon after a meal, as it weakens digestion.

Spray. Soap. Scrub. Sluice. Towel dry. What’s not to know about how to shower? Quite a lot, apparently. The length of time you spend in the shower, your favored water temperature, and the bath products you use – all these factors can affect skin health. Read on to find out how you can get more out of your daily shower!

Turning Down The Heat

Let’s start with the temperature. Forget those dreamy ads showing towel-wrapped models surrounded by clouds of steam! Hot water, says the American Academy of Dermatology, strips natural oils, leaving your skin parched. This applies even more in winter when the weather is drier than usual and your skin struggles to retain moisture. Lukewarm water, therefore, is best for your skin.

Long And Frequent Showers: Not What The Doctor Ordered

Long, hot showers are a divine temptation in cold weather, but are they worth the consequences? Along with hot water, longer showers and frequent showering more than once a day have been found to be common triggers for eczema, more so in winter, so restrict your shower time to not more than 10 minutes. Rinse your skin thoroughly to ensure no soap or cleanser remains on your skin.
Towel off gently after showering and immediately apply a moisturizer to lock in residual water on your skin. Creams or moisturizers work better than lotions, say experts. Coconut oil or olive oil should work well as moisturizers too.

Ayurveda’s Take On How Often You Should Shower

Occasionally, it’s tempting to skip our daily shower. It could be chilly weather, an early flight to catch, or oversleeping on a busy weekday. The ancients, though, have a different take on daily bathing. Classical ayurvedic texts maintain that bathing regularly, at least once a day, has manifold benefits which go beyond mere skin cleansing. Here’s a quick run-down on how it boosts health and energy:

• Clears sleepiness and fatigue.
• Improves circulation.
• Opens up the pores and eliminates toxins.
• Reduces blood pressure.
• Eases muscle aches.
• Induces calmness and relaxation.
• Promotes a youthful appearance.

Want more? Regular bathing also “gives strength, increases appetite, invigorates [the] digestive process, nourishes body, enhances lifespan, ojas (vitality) and semen and cheers the mind.”
Using cold water while bathing in summer as this is purported to improve vision and stimulate digestion. According to ayurvedic principles, it’s best not to bathe soon after a meal as this draws away body heat from the digestive organs where it’s needed most.

When It Comes To Soap, Less Is More

While supermarket shelves stock a confusingly large variety of bath products, bear in mind that visually tempting labels, colors, and fragrances are not what your skin needs to keep it healthy and supple. If your soap or cleanser lathers profusely, that means it contains surfactants, chemicals that bind water with oil and bubble over (just like in the movies!). The unglamorous truth is they’re stripping your skin of its natural oils, which is why your skin feels stretched and dry after toweling off.