Hygiene

After a while, Sims start to get dirty, and if they get very dirty, they start sniffing themselves and saying, ‘Ewww!’. Bad hygiene won’t kill a Sim, but it will seriously affect their mood and their social skills – bad hygiene won’t get a Sim promoted at work either. Bad hygiene is a possible cause of Sims dying by flies. Therefore, it is necessary to take a bath or shower when the Hygiene meter slips into the red – a hot tub also works, but not as well, although it can boost the Social and Fun bars. Washing one's hands after going to the bathroom also improves this rating, as does brushing teeth or gussying up in the mirror. In order to facilitate the latter activities, be sure to have a medicine cabinet, bathroom cabinet or mirror and sink. Sometimes, the shower leaks after a Sim has been in it, so it's handy to have a mop ready.

In The Sims: Makin' Magic, magical children can use the No More Puddles?charm to take a magical "bubble bath". For adults, the Magic Mood charm can boost all motives, including Hygiene. In The Sims 2: Apartment Life, the neutral spell Cleanus Corpus boosts a Sim's Hygiene.

In The Sims 3, a Sim can buy the Dirt Defiant Lifetime reward (for 15,000 Lifetime Happiness points), which will make it take longer before the Sim with that reward has to take another bath. Sim inventors can also invent the Floor Hygienator which improves Hygiene levels slightly when placed on the floor and walked over.

In places such as Downtown and Studio Town, there aren't an awful lot of places where Sims can increase their Hygiene. There are sinks with which to wash their hands, and Studio Town has steam baths and hot tubs, but none of them boost Hygiene sufficiently. Therefore, it's best to get the Hygiene meter as full as possible before going out. This isn't a problem on the vacation lots in Vacation Island and Bon Voyage because there are baths and showers in the hotels.

Higiene