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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you shower every day?

383 replies

chumrun · 26/08/2014 21:52

The thread about taking an hour made me wonder.

In the morning I:

Clean teeth and listerine (10 mins)

Shower including hair wash with conditioner and shave legs and armpits every other day (10 mins)

Dry and straighten hair (10 mins)

Makeup, dress, earrings and other accessories (10 mins)

I can cut this down but I dawdle and make cups of tea, watch tv in between so yeah about an hour. But some people seem to just wash?

So what is the average?

OP posts:
Philoslothy · 29/08/2014 22:14

schokolade Fri 29-Aug-14 14:34:50
Sometimes reading mn I wonder how anybody ever gets anything done.

I have read people:

- showering twice a day
- washing hair every day
- washing towels after one use
- washing all clothes after 1 wear
- bleaching the toilet twice daily
- changing bed sheets twice a week
- cleaning the oven weekly

Surely different people must be doing different parts of that list?! I hope so anyway, because if I did all that I'd never actually do anything of real substance.

To be honest as a SAHM I don't have that much else to do!

itsbetterthanabox · 29/08/2014 22:23

Philosothy don't just make up cleaning tasks do something worthwhile if you have spare time!!
You don't have to get your hair wet if you get in the shower. Showercap or as I do put a towel on my head and it stops hair getting wet at all. You don't need to stand directly under the stream.

Philoslothy · 30/08/2014 00:14

I am not washing because I have nothing else to do, I have a very enriching life, I just don't need to rush. I just like to be clean, with a small farm and stables to run, five children and a daily exercise regime that often requires me to have a quick shower.

Sapat · 30/08/2014 00:51

I shower every morning, including washing my hair and then drying it. Takes me 30 minutes to get ready usually, more if I have to faff about finding clothes. With breakfast I reckon I need an hour to be properly ready (ie packed bags, got keys & coat etc) and I reckon on 90 minutes to get myself and 3 kids ready in the morning.

trufflesnout · 30/08/2014 12:49

I refuse to buy or own or look at a shower cap. I am not my grandma

Janethegirl · 30/08/2014 12:53
Grin
Lweji · 30/08/2014 13:04

I manage not to wet my hair every time I shower and I don't wear a shower cap. I just tie it up.

ShadowsShadowsEverywhere · 30/08/2014 13:27

See I think lifestyle comes into it. Those saying you don't need a shower every day - do you have animals that need mucking out daily? Do heavy exercise daily? Manual labour daily?

I suspect that if you work in an office you have less need to shower than someone who has spent all day working on a farm for eg.

I shower daily and sometimes have a bath in the evenings as well. Wash my hair less now that it's dyed as that seems to have cured me of greasy hair and the colour fades too fast with daily washing. I need to shower that often tbh. I have animals, I am in the process of digging out a section of the garden, have toddlers that smear things on me and walk/jog everywhere with the buggy. I also do HIIT/strength training several times a week. All of that makes me dirty, and sweaty. I could go to bed and go out the house the next morning with bits of snot, animal poo and soil stuck to me, I'd smell atrocious! Also agree with a PP, my eczema is better with frequent washing as it's the cracked open kind rather than just blisters and I need to keep it clean esp when you consider the amount of bacteria I come into contact with from the above. If I'd don't wash it all thoroughly I get awful skin infections which go septic - not fun!

cleanasawhistle · 30/08/2014 14:29

My OH and I and my kids all shower everyday and put clean clothes on.
I just don't feel right if I don't.

A few years ago the ELC in our area had been off for a week.
Everyday the four of us were nipping round to my sisters house for a quick shower.
I was telling my friend and she said we were lucky to have somewhere to go but it didn't really bother her not showering everyday.

After 7 days the ELC came back on one lunch time.
The next evening my friend popped round and I commented wasn't it lovely to be able to have a shower again.
She replied she still hadn't been in,so thats 8 days she had gone without a shower.
She always said I'm fusey and adults and kids don't need to bath everyday and put clean clothes on.I said I disagree but each to there own.

To the poster who said I'm sure someone would tell me if I stank...well my friend and her kids do smell but I would never tell them that.

whatadrain · 30/08/2014 14:30

I don't have a shower so I have a bath every other night. I don't think I'm stinky!

cleanasawhistle · 30/08/2014 14:38

I'm sure someone who has a bath every other day wouldn't be stinky.

My friend and her kids go days without a shower and wear the same clothes for a week.

Another friend comments on the smell too but we could never tell her.

MrsWhiskersonTheFirst · 30/08/2014 14:39

I usually find that freshness from baths lasts longer than showers anyway. I always feel cleaner after a bath. Is that just me?

Mintyy · 30/08/2014 14:48

I always feel cleaner after a shower Smile

bonzo77 · 30/08/2014 15:19

Shower daily. First thing or after exercise. Occasionally both. Takes about 10 minutes. Wash hair or shave or exfoliate. Rarely all 3 at the same time. Don't use perfumed products as I hate the smell: Mitchum does an unperfumed spray. Plain white soap. I smell a bit in a hot day.

KoalaDownUnder · 30/08/2014 16:01

Oh, cleanas, that is grim! Shock

Honestly, not showering for 7 days straight is minging. Even when I lived in a developing country with no hot running water or modern plumbing, everyone bathed twice a day using a plastic bin of cold water and a dipper. It only involved throwing a few dippers of cold water over yourself a few times, soaping up, and throwing a few more to rinse off, but I much prefer that to a steamy shower every second or third day.

trufflesnout · 30/08/2014 17:31

cleanas maybe she was just saying that to get the conversation to change to something more interesting than showering Grin

CariadsDarling · 30/08/2014 18:45

I shower twice daily and wash my ladies bits each time I go to the loo. I just dont understand how people can go around with the smell of old urine wafting from their private parts, (at the very least), for any length of time even it its just them who're aware of it the next time they go to the loo.

And I dont buy this theory of its unhealthy to shower more than a couple of times a week - its smacks of laziness and I think is reflection on a persons hygiene in general, even as far as how clean their homes would be.

oh, and I also love showering from a plastic bin of water as described by Koala.

Showering does not have to take any length of time at all.

Chippednailvarnish · 30/08/2014 19:18

I shower and wash my hair every morning, it takes about 10 minutes. If I have been on the tube during the day I will always have a shower again in the evening.

I wouldn't personally want to be with a partner who didn't shower / bathe everyday.

Sugarskully you're projecting your DH's skin issues on to everyone else. I don't have a manual job and certainly don't need to scrub my skin to get clean in the shower.

JapaneseMargaret · 30/08/2014 20:29

I just don't understand why popping in the shower every day is such a drama for some people?

It's just laziness, as people on here have admitted.

And no, people won't tell you if you smell! Telling someone they smell is notoriously one of the all the all-time top convos to be avoided at all costs...!

ThatBloodyWoman · 30/08/2014 20:40

Shadows I work manually, have animals to clean out, and exercise regularly, yet I still don't shower every day.

My nails are clean, I don't smell, and I wash as required!

Its really not that difficult to assess when you need to wash and when you need to shower/bath! Most of us, surely, assess whether clothes, towels and bedding are dirty and need a wash or not.

CatKisser · 30/08/2014 20:47

Not ALWAYS laziness, Margaret
As I mentioned upthread, I live in a cottage with a downstairs bathroom in a crappily made extension and no central heating. My entire Winter consists of seeing my own breath and shivering. I shower every other day during Winter because a) it's a very unpleasant experience and b) nobody ever died from it.

JapaneseMargaret · 30/08/2014 21:06

You can't just blithely say, 'I don't smell', especially if mucking out and exercising, and not showering.

Nobody thinks they smell, and yet there are plenty of people who whiff, but have no clue. As this thread demonstrates.

If everyone who smelt knew, there'd be no-one walking around with BO.

For me, it's not about assessing whether you need a shower/bath, it's about wanting a daily shower. Because in all honesty, if you need to do a stop-check assessment of whether you whiff a bit, then the answer is inevitably 'yes'. Some people bypass that assessment bit, and just go ahead and shower daily.

oaksettle · 30/08/2014 22:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HilariousInHindsight · 30/08/2014 22:23

I shower 6 days a week usually - 5 on a bad week.day I don't shower is when I don't venture out the house.

Wash hair every 3rd day.

Blow drying my hair takes an age (mid back).

FacebookWillEatItself · 30/08/2014 22:29

I am bewildered by your timings.

Ten minutes to clean your teeth (way too long) and yet equally only ten minutes to wash and straighten your hair? (way too short.)

For me that would be more like three minutes and 30 minutes.

Why is it necessary to wash your hair every day? I wash mine very second or third day and only shave my legs about once a week. That's all they need, in fact I could go much longer.

Getting dressed and putting on make-up, yes ten mins about right tif it's just a quick slick of mascara and lip gloss, would take much longer if it was full make-up for an important day/evening.

I shower most days, but miss the occasional morning and have a bath at night instead.