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There’s a reason why you’re disgusted by hair in your shower drain

shower drain

There’s a good explanation for why you hate hair in your shower drain

Did you almost gag clicking on this article? You’re not alone! Even if it’s our own hair or that of our partner or children in the shower drain, we’re extremely disgusted by it. Why is that? It’s just hair! Well, there’s a sound reason for it…

This explains everything.

Hair

Especially people with long hair will recognize this: you’re washing your hair when you suddenly notice lots of hairs going down the drain. On average, humans lose 40 to 120 hairs each day. Luckily for us, most of this hair is replaced by new hair, otherwise, we’d go bald. If it’s just hair, then why are we so disgusted by hair that’s stuck in the shower drain?

Phobia

The reason why most people gag when removing hair from a drain is that they have a phobia called chaetophobia. Chaetophobia is the phobia of hair, which, apparently, many people suffer from. Some people’s phobia of loose hair, both that of humans and of animals, is so severe it influences their whole life. Some people need therapy to learn to live with their phobia. Luckily, not everyone who is disgusted by hairs in the shower drain has a phobia. Bernard Vittone, Director of The National Center For The Treatment Of Phobias, Anxiety And Depression claims that the hatred of hair in the shower drain usually has to do with the fear of bacteria. According to Vittone, it can also be a symptom of an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Infection

Finally, Vittone explains: “Hair is usually construed as being sort of dirty and contaminated. The anxiety might stem from the thought of becoming ill from loose hair strewn around. Some people don’t even need to be in contact with the hair itself: The thought of contamination alone is enough to make them anxious.” Even though many people have an irrational fear of the bacteria in hair, it’s usually not enough to call it a phobia. “It’s irrational, which puts it in the realm of a phobia, even though some people might say, well, that’s more of an OCD thing,” Vittone said to Huffington Post.

Read more: Research shows: THIS is the biggest turn off in a relationship!

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Source: Huffington Post | Image: Video still