8 Common Hygiene Myths You Shouldn’t Believe

Brush your teeth, bathe, and wash your hands regularly. Simple, right?

Although hygiene is an essential aspect of personal care, misinformation concerning these habits abounds.

Here, health experts weigh in on the top hygiene myths you shouldn't fall for.

1. Peeing in the Shower Is Harmless

Kelly Clarkson divided the internet in 2023 during an episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show when discussing her showering habits with Kenan Thompson of Saturday Night Live. While chatting about Thompson's new book, When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice From a Professional Clown, the topic of peeing in the shower came up.

“I’m on the whole other side where I find it to be gross and I don’t do it,” Thompson said, admitting that he has done it but tries not to. “I pee almost every time,” Clarkson said. “The hot water hits your body … I gotta go.”

While peeing in the shower might be gross, is it hazardous to your health?

Because urine isn't sterile, peeing in the shower may not always be harmless. “It's not necessarily recommended," says Marisa Garshick, MD, a board-certified dermatologist who practices in New York City. "There's a theoretical risk of a bacterial infection if you have an open cut on your skin.”

Also, says Dr. Garshick, "It’s not a considerate practice if you share a shower with other people and proper cleaning doesn’t take place in between."

• Have an open wound
• Share the shower with others
• Have a contagious infection
• Have problems with urge incontinence
  

2. You Don’t Need to Wash Your Legs in the Shower

Clarkson also disagreed with Thompson’s habit of washing his legs, all the way down to his ankles. “But wait, when you're washing up here, it does wash down," Kelly argued.

According to Garshick, in general it is important to wash your legs in the shower, “especially if they're visibly dirty,” she says. “That said, for those with very dry or sensitive skin, limiting soap to the underarms, genitals, and feet may be sufficient. This minimizes stripping the skin of its natural oils, which can dry the skin out more.”

3. Brushing Your Teeth in the Shower Is Basically the Same as Using the Sink

Clarkson revealed she has another double-tasking hygiene habit. “I don’t regularly brush my teeth in the shower,” she said. “I just do it if I’m in a hurry.” She added: “I do happen to be in a hurry a lot.”

Keeping a toothbrush in the shower for emergency situations may seem like a time-saving option. But it’s not a good idea, says Garshick. “The shower is a moist environment where bacterial overgrowth can occur,” she explains.

If you are going to brush your teeth in the shower, however, timing is key. “It's important to do so before cleansing your body,” says Garshick. “That way the soap or cleanser will help rinse away any toothpaste residue.”

4. You Don’t Need to Bathe if You Don’t See Dirt

The actors Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis stirred up a little controversy when they revealed that bathing isn’t a part of their family’s daily schedule. During a July 2021 appearance on Dax Shepard and Monica Padman’s podcast Armchair Expert, the celebrity couple divulged that they bathe only when absolutely necessary.

"Here's the thing — if you can see the dirt on ’em, clean ’em. Otherwise, there's no point,” Kutcher said about when they opt to give their kids a bath. As for Kunis herself, she says she doesn’t wash her whole body with soap every day, “but I wash pits and tits and holes and soles.” Her husband joked that he washes his “armpits and my crotch daily, and nothing else ever.”

Shepard, also an actor, agreed with the couple. "You should not be getting rid of all the natural oil on your skin with a bar of soap every day," he said on the podcast. "It's insane." In an August 2021 episode of The View, he and his wife, actor Kristen Bell, said that bath time isn’t a priority for their kiddos, either, saying it’s sometimes an afterthought. “Yeah, we forget,” Bell said on the show.

The celebrity couples aren’t wrong when it comes to this hygiene habit, says Darren P. Mareiniss, MD, the chairman of the department of emergency medicine at RWJBH Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. “Daily showers can dry your skin, and antibacterial soap can kill normal skin flora,” he explains.

That said, daily showers are not a real cause for concern or a health hazard, notes Dr. Mareiniss.

In some cases, though, skipping showers may be a bad idea. Richard Antaya, MD, the director of pediatric dermatology at Yale Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, says a daily shower can be beneficial for those with certain skin disorders, such as atopic dermatitis, the most common form of eczema.

In people without eczema, Mareiniss points out that failing to shower adequately can result in body odor and fungal and bacterial infections. “However, it is not necessary to shower every day unless you are particularly dirty or grimy.” Showering several times a week is usually adequate to ensure proper hygiene.

5. You Need to Use Q-tips to Clean Your Ears

Q-tips cotton swabs were invented in 1923, when the company's founder, Leo Gerstenzang, observed his wife adding wads of cotton to toothpicks to clean out their baby’s ear. But the company no longer formally endorses them for hygienic purposes.

Douglas M. Hildrew, MD, an otolaryngologist and an assistant professor of surgery at Yale Medicine, confirms that sticking Q-tips in your ears to clean them is unnecessary — and potentially unsafe.

“The ear canal is designed to be a self-cleaning structure. While the ear is constantly making wax and shedding dead skin cells, it is also designed with a natural migration pattern that pushes any excess buildup out of the ear canal,” Dr. Hildrew explains.

Additionally, earwax has antimicrobial properties that destroy bacteria before they can create an infection and works as a moisturizer for the ear canal, says Hildrew.

Not only are Q-tips unnecessary to clean your ears — they can cause damage. “The combination of thin skin lying right on top of hard bone makes the skin quite vulnerable to tearing if poked at with a Q-tip, paper clip, or hairpin. Small tears in the skin can lead to bleeding and painful infections,” Hildrew explains.

6. Douching Will Clean Your Vagina

Like your ears, your vagina cleans itself. Impressive, right? That doesn’t mean people haven’t tried to help it out — with douching, for example.

Douching dates to the 19th century. It has been used for everything from birth control, with Lysol touted as the active, sperm-killing ingredient in the 1930s, according to Smithsonian Magazine, to infection prevention. But there is zero proof for these claims.

“In fact, douching is often damaging to the bacteria normally present, and changes the natural pH in the vagina,” says Mareiniss, noting that the majority of doctors do not recommend the practice.

The Office on Women’s Health advises that douching is unnecessary and can make you more likely to develop sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

7. Always Wash Your Hands With Hot Water

Far more important than temperature is applying soap to your hands after getting them wet. “Rub liquid soap into your hands, and then rinse with water to get all the soap and dirt off,” notes Mareiniss. And of course, wash for at least 20 seconds.

8. The 5-Second Rule Means Food Is Safe to Eat

The five-second rule originated in the 1200s, when Genghis Khan reportedly implemented the “Khan rule” at his banquets, stating that “if food fell on the floor, it could stay there as long as Khan allowed,” according to the Science Friday website.

Over the years, the “Khan rule” turned into the familiar “five-second rule.” But eating food dropped on the floor, even after one second, may be harmful, says Thomas Murray, MD, PhD, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist and a professor of pediatrics at Yale Medicine in New Haven, Conncecticut.