The rules of hygiene and self-care are not that difficult, but we still tend to do some things wrong at times. Mistakes can cost us not only beauty but also health.
GiFans is going to tell you about common self-care mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Covering your mouth with your hand when coughing or sneezing.
When covering our mouths with our hands when coughing or sneezing, we help the germs get on our faces. The results are eruptions, reddening, and other not-so-delightful consequences. It is particularly dangerous with infectious diseases because rubbing your eyes with your hand could provoke an eyelid inflammation.
- How to do it right: You should cover your mouth with a tissue, preferably a disposable paper tissue. If you don’t happen to have one, cover your mouth with your elbow crease.
2. Using a food bag more than once
A bag used more than once has a lot of germs on it in 99.9% of the time. If you bought raw meat in a bag (even if it was packed), chances are that bacteria will spread on other products, especially fruits and vegetables. The solution is to use a disposable bag or a tote bag that you’ll have to wash every time.
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3. Picking your nose.
Your fingers are home to germs that may cause an infection if they get inside your nose. That is especially dangerous if you have a blocked nose because an infection can spread from the nasal cavity to the sinuses and lead to sinusitis.
- How to do it right: Wash your nose by drawing water from your palm with your left and right nostril alternately. Or, better still, use a special device.
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4. Using a hand dryer
The fact that we don’t touch a dryer with our hands is just an illusion of cleanness. In fact, electric dryers are pretty unhygienic: they catch a lot of bacteria and spread them with an airflow and they may get into one’s lungs, skin, or body. Paper towels are more efficient and cleaner than electric hand dryers.
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5. Washing hands with hot water
Some researchers say that water temperature doesn’t influence the killing of germs. The time spent washing hands is more important in this case: in 5 seconds you wouldn’t clean anything but in 30 seconds you could kill all the bacteria on your hands. By washing hands in hot water often, you decrease the protective functions of your skin and irritation or dermatitis may occur.
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6. Lining your lower lashes on the inside.
The tip of your pencil, and especially the brush of a liquid liner, harbors bacteria that can cause an infection if they find their way to the eye mucosa. Mixing with tears, the eyeliner creates favorable conditions for their multiplication.
- How to do it right: If you want to accent your lower lid, use eye shadows: apply them some distance away from the growth line of your eyelashes.
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7. Cutting meat and vegetables on the same board
Dr. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist, claims that a cutting board contains 200 times more bacteria than a toilet seat, that’s why it is not safe to cut salad on it. After cutting raw meat, a board is contaminated with salmonella and campylobacter — the two most well-spread reasons of food poisoning. The solution is to use 2 different cutting boards for meat and vegetables and choose glass boards over wooden ones.
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8. Keeping your phone in your purse
It may seem that your purse or backpack is a nice and clean place where your gadget is completely protected from the surrounding environment, but this isn’t true. It’s better to keep your phone in a pocket and put it in a case — this is how it gets less contaminated with germs. An average phone is 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat. It’s better to wipe your phone with a wet wipe every day.
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