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This Is What Happens To Your Body When You Don't Shower For Two Days

Updated September 8, 2021

Personal hygiene isn't as always as personal as it sounds. There's a pretty large social aspect to it. It's not just a matter of how your cleanliness affects you, but how it affects the people around you. And so we do feel some social pressure to keep our bodies as fresh and clean as possible at all times.

But there's an argument to make that there should be more of a personal aspect to it than merely going by whether others crinkle up their noses when they get too close to you. It could be important for your overall health.

Let's face it, if you take public transit, you have probably considered and re-considered the benefits of daily showers.

I mean, human stink just goes hand-in-hand with riding public transit, don't you think? The question is, why don't those folks shower more often? Is it time? Laziness? Or is there more to it than that?

Skipping showers, it turns out, isn't the worst thing in the world for you. In fact, it might even do your body some good, if not your smell.

Showering regularly does keep the bad smells at bay, but at a potential cost to your health. It all comes down to what the soapy water washes away: Bacteria and oils.

Your body isn't just an organism, after all; it's an ecosystem, a host for a complex, still somewhat mysterious collection of bacteria called a microbiome.

The microbiome, made up of all the bacteria and microbes on your body, has been shown to affect a number of health factors, including your immune system, digestion, and your metabolism.

When you shower, you wash away some of the good bacteria and microbes doing good work for your body.

Showering too often can also have significant, noticeable effects on your skin.

Washing away the skin's natural oils makes it more sensitive to things like fragrances and dyes.

Any little irritant can leave your skin red and itchy, and it will probably be dry, too.

That said, skipping showers altogether isn't the best idea, either, especially if you work a sweat, labor-intensive job.

Or if you're a gym rat — basically, when you sweat, you're going to stink, and showering gets rid of it.

That's not exactly breaking news. But there are other reasons you need to wash that sweat off your body.

To be clear though, body odor is NOT caused by sweating at all.

Unsplash | Meghan Holmes

According to Bustle, and science, the true source of your stink is the cocktail of gasses that bacteria release as they devour proteins and fatty acids on your skin.

In fact, two or three days without showering can create a bacterial stink of up to 30 different odors!

Talk about a massive, gassy bacteria party on your body! YUCK.

Which makes a lot of sense, considering our bacteria outnumbers our bodily cell count by 10 to 1.

Because of their size, bacteria only make up about one to two percent of our body mass — but that still constitutes about three to five POUNDS of bacteria.

As dermatologist Dr. Monika G. Kiripolsky told Men's Health, showering is a must for your skin.

"Excess oil on the skin clogs the pores, which can lead to facial and body acne as well as folliculitis, or acne-like red bumps and pustules," she said. Yum.

And let's not forget basic cleanliness — life is going to expose you to bad bacteria, too.

The kind that doesn't just make you stink, but makes you sick. As microbiologist Jason Tetro told Global News, built-up bad bacteria can get into your nose and lungs, causing bigger issues.

So even if you're down with skipping showers for a couple of days, you should probably hit up the trouble spots — armpits, groin, and backside in particular — more often.

Going without a shower every two days isn't the worst idea, even if it makes you feel like one of the stinky people on the subway.

Turns out, they might just be onto something, showering just the right amount instead of too much or too little.

The good news is that when you DO end up showering, you're getting benefits from both hot and cold water.

Depending on what you're feeling after a few days of slumming it stinky style, you should choose your temperature wisely.

If you're feeling dulled out and itchy, opt for a cool cleanse.

Unsplash | Laura Marques

According to Health Line, cold water can temper your itching skin by bypassing the sensation, and will make your hair and skin glow and shine.

Congested from inhaling all that bacteria? Turn up the heat.

Hot showers can provide relief from congestion and respiratory issues, relax your aching muscles, and loosen the phlegm clogging up your system.

All in all, it seems like a good idea to generally avoid missing a shower for more than two days — but at least now you know what happens!

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