Five places to wash that most people skip

A normal shower takes about five minutes, and most of that time goes on hair and the bits that are easy to reach. The places where the musty smell that comes with age builds up are not those places.

Here are the five worth twenty extra seconds. None of this is complicated. It is just a list that is easy to forget at 6:30 in the morning.

1. Behind the ears

This is the one people notice first, because it is at head height when someone hugs you or leans in to talk. There is a lot of oil-producing skin back there and it almost never gets lathered properly. Run a soapy finger behind each ear and down into the hollow below.

2. The back of the neck

Collars sit here all day. Whatever is on your neck ends up in the fabric, and once it is in the fabric it survives the wash more often than you would think. Lather right up into the hairline.

3. The upper back

Hard to reach, so most people give it one quick pass with whatever is left on the cloth. It is also one of the oiliest areas on an adult body. A long-handled brush or a soap bag on a cord makes this much easier to do properly.

4. The chest

The widest patch of skin you have, and the one that spends all day under a shirt. Give it a real lather rather than a rinse.

5. Your hairline

The edge where hair meets skin, right around the back and sides. It gets missed because it feels like it belongs to washing your hair rather than washing your skin. Run a soapy hand along it.

Two small habits that help

Let the bar dry. A bar sitting in a puddle turns to mush and you get a third of the use out of it. A mesh bag hung up, or a dish with drainage, is the whole trick.

Wash the collars separately. If shirts still smell after a wash, turn them inside out and give the collars and shoulders a scrub before they go in. That is where it hides.