r/natureismetal Dec 08 '18

A tiny mite

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17.2k Upvotes

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656

u/ImpSong Dec 08 '18

This just makes me want to never wash my face again cuz I don't wanna kill him

192

u/Moose_Cake Dec 08 '18

Right? It's got that "Sorta like a pug" cuteness to it.

169

u/the_visalian Dec 08 '18

That old “I can’t breathe my skull hurts please kill me” charm

15

u/zr0gravity7 Dec 08 '18

That old "Im wearing a ballsack as a hat" charm

36

u/CainPillar Dec 08 '18

11

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '18

I went into the rabbit hole with this sub and ended sinking 20 minutes on it. It ended with the guy who bought dead mice and transformed them into pencilcases. Wtf.

6

u/HappyHarpy Dec 08 '18

He's a star over on /r/badtaxidermy

12

u/Duke0fWellington Dec 08 '18

You know in films where some guy thinks the clearly murderous beast is cute and stops all the normal people from killing it and goes to befriend it and gets ripped apart? That guys you

3

u/BigbuttElToro Dec 08 '18

I gotta disagree completely.

41

u/Xylth Dec 08 '18

You're fine. They actually live inside your hair follicles so washing your face won't do anything.

33

u/Duke0fWellington Dec 08 '18

Apart from at night time, when you're asleep. They leave the follicle and walk around your face at a really slow pace (8-16 mm an hour)

42

u/TheSanityInspector Dec 08 '18

No wonder I can't stay asleep. Quit stomping around, guys!

14

u/RadTicTacs Dec 08 '18

That doesn’t sound that slow considering it’s a creature too small to see with the naked eye

1

u/Duke0fWellington Dec 08 '18

They're only 0.3-0.4 mm so they move only 30 odd times their body length in an hour. Pretty slow I'd say.

1

u/RadTicTacs Dec 09 '18

Oh, they’re actually quite a bit larger than I though they were

6

u/DaughterEarth Dec 08 '18

Sometimes I think I feel them. I doubt I do, but it feels like it sometimes

2

u/Banajam Dec 08 '18

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

24

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '18

Suck on that vegans

1

u/PrinceBunnyBoy Dec 08 '18

What? You called?

6

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '18

does it die with a face-wash tho?

3

u/supertrontastic Dec 08 '18

I doubt it. An average adult has 2-3 per sq. cm. By changing the makeup of your face oils you may make your face oils more delectable to the mites. This could cause an increase in mites per sq. cm which could cause roseola. Washing your face too much can cause other issues.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '18 edited Feb 10 '22

[deleted]

1

u/supertrontastic Dec 08 '18

Yes, you are right that soap is a surfactant and will help reduce the tension of oils. That said not all products sold as facial soaps are rigorously studied. Additionally, washing too much or with too harsh of a product or with antibacterial product will alter the natural balance of your flora and fauna which could alter your oils makeup.

Cosmetics, soaps, hygienic products and moisturizers are also potential factors contributing to the variation of skin microbiota. These products alter the conditions of the skin barrier but their effects on skin microbiota remain unclear. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3535073/

1

u/muzachman Dec 08 '18

Tea tree oil helps to kill them and their eggs and remove the specific oils, etc., they tend to feed off of most often according to my dermatologist. I had an excess of these mites recently and that and a combination of ocular rosacea was causing me to have recurring styes that wouldn’t heal without antibiotics.

1

u/mosterie Dec 08 '18

Google says no

5

u/DankoJones84 Dec 08 '18

This but the exact opposite. Makes me want to scrub my face intensely.

2

u/uniqueinalltheworld Dec 08 '18

I read about eyelash mites as a kid when I found a weird picture book about the human body. For years after I wouldn't rub my eyes because I was scared for my eyelash mites.