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Original poster

question for those that stripwash instead of shower

358 replies

eggyfart · 05/05/2019 19:27

our monthly water bills going up! so decided to stripwash instead of shower daily, but I use the shower for hair wash days (2- 3 times a week). Well just used the sink, feel lovely and clean. But I did seem to get a bit of water on the floor!

So tell me stripwashers how do ya do it!

OP posts:

Birdie6 · 06/05/2019 06:24

The idea that showering is bad for your skin is nonsense. I live in a place where showering 1-2 times a day is the norm - complexions look great and there is no epidemic of dry skin. I've had 2 showers a day all my life and I definitely look younger than my years.

Itsnotme123 · 06/05/2019 06:30

Dry shampoo helps occasionally too.

Fucket · 06/05/2019 06:42

I suffer from dry skin, I stopped having daily showers and only strip wash the smelly bits or anywhere I’m dirty. TWice a week I have a shower, or more if I’ve worked up a sweat in the garden on a hot day. I also only ever wash my face with anything other than water when I’ve applied suncream or make-up. And I don’t wear make-up very often because it feels like my face is going to crack and fall off. Anyway Because I’ve decided to stop cleaning my face every day (unless it’s mucky then I get a wet cloth in it) I’ve stopped needing moisturiser. Honestly my skin is much, much healthier. I wash my hair twice a week as I find that otherwise my scalp gets dry and cracked from over washing and will bleed. My legs and arms don’t need moisturiser anymore and I don’t get thrush anymore.

I couldn’t give a flying hoot what anyone thinks about my self-cleaning methods.

Whisky2014 · 06/05/2019 06:43

Peeing in the shower saves loads of water....just sayin

kbPOW · 06/05/2019 06:45

Honestly grim. And probably not saving any water vs having a quick shower and especially if you turn it off whilst washing.

FormerlyFrikadela01 · 06/05/2019 06:56

I'm just jealous of all these people who can get a 2 minute shower that they turn off in the middle to lather up. It takes 2 minutes for my shower to get warm enough to get into, theres nonway id be turning it off midway through to have to rinse in cold water after.

ReganSomerset · 06/05/2019 07:08

So people are suggesting that covering yourself with water from a flannel, then soap, then rinsing, in front of a sink will make you smell because...?

Genuinely can't see the logic. People who smell don't wash, or don't use deodorant or have some sort of medical issue that results in excessive sweat.

borntobequiet · 06/05/2019 07:08

I’ll have a strip wash this morning as I had a shower before bed (nice clean sheets) last night. I’ll save the hot water for a lovely Bank Holiday soak in the bath this evening after a walk this afternoon.
The most satisfying strip wash I ever had was when trekking in the Rif mountains, about 40 years ago. A kind young woman gave me 500 ml or so of hot water to freshen up with. She may well have carried the water some way. I still remember how good it felt to get clean and how grateful I was.

YouJustDoYou · 06/05/2019 07:13

Utterly grim.The fact your intimate parts don't get a proper clean either...vom.

azulmariposa · 06/05/2019 07:25

Out of curiosity, has anyone compared the water they catch from showering for two mins without washing hair, to that used for a strip wash? Wondering how significant the difference would be.

Yes. Every time I shower I leave the plug in. As I like my feet to soak.
A stripwash is a sink full. A very quick shower, with me switching off the water whilst soaping up and without a hair wash still uses a lot of water! And we have one of those water saving heads.
It's at least five times as much as the sink.

UrsulaPandress · 06/05/2019 07:30

John Noakes on Blue Peter tested how much water a quick shower uses compared to a strip wash.

The shower won I think.

azulmariposa · 06/05/2019 07:31

@MrsMaisel my grandmother stripwashed everyday for at least ten years, without any baths or showers. She never smelled at all. Only ever smelt of soap.
Don't be ridiculous, of course it is getting you clean. The flannel exfoliates as well, sloughing off any dead or dry skin.
How do you think people coped before they had bathrooms and plumbing?

Reddedder · 06/05/2019 07:34

When not washing my hair, I can shower in 2 minutes easily,

GirlRaisedInTheSouth · 06/05/2019 07:43

God, how miserable . I am the Queen of the 2 minute shower. You don’t need to use a lot of water.

People on ‘my colleague said I smell’ threads ALWAYS claim that they can’t possibly smell as they ‘have a good wash’ .

OP, sorry to ask, but are you genuinely destitute or just being a bit tight?

bibbitybobbityyhat · 06/05/2019 07:47

I think attitudes to bathing/showering or not every day are very much a generational thing and those of us who are old enough to remember when most houses didn't even have a shower are completely unphased by the idea of washing their body at the sink. I grew up in a pretty well off middle class family (we had 2 cars and a dishwasher in the 1960s for context) and yet I was only allowed a bath every other night, alternating with my brother. On the in between days I washed at the sink. I still wash myself like this a couple of times a week. I much prefer it to a 2 minute shower! My showers are more like 10 minutes .

englishdictionary · 06/05/2019 07:47

Perhaps you should seek some money advice OP. If you are that skint that you need to stop showering I think you must have serious financial problems.

Fiontar649 · 06/05/2019 07:51

So people are suggesting that covering yourself with water from a flannel, then soap, then rinsing, in front of a sink will make you smell because...?

I also wondered this... how is getting wet under shower/turn off water /lather up/put water back on to rinse off = fine and acc

GirlRaisedInTheSouth · 06/05/2019 07:52

I guess it depends on your priorities. If I only had a quid to either get a bag of chips or put it in the gas meter so I could have a shower, I would choose the latter.

I’d much rather be clean and go hungry than the other way around.

Fiontar649 · 06/05/2019 07:53

bloody phone

... fine and acceptable, but wetting your skin at sink/ lathering up / having scrub with flannel / rinsing off = unclean and yuck?

mamaoffourdc · 06/05/2019 07:56

I love the comment it's what we used to do before plumbing - let's hope you don't start flinging you poo and wee out the windows as that's what they used to do before plumbing too!

Kittykat93 · 06/05/2019 08:02

I can have a shower in about 1 minute, I just wash everything and rinse off - a shower really doesn't have to use a lot of water. It's personal preference but I wouldn't feel very clean after a strip wash, and it just seems like a lot of faff.

TanMateix · 06/05/2019 08:03

I’m sure there are less essential things you can sacrifice to make up for the extra few pounds your water bill increase.

I honestly don’t think the main problems of a flannel was are getting the armpits or the feet clean intimate hygiene. Now you can tell me that it doesn’t smell but there are plenty of women going around smelling really bad without realising because they are used to their own smell... you just need a poorly ventilated office and you can smell them from the end of the corridor.

Quick shower, save in other stuff.

collectingcpd · 06/05/2019 08:04

This is one of those MN threads that makes me go properly . Shower and hair wash every other day. Face and arm pits on the in between days(so not even a proper strip wash by MN standards)........and from pp clearly I’m not clean and I smell. I don’t work on a farm/building site and I’m not a gardener or rubbish collector. I work in a clean place. And the UK is not a country that requires daily showering because of the heat. I don’t see what I could have done in an average day that necessitates showering every single day. I don’t smell.

collectingcpd · 06/05/2019 08:07

And we wonder what we can do to save the planet? Use less water would be a start.

00100001 · 06/05/2019 08:12

"MrsMaisel
A proper wash can't be achieved by running a wet rag over yourself."

No-one is suggesting that

They're suggesting that washing yourself with soap and water from a sink will make you just as clean as washing yourself with soap and water from a shower.

Which it will.

There are millions of people in this world with no access to a shower. Do you really think they can't wash effectively?? And that the ONLY way a person can possibly be clean is with a shower?

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