Want to Increase Immunity? Apparently Showering Less Helps. Gross.

At first glance, this seems super gross.  Shower less?  Yuck!  Only wash certain parts of your body?  Double yuck! But, apparently, that is what people should do in order to not dry out your skin and actually increase your immune system.  We could ALL use a bit of that right now, right?

There are certain people who absolutely should shower every day...and it depends on what you do, like working with toxic chemicals, people who get really dirty like gardeners, farmers, or work with pollens and other allergens.  Of course, also after exercise and some physical exertion if you were sweating a lot.  But, this also means that you should just rinse parts of your body and use soap in others.

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Check this out- only use soap in 3 areas: feet, armpits and groin/butt area.  That seems obvious.  And of course, wash your hands on a regular basis.  We have all been doing that (or should be) on increased levels already. We're used to that one.  I actually think we probably should have been doing that all the while, not just since this virus has been around.

There are also problems if you don't shower enough too...

Going too long without bathing eventually will lead to body odor and allow dead skin cells, sweat, and oil to build up on the surface of the skin and clog pores. This can trigger acne breakouts in people who are prone to them. Wearing sweaty, moist gym clothes for long periods also can increase the risk of bacterial or fungal infections...

Some of the good bacteria we need, and that is how we build up our immune systems.  Kind of like exposing kids to certain things so they don't get sick so often.

Using soap everywhere can also dry out your skin, especially during the winter months. So, make sure you are using a moisturizing soap, and moisturize after showering as well.

So, after all of this info... I'm still kind of leaning towards the "yuck" side of not showering.  I feel like you probably should shower most days, if not every day.  It just seems gross not to.  Call me crazy.