To ask how often you shower / wash?

[springthorn]

This came up in a conversation with friends the other day. Some shower morning and night, some just once a day, others only once every couple of days and then others only when they have to leave the house, so potentially less than that! Just wondered what was "normal" for you?

I shower every morning. If I get dirty, I will shower again in one day.

I shower once a day, normally in the morning. 2 or 3 a week I call "proper" showers where I do the full on hair, shaving, etc.

I feel dirtier after a "strip wash" than before. I think I am doing it wrong.

Also it's much much slower than a shower, so doesn't save time even if it does save water.

I shower at least once a day. Ive got a mate who only washes when he leaves the house which is sometimes not for a few days and a time. He ended up with anal boils.

At a time not and a time

Shower morning and evening. Wash hair every morning!

Everlong - yep, not only did he get them, he also told people about them with no shame!

Anal boils!!

Does he wipe his backside properly?

Thank goodness I leave the house frequently

Every morning (& wash hair) & most evenings (wash hair 50% of the time), occasionally in the middle if I've done something to warrant it or if it's hot.

Even when I had my foot in plaster I had a bath every day.

I'm normally a shower person but that was completely out of the question so I devised a way of getting in and out of the bath whilst keeping the plaster dry.

I just don't feel human if I don't shower or bath in the morning.

Daily shower.

I've always thought that people really overdo it, that shower or bath twice a day can't be good for your skin, esp with all the detergent cleaning products. Unless you work down't pit. My DH is obsessed with the fact that he totally stinks. (He doesn't, I would SO tell him if he was remotely whiffy.) Where does this modern paranoia come from? He showers twice a day, wears spotlessly clean clothes every day, is coated in deodorant, and works at a desk. Sweat doesn't stink - OLD sweat stinks! When I have a shower, it takes 4 or 5 minutes. DH is in there for 20 minutes.

Shower pretty much every morning (unless I'm on night shift when I shower before work in the evening).

Shower in the evening if I've been to the gym/ for a run etc.

Once a day I'll shower, but when it's particularly hot outside I'll have as many cool showers as I need not to be a sticky, sweaty mess!
If I have a bath I always have a shower afterwards as I don't feel clean sitting in my own filth. (not that I'm very dirty, it's probably more psychological)

Shower and wash hair every morning apart from the occasional slobbing-in-the-house day. When I used to work in a bar (pre-smoking ban) I also used to shower and wash hair before going to bed as I hated getting into bed stinking of other peoples's stale cigarette smoke.

Shower every morning, or if I know I'll be exercising in the afternoon I just dry shampoo my hair and wait until after sport. Usually wash my hair every second day unless I run or swim.

Bath DS every evening, occasionally a quick top and tail if he is particularly sweaty / vomity / food smeared during the day!

Am a bit surprised by recent threads showing that lots of people wash towels every day and shower twice - coming from a place with permanent water issues this makes me

I shower daily in the evening (after my workout). I wash my hair once a week after basketball or netball (depending on the season).

I shower and wash my hair every other night. I think that's rather a lot; was always once a week as a kid, many of my family still do once a week and I can't say they smell at all. No wonder we use so much water and power in the UK! Can't believe people need to shower/bathe twice a day unless mega sweaty. Maybe everyone goes to the gym twice a day or something.

I shower every couple of days. My skin flares up if I wash it with water too often and I'm lucky to have hair that doesn't need daily washing. I also don't do exercise or have sex that often, so I'm happy I'm not stinky! If I'm on holiday somewhere hot I'll shower once or twice a day

I agree with Sunnysummer that there is an awful lot of water being used with these twice daily ablutions. Maybe in the future our descendants will look back on early 21st century washing habits with the same sort of curiosity as us and people washing in tin baths once a week in front of the fire.

Squaddie scrub (strip wash) at night + bath/shower every morning. I can't go every other day as that means I'd need to use too much soap on my dry skin. Winter excema isn't funny. When Aunty flo visits I up the baths to twice daily or I feel yukky.

Hair once a week as I have VERY dry hair & scalp (like many of afri descent I add oil to my hair to maintain it rather than constantly wash out the excess grease like Europeans need to).

DS needs his nightly bath as he's a filthy critter who loves rolling around in the mud/sand/paint/floor etc. He'd hate going to bed feeling grubby though, and likes starting the day feeling "fed & fresh".

So here's a real, honest question for those who wash less often.

I understand that you can't smell anything wrong. There coulda be two reasons- either you smell less than others, or you have a worse sense of smell and you can't tell.

If you have really runny earwax then you probably don't smell as much as others.

If you don't, you smell the same as the rest of us. But you have different ability to tell, or different ideas of what smells nasty, like the PP who posted that fresh sweat doesn't smell or that deodorant is a shower in a can.

If I am working next to you in an office I will send my day breathing through my mouth and going for walks for a break. Is there any way that I can raise this with you, where you won't feel really hurt and offended? Has anyone ever been told in a way that they found sensitive, kind, respectful, but really clear?

Because there is much, much more variation in the sensitivity of people's sense of smell than there is in how smelly people get.

Sorry- not really runny earwax- it's really dry earwax that means you don't smell.

I am a less-often type. I don't have anybody else's ear wax to compare to but I only really get waxy ears when I'm full of a cold.

DH is definitely naturally greasier than I am and consequently washes more frequently. It remains to be seen whether DC will be dry and sensitive like me or normal-to-greasy like DH. I suspect the former, given the preponderance of eczema creams chez nous.