Does Being Rich Enhance Cleanliness? Yes!

"Does Being Rich Enhance Cleanliness?"

A lot of people would quickly shout a very loud 'NO' in response to this question, with a backup idea that cleanliness is a habit and that being rich cannot make someone with poor hygiene suddenly become a neat person. Well, as much as there’s truth in that, I also tell you that yes, the availability of money can enhance someone’s hygienic status.

Back when I was in school in my first year, we used to have a lady whose face was filled with chronic pimples to the extent that it was very hard to look at her face twice. The pimples were so terrible that her face looked really unpleasant, especially when they were ripe and she hadn’t popped them. We would always ask ourselves how she could be so absent-minded about the pimples on her face. We knew she had been treating it, but the creams or liquids she had been applying were not working — it needed a more intensive treatment, and that would cost money. The lady, judging by how she dressed, was also clearly struggling financially like the rest of us, so anytime we wanted to blame her for not taking care of her face, we would pause and feel a bit of pity for her.

“Forget that! She’s a lady, and taking care of herself should be one of her priorities. Don’t you know guys will find it hard to approach her with that face? Or Kingsley, would you approach her for a relationship?” Asama asked, directing the question at me. But all of us, upon hearing the question, spat on the floor in unison with a loud “God forbid!”

Honestly, the lady didn’t smell bad, but merely looking at her face, one could imagine an unpleasant smell.

Guess what? After our first two years, we went for Industrial Training (I.T), which lasted another year, and when we returned for HND, this lady appeared totally different. The pimples on her face had vanished into thin air. Although there were still a few black spots left as a result of the earlier pimples, her face was completely different and much better. We were surprised. We didn’t even need to ask questions about how she did it, we knew that money had taken control because, whatever happened, money sponsored it.

Did my example and experience justify that money can spark up one's hygiene?

Having money to get everything you need would make you appear fine and nice at all times. The availability of money can make you wear perfume every moment — or isn’t that part of maintaining good hygiene? Some people would say that wearing perfume is not about money. Let me tell you: there were periods in my life when I didn’t use perfume simply because I couldn’t afford it. And that was also because I saw deodorants and perfumes as a waste of resources — not because I didn’t want them, but because I wasn’t financially buoyant enough to switch into the lifestyle of using perfume.

Let me stop here.

Thanks for reading.

This is my entry to Week 176, Edition 01 of the Weekly Featured contest in Hive Learners Community

Image used is mine