Thank you for your insight. Exactly what I thought I would hear... I just kinda needed a little support on the matter... although I do now wonder if you can pinch his cheek. I think this is something that should be explored and answered... because if he is basically like steel, how is his skin?
Well, Superman has a normal sense of touch (in fact, better than normal; I don't recall the issue, but there was one story where he "listened" in on a phone conversation by just touching the wires and feeling the vibrations with his super-sensitive fingers) so it's likely that his skin is something that isn't ultra rigid. I've never seen anyone pinch Superman's cheek...but no one has yet to comment that Superman "feels" strange (and you'd expect a few of his girlfriends like Lois and Lana to make an observation like that).
Many artists, especially in recent times, draw Superman as ruggedly tan (though Jim Aparo in the seventies drew Superman almost latino) which makes sense as Superman's powers come from the Sun, but even at Superman's palest, it is unlikely that Superman can "blush," because all blushing is, is breaking blood vessels in the skin of the face, and Superman has invulnerable skin.
Do normal over-the-counter products work on him, like lotions and stuff... or does he need to use kerosene and a wire brush to exfoliate? Or is it that he is so super, he doesn't have to worry about it? Or is it because he is an alien that his body is impervious to the occasional skin imperfection? I am aware that it really doesn't matter... but these are things I am kind of curious about.
Superman doesn't have to worry about skin problems because he is invulnerable - what an enviable side-effect! He does not "shed" his skin periodically, which means that the Fortress of Solitude has no "dust" (since 90% of dust is dead skin), and further, he has no fingerprints, which explains why he does not wear gloves (though he might leave his fingerprints on something because he squeezes it at high pressure, like steel - Lois once used this to attempt to prove Superman's secret identity).
It was stated over and over again in Superman comics that Superman does not sweat (which makes sense - he doesn't need to), that, together with his immunity to bacteria, probably means that he does not need to wear deoderant, either.
Superman probably showers for the same reason that Clark Kent has an apartment in Metropolis, though: to keep his Kent disguise up and because sometimes, he likes doing things like real people. On the other hand, maybe he keeps a Superman Robot around to do nothing but take showers and brush his teeth, so the landlord won't get suspicious by the $0.00 water bill!
Sometimes, though, space-microbes might live on Superman's skin, and he has a flamethrower in the Fortress of Solitude that he uses to brush them off, "showering" in the fire.
Superman's hair and nails don't grow under a yellow sun, which means Superman doesn't have to worry about shaving.
Things get interesting, though, when we come to Supergirl...Superman always had his basic "Donald Rumsfeld" hairstyle, but Supergirl is like the comic book version of Dr. Beverly Crusher - a different hairstyle every time we see her!
The one hairstyle I'm talking about is Supergirl's big krinkly Olivia Newton John eighties ultraperm. How - just HOW - would Supergirl get a PERM? She can use a volcano as a jacuzzi, what could possibly give her the heat needed for a perm job? Maybe she wears curlers made with superhot matter from a white dwarf star?
Thanks, I love the screen name too... I got it from an old episode of Futurama.
Is this the episode with BATTLE OF THE NETWORK SPACE-KRAKENS?