How Soon After A Workout Do You Need To Shower?

Whether walking on a hot afternoon, taking a class at the gym or breaking out in flop sweat from a bad case of nerves, the sweat on your skin is doing an important job.

“Sweat is necessary to cool the skin,” said dermatologist Dr.Claire Wolinsky. “Glands in the skin secrete sweat to cover the surface, and then they evaporate to bring down our temperature. Sweat contains antibacterial properties, and it can even be moisturizing. It can give skin a glow, thanks to the urea in it.

The praises of sweat continued to pour in from the skin experts we spoke to. “Sweat plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy skin,” said dermatologist Dr. Mini Amin . “It doesn’t just regulate temperature, but it also flushes out toxins.”

So, how did sweat ever get such a bad rap? It’s that whole “stink” thing, right? It turns out that’s not sweat’s fault, either.

Dermatologist Dr. Michelle Henry explained: “Sweat doesn’t stink, but the bacteria that lives in underarms and other sensitive areas love to eat the oil created when we sweat, creating the byproducts that are stinky.”

With that in mind, we wondered: How soon should you shower after a sweat session to keep your skin as healthy and fresh-smelling as possible?

Turns out, there are two kinds of sweat.

It may look and feel the same on your skin, but eccrine and apocrine sweat are very different. One contributes to considerably more “air pollution” (in the form of body odor). Dermatologist Dr. Hadley King explained it like this:

When you’re so hot you’re melting, it’s eccrine: “Most sweat is produced by our eccrine glands, which are distributed throughout the skin, but are concentrated on the palms, soles, forehead and armpits,” King said. “Eccrine sweat is composed of water and small