A lot of planning goes into a perfect gym bag unzip moment—you know, when you get into the locker room, open your bag, and discover that you actually packed everything you need to work out. Honestly, you deserve a medal for those days, because you’ve probably managed to grab a padlock, your water bottle, a change of clothes, your toiletries, and hopefully your shower shoes. Yes, you need flip-flops or some other protection when you’re wandering around the locker room or showering at your gym. I didn’t make the rules. Don’t @ me.
If your gym is anything like mine, there are usually a bunch of people merrily skipping toward the shower without flip-flops. I always wondered if I was being unreasonably squeamish about viewing shower shoes as a nonnegotiable part of rinsing off at the gym, so I talked to experts. Unreasonably squeamish I am not.
Gym locker rooms are germ factories.
When we use the word germs, what we’re really talking about are fungi, bacteria, and viruses, John Zampella, M.D., dermatologist and assistant professor of dermatology at New York University Langone Health, tells SELF. Not all of the germs you encounter out and about in the world—even in a place like a gym locker room—will actually make you sick. But some certainly can, and we call those pathogens.
As a general rule, germs love warm, moist environments and hard surfaces, Dr. Zampella says. Translation: A place like a gym locker room is basically heaven for germs. Without shower shoes or some other kind of foot shield, these germs can stick to the bottom of your feet and potentially cause infections if they enter your system, Dr. Zampella says. This is especially true if you have any cuts or scratches that could act as an entry point for pathogens.
Trichophyton, one of the more typical locker room pathogens, belongs to a type of fungi known as dermatophytes. In order to grow, dermatophytes get nutrients from keratin, a protein in the outer layer of your skin, hair, and nails, according to the Merck Manual. An overgrowth of dermatophytes like trichophyton can cause issues like athlete's foot, an infection that begins as an itchy, red, and scaly rash that starts between the toes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). You can pick up this kind of fungi in damp areas or when skin cells containing the infection come into contact with your skin.
Having damp feet can also create a breeding ground for athlete's foot, as can long nails, which can house (and spread) the fungi in question. This means that, even if you do wear flip-flops in the shower, you should dry your toes thoroughly any time your feet get wet, Priya Parthasarathy, D.P.M., spokesperson for the American Podiatric Medical Association and chief of podiatry at Medstar Montgomery Medical Center, tells SELF. And if you forgo a shower altogether at the gym, remember that your feet and socks might still be damp from your workout. Do your feet a solid and change into fresh socks, Dr. Parthasarathy says. The Mayo Clinic also suggests alternating between a few pairs of your favorite sneakers to give your shoes time to dry between workouts and making sure any sneakers you use are well-ventilated.
