Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask about this (because I know we all love a person hygiene question!)

124 replies

Wetbankhols · 28/05/2016 13:31

Lately, I can't always be arsed showering and don't notice any particular difference in how I smell.

HOWEVER, when I shower regularly, I seem to notice I get a bit more inclined to need to keep up the routine, if that makes sense.

Do you think showering more can actually cause you to sweat/smell more?

OP posts:
GarlicSteak · 28/05/2016 22:50

if you didn't wash your hair at all for 6 weeks, it would get greasiest and dirtier and then essentially "wash" itself.....

This was a beauty craze some time in the 80s. Everyone in my office did it - and it's true! For about 3 weeks towards the 6-week mark, we all had ghastly, lank hair that stuck to your head and smelled of fish. Then, end of week 6, bingo! Lush, glossy, manageable locks all round - and the smell had gone completely.

You have to brush it every day, but not obsessively like the Victorians. And I guess you might want to wear a deodorised headscarf for the 3rd - 6th weeks Grin

MyBreadIsEggy · 29/05/2016 07:42

Garlic a deodorised head scarf would have been a god-send in the desert.....my hair smelled like a sweaty ball sack after being stuck under a sweaty helmet Confused

Pinkladyof66 · 29/05/2016 17:25

I do not shower everyday and I notice my hair is better and no I don't stink ...

Pinkladyof66 · 29/05/2016 17:41

I do believe in self cleaning if u don't wash for while ur body will clean itself

Bringmevino · 29/05/2016 17:43

I can't be arsed to shower every day sometimes and sometimes I can. Sometimes I can find neither time nor inclination. I do have a rugeley wash though - that's pits and poonani - but just with wet wipes. I'm not a grotty cow and I definitely wash post nookie or exercise or if I stink. Definitely haven't gone nose blind, I have a nose like a piece of super spy stealth kit! I'm with you OP!

Marysunshine · 29/05/2016 17:55

It's not just about smell, it's also about germs! If you don't get clean, your clothes can't be clean as you are putting them onto an unclean bod.

byjimminey · 29/05/2016 18:20

I love that someone went to google 'oxters'. I also find it really interesting that we now 'google' things. Who would have thought that would become a verb!

Pinkladyof66 · 29/05/2016 18:22

Bring I am these me my life is so hectic work full time got a special needs child who does not sleep well and needs 24/7 supervision sometimes I am so tired the last thing I need/want to do is jump in shower especially at night when son is light sleeper

Gwenhwyfar · 29/05/2016 18:25

"It's not just about smell, it's also about germs! "

Which germs and what do these germs do? We're talking just a few days here.

ProphetOfDoom · 29/05/2016 18:47

Some people don't smell - it's all down to your earwax Grin

www.totalbeauty.com/mobile/content/blog/body-odor-deodorant

Tootsieglitterballs · 29/05/2016 18:48

Oooh, interesting split here!

I'm in the 'every other day' camp if I'm totally honest - and no, I don't smell , and I don't go nose blind either.

I suffer with very dry skin, and if I start showering every day, my skin seems to dry out even quicker 😔

On the flip side, I have a friend who generally showers twice a day, and offer 3 times in summer - her shampoo spend is HUGE!

Judydreamsofhorses · 29/05/2016 18:56

Another North-East person here, I would say "ock-ster". I need a shower to get me going in the mornings, but at weekends will often knock about in my jammies until mid-afternoon, especially in winter, then have a bath. By that time I definitely smell less than fresh. Just before my period I get sweaty, particularly at night, and think it is a different type of sweat to other times - I rarely sweat other than then though. I can't get to grips with people who shower/bathe at nights, I'm far more likely to get hot and sweaty in bed than going about my day.

PheasantPluckerToADegree · 29/05/2016 18:58

It's down to a few things.

  1. What you eat - your skin is an organ and will excrete toxins/unwanted byproducts of the food you eat. Hence some people smelling like food
  2. Hormones play a big role in how sweaty you get. I hardly sweated at all before I had kids and pregnancy seemed to switch my sweat glands into overdrive!!
  3. Natural bacteria on your skin - your soap/shower gel could be affecting this. Just like washing your hair daily will make it get greasy quicker (as the scalp tries to compensate for the lack of sebum), showering more often will increase excretion but wipe out natural healthy bacteria. This can result in either extra oily skin or really dry skin.
As with most things in life, it varies according to each person and their lifestyle so it's just about finding the right balance for you Smile
springyone · 29/05/2016 19:08

I had family from overseas staying with me recently, they did not bathe for 4-5 days at a time - and the room they were in became very smelly as a result. We all shower daily and were both completely disgusted by this. There are no limits on hot water and facilities are fine so we put it down to terrible self hygiene. I feel icky if I miss a day.

LBOCS2 · 29/05/2016 19:19

When I'm pregnant and breastfeeding I get marijuana-pits. My deodorant seems to stop working and instead it smells like I've just finished a three-skinner before walking in.

Makes for very embarrassing midwife appointments Blush

Mandp76 · 29/05/2016 19:45

Ha ha ha ha. This thread is hilarious!!!
I have a bath every night. Last night though I may as well not have bothered because as soon as I dried myself I was wet through instantly again and had to put my work clothes straight on! Minging!
heads to bath

HappiestMummyAlive · 29/05/2016 19:49

Lately, I can't always be arsed showering and don't notice any particular difference in how I smell

This is not really something I'd personally share with others.

I just don't understand how someone can't be arsed to shower, I mean isn't it something we all do when we wake up and before bed? If I don't take a shower moments before I wake up, I feel kind of different inside.

applesvpears · 29/05/2016 19:57

The longest I have been without a shower or bath is three days when I had a c section earlier this year. I felt like a tramp (and looked like one) I usually shower in the morning and wash my hair then in the evening shower or bath but don't wash my hair.

supersop60 · 29/05/2016 19:59

pheasant plucker yy to the hormone effect - but for me it was the opposite. During pregnancy I didn't smell at all, and now post menopause, I don't smell as much.
Don't shower every day, but DO 'top and tail'.

HappiestMummyAlive · 29/05/2016 20:02

but just with wet wipes

With wet wipes? People don't understand that wet wipes do not clean the body, just when I thought I'd heard it all, people admitting how dirty they actually are.

Gwenhwyfar · 29/05/2016 20:10

OMG Happiest. Someone went two days without a shower! Horror of horrors! What do you think will happen?

PestilentialCat · 29/05/2016 20:11

If you think your oxters don't smell, what about your lisks?

lotsoffunandgames · 29/05/2016 20:12

I shower in the morning.it wakes me up but I try to leave my hair for as long as I can.usually 3 to 4 days.though I am having an exercise spree over the last month so have to have a shower and hair wash after so it's more like 1 to 2 days at the moment.
Washing my hair more often makes my hair greasier, definitely. The more you wash your hair, the more you have to wash your hair.

derxa · 29/05/2016 20:13

lisks Shock What the bloody hell are they?

PestilentialCat · 29/05/2016 20:14

Agree about hair washing making more hair washing, but I just can't bear not to wash it if I've fried onions the night before - most of my recipes begin with frying up an onion!