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

[BsshBossh]

YABU. I wash every day out of habit but when I was a child in the 70s I remember washing once a week was the norm. The rest of the time was a daily flannel once-over.

[FakePlasticTrees]

Am I the only one with a DS who is filthy by the end of every day and needs a bath every night to scrub off enough muck to fill a flower bed that he seems to coat himself with if allowed to play outside? (which is pretty much every day now) Do other people have children who can play with finger paints and only get the paint on the paper and the possibly the apron you've put them in, rather than rub it inside their ears, on their legs etc?

[Mumcentreplus]

My DDs are smelly grass rollers they need a wash everyday although they moan!!

[elphabadefiesgravity]

I have a bath once a week and a shower at my parents house once a week. The kids have a bath once a week. I don't see the problem.

I have a good wash every morning and the kids have a wash morning and night. We are all very clean.

When I was growing up no-one had showers and bathing daily was a terrible waste of water. As it is my shower doesn't work properly.

[elphabadefiesgravity]

Also washing your hair daily is bad for it. And when dd was little nad had excema I was told by the dermatological nurse that bathing children daily stripped their skin of oils and caused dry skin/made the excema worse.

[Mrsdoasyouwouldbedoneby]

As long as the neice is clean she won't smell, a wash WILL do. Kids can be cruel, but to suggest or imply that being picked on for it is expected and possibly deserved is a bit mean.
I used to have a wash/shower alternate days, and when washing would use 2 flannels. Now I shower every morning, fancy a bath now I have read this thread... lol.. but it really isn't gross at all. In fact a good scrub with a FLANNEL and warm/hot water can get you quite clean... Or clean enough... the KIDS feel annoyed if I make them wash, so they generally get annoyed with me twice a day. LOL.. except mid week when they have a shower... they don't mind that so much... and bath 2 a week too...

[trixymalixy]

My kids only get a bath once a week because of their ezcema. Their skin gets really dry if they have baths too often. Their hair never looks greasy.

I shower and wash hair every second or third day as I have Brazilian blowdrys and washing your hair too often makes it not last as long as it could. They recommend you only wash your hair once a week, but I couldn't last that long, but obviously some people can. In between I either have a wash or a shower without washing my hair depending on how dirty I feel.

[Mrsdoasyouwouldbedoneby]

Actually on that point... I find baths MUCH more minging than a wash and rinse with a flannel....

You are basically BATHING IN YOUR OWN FILTH... I NEVER feel 'clean' after a bath. I was once told (by a Japanese penfriend, who was shocked that I bathed without washing first), that they DO have baths but they shower/clean themselves first... I did that at uni once, and BOY did THAT feel nice!

[Mumcentreplus]

Lmao...skin soup

[wigglesrock]

I can't have a bath either - lying in your own dirt Does she put a little water in the bottom of the bath and use sponges, facecloths etc to wash, rinse. We used to call it a bed bath, your feet are covered in water and children aren't that smelly. I only had a bath once, maybe twice a week when I was growing up, we didn't have a shower until I was 15 - I'm not that old btw

[fluffles]

i have a shower pretty much every day but i also exercise almost every day to the point of being soaked in sweat (running usually, cycling also).
i often shower at the gym or work and can be in, washed and out in five mins tops - if i do this at home with the plug in you can see that i've only used about as much as a full basin.

i use a lot more water when i wash my hair but only do this once a week roughly.

[pranma]

We dont have a bath but a really big shower-shower alternate days[oh alternates with me] and wash hair twice a week-use bidet daily or after every poo[tmi!] and wash other bendy bits morning and night with a sponge[which never touches my face.I always wash my face with my hands after washing hands in hot water.Each to her own though.

[smallsheep]

Ok posted earlier, but I will clear up the flannel issue, even though someone else touched on it.
You run a sink of hot water, you wash your hands and face, wash flannel, you wash you armpits, wash flannel, then you wash your bum and bits, then you put the flannel in the wash basket. Thats it, not gross, lots of us did it and did not have constant hot water when growing up, never mind the luxury of an indoor bathroom (or was that just me?)
Gosh some of you must have been to a festival and done the wet wipe thing!

[passiveaggresive]

skin soup reminds me of my friend saying she doesnt like public swimming pools - all those unwashed bodies, people soup!! yuck, it did put me off a bit

[usualsuspect]

This is possibly the most boring topic known to man

[d0gFace]

I must be super scummy bathing in my own filth as I only own a bath.

I honestly dont see whats skanky or dirty about having a wash, wearing clean clothes and having a shower or bath once a week. You can wash your hair without having a bath or shower.

[smartyparts]

Haven't we just done this in the last week or so?

The poster who washed with yesterday's knickers will be back if we're not careful..

[Mumcentreplus]

I love a good bath..the soaking...book reading (soggy pages)..snoozing .. the exfoliating...nice..my DH is strictly showers...a bath is like being in a perfumed womb..lol

[M0naLisa]

Maybe you could buy her some face/arse soap from them joke shops!! [Wink]

[expatinscotland]

I find it pretty skank myself.

[expatinscotland]

'Gosh some of you must have been to a festival and done the wet wipe thing!'

No, because I always found festivals stupid.

I camped a lot, but always took a Sun Shower along.

[teta]

Yes,i find it shocking in todays day and age.I just think its pure laziness not to have a bath or shower everyday.But its also about how you have been brought up.My mum was obsessive about bathing us every day [in the seventies] - but then she was a nurse!.I have carried on the same tradition with my 4 dc's.

[d0gFace]

Dont think my skin could take bathing everyday. Also filling the bath everyday just seems excessive to me. I guess its just what you're used to and your lifestyle.