Many doctors say a daily shower is fine for most people. (More than that could start to cause skin problems.) But for many people, two to three times a week is enough and may be even better to maintain good health.
While there is no ideal frequency, experts suggest that showering several times per week is plenty for most people (unless you are grimy, sweaty, or have other reasons to shower more often). Short showers (lasting three or four minutes) with a focus on the armpits and groin may suffice.
In general, showering every other day or every few days is enough for most people. Keep in mind that showering twice a day or frequently taking hot or long showers can strip your skin of important oils. This can lead to dry, itchy skin.
Generally, she says, "you should be showering, bathing or cleansing yourself every two to three days." Though, if you're working out or engaging in an activity where you are sweating a lot, you may have to shower more often. The biggest problem that may stem from not showering enough? The stink.
Many doctors say a daily shower is fine for most people. (More than that could start to cause skin problems.) But for many people, two to three times a week is enough and may be even better to maintain good health.
Unless you are very active, have bad body odour, or live in a hot environment, one shower every other day is plenty for most people as your body does not get dirty so quickly that you need to wash frequently and you are unlikely to smell after one day without showering.
"Showering less helps strengthen your immune system by keeping disease-fighting bacteria living on your skin. It also allows us to preserve more of our microorganisms and the skin's natural oils," she says.
You'd smell
Unsurprisingly, a person would develop quite a funk after 365 showerless days. Rokhsar said your stench likely would come as a result of the bacteria and dead skin accumulating on you. After a year, he said, you'd have a build-up of skin stratum corneum, or dead skin on top of your skin.
Dermatologists recommend 2–3 showers a week, or every other day. I shower when I'm dirty. For example, an intense workout, I smell, actually being covered in dirt or food, etc. this amounts to once or twice a month on average for me specifically.
It also depends on your personal preference. If you feel better with a daily showering routine, go for it. If you would rather skip some days, that's OK, but never go more than two or three days without washing your body with soap.
The general rule of thumb is to shower once per day, ideally at night. This rule lets you wake up clean and end your day clean. During the day, your body builds up sweat and odor, while also being exposed to air pollutants, allergens and bacteria.
If you don't wash your body, it makes it easier for germs that cause actual skin infections to flourish. If you didn't wash at all, dirt, sweat, dead skin cells and oil would start to accumulate, and infections or ongoing skin conditions can become more serious, more difficult to manage, and harder to undo.
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In addition to bacteria, oftentimes there is deodorant residue and other impurities that are trapped in the underarm pores and within the hair if you have armpit hair.
The oldest accountable daily ritual of bathing can be traced to the ancient Indians. They used elaborate practices for personal hygiene with three daily baths and washing. These are recorded in the works called grihya sutras which date back to 500 BCE and are in practice today in some communities.
“Humans tend to perspire at night,” Dr. Goldenberg said. “When you wake up in the morning, there's all this sweat and bacteria from the sheets that's just kind of sitting there on your skin.” So take a quick shower in the morning, he said, “to wash all of that gunk and sweat off that you've been sleeping in all night.”
The average shower lasts about eight minutes. Since the average showerhead has a water flow of 2.1 gallons per minute, each shower uses more than 16 gallons of water! Across the United States, we use more than one trillion gallons of water each year just for showering.
However, with age, it can become a struggle to bathe or shower daily. This may be due to mobility or simply not having enough energy. But for the elderly, having a shower once or twice a week is sufficient to keep skin conditions and infections at bay.
Clean your bathroom once a week as a good rule of thumb. Kelly Reynolds, PhD, MSPH, professor and director of the environment, exposure science and eisk assessment center at the University of Arizona, recommends cleaning your bathroom at least weekly. More often than that might be overkill.