Is your shower dangerous?

You get clean in the shower, but have you thought about how clean the things inside there are?

Your shampoo bottle, conditioner, razor, all stuff you use daily, can grow bacteria and transfer to your skin.

Dr. Sherry Ingraham of Advanced Dermatology said there's a hard and fast expiration date for items in the shower. Bacteria can lead to conditions of acne, folliculitis and other skin infections.

“It's like a giant petri dish so you really need to be… tossing things on a regular basis,” Ingraham said.

The most frequently tossed tool should be your razor.

“After three uses, toss it,” she said. “If you don't, it can grow bacteria… you can transfer those bacteria to the parts that you’re shaving and get folliculitis or infection in the hair follicles.”

The same can be true with natural loofahs, the ones that look like a sponge. Toss those after three weeks, she said.

However, if your loofah is synthetic it can stick around longer than three weeks if you dry it out between uses.

“Synthetic scrubs or loofahs are a little different because they actually dry out a little bit better, so what you should do is every time you use one keep it out of the shower, let it air dry,” Ingraham said. “But remember, these aren't meant to last forever either so what I tell patients is after about two months toss these out as well.”

These are all new guidelines for guilty gals like Alexa Castillo, who said, “I feel like I should be getting rid of the products that create mold on the bottom. It gets a little rusty, but I usually don't.”

What she doesn't realize is that by the time gunk starts to accumulate on shampoo and conditioner bottles, the product has already been compromised.

“Sometimes you'll see green or dark coloration around the edge of the product, you can open it and sometimes even see mold or bacteria growing on the lid of a product,” Ingraham said. “Any kind of discoloration in a product should be tossed out.”

Ingraham said her favorite product is a Clarisonic because, she said, they are designed not to have porous areas and can stay in the shower without as much concern for growing bacteria.