There are no classrooms that teach you basic hygiene growing up.
We’re here to help fill those gaps.
Last week, we asked our readers what necessary skills theyweren’t taught growing up.
While we got a huge response, personal hygiene skills were the top of several of our commenters lists.
And it’s understandable.
Most people don’t get outside input on these essential, everyday routines until much later in life.
For that reason, we’re going back to basics.
It may seem tangential, but it’s essential.
Slowly build up over time, if necessary.
How to Shave Effectively
Learning how to shave is a rite of passage for some families.
Others, however, may not get in-depth lessons.
However, there are some basics that cover everyone.
The first thing you’ll need to do is pick how you’re going to shave.
you’re free to read more about the different types of razors with respect to menhereand for womenhere.
There’s overlap between both, but each has their own unique challenges.
Once you’ve decided what you’re going to shave, you gotta learn how.
For women,this videocan show you the basics of how to shave your legs.
Men have to decide whether they’ll shave their beards or keep them trimmed and neat.
For the latter, we’ve previously covered a video that explains how tokeep a beard tidy.
If you’d rather go clean shaven, About.com has a handy step-by-stephere.
Of course, sliding a blade over your body isn’t the only thing that matters when shaving.
How and when you do it matters as well.
AsWikiHow suggests, if you’re shaving in the shower, use warm water and shave last.
The warm water will reduce skin irritation.
How to Shower Properly
Showers are ubiquitous because they are essential to both cleanliness and health.
They’re also fairly straightforward: acquire soap, rub it on yourself under running water.
Well, there are still a few other things to keep in mind.
For starters, the order in which you wash yourself in can matter a lot.
Start byallowing water to run over youfor a couple minutes.
Warm water can make it easier to remove dirt and residue.
double-check it isn’t super hot, which can dry out your skin.
As we established earlier, you should do any shaving towards the end of your shower.
Of course, all this waiting around may start to feel comfortable, but don’t dawdle too long.
You also need to take care of your out-of-the-shower habits.
If you use a loofah, ensure you replace it at least once a month.
If you prefer washcloths, grab a fresh one every day, and avoid using it on your face.
Yourtowels should get cleaned fairly regularlyas well.
Decaying teeth can be agonizing.
It doesn’t take much time, but it’s easy to get it wrong.
Just sliding a toothbrush over the outside of your teeth for ten seconds won’t help you much.
As the video above demonstrates, brushing for two minutes two to three times a day is recommended.
You also need to follow up brushing your teeth with flossing.
Pinch floss between thumbs and index fingers, leaving a one- to two-inch length in between.
Use thumbs to direct floss between upper teeth.
Guide: Keep a one- to two-inch length of floss taut between fingers.
Use index fingers to guide floss between contacts of the lower teeth.
Glide: Gently guide floss between the teeth by using a zig-zag motion.
DO NOT SNAP FLOSS BETWEEN YOUR TEETH.
Contour floss around the side of the tooth.
Slide: Slide floss up and down against the tooth surface and under the gum line.
Floss each tooth thoroughly with a clean section of floss.
Flossing isn’t just for those popcorn kernels between your teeth, either.
While you’re at it, pay attention to your tongue too.
The tongue is an often-neglected part of oral care, but your tongue houses bacteria that causes bad breath.
Tongue scrapers can scrub the bacteria hiding on your tongue away and help reduce bad breath.
Some things are necessary, others are superfluous.
As we’vecovered before, which brand you buy doesn’t matter much and they mostly only differ by scent.
For best effect, apply the antiperspirantat night.
It helps to eliminate extra bacteria and can help fight cavities.
Just verify you don’t use it as a replacement for brushing or to mask bad breath.
Only solving the underlying problems will actually help.
Perfume/cologne:Using an artificial scent is largely a matter of personal preference.
For some it can be attractive, others can use too much and make it off putting.
If you want to try experimenting with perfumes and colognes, start by learninghow much is too much.
Photos byJuhan Sonin,Steven Dopolo,Gregg O’Connell.
