Personal hygiene has varying degrees of importance to people, but we can probably agree that, at least on some level, it's necessary.
Brushing your teeth, washing your hands after using the bathroom, and laundering your underwear should be second nature. However, according to one Reddit thread, even such basic tasks can be done incorrectly.
Started by platform user HEADAs66, it asked everyone what they think is the most common hygiene mistake people make, and in just a few days has received thousands of replies. Here are the most popular ones.
Remember the beginning of the pandemic, when the government had to remind people that they should be washing their hands with soap?
Yeah, it turns out a disturbing number of people don’t do that.Not closing the toilet lid before flushing.Not washing your sheets and pillow cases regularly. They harbor bacteria and body oils, and can really aggravate your skin and cause breakouts.
People also assume that you need to be harsher if you experience breakouts or dry skin or in areas that you think might be “dirty” like your genital region. People tend to attack these issues and areas of your body with strong soaps, very hot water, and abrasive scrubbing. Often, you actually need to treat these areas more gently, use less harsh products, cool water to wash, non-scented products and lotions, and just generally treat your body kindly. Over-cleaning already irritated or sensitive areas can actually make you more prone to breakouts, dry skin, even infections.Wearing shoes in the house. 99% of shoes tested positive for feces.Not changing their toothbrush more oftenAssuming hand sanitizer is as effective as hand washing.Not flossing.
Seriously, f*****g floss. Your breath will smell better, your gums will be healthier, you'll feel cleaner.
As annoying as it is, make it part of your habit and you'll stop thinking about it.
If I *DON'T* floss I feel dirty, like I can feel the food in my teeth...The amount of people that don't scrub their a*s crack.Sneezing into your hand went you can’t immediately wash them. SNEEZE INTO YOUR ELBOW FOR GODS SAKENot washing their goddamn glasses. Yes, wash. With soap and water. The next time I have to scrape a layer of hairy face cheese off someones glasses so I can change a nosepad I might puke.If you can smell yourself other people have been smelling you. Also wear some f*****g deodorant and reapply before going to the gym.My advice is to wash your body after you rinse out your hair conditioner, not before.Not cleaning your belly button…As a piercer, please, WASH YOUR HOLES. I have so many clients coming in with disgusting, flakey, waxy ears, dirty, smelly belly buttons, unbrushed teeth..... WHY? It feels so disrespectful to have me deal with all that.If you’re overweight, or lost weight and have excess skin, lift that skin/fat and clean underneath. And dry really well. Ladies, if you’re more than a B cup, lift the girls and wash/dry good.Not cleaning their ear openings. If I see a ear hole that’s yellow/orange, I gag.Not brushing the lingual surface of the teeth, it is the side closest to your tongue. As a dental hygienist I see tartar buildup there the most. Also, not angling your toothbrush towards your gums when you brush them.This is not directly related to hygiene but general cleanliness - most people don't realize that dishwashers and washing machines have filters that are supposed to be cleaned regularly. The dishwasher one is particularly important because there is a screen filter that catches food particles and is always wet. The first time I cleaned the filter on our several-year-old dishwasher after learning this, it was horrific - I was retching the entire time I was cleaning it. Made me want to re-wash every single dish in the house, ha ha.Not regularly wiping off/sanitizing their earbuds, phone and/or keys. (they aren't a body part, but I think it counts!)Not washing their hair properly. Which includes thoroughly cleansing the scalp.
Many people just lather shampoo on their hair and expect the shampoo to do all the work. But you actually have to get in there with your fingers and work it into your scalp. Really get in there and scrub firmly with the pads of your fingers (don’t scratch with your nails though, or at least don’t scratch hard) You should focus on the scalp because that’s where most oil and dirt collects and where bacteria can accumulate. You want to help your shampoo loosen all that garbage up and actually cleanse your hair. You will be amazed what a difference this makes in how you feel and how nice your hair looks once dry (it will be lighter and bouncier)
Then, you shouldn’t forget to RINSE thoroughly. You don’t want to leave shampoo or conditioner residue in your hair (otherwise it just gets sticky and attracts gunk and gets oily and spawns more bacteria more quickly). I used to share an office with someone who read this hair “hack” that said to not fully rinse, tge idea being that if you leave a bit of shampoo or conditioner in your hair, then the conditioning ingredients in shampoo/conditioner would continue to condition your hair after the wash… but in practice his hair was just always waxy and gross and had an odor unfortunately… so if you come across that tip, run! Don’t do it! Just rinse your hair! (If you want to condition your hair post-wash then use a product formulated for leave-in, like leave-in conditioner. Don’t just not rinse your normal shampoo and conditioner!)Hey. Fellow pierced folks. CLEAN YOUR GODDAMN PIERCINGS. This INCLUDES your jewelry! Gods, the amount of stanky cheese piercings i've smelled walking past someone is far too high.
Even after the initial healing, you gotta still CLEAN them regularly. Bare minimum, rinse and rub in the shower. I take out my actual jewelry every couple weeks and give it a good clean.Not drying properly after washing. All those nooks and crannies you (hopefully) spent time washing properly need to be dried as well.
An ex of mine would get out of the shower without drying and just wrap a towel around his waist then sit on the lounge till he completely dried off. Wet armpits and ballsack marinating in water created BO by the time he was dry.NOT CLEANING their disgusting STANLEY tumblers.Going to the toilet with their phonesNot sanitising door handles. It’s one of the most common places where bacteria lives.Not washing their legs in the showerUsing too much detergent or fabric softener. It will actually trap dirt and smells into the fibres if it doesn't rinse clean. Also you don't need fabric softener, if you are using it to stop static you are drying your clothes too long as it's caused by dry fabric rubbing on dry fabric.Trim those finger nails, please! It only takes 5 minutes once in a while. Don't need to clean under them if you cut them.Generally when cleaning your house, body, or whatever clean from top to bottom. That knocks stuff down to the next thing to be cleaned instead of onto the thing you just cleanedNot brushing the back of their tongue properly and not flossing. It’s literally visible every time they open their mouth that they haven’t flossed and it gives me mad shiversHikers and bikers at college and work who go nose blind to what they come in smelling like. These guys have no idea they’re torturing the entire office. No use in secretly placing a tube of deodorant on their desk because no way can old spice combat this murder stench.
