in thinking that there is no real reason for most people to SMELL is there?

[HugoFirst]

unless have run a marathon etc.
WASH yourselves and please wash your clothes you stinkers

i change them every day regardless of whether I think they're clean.
It's a routine.
sometimes if I feel sweaty I'll change them before bed.

plus, if I showered, then all my pubic hair would be soaking, and it takes too long to dry - then i'd have to put new knickers onto wet hair, and that would be uncomfortable.

it takes already 5 min or so at my house for the water to reach a "showerable" temperature...if I don't mind to take a very cold shower that is...

(showered skin just doesn't dry quickly enough for the gettign dressed rush in the morning)
(and I can't get up any earlier - it's a struggle to get up when I do!)

Pubic hair takes seconds to dry

it doesn't feel like that when you've put your knickers on

There's smelling like a human and then there's the girl in our village who stinks of week old shit.

It's disgusting, so bad it has made someone I know, who's not delicate or dramatic in any way, throw up. Grown men who work on farms with silage and slurry move away from her and cover their noses it's so bad.

The tragedy is she has two children and doesn't wash them either

Personally I shower every day/2 days. Our shower was broken for the last week and we all had to strip wash and whilst we didn't smell I really didn't feel clean at all.

at washing with dirty knickers. Why don't you just do your bits last and use the flannel? Don't tell me you reuse the flannel next time you wash? [yuk]

We dont have a shower so it is either bath or strip wash. We have a bath every other day and strip wash every other day.. We always were clean clothes and dont think any of us smell (apart from our feet poo wee and i have passed the smelly feet on to my two children ... )

sorry - but the knickers that have been worn all day and all night being used to then clean the areas where they probably have secretions from is a repugnant idea to me - sorry but youreally have been lucky not to pass bacteria from one part to the other (regadeless of you using a different area)...what do you do with your soppig wet knickers after you ahve washed with them???

There is a girl who gets on my bus who smells like chip fat. Really. She looks like she's washed her hair in the stuff, if I'm honest. She ALWAYS sits in front of me, so if the window is open, I get to sit backwind of her tantalising chippy niff.

Strip wash or shower I never actually feel properly clean unless I've used an exfoliating sponge. I hate being away and forgetting mine. It's like washing plates. You can't just rinse them with soapy water, you have to scrub.

I get greasy hair by the end of the day I've washed it, it's a pain in the arse.

I'm so pleased to catch up with this thread this morning and see some more sensible people and posts on here. Nice to have a bit of balance against the people who can't bear to be near anyone not scrubbed to within an inch of their lives and drenched in chemicals (how do any of you go to countries where this isn't the norm, ffs? Or to visit parents/grandparents who probably still strip wash sometimes as they have always done?).

alistron1 "Will lookout on school run this am for hoardes of people vomiting as I pass them." I have also been thinking sadly of this poor sad woman who spends her whole day vomiting in the gutter as she has to negotiate the great unwashed... Presumably she never leaves the house after midday, as then many people would be four hours or more from their last shower, and she'd have coated herself with sick before she exited her front gate.

this thread is an example of everything that's great about Mumsnet.

Right, i'm off to do some hot yoga, i'll probably hum afterwards. ah well, perhaps i'll bump into some of you at the school gates

Mine does bellavita as I don't have any ;)

SummerRain - thats tragic. And I feel really sorry for the children. I remember in 1st year at Secondary School everyone had a lesson on how often you should shower/bath/strip wash and how often you should change various items of clothing e.g. pants, trousers, etc. Unfortunately the lesson was needed for some children who came from homes where they hadn't been taught this.

SummerRain "shock at washing with dirty knickers. Why don't you just do your bits last and use the flannel? Don't tell me you reuse the flannel next time you wash? [yuk]"
because Iwash my feet with that flannel.
[boak]

DropdeadFred - my fanjo only leaks secretions into the gusset - i don't use the gusset to wash!

I still wouldnt wash with used underwear

My hair didn't need washing every day until I started washing it every day. I curse the day I ever decided to start that.

Strip washing wouldn't be my first choice of washing method, but surely it's perfectly fine? Provided you follow the golden rules of lather, rinse and dry, you're removing dirt and killing germs regardless of what water recepticle you're using. My grandparents and MIL only ever strip wash and have never smelt. The key thing is they do it daily.

I wash every day, sometimes twice, occasionally more. But I really rarely notice how other people smell and I doubt I could distinguish whether someone had washed this morning or yesterday by standing next to them, nor whether their clothes were fresh on this morning or not. People get smelly at different rates, and it depends on what they're eating as well. For some reason drinking more than a glass of wine makes me stink like a filthy tramp.

Its foul especially as women we have periods not to shower daily especially when your on is awful

Dropdeadfred that is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read. We can't insulate ourselves from bacteria! It's not like we're going to lick or chew underwear is it? Putting bleach in the washing machine? Nice! And where is all this bleach going to end up? In the water table that's where.

Plus surely it figures that the more harshly you remove your body's natural oils and good bacteria, the more forcefully (thus stinkily) it will return? I really agree that we've been conditioned into thinking we must constantly wash, primarily because there are people getting rich off the back of it!

Exactly so mackeralofffact

Ariesgirl - I don't agree with washing clothes at that high temperature either or bleaching everything...
BUT - that does tellme that washing with pants you have worn for up to 24 hours (and rinsed in handhot water) is not the best idea

if you disagree - fine
but that's my opinion

you could point out germs abotu everything - there are other things that get rid of germs than just bleach.
It's a total overreaction.

I don't get ill.

Now, talking about people who smell, one of my friends is unhygienic, and we can't work out how - he insists that he washed himself and his clothes, but whenever we see him, his clothes are covered in food debris, and dribble.
and he never smells very nice - not BO, but unwashed.
it's very odd.
but he does have a saliva problem, so it's probably just stale saliva that sticks to his clothes.
Sorry, he's just been in and now I'm gagging from the smell (that's not normal - I'm pg, so everything makes me gag at the moment!)

normally, we have to tell him when he smells too bad - he's got a dog, and often his clothes smell of unwashed dog, so maybe he picks him up and carries him a lot at home?

Because 24 hour old fango juice is better obviously

Lesley... it is horrible. Her parents are the same so it's obviously learned behavior and it's just so sad watching those poor kids being brought up the same way.

Dropdeadfred.... don't google 'mythbusters toothbrush fecal bacteria' then whatever you do [evil]