to be shocked that SIL and her kids only bath / shower once a week?

[emilytankengine]

I have a shower every day, before work, sometimes twice if I've been to the gym or if we're on holiday / going out. I probably make sure the younger kids get a bath about 5 times a week and my teenage daughter has a shower every day.

SIL was outraged at this and says that she only typically has a bath or a shower once a week! She says that she has a wash every day with a face cloth (including her bottom :O - with a face cloth!!).

Maybe it's me who's odd but I was staggered at this

[ragged]

um.... OP hasn't said that SIL stinks.
I don't think SIL should have a go at you for your habits, OP, but it sounds very clearcut that you have no real reason to be horrified by hers, either.

Couldn't she use one flannel for both: first on face, then on bottom, then in to the wash?

NB: I cannot imagine sharing that level of detail with anybody about how I wash my bits!!

[tyler80]

We have a water meter - I shower at work

I think your SIL is being unreasonable for not using the dishwasher, modern dishwashers are far more eco-friendly than washing up by hand.

The daily/weekly bath/shower thing is just personal preference imo

[diabolo]

We all shower every morning, me and DS was our hair every other day and DH washes his every day, we have a little set routine before school/work.

I feel dirty if I don't shower (like if I get up at 4am to go to the airport on holiday, I don't bother, but I feel "icky" all day).

I'd rather live my way than showering once a week. I think I would stink. My feet certainly would - they do after 12 hours!

[FlubbaBubba]

By the way, a slight aside, it's actually economically better and environmentally friendlier to use a (full) dishwasher than it is to wash up;

"Scientists at the University of Bonn in Germany who studied the issue found that the dishwasher uses only half the energy, one-sixth of the water, and less soap than hand-washing an identical set of dirty dishes. Even the most sparing and careful washers could not beat the modern dishwasher. The study also found that dishwashers excelled in cleanliness over hand washing."

[FabbyChic]

The way I see it you SHIT every day, the only way to have a clean arse is to bathe/shower. So it follows that unless you shower/bath everyday you are dirty and your bits smell.

[scarecrow22]

Modern dishwashers can be (much) more Eco friendly than washing up. See Page 12 of this report from Environment Agency:

publications.environment-agency.gov.uk/PDF/GEHO1107BNJR-E-E.pdf

[scarecrow22]

Sorry, just cross-posted w FB

[d0gFace]

I dont have a shower, have a bath about twice a week. Wash my hair everyday/every other depending on how it looks. If I had a shower Id probably use it while doing my hair.

I wash everyday.

Was once a week in the tub when I was a kid.

[d0gFace]

"The way I see it you SHIT every day, the only way to have a clean arse is to bathe/shower. So it follows that unless you shower/bath everyday you are dirty and your bits smell."

I wish I could poo everyday. But yea people are constanly talking about my smelly bits.

[LDNmummy]

As an adult I think it is gross, little kiddies no, but an adult, yuck!

If it was at least every other day it wouldn't be that big a deal as she does the whole rag wash thing, but doing that daily and only showering once is disgusting IMO.

[TheProvincialLady]

Can't MN just devote their entire home page to charts detailing the washing and showering habits of each and every MNetter? It would save this thrice weekly fecking yawnfest. Hold the front page! Woman uses flannel!

[fatlazymummy]

fabbychic you must do some seriously explosive shits if you have to wash your whole body afterwards.

[BulletWithAName]

Haha, I love FabbyChic's way with words

[LDNmummy]

Actually LOL'd at fatlazymummy's post

[throckenholt]

You may well not be unusual in daily (or more) showering - but when you stop to think about it you may begin to realise just what an extravagant luxury it is.

Having a shower with hot, clean water, which barely touches your body before it rushes off down the drain is a wonderful feeling. It is, however, a profligate way of keeping clean, and doing it daily really is completely unnecessary (if it was needed then the human species would not have survived as well as it has for so long !).

There really are very few people globally, and historically who have had that luxury - maybe we need to appreciate it more. It has only become an almost given norm in the western world in the last 10 years or so (not long really).

[PorkChopSter]

I just want to know if she's using the same flannel for her face and her bum, and does she use the same flannel all week in between showers.

Oh, and is it the same flannel as everyone else in the house uses.

[Mumcentreplus]

Bluddy hell!...you take a sabbatical and you come back to this...lol I want to know if they smell?..

[WhoAteMySnickers]

A bath once a week - her hair must stink.

[ragged]

Daily showers were the norm where I grew up in the 1970s... but that was a rich country and a warm climate.
The dishwasher thing is complicated... none of the studies manage to reasonably include the embodied energy in the manufacture, transport, and disposal costs for the darn things. Also the env. costs of the high phosphate detergents are (I believe) under-estimated.

Tree-hugger reckoning it can be a close run-thing on the per use impact washing dishes by hand or by machine. So if you factor in the disposal/detergent/manufacture costs, it seems like washing up by hand really ought to be the winner.

[fatlazymummy]

I know quite a few people who only wash their hair once a week. It doesn't stink at all.

[TimeWasting]

I've never done strip-washing, so I wouldn't know if I was doing it properly iyswim.
Seems sensible. I couldn't not wash, but if pits and bits are thoroughly cleaned, why would it be smelly?

[iwanttoseethezoo]

Just to add my twopennorth - I have a shower about 3x a week, but wash my hair every other day (sometimes try to leave it one more day as I get a dry scalp if I wash it too much). Nice deep bath every couple of weeks too, but that's more for relaxation than cleaning. In between I have a strip wash in the morning, or if I'm in a REAL rush to get out of the door then a quick squirt under the arms with some spray deodorant and a baby-wipe round the nether regions... Please note that I'm only going out to drop kids off at school and if it's been one of those mornings then I have a shower when i get back. I put clean clothes on every day and personally I think a shower every day is unnecessary.

My kids bathe 2-3 times a week. Used to be every other day but since we've had three we just don't have the energy!

[FlamingFannyDrawers]

I was my hair twice a week max. I have a bath 3 times a week. I don't stink. I can't get my 12 year old in the bath for love nor money though, according to him 'he doesn't need to wash' Nice. My 4 year old has a bath about twice a week as the water dries her skin terribly.

[Mumcentreplus]

I'm black with processed hair I wash mine every 2 weeks or so...my DDs I wash once a week they have natural hair..it depends on your hair type and grease level surely?