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How often should you bathe/shower?
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@psychod787 Actually, peeing in the shower is a good thing.
It's more hygienic for you than peeing in the toilet (due to limited splashback)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c66KVU5ah8
it is better for the environment,
This Is How Much Water You Save When You Pee in the Shower
and it can even help cure your foot nail fungus problems..
Skeptic finds that urine clears nail fungus
So...go with the flow!
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I shower daily. I may shower twice depending on the situation. I remember basic training when we were lucky to get two minutes to shower a day. I felt disgusting the entire time. I can't go to sleep without showering. My Fiancee's son will go days without showering, and he stinks, but she acts like she doesn't care.
Thank you for your service!
Thank you.0 -
If you are obese and sweat a lot like me, showering at least once each day is mandatory.janejellyroll wrote: »I run just about every day and I'm a heavy sweater. So I'm going to keep showering every day.
How much you sweat has to do with how many sweat glands you have.
I’m not obese, but like Dante and Jane jelly roll, I sweat a lot, especially if I’ve done a workout, so I shower everyday.
My 22 year old son insists that showering every day is harmful. He has eczema, so showering too often does cause that skin irritation to flare up. The downside — he doesn’t smell the greatest.
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I did an experiment where I showered one week without soap, mind you I wasn't working that week. Turned out nothing changed as far as body odors.
That's because just washing with water removes 80% of the bacteria. I still used deodorants because I thought that was important.
It may be off topic but just wanted to throw this here.17 -
I did an experiment where I showered one week without soap, mind you I wasn't working that week. Turned out nothing changed as far as body odors.
That's because just washing with water removes 80% of the bacteria. I still used deodorants because I thought that was important.
It may be off topic but just wanted to throw this here.
In a previous life I was a Skin Care Scientist for a cosmetics company. I vividly remember my boss telling me his Ph.D mentor and renown dermatologist told him once that people should only use soap once a week and just rinse off the sweat with water in between in order to preserve the skin flora and oils.11 -
I shower maybe twice a week. Less if I can get away with it. And normally mostly because my hair needs washing (although I have noticed since going sulphate/silicone free my hair needs washing less often). Even then I'll only use shower gel maybe once a month or so, with the run off shampoo I just don't need it.
But I'm just not a smelly person. Never really have been. In summer or when doing sports I do wear deodorant, but not really because I need it per say, just because I want to be sure I don't smell.
On the side note of skincare, I've never understood body moisturisers. I never needed them. I've always half put that down to the fact that I don't wash too much with soaps/wash that often.7 -
Though I have more modern habits (like daily when no pandemic), my parents (b. 1912, 1917) grew up in the era of mostly weekly baths, and "sponge baths" from a basin/sink in between as needed: Heating the water on the woodstove, in some cases even drawing it from a well or by hand-pump first, to fill the tin tub . . . that tends to make the baths happen less often. Less stink than you might imagine.
Norms change. The modern habits of daily bath/shower are pretty new, I think, in the general population . . . maybe around the last century-ish? (Running water, electricity, is a big deal.) Yeah, people have fewer lice, bedbugs, etc., than in the distant past. Bathing isn't the only reason.
I was raised on 'one bath a week' and I'm only 37 (but not from the US). I've seen the shift to (nearly) daily showers in society, though not as 'bad' as in the US. There seems to be a tendency in western society (led by North America) to consider any bodily smell as a bad smell.
Anyway, I refrain from telling people how much (little) I bathe/shower/wash, knowing the judgment will be instantaneous, even though they don't think I stink.
Reading this thread, I'm mostly shocked at the (IMO) excessive water consumption. Living in Belgium, you would think water isn't an issue, but climate change combined with too much urban land cover is wreaking havoc on our water table and water is getting more expensive too.
I'm fully convinced that showering (more than) daily is just cultural and not necessary for our health (or even detrimental). But this is a difficult topic to discuss, since most people will just go 'oh yuck' at the mere idea of showering less than daily.
But even if you feel the need to wash yourself once or several times a day, I'm a big fan of going old-school and just using a washcloth (I hate showering anyway, I much prefer taking a bath
)
I could not have agreed with this whole post more! I'm UK based, and I'd say that most people probably don't shower more than once a day, but it amazes me how many people do from reading this thread. How do you people find the time!?8 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »The $600 water bill dictates how many showers I and family get a day or for how many minutes they are. It sucks.
A month?
Where are you and how many people in the place for a $600 water bill?
Two month bill, sorry I should’ve stated. It’s still a lot of money. There are only three of us in the house. Our new house came with a bunch of well established citrus trees. We are trying to keep the trees alive, but they ain’t looking too happy right now.
San Diego. The price of water keeps going up.
Water conservation is a real problem.
I happened across that article posted in the OP a few days ago and thought, “Oh hell yeah”, I have an excuse for not taking regular showers. Lol
Crap. Our bill in Central IL for 2 of us in the house (we rarely water the lawn but do water the landscaping a bit) is like $130 for 2 months and it includes the weekly garbage, recycling and bulk waste pickup service provided by the city.0 -
Daily short shower but I've managed to get myself out of the habit of washing my hair daily as it was pointless and not good for my hair.
The kids I wash when they are visibly dirty. That can be daily or weekly. When they're teenagers and start to sweat I'll send the stinkers daily. My youngest has terrible eczema and water is painful for it. 2 -
Though I have more modern habits (like daily when no pandemic), my parents (b. 1912, 1917) grew up in the era of mostly weekly baths, and "sponge baths" from a basin/sink in between as needed: Heating the water on the woodstove, in some cases even drawing it from a well or by hand-pump first, to fill the tin tub . . . that tends to make the baths happen less often. Less stink than you might imagine.
Norms change. The modern habits of daily bath/shower are pretty new, I think, in the general population . . . maybe around the last century-ish? (Running water, electricity, is a big deal.) Yeah, people have fewer lice, bedbugs, etc., than in the distant past. Bathing isn't the only reason.
I was raised on 'one bath a week' and I'm only 37 (but not from the US). I've seen the shift to (nearly) daily showers in society, though not as 'bad' as in the US. There seems to be a tendency in western society (led by North America) to consider any bodily smell as a bad smell.
Anyway, I refrain from telling people how much (little) I bathe/shower/wash, knowing the judgment will be instantaneous, even though they don't think I stink.
Reading this thread, I'm mostly shocked at the (IMO) excessive water consumption. Living in Belgium, you would think water isn't an issue, but climate change combined with too much urban land cover is wreaking havoc on our water table and water is getting more expensive too.
I'm fully convinced that showering (more than) daily is just cultural and not necessary for our health (or even detrimental). But this is a difficult topic to discuss, since most people will just go 'oh yuck' at the mere idea of showering less than daily.
But even if you feel the need to wash yourself once or several times a day, I'm a big fan of going old-school and just using a washcloth (I hate showering anyway, I much prefer taking a bath)
I could not have agreed with this whole post more! I'm UK based, and I'd say that most people probably don't shower more than once a day, but it amazes me how many people do from reading this thread. How do you people find the time!?
I think it is more of a USA thing, from watching TV and reading novels, as are all the assumptions that if you do not shower multiple times a day you will be "stinky".
Unless you are dirty, excessive showering as well as excessive clothes washing, harms your hair, skin and clothes, harms the environment and is expensive.
Personally, I do not shower every day as I did when I worked nor do the daily hair washes, and my dry scaly skin is no longer dry and scaly and my hair is not greasy by day 2 any more.
I do wash what needs to be washed, just using warm water in a sink and a bar of soap, on the other days.
Suits me, and no, I do not "stink".
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When the stank be rank.How often should you bathe/shower?
A big part of it is that bidets are just not a thing in the new world...I was raised on 'one bath a week' and I'm only 37 (but not from the US). I've seen the shift to (nearly) daily showers in society, though not as 'bad' as in the US. (...)10 -
When the stank be rank.How often should you bathe/shower?
A big part of it is that bidets are just not a thing in the new world...I was raised on 'one bath a week' and I'm only 37 (but not from the US). I've seen the shift to (nearly) daily showers in society, though not as 'bad' as in the US. (...)
Bidets aren't a thing everywhere in the old world either. Never had one or used one in my life!
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Neither have I - in fact would go as far as to say I don't recall ever seeing one in real life.
As I said early in thread there isnt a one size fits all as to how often you should shower - people are different and their lifestyles are different.
Although I almost always shower every morning myself - I agree with posters who said this idea that everyone will stink if they don't shower every day is such a modern western culture myth.
A year or so ago, there was a period of a few days when many people in my town did not shower for a few days - due to gas outage and no hot water.
We managed fine on washing in basin of electric kettle boiled amount of hot water for a few days and didnt notice any stinking.3 -
I don't sweat a lot if I haven't been working out, and my skin tends to be very dry, even with lotion. I shower once every other day or on the days I've hiked or worked out, whichever comes first. Deodorant every day. Works for me, and I've never had any complaints from friends, family, or coworkers (and I have several blunt and outspoken people in my life).6
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It honestly depends on how much sweating I'm doing. I wash my hip-length hair once a week, though in the summer I will sometimes rinse it with a rosemary infusion when I've been outdoors sweating but don't want to soap it. That seems to take off the sweat and itch without actually stripping the hair of oil, and smells nice too.
I wash my body about once every three to four days, depending on my activities. My skin now dislikes washing every day, as my hormone levels change, but I don't hesitate to spray off private areas if I feel they need it, as they need it. It's a mental health thing for me; if I let it go too long I feel worse about myself.7 -
If you work in a hospital situation and especially now, they use soap and water every day. They drop their clothes on the floor and make a run for the shower the minute they hit the door of their homes. They do it for their family. Some of them use betadine soap or something similar on a daily basis. Betadine is quite mild for most people in a medical professional situation.
I'm washing my hands with soap and water, I'm using soap in the shower. After I run errands, shopping and taking care of seniors, I drop my clothes at the door and run for the shower. I'm using soap from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. Your mileage may vary.
Wildlife, animals and birds have meticulous grooming habits. They're actually very clean. It's so sweet the way they look after one another.
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I'm a little bit shocked, and somewhat dismayed, at seeing that so many people shower daily or even 2-3 times daily. Maybe it's because in California we are bombarded with messages about water waste.
I just can't help thinking, the water! The water!
I don't leave the sink running when I'm brushing my teeth or washing my face.
I shower every 2-3 days. I learned a while back just from researching beauty-related things that washing your skin with soap too frequently tends to dry it out. This was before people started talking about microbiomes. Same thing with shampooing your hair too frequently - it can make your scalp and ends dry and can cause fallout.
As far as sweat goes, I only tend to sweat on my face and neck and only when I work out. I usually wash those afterward.
I don't start to feel icky until it's been 4 days since I've had a shower, sooner if I've had a particularly sweaty workout.
Maybe some people feel icky if they don't shower every day.
I've never had a problem with body odor that deodorant couldn't solve.
Thanks for posting the article, OP.14
https://youtu.be/mpseV04CchY
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