Personal Hygiene Tips

Hygiene is one of those things everyone is expected to know but no one ever really really talks about, which is unfortunate. Learning about good hygiene techniques very early on in life will prevent future embarrassing scenarios that may arise as a result of things like mouth and body odour. Another thing is that good hygiene is more than just wearing deodorant and rinsing with mouthwash.

So here are just a few brief pro tips.

• Spend a bit more time brushing. Notice how i didn’t say “brushing your teeth”? That’s because it’s not just teeth that require brushing. For complete oral care, proper attention must be paid to both the teeth and the tongue. Buildup on your tongue not only looks disgusting, but it’s the number one cause of bad breath. Giving your tongue a good scrub when you’re brushing your teeth can fix this. Thankfully there are now tongue scrapers specially designed to scrape off all that whitish buildup.

• Shower everyday. E V E R Y D A Y. I know there are some schools of thought that say it is not necessary to shower daily and that doing so may strip your skin of necessary oils and as a result your body may produce more to compensate. But guess what? That’s what moisturizing oils are for. We all have different skin types and so we may need to use different types of products, however a daily wash will go a long way in preventing a build up of bacteria which can lead to body odour. Especially if you live in tropical Nigeria. So please, i know there are days when you may be feeling exceptionally lazy about getting into the shower but just do it anyway, for the sake of the people around you.

• Don’t neglect any part of the body. This is just an addendum to number 2. We all know certain parts of the body are not as easy to reach, like the middle of your back. Getting an extra long sponge or a shower brush can help. There’s also the back of your ears and your belly button and these areas can trap odours so don’t skip them. And can i also say that feet don’t get enough love. Soaking your feet in half an inch of soapy runoff while standing in the shower doesn’t count as washing your feet. Keep a pumice stone handy and give your feet a good scrub while in the shower.

• Sit down to pee. I mean if you’re female of course. I know some people claim that in order to prevent “toilet disease” especially when using shared/public toilets, it’s better to pee standing up but i honestly believe this to be false. The only thing that standing to pee (if you’re a woman) does is create a mess. Think about it, the distance between your bottom and the toilet bowl is less when you sit versus when you stand, and from my long forgotten days of physics i understand that the chances of getting a “splash” are higher when that distance is increased. We have all stepped into a public restroom to meet the toilet seat and even the floor soiled with urine or feces even. Imagine a world where we all wiped the toilet seat before use and sat down to do our business, flush afterwards and leave the toilet tidy for the next user? Wouldn’t that be a much happier world?

Woman in the toilet

• Wash your hands. And wash them again. We do so much with our hands. And except you’re involved in some menial labour your hands would hardly appear dirty. However this doesn’t mean that those same clean looking hands are not harbouring millions of invisible germs. And then for people like me who are constantly snacking, these same hands pick up plantain chips and convey them into our mouths, thereby introducing these germs directly into the body. So as much as possible try to wash your hands often. I know some people may feel like using hand sanitizer is enough and it is, but washing with soap under running water is always superior. Also using a nice moisturizer helps keep the hands from drying out especially when using alcohol based sanitisers.

With these few points of mine i hope that i have been able to impart just a bit more knowledge than you previously had on personal hygiene.

There’s more of course but we’ll save that for another time.