Parents don't shower often.

[pateandcheese]

Is this a generational thing?
My parents in their late 60's only shower once a week.
I wouldn't say they ever smell or look scruffy, but I find it odd.
I've obviously not lived at home in 15+ years so never really noticed before, but before lockdown we went away as a family for a week and they both showered once in that time.
Me, my DH and small kids shower or bath every day without fail.
They're both retired so it's not as if they're massively busy.
They're very house proud and everything is fresh and ironed and tidy.
I just don't get the showering thing.
But thinking about it when I lived at home I'd only shower a few times a week in my teens too. It's only since moving out I shower every day.

My nanny had a bath every other week, if that. Other than that it was a quick bird bath each morning. She always smelled wonderful. No deodorant or perfume either. I wish I could remember her smell x

I shower every day unless I'm getting really depressed. I know I don't feel as clean if I just have a basic wash.
I get hot flushes due to meds & hormones which doesn't help, plus I have a physical job.

I wash my hair in the shower at least alternate days as it's fine & gets greasy quickly plus it looks shinier when I've just washed it.

My parents are over 70 and both have daily showers.
My mum is disabled by her arthritis so has a walk in shower.
If I get depressed & admit to not showering they soon get concerned.

Many people shower/bath too often.
It’s bad for your skin.

www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/09/26/917019912/in-the-era-of-hygiene-clean-author-makes-the-case-for-showering-less?t=1607371442340

We shower and wash hair twice a week. The rest of the week I stand in a hot soapy bowl to give my feet a really good soak and then wash down. Clean clothes every day, panty liners.After each of us showering dh wipes the large shower down so it keeps as decent as poss. We are retired so not making too many long journeys/work and feel clean and hope not smelly. My SIL insists that showering every day takes the oils out of your skin!!! If you scan the internet the same theory crops up here and there. Of course growing up in the forties and fifties when baths and showering every day was not a common occurrence will influence older people’s opinion as to what is necessary.

Depends how warm your house/flat is. I cannot face my cold bathroom in winter - my Hickey's Almshouse is the same.I have to feel 'very brave' to make a cup of tea in kitchen. But then it belongs to a Charity.

What a lovely message wandering 1215.

The people who say they don't shower every day and don't need to, you're wrong. You do need to, I regularly come across people who look and smell musty and dirty.

As for this strip washing nonsense, what the hell is that all about? Just jump int he shower, turn it on, wash yourself and get out, how on earth is that difficult? Strip washing was for a time when showers were not available but not in this day and age. A shower doesn't need to take 10 minutes or more, a good wash down with a neutral ph shower gel and a rinse should only take the same time as a "strip wash".

Ridiculous and fairly gross not to shower everyday.

I find it easier and quicker to shower than have a strip wash TBH.

@Loubilou09

The people who say they don't shower every day and don't need to, you're wrong. You do need to, I regularly come across people who look and smell musty and dirty.

As for this strip washing nonsense, what the hell is that all about? Just jump int he shower, turn it on, wash yourself and get out, how on earth is that difficult? Strip washing was for a time when showers were not available but not in this day and age. A shower doesn't need to take 10 minutes or more, a good wash down with a neutral ph shower gel and a rinse should only take the same time as a "strip wash".

Ridiculous and fairly gross not to shower everyday.

Unless you stop every person you see and ask them if they have had a shower in the past 24 hours you have no idea if the people you're referring to as smelling musty and dirty haven't showered today or haven't showered for a week.

I used to work with someone who came to work every morning fresh as a daisy, smelling of soap and deodorant, wearing pristine clothes. By lunchtime he smelt so bad that it was difficult to stand close to him. If you happened to wander past you would maybe have concluded that he just hadn't bothered to shower that morning. I also know people who don't even have a shower who smell as clean as can be, at all times. You just don't know.

It's kind of ironic that you refer to shower gel too as a lot of people find that quite unclean compared to soap.

Just goes to show that there are non of us above being judged on our personal hygiene.

" Just jump int he shower, turn it on, wash yourself and get out, how on earth is that difficult?"

No. None of my showers have worked like that. First, the water needs to heat up and also the air around the shower, then get in, wash hair and body (no point having a shower if not washing hair), then body lotion because showers dry your skin, then squeegee down the screen otherwise it accumulates water marks, then air the bathroom, dry hair, etc.
Takes a lot longer than a sink wash.

"But all my Grandparents (their parents) showered or had a bath daily... everytime I stayed with them when I was younger I remember them bathing or showering daily."

We might be around the same age. I'm surprised by your grandparents as none of mine even owned a shower. They all had a bedroom converted to a bathroom at some point (outside toilet before then) but no showers installed and that was pretty common for older people.
My flat now has a shower and no bath, which my 70 year old landlord says is for people younger than him.

"Why don't you have an instant electric shower installed? They aren't that expensive."

I rent.
I had an electric shower in my last place and the water wasn't instantly hot there either.
It's not just the water temperature, it's also a matter of warming up the air around the shower.

@Loubilou09 your abelism is showing. Quick put it away again.

You have no idea who does and doesn't shower everyday you fool. Have you any idea how idiotic you sound 🤣🤣🤣🤣

My parents don't have a shower and my mum can no longer get in the bath.
She washes at the sink every day.
I'm not happy about it (tried for ten years to persuade them to have the bathroom redone to make it more suitable but to no avail) but she doesn't smell and so it is not a priority in terms of what I am helping them with.

LST looking idiotic is putting a row of stupid laughing emojis onto a non funny post.

You can tell when people haven't showered, people look and smell grubby, you might like to think you don't but you do. Gross, just get in the bloody shower.

"Sink Wash" shudders.....grim as....

@Loubilou09 bless you for being so wrong and so so abelist. I'd prefer to smell a bit musty (which I 100% don't BTW 😉) than be a massive judgemental arse. But hey ho. Each to their own.

The people who say they don't shower every day and don't need to, you're wrong. You do need to, I regularly come across people who look and smell musty and dirty.

So do I,working with the public.But I have no idea when they last washed.
Mostly I would say they have challenges.They are elderly and at the point where things have got away from them.Or old men who have been widowed,whose wives had obviously looked after them,done the laundry,sent manky jackets to the cleaners.Or living in housing where it's difficult or expensive, or any number of other things.
So I figure they have bigger problems than not being spotless,and who has that as their number one priority? Doesn't stop them being people.

I don't shower every day,my skin won't take it. My clothes are always clean,I don't smell,honest,though I've no way of proving it...

@Loubilou09

"Sink Wash" shudders.....grim as....

Ah, a goady poster. I see.

no point having a shower if not washing hair

My hair is so dry that if I washed it every day it would look like straw. I shower every day and wear a shower cap. I wash my hair twice a week.

LST you really have no idea if you smell or not I'm afraid. You like to think you don't smell but you can't be 100% certain.

An example of being an arse is calling people names on chat forums.

There is nothing judgemental about saying people who don't wash will smell. It is a pretty basic fact of life that you have to wash off dirt, sweat, bacteria and other bodily fluids, regularly and thoroughly. A "strip or sink wash" or whatever term you have come up with, will not cut it I'm afraid, you will smell.

@Loubilou09 do you enjoy being wrong? I do not smell after not having a shower for a day. I just don't. You might. But I dont. And a lot of other people don't either. As this thread proves. You are abelist. That is a fact. And you don't seem to care! Which is horrible. shudders

A "strip or sink wash" or whatever term you have come up with, will not cut it I'm afraid, you will smell.

How does the water from the taps differ from the water in the shower?

We had a new build house in 1970 with a shower over bath in ensuite. Dad got fed up with me hogging it to wash my hair as a teen so he put another one in the 2nd bathroom. It wasn't great but you could have a shower.

Our first house also had a shower over bath built late 80s which was brilliant.

I shower twice a day and my mum (78) once a day.