The Black People I Know Take a Shower Every Day. Is It Necessary?

The case for showering less

If you are like most Black people I know, you take a shower every day.

In a survey, 80% of Australians and two-thirds of Americans indicated that they bathe daily. In China, most people only shower twice every week.

You know how they say that good ideas always come to you in the shower?

Well, the 3rd of July was the date. It was some minutes past 2 pm. I had just come back from the gym and jumped in the shower for my second bath of the day. Just as I was enjoying the refreshing feeling of the cold streaks of water hitting my sweaty back, the “good idea” hit me.

I have had the opportunity to study, work and live with different people from different nationalities; Asians, Africans, Europeans, Americans, you name it. Of the people I’ve really been close enough with to know their private lives, only the Black People make it a point to take a shower every single day, irrespective of the weather. They don’t just take a daily shower; they see it as the bare minimum and are surprised to learn that not everybody showers that often.

For some, one shower every day is not enough; they shower at least twice daily.

Sometime last year I travelled for work and I had to share an apartment with a colleague, who happens to double as a very good friend, let’s call him David. For David, it was normal to shower twice every day; once in the morning before leaving for work, and another in the evening. When David observed that I only shower once a day, he couldn’t understand how a person could shower only once. Unbelievable!

Why do people shower every day?

Ask this question to a person who showers every day and you would hear answers like;

I sweat a lot, and a shower makes me feel fresh

Or I don’t want to be sweaty and have body odour

Or it helps to wake me up properly for the day.

All these reasons are valid, depending on whom you ask. What is considered normal is subjective, and differs from culture to culture. However, it’s important to point out that a lot of our hygiene and cleaning routine has been heavily influenced by corporate marketing. Marketing executives push catchy slogans that change our cleaning habits while helping them sell more products. They even work with your doctors and dermatologists so that they can get a ‘this is healthy for you’ stamp.

Is it bad to shower daily?

While there is no right answer to this question, we have a few pointers that can help.

Your skin has a normal flora of bacteria and other microorganisms that live on it providing much-needed homeostasis and also protecting you from harmful microbes. Washing your skin daily wipes out some of these bacteria, potentially leading to dry or itchy skin, cracked skin, invasion by disease-causing microbes, or inadequate protection from environmental exposure.

Depending on what products you put on your body when you shower, there is also the potential exposure to products that might be harmful to your skin. In addition, having a shower daily is not environmentally friendly; think about the amount of water we consume on showers yearly.

What is wrong with showering less frequently?

The short answer? Nothing.

There is no scientific evidence that taking a shower daily helps to improve your health or has any obvious health benefits. The only thing a daily shower does for you is it probably makes you feel good, or better about yourself. But if your reason for taking a daily shower is ‘health concerns’, then it’s a waste of time and resources. Unless you have a reason to shower often, such as you being very sweaty because of your metabolism or related to the kind of work you do, then showering two or three times per week is the advisable thing to do.

Do I plan to stop showering daily?

No. Old habits die hard after all.

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