Did you know that when it comes to being clean, too much of a good thing can be bad for you? For example, a general perception is that bathing with hot water helps remove bacteria, making you cleaner. But, on the other hand, that is an unsafe practice that not only can endanger you but cause damage to your skin.
Here are some other habits that cause more damage than good:
1. Douching the private area
Douching by washing or cleaning out the inside of the vagina with water or other mixtures of fluids is harmful and unnecessary for vaginal health. Douching is damaging to the vaginal flora (normal bacteria present), often causing a change in the pH of the vagina. When this happens, it makes women more susceptible to bacterial vaginosis (BV), yeast infection, and sometimes pelvic inflammatory disease. The vagina is self-cleaning, and sometimes all you need to keep it clean is to rinse the area with water.
2. Cleaning ears with cotton buds
We all grew up having our ears cleaned with cotton buds, believing that the brown ear wax we removed was dirt. But did you know that this practice is quite harmful? Using cotton buds to clean the ear can open one up to infections, hearing loss, and itchiness.
Ouch or Oops?
3. Washing Hands or Body with Hot Water
So we know hot water kills bacteria; however, that does not mean that washing our hands or body with hot water will result in extremely clean hands. Instead, this causes more damage than good. Not only can hot water cause burns on the body, but they stripe the body of natural oils, causing skin that is extremely dry and irritated. The best way to wash our hands or body is to rub soap on our hands, soak them for 20 seconds and rinse with water. Delta medicated and antiseptic soap is excellent for washing the hands and body; it lathers easily, thoroughly cleanses your skin, and leaves it feeling smooth.
Too Hot to Handle