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 parents are in their 70s and shower everyday so not entirely generational. I grew up showering everyday and still do so as does DH and DCs.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

It is NOT generational. I grew up in the early 70’s did my was 16 in 1980.

I had a bath every night. Even in the 1960’s.😬

That wasn't the norm then, though.

Well it was for me. I remember my friends at senior school washing their hair everyday.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

Well it was for me. I remember my friends at senior school washing their hair everyday.

We're not talking about you though, we're talking in general. You can't be arguing that the idea of bath night once a week is made up?

You'd be surprised at the amount of people that wash weekly or less.
Use the bus. 🤮
I don't think it is generational my DF is a soap dodger whereas DM showered daily.

But my friends were all washing their hair everyday. I wasn’t the only one.

As a dc it was weekly a smelly little bunch like most of our pals.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

It is NOT generational. I grew up in the early 70’s did my was 16 in 1980.

I had a bath every night. Even in the 1960’s.😬

Same. I was born in 1958. We all had baths every day.

Maybe it was a money thing an emersion was apparently expensive to heat although mine is on every day now I'm paying for it.

I believe that immersion heaters are very expensive, yes. We had an old central heating system with a large water tank.

Immersion Every days a school day for me.

@Ginfordinner

I believe that immersion heaters are very expensive, yes. We had an old central heating system with a large water tank.

My mum used to go on about how expensive it was. Later on I persuaded her to leave it on all the time. It was cheaper than putting it on for an hour and then turning off which meant it had to heat up each time it was turned on.

Parents were funny about things like that but they just didn't understand.

We only used ours if the boiler broke down, and I also remember my mum complaining about how much immersion heaters cost to run. We had one in our first house as we had no central heating. We bathed every other day as we only put the immersion on every other day, and boiled a kettle for hot water on the days we didn't use the heater.

If you live on your own - Who's to smell you?

Bully for you!

@borntobequiet

It’s not a generational thing. We oldies were brought up with soap, baths and showers just like you. It’s not as though we were born in the 19th century. HTH.

This isn't universal though. Were you quite financially comfortable?

My DM is only 56 and bathed once a week in a tin bath in front of the fire as a child.

When they were older all four people in the house would share bath water! So Nan went in first, then my Mum, etc.

My Nan & Grandad shared bath water until he died about 15 years ago.

So your dm's family must have been hard up?

@allppp

If you live on your own - Who's to smell you?

If you're in a pandemic - who's to smell you? There should be no complaints as you shouldn't be within 2m of anyone you don't live with anyway.

@woodhill

So your dm's family must have been hard up?

Or environmental. This kind of thing might come back with stricter green laws. I'd much rather a sink wash than a bath in cold, used water.

Yes, I think we mustn't take these home comforts for granted