How Much Do You Actually Need to Shower?

D r. Jared Ross is a shower fanatic. The temperature where he lives in Charleston, S.C., recently reached the steamy triple-digits—and he coped by hopping under a nice, cool deluge of water four times a day.

Even when it’s milder outside, showering is “the first thing I do when I wake up, and the last thing I do before I get into my PJs at night,” says Ross, 39, an emergency medicine physician. He also jumps in after working out or swimming in a pool or the ocean. “There’s a certain zen and relaxation to taking a shower,” he says. “And a sense of being clean that’s refreshing and therapeutic, especially if I'm going to throw on fresh clothing.”

Ross makes it a point to shower quickly—3 to 5 minutes typically does the trick—so he doesn’t waste water. But what about the health effects? We asked dermatologists if there’s such a thing as showering too much—or too little.

Is it possible to shower too much?

Almost everyone showers. Yet we all have different tolerance levels—and exactly how someone showers can be more important than how often they do it, says Dr. Jules Lipoff, a dermatologist in Philadelphia who teaches at Temple University’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine. “People who have a tendency to have dry skin or eczema are not going to tolerate excessive washing that well,” he says. “Whereas for most people, [showering more than once a day] would be no issue.”

The skin has many different layers, Lipoff explains, and generally absorbs a certain amount of water, retains most of it, and then loses some. People with eczema, however, lack certain proteins or have characteristics in their skin that causes them to lose more water than other people. “They tend to get dry, and because they get dry, they get itchy, they scratch, and that makes it worse and they have to scratch more,” he says. “When I’m advising people with dry skin, they can’t retain water as well, so they have to be extra careful with how they bathe.” Showering can weaken the skin’s natural ability to regulate moisture levels, and hot water in particular can damage the skin barrier, causing even more dryness. Aside from being unpleasant, dry skin sometimes cracks, which allows microorganisms to slip in—increasing the risk of a skin infection. That’s why Lipoff suggests using lukewarm water instead of hot (the higher the temp, the more it’ll dry you out), keeping showers under 10 minutes, and going easy on the soap (which can also have a drying effect).

Read More: How to Deal With Sweaty Feet

Ditching washcloths and loofahs goes a long way, too. “Some of my eczema patients look at me like I’m crazy when I say I want them to wash without a washcloth,” Lipoff says. “But they don't really help anything. It's more a psychological feeling of being clean.” Plus, scrubbing too hard (and too often) can strip the body’s natural oils off your skin and make it harder to retain moisture. “Sometimes when people have dryer skin, they're doing more, because they think that helps,” Lipoff says. “If you have a patch of dry skin, you might scrub it—like, ‘Get out, damned spot.’ But that actually counterintuitively makes it worse.”

Frequent showers can also become problematic based on the type of soap you’re using. Antibacterial options, for example, can kill too much bacteria in the body’s microbiome, which is a community of thousands of microorganisms. “Wiping [good bacteria] out completely is not a good thing,” Lipoff says. “You probably shouldn’t be using antibacterial soap if you don’t need to.”Plus, antibacterial soaps tend to be harsher than other options, which means they’ll dry out your skin faster. Lipoff recommends opting for gentle, fragrance-free soaps that have a short and simple list of ingredients; a basic bar fits the bill.

As a general rule of thumb, “if you’re showering more than one or two times a day most days, you’re probably flirting with too much,” says Dr. Deanne Mraz, president and co-founder of Modern Dermatology in Westport, Conn., and an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Yale New Haven Hospital. But given that showering affects different skin types differently, and that everyone has different activity and lifestyle tendencies, it’s impossible to say with certainty what will be detrimental for you. That’s why it’s a good idea to let your body make the call: “If your skin looks dry, dehydrated, red, and irritated or inflamed, pull back on shower frequency,” Mraz says.

How often should you wash your hair?

Many people can wash their hair once a day without issue, says Dr. Carolyn Goh, a clinical associate professor of dermatology at UCLA Health and founder of the UCLA Hair and Scalp Disorder Clinic. “The key is washing your scalp with shampoo—and I said scalp, not hair—to keep it clean and keep the oils off,” she says. “It’s more about the scalp than the hair itself.”

Read More: How Much Hair Loss Is Normal for Women?

Of course, your hair’s texture and health will determine the exact frequency that's right for you. People with dry hair might find that washing too much strips its oils and makes it brittle, Goh says; in that case, enlist the help of a conditioner designed for your hair type, whether it’s curly, fine, dry, or chemically treated. “Conditioner does replace the oils to some degree,” she says. Meanwhile, “If people with really, really tight curls wash their hair every day, it’s just going to all break,” Goh adds. “Often, they wash their hair maybe once a week or once every two weeks, and that's reasonable.” People with straight hair, on the other hand, can typically tolerate more frequent washing.

What’s the ideal amount of showering?

There’s no one-size-fits-all equation for how many showers to take per day or week. The frequency that's right for you depends on your skin type and lifestyle choices, says Dr. Mary Stevenson, a dermatologist at NYU Langone Health. “Ideally, I think people should shower at least every other day,” she says. “Most people, by day two or day three, are not clean. But it’s a little bit personal.”

In addition to those who tend toward dryness, people with delicate skin—like older folks—often do best showering every couple days. Those who have oily skin, on the other hand, “can handle being showered more often,” Stevenson says. Activities also play a role. “Any time you get dirt on yourself or you’re really oily and sweaty, you gotta go shower,” she stresses. So if you just spent two hours at the gym or on the pickleball court? Or you were cleaning out your dirty garage? In you go. But if you haven’t left the house in days, you can probably extend the amount of time between showers.

What happens if you shower too little?

Odor can build up over time, potentially leading to awkward social exchanges. Plus, if you don’t shower, you’ll accumulate more than the usual amount of dead skin cells and oils. That can lead to “clogged pores, acne, skin infections, and even hair loss,” Mraz says.

Read More: Why You Sweat So Much at Night—And What to Do About It

On the extreme end, she adds, you could also experience dermatitis neglecta, which means brown or gray patches of dead cells, dirt, and sweat develop on the skin. Research suggests it’s rare, takes a couple months to fully develop, and is often linked with underlying psychological problems.

How to optimize the shower experience

Most of us can get as clean in two minutes as we would in 20, Lipoff says. Brevity helps keep any negative skin effects at bay. “You probably don't need to be in the shower as long as you are,” he says. “You’re no cleaner—it’s just for your psychological health or for your routine.”

Plus, we tend to use far more soap than we need. “In general, you really only need soap in your armpits, your groin, and your feet,” Stevenson says. “If you have dirt on you, or you’re sweaty everywhere, that's a little bit different. But people really love to lather up with soap, and you don't need to do that.” If you feel compelled to take more than one shower a day, make at least one of them a quick rinse-off, forgoing soap entirely or dabbing it in just a few places. That can help protect against dryness.

How you towel off afterwards matters, too. Rubbing yourself can be too rough on your skin, leading to irritation and inflammation. Instead, lightly pat yourself dry with a towel. It’s also helpful to apply moisturizer at least once a day. “Leave your lotion or cream in the shower, and before you get out, rub it on,” Goh says. “Then you come out and pat dry, and that helps retain some of the moisture from the water”—a soothing dose of protection against dry skin.

Contact us at letters@time.com .