Mental Health

How Does Grooming and Good Hygiene Impact Mental Health?

By Staff Reporter | Update Date: May 07, 2020 03:34 PM EDT
How Does Grooming and Good Hygiene Impact Mental Health?

(Photo : Unsplash)

Most people relate good hygiene and grooming to their looks. They want to smell good when they go out, look as handsome as possible, and create a lasting impression on others. But do you know that grooming and good hygiene affect your mental health as well? Grooming and good hygiene are not just about your looks. You might be surprised to learn about the many ways in which your mind benefits from maintaining your looks and practicing proper hygiene.

Good hygiene equals good mind

Suppose you are going through a phase of depression. You may soon find yourself falling out of your daily routine. Many people with depression report that they don't want to take a bath or even trim their beards for weeks. You may feel the same way. But that won't make you look anywhere close to handsome if you need to go out.

On the other hand, maintaining a routine can successfully keep you out of depression. You may not like to go through the routine during those tough times, but you need to train your mind to do so. Try doing simple things like bathing, drying your hair, or even shaving. Remember, staying depressed for too long won't do good for anyone. You may become sick after a while if you don't maintain proper hygiene.

Maintaining your hygiene rituals keeps you active. It makes your brain overturn the decisions that your heart wants to make like not taking a bath or getting a haircut. Living an active life will keep you distracted from the memories of the incidents that made you feel depressed in the first place.

Boosting your confidence

When you come out of the bathroom looking clean and fresh, it boosts your self-esteem. You start feeling better about yourself. Psychiatrists believe that you need to get involved in things that revolve around grooming and maintaining your hygiene ritual. For example, women can organize their makeup kit or rearrange their skincare products. Men can fix their beard trimmers by going through personal care user manuals. These activities, during your period of prolonged depression, make you feel confident. It slowly gives you a purpose to look at life differently instead of focusing on the depressing events.

Self-defeating thoughts can make you mentally ill after a few days. And the consequences can be fatal. Grooming may seem to be a small drop in an ocean, but it can be a starting point to make yourself feel better again. You may argue that shaving or trimming your beard will not change anything drastically. True enough! But it can divert your mind from the incidents for some time. And when you turn grooming and proper hygiene into habits, you will notice that these activities would overtake the depressing feelings in a few days.

Poor hygiene may make you look ugly. And when you look ugly, no one will appreciate your appearance. That will further hurt your self-esteem. This is the vicious cycle that you need to break. You deserve a happier life, and a few simple grooming and hygiene rituals can bring you back on track again. So, whatever happens, don't forget you're grooming habits even if you go through days of depression. 

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* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of counselheal.com

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