I am sure that you have always been told bathing regularly with soap and water is a daily ritual that should be carried out. But in an article for Time magazine Robynne Chutkan says to put down the soap. While this might seem a little gross, Dr. Chutkan reasons that using antibacterial soaps strips your skin of both bad and good bacteria, weakening your immune system and leaving you more susceptible to coming down with that cold.
And it’s not just getting sick that can, in part, be attributed to the use of harsh soaps. Skin issues like acne and eczema can also be exacerbated when your soap is too good at its job of getting rid of bacteria. Instead, Dr. Chutkan says most days you can pretty much skip the soap altogether,
Unless you’ve just finished rolling in the mud, the only places that need daily soaping are your armpits and groin. The rest of your body does fine with a rinse – even after a sweaty workout.
We’re all for letting the friendly microbes on our skin live in peace, but we’re not sure we can totally get down with the whole no-soap thing. If the idea of going soap-free has you freaked out, too, Dr. Chutkan says to stick with a mild soap like the classic Dove bar and other gentle toilet soaps like Lux and Joy — we have a feeling your classmates thank you for this!