Here are seemingly 'healthy' hygiene practices that do more harm than good

The key to living a healthy life is incorporating habits favourable to overall well being in day to day life. But while these simple lifestyle practices may seem beneficial, is it possible they may be doing more harm than good?

While people tend to follow practices widely accepted as healthy in society, it is necessary to know how good they actually are. Here are some hygiene habits which you might want to be careful about.

Using cotton swabs to clean ears

Although a large number of people rely on Q-tips for clean and hygienic ears, there are experts who may make you think again. While they appear harmless, these swabs can cause health hazards like punctured eardrums, ear infections and may also lead to hearing loss.

Bath bombs

Settling down in the bath tub with scented suds may seem relaxing but this can leave you with irritated skin and yeast infections. The detergents in bath bombs wash away protective oils and can disrupt the skin’s pH balance.

Hand sanitiser

Frequently using sanitiser may seem crucial for personal hygiene, but the US Food and Drug Association says that a synthetic compound called triclosan in it may damage your health. Long term exposure to active ingredients can also lead to bacterial resistance and hormonal effects.

Air dryers

Drying your hands instantly using this device may sound like a great idea except it isn’t. Not only are air dryers inefficient when it comes to wiping out bacteria, they may even spread it across the room creating a mist with fecal bacteria.

This makes paper towels a much more effective and safe method of drying hands and maintaining personal hygiene.

Hot showers

A nice warm shower after a long tiring day may seem like the best way to unwind, but staying in there too long can be harmful. Hot showers deprive skin of protective oils and this is why keeping it short is advisable.

It’s also best to take hot showers at night since the cooling process slows down metabolic activities to ease the sleep transition.

Washing hair every day

Even as we are used to wash hair every single day, this may be taking a toll on our hair instead of making it stronger. Doing it daily simply washes off natural oils without which hair becomes dry and brittle.

Sneezing in your hands

Covering your mouth with your hands while sneezing may seem like the right thing to do, but that really isn’t the case. Since we touch food, money and other people after that, sneezing on the hands is clearing the way for contagion.

As most respiratory diseases are spread due to touching objects with contaminated hands, sneezing into the elbow may be a better option for everyone.

Spraying perfume in undergarments

Trying to deodorise your innerwear to ensure that your private parts smell good may seem harmless, but having chemicals near the genitals can mess with pH levels. It can leave people with yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis and urinary tract infection.

This is why just relying on the self cleaning vagina to maintain hygiene might be a better idea.