Am I not washing properly?

[Washerg]

Inspired (worried!) following a poster today talking about buttocks washing.

I shower daily. By this I mean I stand under the shower and clean under my arms with water only, same down below. I let the water run all over me for a good ten or fifteen mins but don’t actually scrub or touch other parts of my body. On days I wash my hair (weekly), the soap will run down my body obviously but that’s the extent of any soap that runs over me.

I have from time to time used some shower gel but only if I feel like it. Haven’t for about a year or so and before then it would be some weeks not others. Just don’t feel the need I suppose... and when I do use it, again it would be under arms and definitely not a big body scrub. I don’t think I’ve ever ever washed my toes apart from when I’ve been on the beach or outside with no shoes on in summer. I do use deodorant and perfume.

I’m actually worried now that I’m some sort of disgusting person who doesn’t realise it!! It’s not something I’ve ever discussed with friends. Am I weird? Should I be scrubbing away?! I’ve NC.

I get a hot shower every bedtime. I wash my hands face pits vulva and arse with soap. I wash my hair every 5 days or whenever it needs it. I clean my teeth with an electric tooth brush every day, and a normal.toothbrish once or twice a day.

I had a friend who was a chiropodist.

I can confirm a lot of people do not wash their feet. Nor regularly change their socks.

I've been to a gynecologist due to recurring thrush and I was never told to wash with only water around the vulva, I was told to wash the area with gentle, unperfumed products. You don't put soap up your vagina, but you can (and should) use something on the outer parts.

@Cherrycee

I've been to a gynecologist due to recurring thrush and I was never told to wash with only water around the vulva, I was told to wash the area with gentle, unperfumed products. You don't put soap up your vagina, but you can (and should) use something on the outer parts.

I think as an early poster said, some people don’t understand the difference between vulva and vagina, so they have assumed that the vulva is the vagina and it shouldn’t be washed.

When the guidance is clearly you don’t wash inside yourself, the vagina, but you do wash all external areas, the vulva. Just like a man should with his penis, scrotum etc and under his foreskin.

Goodness me, use some soap woman! At least on the smelly bits, armpits, fanny area, under boobs, bum crack and anywhere else you tend to get sweaty.

Imagine only washing your hands with just water after handling poo or chopping onions. Grim doesn’t even cover it.

If you’re worried that soap it too harsh or drying for you, invest in some Dove bars.

I don't think a lot of people understand that not everyone has the same kind of robust, healthy skin.

My feet are prone to eczema. I can't use soap at all on them. It's painful..I use Silcocks base.

I use a good soap on my pits and bits though. Very thorough there. I use Mitchum deodorant, but I don't sweat or produce oil anywhere on my body except my arm pits.

My skin is really porous and dry so I can't use soap on my legs or feet at all. The skin would literally open and become raw. I shower in warm water, not hot, that's painful. I have to be careful as my skin is so sensitive and dry.
Water can sting at times, when I wash my hands I can only use soap on the palm sides and fingers and thumb as the front of my hands are so dry water can sting.

I wince when people talk about 'scrubbing' as if I scrubbed anything on my body, it would draw blood!

Not everyone has the same kind of skin.

I'm guessing people who scrub must have quite robust, healthy skin.

@PerfidiousAlbion

I'm still reeling from the number of people just barely cleaning themselves and thinking it's fine - even in summer - but Is this also why toenail fungus and athletes foot is so rampant?

And "boils." I've never known anyone in real life to get boils but they seem rampant here.

drives me mad that on threads like this, so many people have no idea what a vagina is. "don't use soap on your vagina" .. thats UP INSIDE you fgs all your labia DOES need washed!

I think as an early poster said, some people don’t understand the difference between vulva and vagina, so they have assumed that the vulva is the vagina and it shouldn’t be washed

@Bluntness100, I was just going to say exactly that. I am wondering if the common, but incorrect, use of the word "vagina" for the whole of the female genital area has confused some people. That they are told/have read that you should never use soap on the vagina because it's self cleansing and think it means the whole area is self cleaning. It's one reason why it irritates me when women use the term vagina when they are referring to vulva. It's not being pedantic, it's helping to prevent confusion.

All the talk of shower gel is depressing. Nasty chemicals and more plastic to choke our planet.

There are lovely natural bar soaps that are just as pleasing to use but don't add to plastic waste and are easier on the skin.

This is a joke right? I fail to believe the OP is telling the truth here.

@PerveenMistry a fair few people have HS which causes boils and abscesses, most seek help online. It's not caused by washing/not washing

@PerveenMistry
I admit I was thinking same as you but feared mentioning the constant “I use shower gels”. I’ve always used natural bar soaps. They’re better for environment, and to be fair shower gels are too perfumed.

@Whiskysoda

Goodness me, use some soap woman! At least on the smelly bits, armpits, fanny area, under boobs, bum crack and anywhere else you tend to get sweaty.

Imagine only washing your hands with just water after handling poo or chopping onions. Grim doesn’t even cover it.

If you’re worried that soap it too harsh or drying for you, invest in some Dove bars.

But our shins and forearms do not handle shit or onions?

I do use soap - under arms and bottom.
I have never knowingly and specifically purposely washed my legs/arms/back with soap unless they are dirty from eg gardening or sunscreen etc.
Feet I rarely wash assuming standing in hot sudsy shall soap water or equiv in bath is sufficient. Do rub dead skin off feet. In summer I was feet frequently and scrub soles and heels etc due to flip flop/sandal wearing.
Have known those who wash all parts of body religiously and carefully with soap or equivalent at each bath/shower.

Re washing your hair once a week.
A couple of years ago I had to stand in a long queue for 2 hours (airport arrivals). I was behind a very glamorous young woman with long shiny hair. However, it absolutely stank. It didn't look dirty but it just smelt dirty and greasy. She was probably completely oblivious as it looked so nice.

Few people have mentioned eczema. You can get some good in shower creams to use for that. So I use gel under arms, boobs, neck, around my bottom half etc. Then the epiderm stuff on my arms where my eczema is, and behind knees as they get dry. I still feel clean without drying myself out.

@DidgeDoolittle

Re washing your hair once a week. A couple of years ago I had to stand in a long queue for 2 hours (airport arrivals). I was behind a very glamorous young woman with long shiny hair. However, it absolutely stank. It didn't look dirty but it just smelt dirty and greasy. She was probably completely oblivious as it looked so nice.

Ah, but we all stand so far apart now!

@DidgeDoolittle

Re washing your hair once a week. A couple of years ago I had to stand in a long queue for 2 hours (airport arrivals). I was behind a very glamorous young woman with long shiny hair. However, it absolutely stank. It didn't look dirty but it just smelt dirty and greasy. She was probably completely oblivious as it looked so nice.

That's the point - people think because their hair doesn't look greasy or they don't look dirty, they don't smell. They will still have that stale smell from not washing properly.

I genuinely don't get this. What about when you're on your period OP? Even if you use tampons, you must use a pad / panty liner sometimes. Water won't get rid of the period smell at all, especially if you don't wax / trim your pubes.

What is your logic behind washing your hands with soap, but not your body? And if you don't actually wash yourself, do you literally just stand there for 10-15 mins doing nothing at all? Just staring into space?

I'm just trying to get my head round all this. I know someone who doesn't wash every day, or every other day but when she feels she needs a wash (usually about once a week, but more in summer), and even then she spends bloody ages in the shower and gives her whole body a good scrub (she helped me wash once when I was recovering from surgery, and she scrubs hard!).

I have friends who have a stale lingering body odour to them. As far as I know, they are the ones who wash most often! Some people can’t help it, it’s like saying acne is due to not washing your face enough!

@Kittromney Maybe they don’t use soap / body wash?!

Being disgusted by natural body odours is such a weird western thing. I remember girls in school wandering around in gag-worthy clouds of deodorant after PE in school. When I moved back to my parents (hot sweaty poor) home country in year 9, i declared after PE that everyone was disgusting. The reply I got straight back from the “popular girl” of the class was that everyone sweats and there’s nothing disgusting about it. I've been among gaggles of sweaty people in packed buses in 40 degree heat. No one can afford deodorant or perfume. People smell sweaty, but they don’t smell BAD! Google aluminium in deodorant and how it actually makes you smell worse over time. I don’t meet mumsnet scrubbing standards and I don’t use deodorant any more, and I don’t smell, as much as you may try to convince me I do. I’ve actually had (lovely sweet smelling) boyfriends over the years telling me they like the way I smell and that bad breath or body odour can be such a turn off!

@MsHedgehog
I’ve been in the shower with them after swimming etc. They use soap. They have it in their showers at home too.

@Kittromney

Being disgusted by natural body odours is such a weird western thing. I remember girls in school wandering around in gag-worthy clouds of deodorant after PE in school. When I moved back to my parents (hot sweaty poor) home country in year 9, i declared after PE that everyone was disgusting. The reply I got straight back from the “popular girl” of the class was that everyone sweats and there’s nothing disgusting about it. I've been among gaggles of sweaty people in packed buses in 40 degree heat. No one can afford deodorant or perfume. People smell sweaty, but they don’t smell BAD! Google aluminium in deodorant and how it actually makes you smell worse over time. I don’t meet mumsnet scrubbing standards and I don’t use deodorant any more, and I don’t smell, as much as you may try to convince me I do. I’ve actually had (lovely sweet smelling) boyfriends over the years telling me they like the way I smell and that bad breath or body odour can be such a turn off!

There's a difference between natural body odours and BO / unwashed vagina.

@JorisBonson
"There's a difference between natural body odours and BO / unwashed vagina."
You do know what the acronym BO stands for?!