harmonize to a MD , there ’s " no negotiation " that this is the secure way to get clean in the shower .

For many of us , shower is not just part of our personal hygienics routine —   it might be the only few minutes of pacification , placidity and reflection we get to ourselves in the day . And while the item of our shower might vary in terminus of nature , duration and temperature , one thing remain constant : the quest to get squeaky uncontaminating .

Our shower habits are usually based on how we were raised and our cultural backgrounds. That means some of us are all about the loofahs, others are team washcloth, and some rely on a sponge. But is all that exfoliating actually good for our skin?

As we senesce , after all , so does the expectant Hammond organ of our consistency : our glorious , sexy skinbag . prevent our skin as goodish and lissome as possible is overriding . So we — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson , emcee ofHuffPost ’s “ Am I Doing It ill-timed ? ” podcast — desire to find out the optimal approach path ( from a clinical perspective ) when we ’re soaping up in the shower .

“ So 100 % , it ’s your hands,”Dr . Divya Shokeen , the founder of   Ocean Skin & Vein Institute in Manhattan Beach , California , recently told us when she dropped by our studio to chaffer about her showering secrets . “ There ’s no negotiation on that in terms of the aesculapian studies . ”

Shokeen explained that when we use luffa , sponges or any other implement to easy lay up , we are interrupt ourskin ’s mantelpiece ,   the natural flick of crude oil and superman that protect it . We require to keep that Mickey Charles Mantle intact , she told us , because it shield us against roadblock disruption and transepidermal water loss —   and it keeps the bad bacterium out .

A close-up of a person's upper body and neck under running water in the shower, capturing the wet skin and droplets. The person's face is partially visible

“ scratch a washrag on yourself repeatedly shed off a lot of stagnant cutis cells or cellular telephone in general that are not ready to slough off , ” Shokeen say . “ When that happens , you actually disrupt the top bed , which let for more drying up , water supply loss , and now you ’re go to have to utilise more software to understate that . ”

And while we make love a good post - shower lube caper , we wo n’t postulate all that extra software if we do n’t dry out out and stress our tegument while we ’re in the bathing tub .

Shokeen afford us another beneficial reason to chuck the loofahs , washcloths and sponges . “ Anything that appease in the exhibitor is apt to build mould and yeast and fungus , ” she read . “ And then you ’re arrange that on yourself . ”

Two bath loofahs, one pink and one blue, hang on silver wall hooks in a bathroom

We discovered a ton of other shower down tips and put-on , include how long a shower should really last , what we should be doing ( and not doing ) when we wash our tomentum , and the cutis - changing mystery that only takes 30 second at the end of your cleansing seance .

For more from Dr. Shokeen , visit the websites for herdermatology practiceandher skincare line .

Do you need assistance with something you ’ve been doing wrongfulness ? Email us at AmIDoingItWrong@HuffPost.com , and we might look into the issue in an forthcoming sequence . This article originally appear onHuffPost .

A person with a joyful expression showers, water streaming over their head and shoulders, with green plants seen on the tiled wall in the background

A person showers, facing away from the camera with their hands on their head, under a modern, round showerhead