Guests using your shower gel?

[MrsB76]

This is really just a minor niggle but I'm curious - is it really silly of me to begrudge visiting family members the use of my shower gel? I just had my MIL and SIL stay for a few days overnight and I bought them travel size toiletries (they came on a plane) and DH thinks I should be more hospitable and just let them use my shower gel (well mine and his) and toothpaste. Really?

When my guest used my toothbrush, I actually couldn't understand why as I had some brand new toothbrushes in the bathroom AND I said "there are toothbrushes in the bathroom if you need them."

Told them EXACTLY where these toothbrushes were and they STILL used mine, which was nowhere near the new toothbrushes.

As a rule I would use & let people use anything that you put onto your hand/flannel/sponge/toothbrush to use & don't put back in the container iyswim.

All make up is a no & perfume I would ask.

I always take my own stuff and would consider it rude to use someone else's. Conversely, I wouldn't really mind if someone used mine, though I might have a very tiny and fleeting raised-eyebrow moment if they hadn't asked. I do tend to tell guests to feel free to help themselves to whatever.

No one has ever bought their own towels when they visit me! They get the nice towels, my husband and kids don't mind the towels that occasionally got pulled off the line and dragged around the garden by the dog, but I wouldn't want my guests to have to put up with chewed towels. Plus we know what the stains are......guests might not!

I'd be really excited if someone bought travel-size toiletries just for me! Having said that I'd take most of my own stuff with me, mostly because I'm fussy and have weird skin that objects to certain ingredients.
I wouldn't take a towel though. DP's mum brought a towel when she came to stay and I was weirdly insulted, as if she thought we lived in a doss-house and dried ourselves on rags or something....

The spare towels match the spare room and live in there, so I just put a pile of towels on the bed when guests visit. DH and I keep sets of towels in our shower room, and the children keep their own towels in their bedrooms. We've avoided sharing towels since one of the DC caught molluscom a few years ago.

Presumably once upon a time your DH lived in the same house as MIL and SIL and they all shared a family tube of toothpaste?

I would not contemplate packing shampoo, shower gel or toothpaste for a stay at my in-laws (or indeed with a friend) and when they visit me always encourage them to use whatever is in our bathroom. Only thing I would never do is use the last of anything without checking first.

I agree with Our Blanche's yes/no list, except I'd only use facial moisturiser if it was Nivea/Laboratoires Garnier type stuff, not Clinique or Chanel.

YABU.

YABU

tom

So the idea isn't for them to be new then, just not your tatty ones.
I know I may sound dim, but never got my head round this one.
I may buy some now

I wouldnt begrudge someone using my shower gel or shampoo or even my toothpaste but id draw the line at my toothbrush, Thats just wrong!

Guests don't use our bathroom, but I always stock the guest bath with semi-naice gel, shampoo, & conditioner along with a couple of new toothbrushes and toothpaste.

It wouldn't cross my mind not to use someone's shower gel and shampoo etc or for a guest to use mine.

I wouldn't go rooting around in someone's cupboards for the fancy stuff though.

Boundaries?

They're using your shower gel and toothpaste, not your Rampant Rabbit.

When my sister and I visit one another's homes we always urge each other to travel without toiletries to lighten the load; she is welcome to use whatever I have and vice versa.

That said I always travel with my own toothpaste, however. It would feel a bit odd to be using the same tube as her and her husband.

I actually like my guests using my shower gels - and actively encourage them to do so as I have a nice collection and want them to try out new ones. Mind you, they're not super-expensive and no one has ever used a whole one! I wouldn't know if they used our toothpaste - and probably wouldn't want to!

Most people bring their own (as do I), if they forget anything they are welcome to help themselves to what's in the bathroom, I would do the same. I have never bought or provided special guest toiletries or had them provided for me.

we went to visit my db and his wife who live in Oz they had bought us shower gel,shampoo and conditioner - nice quality too - yes they didn`t have to but it made us feel very welcome.

Jesus OP, unless they are planning to stay 6 months, in which case I'm sure they'd chip in and buy some too, why begrudge them a bit of shower gel?!
I'd always take mine when visiting friends, but for close family they would expect me to use theirs.
When people come to visit me, I always let them know they can borrow whatever they need.
Chances arem if they're nice family family and close friends, they aren't likely to take the piss anyway.

Not read the whole thread, I'd prefer people to bring their own, but I wouldn't begrudge anyone using ours if they forgot (similarly, I have used when visiting relatives if caught short).

I do, however, have an issue with people using my sponge. MY SPONGE FFS! I don't even let DH use it, so hate it when I go to use it and find someone else's pubes sticking out. Yuck! why isn't there a Vom smilie?

YABU.

I put full size shower gel, make-up remover, toothpaste, soap, hand wash etc in guest bathrooms.

I would expect guests to use my toiletries and wouldn't have a problem with it at all!

Really don't think sharing toothpaste is an issue at all. Toothbrush, yes. Toothpaste no!

I provide guest toothpaste, because I have a freaky thing about a stick that's been in someone's gob going on my toothpaste and then me using it afterwards. Ewww.

No problem at all with shower gel, though. I always take my own if visiting, but that's because I'm super-terrified of doing the wrong thing in someone else's house. Also, my friends sometimes have weird very expensive stuff from that Yerp and I can't work out what is body lotion or shower gel or contact lens cleaner. Plus I wouldn't want to waste it on me! Radox is fine!

I can sympathise - however, for people like my best friend and my mum I'm pretty much 'use what ever you like' I do check before going to my best friends if I need to bring anything, just in case, but she is very much the same.

However, if it was anyone else and I very rarely have anyone else to stay over I may be a little more picky about what I leave out, but would still try to be of a help yourself attitude.

And, if you don't leave your nice stuff out for others to use, how do you expect them to know what you like using?! Only leaving stuff out you don't like surely then leaves potential for them to think 'ooooh when i stayed at bobs she only had X out, she must like that, I'll get her some more'