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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think baths are awful?

338 replies

Alllll · 26/03/2025 21:16

I’ve lived in my house for four years and there is a very deep and long L shaped bath which is the envy of my bath loving friends. I’ve never been keen on baths and never used it. But tonight I thought, for a change, I’d run myself one and take my book.

It was absolutely shit. Took bloody ages to run, then I got in and couldn’t hold by book right. The water was a nice temperature but it made my face too hot. It was boring. I lasted twenty minutes and then drained the water. Complete waste.

I find them mildly disgusting. Right up close to the grouting. It’s horrible. AIBU?

OP posts:
redshoesredlaces · 26/03/2025 22:12

BumbleBeegu · 26/03/2025 22:01

Baths make me feel sick (actually physically sick). I get way too hot and then feel dizzy and nauseous when I try to stand up.

Last time I had one was when I was staying at my parents house whilst my dad was dying…they only had a bath, no shower, so it wasn’t a choice! The whole ordeal (dad/bath combo) still gives me trauma flashbacks even now…14 years on 😢

Just don’t run it so hot and you can have a shallow bath if you aren’t washing your hair.

Abracadabra12345 · 26/03/2025 22:12

ScottBakula · 26/03/2025 21:38

I love my bath , I scroll on mn or listen to bbc sound / Audible.
I often fall asleep !

Same as me. I love my audiobook. I need glasses to read which get steamed up so can’t read a book. An audiobook is a perfect solution

I used to enjoy showers but have really gone off them

Purplebunnie · 26/03/2025 22:12

godmum56 · 26/03/2025 21:55

Same here bloody knees. Trashed mine getting stuck in a patch of bog dogwalking

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Goodness they must be extremely painful.

Nothing so extreme in my case, my bad knees are due to being old and grossly overweight.

PrettayGood · 26/03/2025 22:11

Topknotted · 26/03/2025 21:39

I have a bath every night. I chose the bath precisely so that it was comfortable to lie and read in. It’s by an open window that isn’t overlooked, and it’s a lovely stargazing spot. I keep the lights off and burn a candle. I agree that a bad bath is terribly dispiriting.

We’re reconfiguring our bathroom to put the bath under the window. We’re not overlooked and I will love looking out over the garden.

redshoesredlaces · 26/03/2025 22:10

DancingFerret · 26/03/2025 22:05

YANBU. I prefer to take a shower and see soapy dirty suds disappear straight down the plughole rather than lie in them.

Whether I shower or bathe and I do both, the suds never look dirty. How often are you washing? The suds look completely clean on me.

you know many cultures like the Japanese and Koreans have bathing rituals where there soak in hot baths until their skin gets really soft then scrub like crazy and exfoliate all the dead skin off. You come out like silk. You need the long soak to soften the dead skin first.
if you are only ever showering you aren’t ever getting this level of clean.

SwedishEdith · 26/03/2025 22:09

DancingFerret · 26/03/2025 22:05

YANBU. I prefer to take a shower and see soapy dirty suds disappear straight down the plughole rather than lie in them.

Are you a coal miner? What are you doing to have dirty suds you can see?

TwistedWonder · 26/03/2025 22:08

Love love love a bath. I only really shower on holiday and soon as I get home I can’t wait to jump in the bath.

I couldn’t buy a house that only had a shower

FancyAnxiety · 26/03/2025 22:08

fivetriangulartrees · 26/03/2025 21:33

I hate baths. I get in and within two minutes I'm contemplating long-forgotten resentments, the patriarchy and the futility of life. Get out in a rage. Stupid fucking relaxing baths.

Are we twins? 😆

Lightningrain · 26/03/2025 22:07

I don’t often have a bath but I do like them when I’ve for a cold or sore muscles.

In answer to those asking why you’d shower first - I do this because I couldn’t wash/rinse my hair properly in the bath. I wash my hair in the shower and then get into the bath.

The best bath I ever had was one run by the midwife after being induced and having low level contractions for hours on end. It was the only time I could switch off from it. I could have stayed in there for ages but I felt bad as people kept trying the door.

RampantIvy · 26/03/2025 22:07

Just how dirty are some of you that makes you think that baths are disgusting?

I shower 99% of the time, but occasionally like a soak in the bath with a book.

I am never really dirty as I shower or bath every day.

doodahdayy · 26/03/2025 22:07

I’d love the option of a bath when I’m aching. I do prefer showers though

IPM · 26/03/2025 22:06

Panterusblackish · 26/03/2025 21:46

Mumsnet may have its irrationalities but in this instance they are simply following Japanese tradition.

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Which is just as irrational unless they're working down a coalmine.

ShyMaryEllen · 26/03/2025 22:06

How are people getting so filthy?

MatriarchCaz · 26/03/2025 22:06

NaughtbutKeys · 26/03/2025 22:04

Why do something that uses all that hot water that makes you need a shower to get clean again afterwards?

Why would you need a shower after to get clean?!?!?!?!

DancingFerret · 26/03/2025 22:05

YANBU. I prefer to take a shower and see soapy dirty suds disappear straight down the plughole rather than lie in them.

Ineedanewsofa · 26/03/2025 22:05

I’m 6ft tall so baths are generally shit as part of me is always has to be sticking out and therefore cold! Pretty much the only time I have a bath is if we stay in a fancy hotel with a massive one, even then I’m bored after 5 minutes as I can’t get comfortable enough to read and I’m scared I’ll drop tech in the water! I’ll happily spend 20 minutes in a boiling hot shower though, preferably with so much pressure it feels like it might strip my skin off 🤣

ShyMaryEllen · 26/03/2025 22:05

I love a bath. We had our bathroom renovated about 7 months ago and I've never used the shower in that time. I have a bath every night before bed, as it relaxes me and warms me up if I'm cold. There is a shower head thing on the tap for rinsing my hair, which I could use on my body if I felt that I'd been sitting in my own grime, but I really don't, as I'm not feral and as I bath every night I'm always clean.

saveforthat · 26/03/2025 22:05

If you suffer from stiffness, aching muscles, nothing beats a really hot bath.

redshoesredlaces · 26/03/2025 22:05

What’s an L-shaped bath? I can’t imagine what they are. Is it literally like the letter L? Two bits that are at right angles to each other? Are they for 2 people?

NaughtbutKeys · 26/03/2025 22:04

Why do something that uses all that hot water that makes you need a shower to get clean again afterwards?

nomas · 26/03/2025 22:03

I don’t like to read in the tub, but I do put on a programme on my iPad, and prop up that up against the bathroom counter, far from
the tub.

I can get bored in the tub, but the hot water feels so good on my legs especially, it’s so soothing.

CarrieOnComplaining · 26/03/2025 22:03

I have no interest in lounging around in cooling water getting wrinkly, awkward to wash and rinse hair… it sounds as if it should be lovely but the reality was always just annoying. I have never had a bath in my current house. Would love to replace the bath with a top quality big shower.

lifeonmars100 · 26/03/2025 22:03

ScottBakula · 26/03/2025 21:38

I love my bath , I scroll on mn or listen to bbc sound / Audible.
I often fall asleep !

I am really scared of falling asleep in the bath and drowning!

ClarafromHR · 26/03/2025 22:03

I agree. I really don’t like to take a bath. However, if we ever stay in a posh hotel, I think that I should take a bath for some reason. Run it, get in and regret it.

overwork · 26/03/2025 22:02

What on earth is an L-shaped bath?!