Some people see showers as a necessary (and lovely) ritual that all decent human beings do daily…

有些人把洗澡當成一個必要(和美好)的儀式，所有得體的人每天都洗澡....。.

While others believe it’s a chore to avoid until the last possible minute and then do as quickly as humanly possible。

而其他人則認為洗澡是項瑣碎的事，直到最后一分鐘才洗，而且洗得非�？臁�

If you’re in this category and have ever wondered how often you actually need to clean your body, the answer is: not as often as most Americans probably think。

如果你是這類人，從沒想過到底要洗多少次。答案是，并不像美國人想的那么頻繁。

Two dermatologists tell BuzzFeed Life that most Americans shower way more than is necessary。

兩位皮膚病學家告訴BuzzFeed生活欄目，大多數(shù)美國人洗澡頻率遠比所需的次數(shù)多。

According to Dr. Joshua Zeichner, assistant professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, how frequently we shower and what we perceive as body odor is “really more of a cultural phenomenon。” Boston dermatologist Dr. Ranella Hirsch echoes this sentiment. “We overbathe in this country and that’s really important to realize,” she says. “A lot of the reason we do it is because of societal norms。”

根據(jù)紐約西奈山醫(yī)院皮膚病學助理教授舒亞·蔡克納博士，洗澡的頻率和我們認為的體香實際上更是一種文化現(xiàn)象。波士頓皮膚病學家博士赫希也有同感。“我們在這個國家，洗澡的頻率太多了。我們意識到這一點是很重要的。”她說，“我們對洗澡頻率研究的很多原因是因為社會規(guī)范。”

And those norms are mainly the result of good advertising。

而這些社會規(guī)范主要是廣告宣傳的好的結果。

After the Civil War, both advertising and “toilet soap” (i.e., soap for the body) became more prevalent in the United States, says Katherine Ashenburg, author of The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History. “Americans turned out to be much more gullible and susceptible to these things than Europeans,” Ashenburg tells BuzzFeed Life。

《清潔污垢：一個不衛(wèi)生的歷史》的作家卡瑟琳·阿西伯格說，南北戰(zhàn)爭之后廣告和香皂(即為洗身體的肥皂)在美國變得更流行。阿西伯格告訴BuzzFeed生活欄目“結果是，美國人遠比歐洲人容易上當，容易受影響。”

“Germ theory didn’t matter half as much as promises of beauty,” Ashenburg says。

阿西伯格說，“對美麗的承諾遠比病菌理論重要的多。”

But here’s the thing: Frequent showering may actually be doing more harm than good。

但是事實上：頻繁洗澡弊大于利。

Zeichner and Hirsch say that showering too often (particularly in hot water) can dry out and irritate skin, wash away the good bacteria that naturally exists on your skin, and introduce small cracks that put you at a higher risk of infection。

蔡克納和赫希說，洗澡太頻繁(特別是洗熱水澡)會導致皮膚干燥和過敏;清洗掉皮膚本身就有的有益細菌;產生表皮裂紋，讓你更容易受到感染。

Both doctors say that parents should not bathe babies and toddlers daily. Zeichner says that early exposure to dirt and bacteria may make the skin less sensitive as you age, and prevent allergies and conditions like eczema。

兩位博士都說，家長[微博]不應該每天都給嬰幼兒洗澡。蔡克納說，早期暴露在污垢和細菌的環(huán)境中會讓皮膚到你年紀的時候更不容易敏感，防止過敏和如濕疹一樣的癥狀。

While your activity level and climate will affect how often you’ll want shower, you can probably skip the daily shower and take one every two to three days。

盡管你的活動量和氣候會影響你想洗澡的頻率，你可能不需要每天都洗，每兩天或每三天一次就好。

If you’re so inclined, you can clean the grossest parts of your body with a soapy washcloth or cleansing towelette to remove odor-causing bacteria on non-shower days. (Grossest parts of your body = “face, underarms, under the breasts, genitals, and rear end,” according to Zeichner。)

如果你很想洗的話，在不洗澡的日子里，你可以用有肥皂的毛巾或者是濕餐巾清洗身體最臟的部分，從而去除產生異味的細菌。(據(jù)蔡克納所說，身體最臟的部分有：臉部，腋下，乳房下，生殖器和臀部。)

You should also put on clean undergarments each day; one study showed that we shed far more dirt and oil in our clothes than we do in the shower。

你也應該每天換內衣。一項研究表明我們穿衣服時要比我們在洗澡中去除的污垢和油脂要多得多。

SO. You no longer have to stand in the stupid shower every morning getting your head wet for 10 minutes while you try to get up the courage to step out into the freezing bathroom!

所以，你不用每天早晨站在淋浴里花十分鐘把頭弄濕，并且鼓足勇氣走到冰冷的浴室里。

How often do you shower?

你洗澡的頻率是多少呢?