why do we get so itchy when we don’t shower?
In: Biology
I have a few theories.
Skin cells. Our bodies are constantly creating new skin cells. The old cells die off and are shed — in fact, if you could mark each individual skin cell on your body right now, after about 5 weeks, you’d find few to none of those marked cells on you. In general, the old dead cells fall off and become part of that layer of dust on your shelves. (Fun fact: odds are good that half of that dust was once part of a human body.)
Sweat. You’re pretty much always sweating somewhere on your body, even if you don’t realize it because it’s a small amount and often evaporates quickly. It’s mostly water, but it also contains bits of protein, salt, urea, and ammonia. (Yes, sweat has a lot in common with pee.) In general, sweat by itself has virtually no smell. Your pits stink because of…
Bacteria. It’s on you, always, and you usually don’t notice it because it’s not actively attacking you or sending toxic byproducts into your body. It thrives in sweaty places, though, and is what drives the BO smell.
Anyway, one of my theories is that the dead skin cells and/or other tiny bits of detritus can get stuck in spots, sort of like dried mud will stick to you. Whether by an allergic reaction or simply micro-abrasion, the skin can thus get irritated in those spots. Speaking of allergens, some things like pollen can get stuck to you that might otherwise have been washed away by a shower, and trigger a localized allergic reaction. Such a reaction is common with injuries because the body is sending histamines to the area in an effort to accelerate healing.
Again, just a theory. Google doesn’t seem to have a lot of direct information on the particular phenomenon, so I suspect there are a lot of people who don’t shower frequently and somehow do not itch. I definitely itch, though.
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