question for those that stripwash instead of shower

[eggyfart]

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!

Threads like this always bring out the worst mumsnet germophobes.
Crikey people, relax!
And as for pooey flannels contaminating your washing machine - words fail me.

I would imagine that a 'good' strip wash is probably cleaner than a 'bad' shower since the thing that really removes dirt from your body is the rubbing action, moreso than the water.

I read a book recently where a historian lived for several months in the style of someone from Tudor times. This included 'washing' her body with dry rags, instead of soap and water (as that's what people did in those days). Her colleagues were instructed to advise her if she smelt bad, and all reported that they would never have known. They were hardly just saying it order to save her feelings, since they knew she was doing the experiment.

I'm not saying I'd try washing with dry rags, but I do think the modern insistence that dirt can only be removed in running water and not by non-running water doesn't have much basis in reality.

Or, in short, the lady mentioned by a previous poster who always smells of soap yet somehow smells bad is more likely to have poor clothes washing routines than poor body washing routines.

And as for pooey flannels contaminating your washing machine - words fail me.

Yeah I don't get that one, how is a flannel used in a strip wash any different to one used in a shower? Surely people use some sort of implement to clean with whilst in the shower too, or do people just let the magic water to do it all.

Disclaimer: I actually shower because I jump in after dp has already warmed it up but I'm not opposed to a strip wash now and then.

Surely people use some sort of implement to clean with whilst in the shower too, or do people just let the magic water to do it all.

It's really quite easy to lather up soap in your hands and rub it on your body. But yes, it's a bit silly of pp to suggest that flannels washed at 60 are filthy.

Some people on here are getting overly worked up. Yes the extreme germaphobia is ridiculous, but so are the stripwashers taking the piss out of people who consider showers cleaner (which is hardly an outlandish opinion).

but showers don't inherently make you cleaner.... they're just more convenient

the shower-brigade are the ones claiming anything other than a shower makes you gross, dirty and unhygienic, which just isn't the case.

yes, its their opinion that they might feel a shower gets you cleaner, but it doesn't make them right. You an be clean without a shower. Otherwise why would they ever put their child in a bath each night, without showering them afterwards? Why would they ever use wipes on their children?

It's really quite easy to lather up soap in your hands and rub it on your body.

Yeah my ex partner used to do this, not a single flannel or sponge on the house... He wasn't dirty per se but He would sometimes still have a whiff about the armpit even after a shower... He wasn't my partner for long.

Nothing virtuous in suffering

^^

This.

Just take a feckin shower

00100001 - I'm not sure where anyone has said showers are the only acceptable way to get clean. Baths do the same job. Either is preferable to a strip wash in my opinion.

Some people don't think strip washes are clean enough, I personally think they're ok from time to time, but there's no way they're cleaner than a shower. The difficulty in rinsing properly being one major issue.

sakura7 How is a bath any different to a strip wash?

with the exception that you're sitting in your own dirty water, rather than standing next to it...

Why do you think you can't properly rinse from a strip wash?

00100001 Pretty obvious I would have thought?

A strip wash involves a small amount of water in a sink. A bath involves immersing yourself in a large amount of water.

I wring the excess water from the flannel. I'm also adept in washing with cold water.

Explain to me how you can rinse thoroughly with just a wet flannel?

OP, I assume that you have a water meter? If you don't then there is no saving at all, only less convenience. My water bill has gone up loads, too, but as we don't have a meter it is not down to usage. I have no problem with strip washing, and managed to get through my teen years with weekly baths and hair wash - and the water was shared sometimes as the tank wasn't big enough otherwise. Now I have a combi boiler for the water to my bathroom sink and it wastes a huge amount of water getting to a warm temperature, whereas my electric shower is hot almost instantly. So in effect there is probably no cost saving on water usage of a quick shower vs a sinkful of hot water.

"A strip wash involves a small amount of water in a sink. A bath involves immersing yourself in a large amount of water."

so how does it make you cleaner...? that just makes more of you wetter at once...

I would genuinely like to know how much money OP thinks can be saved.

We are a family of four who use a lot of water - 2 adults showering daily, 2 children bathed daily, washing machine and dishwasher used most days. DH works from home twice a week and I'm on mat leave so we are home a lot of the time flushing toilets, drinking tap water, boiling kettles etc. In summer we water the garden and DD has an enormous paddling pool.

Our total water bill works out at about £1 a day including sewage and standing charges. Is not showering really going to change your financial situation that drastically?

Disgusting thread. A "strip wash?" Wtf. Just take a shower and make your savings elsewhere.

If you really want to save water, try a bucket shower instead. Invest in a plastic bucket and a plastic jug. Fill bucket. Squat in bathtub. Pour a jug of water over yourself, soap up, then rinse off with jugs of water.

Strip wash.... urgh. Now I've read it all.

If you use several flannels and clean each day I would think washing and rinsing them all in a washing machine will use quite a bit of water.

One bath towel has the same surface area as around 12 flannels. Several flannels, being small, are also easier to fit in the machine than another terry towel of that size. Why on earth would people be doing a separate wash just for flannels? They can go in with towels and bedding (which should be washed at 60 to kill bacteria anyway).

If people think they can't rinse properly using cloths, do they also think their faces aren't rinsed unless they've stuck them under the shower? Do you stick your face under the shower every evening to wash off cleanser? That would also get your hair all wet if you are rinsing it off your neck and from behind your ears.

I’m not even arguing about the cleanliness.

It’s the bloody faffing, half freezing, splashing water everywhere when you can just have a quick refreshing shower. How do you wash your feet?? Stick them in the sink? Or don’t you wash them...

I know from other threads that many people don’t wash their feet in the shower because the water does that for them. Neither do they dry them, because the bath mat does that.

We already had a strip/flannel wash when I was younger and had baths once a week. We were, of course, all dirty, smelly ruffians who were completely ignorant about hygiene. There is absolutely no possibility that scrubbing your body all over, thoroughly, with soap and a wet flannel is a viable, effective way to clean yourself...

I guess some people rinse off plates, cutlery, cups, etc with just plain water and then reuse them

Nope, we filthy animals just piss on our cutlery and hope for the best