Science says: your skin stays the most beautiful when you shower at this temperature

Recently, I came across a TikTok where two men were having a deep discussion about women and their shower temperature. Apparently, we shower bizarrely hot. As usual, I clicked on the comments to see what the response was. One person, I guess a woman, actually gave a nice reason for this: ‘A hot shower feels like a tight hug.’ And then everything suddenly fell into place. This is why I prefer to shower at cremation level: I also need a hug every now and then.

Okay, such a hot shower every day might feel like a little moment of happiness, but it has two downsides. Besides the fact that your energy bill skyrockets, it is far from good for your skin. That tight feeling after showering and those red spots? That simply comes from standing under the spray at 45 degrees. High temperatures damage your skin barrier. When that is compromised, you are much more likely to suffer from inflammation and the natural oils that are important for retaining moisture are washed away. In short: your skin gets terribly dehydrated.

What is the ideal shower temperature then? According to experts, it is lukewarm with a temperature somewhere between 30 and 37 degrees. But that is not the only thing needed to keep your skin hydrated. For example, you should avoid a bar of soap on a daily basis. The pH value of this is too high, between 9 and 10, while that of our own skin is around 5.4. Instead, you can better use shower products with a lower value between 5.5 and 7. A simple shower gel at Kruidvat already falls into that category, so now you know that too.

Whether I will lower my shower temperature from now on, I am not entirely sure about, because for me it is all or nothing. Either very warm or very cold. Not lukewarm, I find that terrible. Maybe I should switch to a completely cold shower from now on. Then I also burn some extra calories. How nice is that.

Source: vogue.com