Skin care

FYI: You're Showering All Wrong

Tired of unruly hair and dry skin? It's time to give your showering routine a facelift

by Erica Smith | COMMENT

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You're Showering Every Day How it's hurting: We apologize to the germaphobes out there, but the experts we spoke to were unanimous: You're doing more harm than good by showering every day. "Overwashing depletes our skin of valuable natural oils and lowers its acidity (or pH) levels," says Jolie Martin, director of SKINNEY Medspa in NYC. "Lower acidity levels make our skin too alkaline and weaken its ability to fight bacterial infections, skin damage and disease."

The fix: Unless you're working up a hearty sweat every single day, consider this your permission slip to skip your shower and sleep in. Limit bath time to every other day, and keep it as close to 10 minutes as possible. Why? 10 minutes is enough time for the warm water to let your pores open up and actually moisturize the skin instead of drying it out. You'll clearly have to go over on the days you shave or deep condition but be forewarned: the longer and hotter your shower gets, the more damage control you'll have to do with moisturizing products afterward.

SEE NEXT PAGE: You're Not Starting With Your Hair

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