"You Should Check For Tonsil Stones": People Are Sharing Hygiene Tips That Everyone Should Know
Reddit user DreamDangerous3281 recently asked, "What are some hygiene tips everyone should know?" and the answers are unexpected, useful, and eye-opening.
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1."Make sure your clothes get completely dry. You'll smell like mildew otherwise."
"If you do accidentally forget a wet load of laundry in the machine for a while, wash them again and add about 1/4 cup white vinegar to the wash cycle. It gets rid of the mildew smell and doesn’t smell like vinegar."
2."If your shoes smell from wearing them, it might be due to you not exfoliating your feet. The dead skin starts to ferment when your foot sweats inside your shoe. Pumice stones are your friend."
3."If you wear earrings, take them off and clean them frequently."
"I had earrings from childhood to end of high school. Stopped wearing them and got them re-pierced at 24. I could not believe how easily and how bad they can smell, especially over the summer since I have long dark hair and sweat more since heat is absorbed easier."
4."Brush your TONGUE as well as your teeth."
"My first couple times using a tongue scraper made me gag when I looked at it. I finally got over it but oh man, it's nasty. Especially if you're a coffee drinker."
"Scraping my tongue was the only thing that got rid of my bad breath. It’s crazy how gross it is, exactly why it works I guess."
5."Wash your bed sheets and don't forget about your pillow cases."
"I used to be lazy and never wash my pillow cases. Then, I saw something online that said you should wash your pillow cases, especially before investing in an expensive skincare routine. I started doing it and saw immediate improvement in my skin."
6."The vagina is self-cleaning. The vulva is NOT self-cleaning."
"Or put more generally: Outside parts don't clean themselves, inside parts generally should."
7."Belly buttons need to be cleaned."
"Honest to god, I didn't clean mine until I was 13 or 14. My mom noticed the smell and asked. I started that night and now I'm super self conscious about how clean it is."
"Please for the love of god. The amount of bellybutton grime and lint I have encountered while prepping people for abdominal surgery is truly astounding."
8."When it comes to perfume or cologne, less is more. Putting it on is NOT a substitute for washing yourself."
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"I don't remember where I had seen this, but the saying is 'fragrance is meant to be discovered, not announced.'"
"Pick a small amount and stick to that dosage. As you get older you lose some smell and you get more desensitized to your preferred fragrance if you use it regularly. I’ve known several older folks who you could smell coming."
9."Buy a very wide-toothed comb to hang up in the shower, and use it to de-tangle while your hair is coated in conditioner. It helps a lot."
10."If you have bad breath that doesn't go away, you may have tonsil stones."
"They usually form in tonsillar crypts, those pockets in the back of your throat. I got myself a water jet flosser or irrigator and it is great at removing them. Just wash it once every few days and bad breath just disappears if you keep rest of your mouth clean."
11."I have depression and hate brushing my teeth. It was the absolute worst until I started leaving my toothbrush in the shower. It's just way more convenient for me."
12."Wash your glasses in the sink with warm water and gentle, non-antibacterial soap. Your face secretes oil throughout the day, and a lot of it gathers in your eyebrows. It will then pool in the cracks between the frame and lenses, gather in scummy boogers on the nose pads, and in the hinges as well. Once it’s built up, no matter how hard you try to clean your lenses, you’ll just smudge them up because of that oil."
"Then the face oil will oxidize and turn bright green, then yellow-ish, then brown. It smells TERRIBLE. I wash mine about once every two weeks with a drop of dish soap."
13."My dentist said to me 'you brush in the morning to keep your friends and you brush at night to keep your teeth.'"
14."After you wash your feet and in-between your toes, be sure to dry them properly to avoid foot fungus."
15."If you have bacne (back acne), lean your head forward to rinse your hair products OR wash your back thoroughly with soap after rinsing your conditioner/last product. Most people lean their head backward to rinse, which washes their hair products all down their back. If you wash with soap after, no biggie, but many people wash their body first, typically while letting the conditioner sit in their hair for a few minutes and thus rinsing after. In which case, you step out of the shower with hair product residue all down your back and ass. For some people and products, it's fine; for others, it can cause skin irritation and acne."
"This is something I wish I'd known as a teenager! I think I eventually figured it out in my twenties (especially since by then I'd also learnt the benefits of using separate shampoo and conditioner). But even these days it can be an issue when my hair gets longer."
16."Wash behind your ears. It’s not an old wive's tale that grandmas scold kids with. There are lots of oil producing sebaceous glands there. You can get a nasty smell, and you can even get flaky skin or 'cheese' build up behind there if you don’t wash with soap."
17."Disinfect your phone regularly. Ideally, daily."
"Keep a few small packs of disinfectant wipes in various places. Car, bedroom, kitchen drawer, BATHROOM, purse if you have one. Really helps!"
18."Keep your nails clean. Tidying your nails helps you prevent spreading germs into your mouth."
19."Put down the toilet seat lid, then flush."
20."Someone once told me 'only floss the teeth you want to keep.'"
21."If something is worth doing, it's worth half-assing it. Say you're running late and need to be out the door 10 minutes ago, it's still worth giving your teeth a 10 second scrub rather than skipping it."
22."Check the nostrils. Just check, make sure no boogies are hanging out, hanging around, planning an escape. It sucks to be the person to have to tell you."
23."If someone offers you breath mints, take them without question."
24."Sneeze in your fucking elbow, NOT your hands!"
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25."Make your home a shoes-free environment. I know some folks are concerned about their foot odor. Others feel that a door mat is sufficient in wiping one’s feet at the entryway. Keep in mind that if you’ve set foot into a public restroom, you’re basically tracking whatever you stepped on into your home."
And finally...
26."Clean your ass, thoroughly. And do it last."
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What's a useful hygiene tip that you know? Drop it into the comments below!
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Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
