If you think taking a bath everyday reduces the number of bacteria on your skin, then think again!
Let me explain.
The natural bacteria on your skin exist as microcolonies or small clumps of bacterial cells between 1,000 to 70,000 bacteria depending on the location of the skin. You will have relatively more bacteria in your armpits than in your forearm, for example. These microcolonies can also be found literally under your skin. That's why even though how hard we scrub our skin during bathing, even though the skin turns an angry red, there will still be bacteria there.
When you take a bath, you are actually spreading the microcolonies of bacteria on your skin. Given the fact that a lot of bacteria are washed away, there will still be a lot left on your skin. So even if the total number of bacteria on your skin decreases, the number of bacteria per square area of the skin increases. In fact, if you can borrow the eyes of Superman with his microscopic vision, you can see that the number of bacteria per square inch of your skin is higher than before you took a bath. Your skin also becomes a bit dryer than before causing your skin to flake off. Each of these flaking skin scales contain millions of bacteria. Eventually, after a period of about 24 hours, your skin bacteria would resume its normal number and distribution.This piece of information is important most specially to the pharmaceutical industry, electronics manufacturing and operating rooms in hospitals where bacteria and dust particles are kept at a minimum.
On the Use of Soap
Nowadays, there are lots of soaps to choose from. You should choose the soap that agrees with your skin. Some soaps are too alkaline that render your skin too dry. You can remedy that by applying lotion after taking a bath. Each of those squamous cells sloughing off reveals even more bacteria underneath your skin. And those skin scales you continuously shed off gradually result to the entire replacement of your outer skin every 27 days! Guess how much skin cells you lose every year on the average? 1.5 pounds! Ewwww... Still you have to take a bath regularly to reduce the microcolonies and the oil that feeds the bacteria. Otherwise, they would multiply and produce those offensive odors (in some cultures, that smell doesn't bother them) and toxins that affect your skin cells (e.g pimples).
And don't be so grossed out not to wash your hands properly. Remember to use soap and sing two happy birthdays while washing your hands. Washing with water alone won't take away the oils on your skin and you'll use up 2 gallons of free flowing water just to see some reduction in bacterial count. Incidentally, why two happy birthdays? Unless you sing faster than Alvin the Chipmunk, the 2 Happy Birthdays would give you a minimum of 20 second handwashing. That's the standard set by the CDC to effectively reduce the number of bacteria on your hands.
But which soap? You don't have to use antibacterial soap all the time. I really would like to comment on a very popular soap that starts with the letter S. If you use the same soap continuously, your skin bacteria are likely to develop resistance to that disinfectant. That's why even pharmaceutical companies and hospitals cycle their soaps and disinfectants used for cleaning (or do they?). I believe that the available soap nowadays are effective only due to mechanical action and not by virtue of its "disinfectant" properties. In order for your soap to "effectively" reduce skin bacteria, you have to leave the soap for longer than a minute or maybe even a few minutes. But who washes their hands that long?
On Hand Drying
Drying your hands right after you wash is also important. The worst way to dry your hands is to use hot air hand dryer. Using this method produces more skin scales and consequently, the number of bacteria in your hands also increase by as much as 117%. You can use cloth towel but make sure that it is clean or freshly laundered. Using your hand towel over and over again for a couple of days will definitely allow bacteria to breed on the cloth. The best way is to use disposable paper towels to dry your skin. It results to about 24% reduction of bacteria. And don't forget to turn off the faucet using the paper towel, not with your bare hands. There is the concern of environmental pollution though. Oh well, you can't think of everything.
So, to wrap up:
Should you still take a bath even if the number of bacteria in your skin increases or keeps coming back? YES.
Is it necessary to use soap while handwashing? YES.
Is it necessary to always use antimicrobial soap? NO
What is the best way to dry your hands after washing? PAPER TOWEL.
References:
Keith Redway & Shameem Fawdar. A comparative study of different hand drying methods: paper towel, warm air dryer, jet air dryer.University of Westminster. European Tissue Symposium (ETS), Brussels. Nov 2008.
R. J. Holt. Aerobic Bacterial Counts On Human Skin After Bathing. J. Med. Microbiol., Aug 1971; 4: 319 - 327.
Word Health Organization. Global Handwashing Day 2008: Planner's Guide.
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