Cleanliness, a word with many, many meanings. From describing someone’s hygiene -which this article will mostly cover- to how clean your car is, cleanliness is something that everyone should strive to achieve. Cleanliness is, as defined by Oxford Languages, “the state or quality of being clean or being kept clean”. This article will be a broad overview of this definition, from keeping yourself clean to keeping the spaces you frequent clean, from work to your car. Our first focus will be on personal hygiene, and the second will be on interpersonal hygiene, which are spaces that you or others frequent, that you own. As a personal note, this article is centered around male cleanliness, specifically personal hygiene, and young men somehow forgetting about deodorant’s existence as soon as they enter high school.

Focus One: Personal Hygiene

Personal Hygiene is something that needs no explanation. From wearing deodorant, taking showers, and brushing your teeth daily, you should strive to have great personal hygiene. For example, I take great pride in the fact that I have good natural hair. So, since I take such pride in it, I take good care of said hair. I also hope that people begin caring more about their hair as the years progress, because right now I often see some truly greasy, nasty, and unkempt hair all around the school, all because people have not discovered what HAIR CONDITIONER is! Now, I was a victim of this lack of hair conditioner knowledge for many, many years. However, I discovered the existence of hair conditioners after I took a trip to New York City last Summer. It has, truly, been a game-changer for my hygiene. My hair smells good, and looks even better (I can even now put it up in a short ponytail for most of the day). 

In addition, we need to remember, collectively, as a society, that people SMELL. Humans, especially, are very smelly animals, and I am no exception. However, it seems that many people forget about the existence of deodorants. Deodorant is probably the most important item in your hygiene kit, because it helps define you as a person. Yes, I know it sounds a bit odd that how you smell defines how you are viewed, but imagine if you had a work interview. You go into the interview, and you forgot to put on deodorant this morning. That will SIGNIFICANTLY reduce your chances of being hired, because why would the company you are applying for hire someone who can’t take care of themselves? By extension, why would I befriend someone who stinks? Just remember, deodorant is very cheap and you can find it nearly everywhere. Use it more!

Focus Two: Interpersonal Hygiene

Now, this focus is very broad and relatively undefined. Interpersonal hygiene, in my definition, is an area that you frequent that you either own or have some form of ownership over, like your car or your office cubicle. Personally, Interpersonal Hygiene is something that I can have trouble with, especially with my car. After a long day at work, why would I want to clean up the inside of my car when I could just drive home and go to bed instantly? Why would I want to pick up all of my trash if I could just forget about it? Well, because it affects other people AND yourself. I discovered this issue when I opened my car door one morning and smelt something rancid. Something horrible, terrible, the inside of my car. I realized that, after such a long time in my car, something had started to rot/smell. So, I decided to clean out my car as soon as I got home from school and I did. And guess what? It truly was an amazing experience, even relaxing, to sit in my own clean and good-smelling car.