Trying to do well by yourself takes many forms. For most of us, these are learning to exercise properly, eating better, and learning how to properly care for our appearance. This goes a long way to show a certain pride in being that radiates off of us. There are smaller things we can all do as well to help improve our health or our overall quality of life. It would be hard to list all the forms this can take, but one of them is learning how to properly manage our bath or shower time. This may seem a bit nonsensical at first, but there are good reasons for doing this. It can end up benefitting your mental health, your bills, and your skin’s health if you learn how to appropriately time these activities. Fortunately, it is easier to get perfect timing than you’d think.

Enjoying A Bath
A bath is one of the things we can all do that helps us both mentally and physically. Drawing a warm bath is particularly welcome on a cold day and can instantly improve almost anyone’s mood. Once you sink into the tub, you’re probably not going to want to get out anytime soon. This, unfortunately, isn’t the best idea in the world as there is a fairly clear limit on how long a bath should be. You can get all the benefits that you’re going to get within the first 20 minutes regardless of any other factors. Most of us can bathe within that time and almost every potential bath additive or aromatic component will have done its job in that space of time too. That fact that the water will be constantly losing heat also puts a time limit on things. You want the bath to be comfortable, not tepid.

A Good Shower
Showers occupy an awkward space when it comes to cleaning. We can get everything done relatively quickly, but that means they are seldom as relaxing as a good bath. The amount of water being used is often greater without any specialized systems too. With that in mind, a really good shower, for the environment, is only about five minutes. This is often quite hard to achieve even for the best of us. Ideally, they should last 10 to 15 minutes at most though when ignoring the previous rule. The short duration is because it is much easier to bathe in the shower and there are seldom as many extra involved as with a bath. The potential for rapid, full body coverage in warm water also makes them far easier to get that general feeling of relaxation in. There are other reasons to limit how long take a bath or shower though.

All Things Considered
Few people think of taking a cold bath or shower. It can be exhilarating, yes, but it isn’t the go-to when it comes to helping us to both relax and get clean. This is actually where the problem comes in for most of us. Hot water helps break up the dirt and grime on our skin. This includes our natural oils that trap grime against the skin. It is very useful for helping get clean, but too much exposure to warmer water can mean that our skin ends up getting stripped of its natural oil. Our skin is then more susceptible to outside sources of damage like the sun and other factors. Furthermore, some bath additives, especially soaps, can keep eating away at your natural oil barrier for the duration of the bath and leave your skin less protected all day long thanks to residue. Excess heat from a shower or bath can also end up damaging the skin. This makes properly timing your exposure a good idea when you’re concerned about skin health.

How long we bathe or shower is actually something to take into consideration. It is one of the smaller factors that can come up in skincare and beauty, but it is still a factor. Remember that only so much heat is good for your skin and hair. Properly limiting the amount of time you spend in a bath or shower can help you ensure your skin remains naturally beautiful without accidentally contributing another form of chronic damage to it.