To bathe or not to bathe
One of the luxuries of living starting at the middle class of the society is bathing. Not many may be aware that countless people below the poverty line and the lower classes of this nation do not even have the access to clean warm water which they may use to bathe on a regular basis.
To have a shower everyday is considered to be the best way of keeping your body clean and being hygienic and thereby being healthy, until recently. Countless of studies and research over the years conducted now are claiming that skipping a shower or two every now and then might actually do ones skin good.
In the past much before water heaters became a common place in all homes, frequent bathing was a major ordeal. Water had to be heated over a fire before a anybody could so much as dip a toe into the tub. The process was very inconvenient and still is, in many developing countries. The members of the family used the same water to bathe and then wash their laundry, before it was tossed out.
In 1889, Mr Edwin Ruud invented the home water heater. Very soon many shower designs very introduced into every home. However at the time, the water that came from the showerhead went into the drain to be circulated once again to the showerhead. Only when indoor plumbing was introduced worldwide somewhere around the 1930s is when most of the middle class society enjoyed showers not too different from that of today, as this indoor plumbing system bought together water heating, and showering , and the most needed drainage system.
It is assumed that the more you shower, the cleaner you are and lathering with a lot of soap followed by washing it off hot water should kill any germs on your skin but studies by medical researchers have proven to be the opposite. Using plain old soap instead of antimicrobial or antibacterial does not kill any bacteria on the skin but actually disturbs their small colonies, transferring them to the surrounding areas in the shower....