Personal Hygiene
November 10, 2007
Ideas about ‘hygiene’ were first of all thought of to stop the spread of infection, but now we also use the word hygiene to mean the way to make sure that our body is also nice to be around (for example hair looks clean and we smell OK).
What you do about personal hygiene is very much dependent on the culture in which you live. Your ‘culture’ does not only mean in which town or country you live, but also the group that you spend most time with. In some groups it is expected that you will wash your body at least every day and use deodorants to stop body smells, in other groups different ‘routines’ may be usual.
Body smells are partly due to
- chemicals that the body makes (such as the pheromones or ’sexual’ chemicals that attract (or repel) others)
- things that the body is trying to get rid of (such as garlic and alcohol)
- and partly due to the actions of bacteria on the skin. There are always bacteria on the skin which ‘feed’ on dead skin cells and fluids such as sweat. Some of these bacteria make chemicals which smell unpleasant (such as methane and hydrogen sulphide (rotten egg gas)).
Washing and using deodorants gets rid of many of these smelly chemicals for a while but they build up again every day.
Clothes (especially socks and underwear) can be smelly and unpleasant to others after they have been worn for one day. Making sure that underwear and socks are changed each day is usually the thing to do in places where it is easy to wash clothes. In some places this may not be possible. Other people do make judgements about some people based on what they look like and what they smell like. Make sure that the ‘message’ you give is the one that you want to give.
Cigarette smoke, whether you are a smoker or are around people who smoke, can cling to your clothes with an unpleasant smell.
- Having clean hair is also something that many people prefer.
- Shoes often get very smelly, and putting them outside to dry completely (killing the bacteria in them which make the smell) can make you easier to live with. More
