Teaching Elementary School Health Education/Personal Health and Physical Activity/Grooming

Grooming is keeping the body clean and having a neat appearance. Good grooming practices require the regular cleansing of hair, skin, nails, and feet, as well as wearing clean clothes.

Hair Care

Hair is properly washed by wetting it thoroughly with warm water and working shampoo into the hair with the fingertips until there is a good lather. Thorough rinsing removes suds and loosen scalp flakes. A towel is then used to squeeze extra water from the hair and pat it dry.

Skin Care

• Skin is the body's largest organ.
• Skin protects the body from the invasion of microbial agents and ultraviolet rays.
• Excessively dry skin can be treated with various lotions.
• Excessively oily skin usually requires more frequent washing to remove collected oil and dirt from skin surface and pores.
• Proper application of sunscreen may be important to avoid harmful sun exposure and sunburn. While sunscreen may reduce sunburn, the effectiveness of sunscreens to prevent skin cancer has been questioned.
• Within the skin, there are millions of cells that make up nerve endings, blood vessels, and sweat glands.

Nail Care

• The fingernails can collect dirt and bacteria.

• The nails should be trimmed regularly to keep them clean.

• Nails should be trimmed straight across and not too close to the skin.

• It is important to not bite or pick at fingernails or cuticles.