How long CAN you go without a shower?

[1000DayChallenge]

I like to shower twice a day. I don’t do manual work or lots of exercise, I just like it. However

We currently don’t have a bathroom (apart from loo). We’re having a new one installed and it was supposed to be usable today, but it’s not going to be until (hopefully) Sunday. Maybe Monday or Tuesday.

I’m having to make do with really really thorough strip washes, and I can wash my hair in the kitchen sink. The strip washes involve two buckets of hot water, one clean, one soapy, and four flannels. I feel like it’s enough but is it? I don’t smell, I don’t think

Is this healthy? It’s a stupid thing to be worried about but I worry about everything

Going somewhere else isn’t an option

I workout daily (to sweaty level) so I have to shower daily. If I wasn't getting sweaty, I could probably stretch to one day without one, but I'd feel a bit gross personally. I don't think anyone else who does this is though!

Well, before I had my wetroom fitted, I went a year without as I got stuck in the bath on Christmas Eve!
As a teen I had surgery similar to @MrsMoastyToastyand I went for 12 weeks
i kept clean with water in a bowl then( like a bed bath) and washed at sink for the year
Friend washed my hair
Any friends family or neighbours who could help?
leisure centre?
Tbh I’d be tempted to book in a premier inn when funds allow

Look, I never said my loathing of baths make sense to me 🤣 it's not like I'm floating in brown water but I start to imagine skin cells floating off me, any thing that may be in my hair and then 🤢🤢

And you'll never catch me in the sea as I have a fear of the ocean and I'm none too keen on swimming pools as I have a real fear of drowning. Again, not logical (I can swim) but all that water shudder

Go to a swimming pool just to use the shower once a day! Most offices/workplaces tend to have one as well, I used the office one when our bathroom was being done

TBH I tend to have a strip wash most of the week due to not having any running hot water. I usually 'shower' once a week in winter and more often in summer (shower for me is a bucket and jug whilst stood in the bath.....works just as well!).
Nobody has ever accused me of being stinky so I imagine Im as clean as the next person!😃

Twice a day! - no wonder we have a water crisis!!

Have yourself a "festival shower" - and it does not need 4 flannels! Wipe the sticky bits thoroughly with baby wipes (or use the bidet - you can get bidet bowls to go in the toilet).

If you cannot manage to wash your hair over the sink, then use NilAqua - it works a treat.

You should try not showering twice a day. I think you'll survive.

What do you do with the buckets of water? Can't you stand at the sink, wouldn't that be easier?

Grim as it sounds , you can go weeks and weeks without showering or bathing .
I have worked in situations with people that because of housing / mental health problems they have not had the means not the inclination to do it .
Not everyone smells after a few weeks either 😱

Based on your username @1000DayChallenge I thought the premise of your OP was going to be slightly different 😅

It's a few days. Honestly you will be fine. And it's totally unnecessary to shower twice a day every day!

Well it’s going to be for a week for me starting today (due to surgery). I’m normally a shower in morning before work and bath at night (more for enjoyment than washing) I think i am going to find this extremely hard but I will just have to get on with it.

You bail out most of the water using a jug/old saucepan into the bucket you used to fill your tin bath, emptying the bucket in the kitchen sink or outside drain each it’s full. When you have removed most of the water in the bath, you can tip the rest into the bucket very carefully not to spill it as it is difficult to hold on to. You try hard not to splash any water on the hearth rug, or your mother will be really pissed off with you. It’s such a pain the in the arse to do that it removes any pleasant ‘after bath’ feelings you might have had.
Ask me how I know this, and why I am truly grateful for having lived my adult life in premises with bathrooms.

I too am intrigued with a 2 bucket 4 flannel system. You do know soap removes dirt right? I would think warm water in the sink or plastic basin with a good squirt of soap. Dunk and wring flannel. Wash face neck arms whatever, then dunk and wring again. Feet legs etc, dunk, wring, arm pits, dunk wring and finally the genital/ bum area going front to back. Then into the laundry. I'd dunk and rinse out to be extra careful before throwing a dirty cloth into laundry. 3 mins, 1 flannel, that's it. I think that could last forever if you wanted as long as you do it very thoroughly once in a whole. Hair can be done at the kitchen sink once a week or as needed.

I shower once a day usually...preferably in the evening and then have a quick wash under arms and face first thing. Wash hair every other day.

I would feel uncomfortable skipping a day but that's just psychological. I definitely couldn't go without washing at all without smelling, but would be much less thorough than you are being and would only wash the sweaty bits!

If it was for more than a day I'd ask a family member if I could pop round there's, or pay to use the local swimming pool or similar. I wouldn't be doing daily full-on strip washes.

Would it not make your hair/skin dry as well? That's 14 showers a week, in the UK I'm guessing, and not doing anything particularly sweaty? 😯

My longest was nine months due to a full body cast. Twice I wore it over the years. No choice but have a sink wash 😁.The first bath after was absolute heaven.

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Jesus Christ! What do you think people did for the THOUSANDS of years prior to about 1970 (or whenever most houses were routinely built with a shower)??

I seriously worry about the mental health of some people!

I can manage about a week. I only wash my hair once or twice a week anyway, as it’s very long and thick and takes days to dry, but once it starts to feel dirty, I can’t stand it! I sometimes go a few days without a proper shower as I have joint issues and, in a flare, can’t manage the stairs. I do have a downstairs loo with handheld bidet attachment though, so can have a really good wash whilst sitting on the loo. The adult sized body wipes are brilliant as well; I use them when at festivals in the summer.

OP, I also shower twice a day but couldn’t when recovering from an operation and it was manageable but not enjoyable!

I really dont get the showering 2-3 times a day as standard. I mean sure, if you have been to the gym or its a really hot day and you're sweaty but if you are just pottering about normally?
I mean do you actually feel dirty after 10-12 hrs out of water!?

Regular showering is a very recent thing - people have survived for thousands of years without daily showering with soap / shampoo etc.

You'll be fine.

Some homeless people don't shower or bathe for a year! Obviously they'd smell bad but it wouldn't necessarily kill them.

Some people with certain MH problems avoid bathing and might only do it when heavily prompted.

Some people only strip wash due to physical disabilities.

Some people across the world don't have access to clean water or proper toilets. That's when it starts to get dangerous.

Indefinitely I expect.

I might not like it but humans went without showers for centuries so I'm sure it would be okay.

Dunno. I've been for at least 5 years without having a bath though.

I went three days without a shower when I was hooked up to an EEG machine (due epilepsy) and I felt gross by day 3.

If I don't go to the gym it is two days, I like to wash my hair every second day because I have natural blonde hair that gets greasy quickly.