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.

I am only in my 60s but I have a couple of serious health conditions. I haven't been able to get in and out of a bath for around 4 years. I had to get a walk in shower installed, with grab rails. If I didn't have that I would be washing at the sink.
I think fear of falling is a big issue.

I grew up in a different country and to be fair showers weren't as common as baths, but everyone had a daily bath, when I was little and stayed with friends we'd be plonked in the bath together.
I had never heard of strip or sink washes till I got to the UK.

I think this is an upper class/ upper middle class thing? It seems quite a few posh people don't wash more than they need or even brush their teeth or comb their hair, it's that crazy disheveled look. My parents and family shower every day thankfully but we are working class.

My DM doesn’t shower often, perhaps 2-3 times a week, but is only early 60s and I must say I do often notice that she doesn’t smell as fresh as she could - not wanting to go into TMI but certain regions really need a thorough washing every day in my book. I actually find it pretty awkward and embarrassing but I don’t feel I can really say anything

@onedayinthefuture

I think this is an upper class/ upper middle class thing? It seems quite a few posh people don't wash more than they need or even brush their teeth or comb their hair, it's that crazy disheveled look. My parents and family shower every day thankfully but we are working class.

I think that's rubbish. The only connection I can make is that people who did "dirty" jobs had to wash more in the 'old days' e.g. coal miners in a tub in front of the fire. I don't think there's a connection these days.

As for the twice a week people, that’s disgusting and unhygienic says more about your attitude @Lavenderfieldsofprovence than other ppl.

@onedayinthefuture DM is 100% WC so although that may explain some of the cases it doesn’t all.

Nopainno tartine

I genuinely don't get when people advocate a strip wash as an easier option.

You must be used to endless hot water, a warm bathroom and unlimited dry towels :-) In mychildhood nobody had those luxuries.

Back in the old days before central heating, bathrooms were freezing cold so for at least half the year, you wanted to spend the least possible time naked. A damp towel stayed cold and damp for days.
Washing towels by hand was hard work before washing machines. No dryer.
A strip wash took minimal time, you could stay clothed in sections, and it used hardly any hot water ( HW was a luxury ,supplies were limited, and expensive). Lots of people boiled a kettle for a strip wash, because that was cheaper and faster than the immersion heater or gas heater.
In our family, everyone was queing for their morning strip wash at the only basin so you had to be quick. Just a couple of minutes.

"I genuinely don't get when people advocate a strip wash as an easier option."

Wash my list of what I have to do when I have a shower.

@SBTLove

As for the twice a week people, that’s disgusting and unhygienic says more about your attitude *@Lavenderfieldsofprovence* than other ppl.

It absolutely does yes. I’d rather be clean and fresh. Each to their own I suppose😆

My mum is 60 and doesn't shower as much as I do (once/twice a day).

Why do people think that water from a shower head gets you cleaner than water from a sink? It's the same stuff.

We were brought up to not waste water. When you have had to get all the water you need from a stand pipe in the road due to drought you learn to be careful

@wellthatsunusual

Why do people think that water from a shower head gets you cleaner than water from a sink? It's the same stuff.

This, absolutely this. In fact I find my strip washes are far more thorough than showers.

Hot showers twice a day is so so bad for skin!

2bazookas

You have a point, I have all the luxuries - and by the sound of it my parents, grand-parents etc.. had them too, or a version of them because it was definitively a thing to send the boys especially to their bath every day when my grand-father was a boy!

But nowadays, it takes a couple of minutes at most to have a super fast shower, wash everything, rinse properly not worry about water on the floor, etc.. I honestly find it easier.

I hope to end up in a country warm enough that outdoor showers are also a thing in addition of indoors ones!

My dad is in his 80s and showers every morning.

He had the bath taken out and replaced with a walk in shower. He even got a new boiler so he has hot water whenever he wants it. He used to go to bed dirty as a child*, so huge turn around .

*Not his mother's fault.

well it isn’t, obviously. But in a shower you get wet, soap up your body, and rinse. Doing the same at a sink involves multiple rinsing of a flannel and you don’t get to all the places you would in a shower. It doesn’t really matter of course.

I think the generation thing might have applied in my mums time (when she was in her late 60s, born in the 20s) but not in these times. Most 60 odd year olds are no different to their kids generation, as in fashion conscious, go to the gym, take showers etc. I’m in my 60s and shower every day.

My parents are in their 70s/80s and they have always bathed or showered every day for as long as I remember. They have always been immaculate. We were all brought up to shower very morning. Sadly my father is no longer mobile enough to get in and out of the shower but he has carers who help him wash every day.

So I would say in your parents’ case it’s not a generational thing, maybe just habit. The wet wipes thing is odd.

My MiL has a shower weekly but only because it's insisted on. she claims to wash her hair a couple of times a week (she doesn't) and also claims to have a thorough daily sink wash - which I doubt as there are days she doesn't get her wash cloth even damp. We've been sharing a house with her for a couple of years now and if there wasn't a carer in weekly to help her in the shower she would never have one.

The biggest reason for refusal (as that's what it is) is fear of falling in the shower. Second reason is her memory isn't great so she'll claim she had a shower yesterday when it's not true. My DH says she's lying but I think it is simply memory given she's in her 90s.

My own mother is similar as having dementia she has forgotten that she was always a very fastidious individual. Her hair is now often looking unwashed and she puts dirty clothes back on when she does shower.

My late dad had a bath once a week. He was always immaculately dressed, clean shaven and never smelled.

My parents grew up in cramped inner city flats with no bathrooms. As a child (I'm in my 50s) I remember my grandad shaving at the kitchen sink. It was the only sink in the house. I remember my mum telling me about going to the public baths for a bath the night before her wedding; unimaginable nowadays.

When I was growing up in the 70s/80s I had a bath once a week, maybe twice.

I shower or bathe daily but I consider it a great privilege to be able to afford to do so.

Most people as they get older.. loose body hair, sweat less, skin gets dryer. Also no periods. Therefore it's not unusual for them to need to wash less. Especially if less active. They could easily halve their washing and be no dirtier. Keep same and skin can get painfully dry.

Its just the same as a teenager needing to clean more as greaser skin, sweating, hormones etc.

Different stages of life need different frequency of cleaning.

Many older people watch their money.. A wash is therefore cheaper and can be as effective

Baths/showers set of my husbands illness so not good for him to have every day.

@pateandcheese

No they don't smell, and strangely my mum wet wipes every day, I imagine her pits and bits?! Sorry for TMI! Just find it odd!

She doesn't smell, so what's the problem?

And no it's not generational, it's personal preference, even though when I was growing up it was a bath once a week on a Sunday. Clean PJs and clean underwear Monday morning.

I can't remember how old I was when I started changing underwear more often.