When showering

[mb182]

Read an article in daily mail recently saying , when showering, you should only use soap or gel on bits and pits to avoid drying out your skin. Just water is apparently all that's needed to keep the rest of you clean. As someone who has washed every inch of my body with anti bac soap for the last 30 years since giving up baths, I found this hard to believe. When I asked my daughter, sister and husband what they thought, I was surprised that they all only soap bits and pits. How could I not know this? AIBU to ask what your showering habits are?

[AnotherPrickInTheWall]

Just feet, fanny and face plus my pits.

[jo2107]

Soap all over with a moisturizing wash such as Dove

[WhispersFFSunderBreath]

Just bits and pits here too x

[Threepineapples]

I have dry sensitive skin and prone to eczema so i never use soap.

I shower daily - just pits and bits, with a gentle shower gel. Also wash hair every 2-3 days. Moisturize all over with coconut oil afterwards.

I don't mind that I might be wafting a pheromone or two mingled with the coconut oil - how else am I going to find a man

[HempMunchingVeganBore]

I get dry skin so just pits, bits, face and hair here! Just the first three if I'm having my second (or third!) shower of the day. Bloody humid weather and post pregnancy sweats

[KoalaDownUnder]

I shower twice a day and wash everything with mild soap.

I live in a hot climate and exercise a lot, but still. I can't imagine only showering every 2 or 3 days. I know there is nothing 'wrong' with it, it would just feel awful!!

[Sallystyle]

Pits and bits here too.

Although I have to give my neck a good scrub. Dirt gets trapped in my neck lines. Might start using a toothbrush on them!

[evileyes]

Bits and pits here unless extremely dirty or feeling luxurious and spending 20 minutes faffing about in the shower to escape get a bit of peace and quiet.

[StaceyMummyof3]

Femfresh/Femwash yes definitely for 'bits' girls! I've used it for years and it's not harsh on sensitive areas

[PollyPerky]

This is an old chestnut that keeps coming up on MN!

The thing about anti-bac is it's a myth. There are billions of bacteria on every surface and in the air. Some are bad but hardly any and our bodies are designed to deal with them. Washing your hands before eating etc is the best you can do, or when you've been out and about, touching door handles, shopping trolleys, key pads for credit cards etc.

Getting rid of bacteria on your body is a marketing dream! Some bacteria is there for a reason. Any soap- it's a surfactant- will remove bacteria. You don't need added disinfectant.

You ought not to use soap on your vulva. It's irritating and unnecessary. Use warm water and get into the folds. You should soap your bum hole as poo is slimey/ mucus-y and needs soap to get rid. You should soap your arm pits because this is one place where bacteria love as they feed on the sweat and when they feed on it they produce a pong - BO.

Whether you wash your face is up to you. I've never washed mine since I was 12- use cleansing lotion as hard water dried out my skin. You ought not to use shampoo in the shower and let it dribble on your face because it's irritating - and same if it gets into your bits.

[Gottagetmoving]

I shower every day out of habit. Apparently it is not necessary or good for your skin to wash too often..
I think we are obsessed with bloody washing and cleaning these days.

[MurphysChild]

We are a soap family too, whilst I buy shower gel it rarely gets used, we buy loads of bars of soap.

My absolute favourite is Wrights Coal Tar, and I use it everywhere except my hair and my back (I don't think I have ever washed my back, I can't reach it). DH also is a massive Imperial Leather fan, and gets excited when he sees it in the cupboard. I also love Dettol soap and Pears.

[sofasetteecouch]

Whats the verdict on using Shield soap, i use that as the only thing that has stopped me smelling of BO.

[hollinhurst84]

Anti bac soap on armpits (medical condition)
Wash bits with water. Squidge some shower gel on a scrubby thing and have a quick swish all over

[PregnantAndEngaged]

Well I think the Daily Mail have got it wrong. Women are not supposed to use soap on their bits (well you can buy feminine soaps but I meant regular shower gel/soap) because the perfumes irritate the vaginas Ph and can cause thrush.

I used to suffer thrush all the time as a teenager. I read that I should stop washing my bits with soap and I did, I have not had thrush since and that was about 7 years ago.

[PollyPerky]

Soap is one of those things that's personal. If you buy a 'brand' you are paying for name, perfume and anything else the marketing gurus try to convince you that you need.

I never ever buy perfumed soap- buy Simple or more often supermarket own brand unperfumed vegetable soap.

In the shower I use an organic type shower wash with no parabens, and in the bath I use unscented soap on my arm pits and bum. I don't use flannels, sponges or anything- just squirt of shower gel in my hands, rub under arms, swish off and let the water do the rest. I have a 5-minute shower every morning and a bath every night because it's relaxing, then use body lotion after both all over.

[PollyPerky]

I don't think the Mail said that. I read the feature and as far as I recall, it said no soap on bits. It will be online if anyone wants to search. And more to the point, it will some journo transcribing an interview or info they have found online and may have misquoted the 'expert'.

[Tippy6312]

Bits and Pits here! With a sensitive soap - skimming over the rest

Then occasionally a moisturising in bath soap all over - maybe weekly.

[noisyrice]

Why on earth would you not wash with shower gel/body wash or anything to clean yourself with?!

I shower every day, using Lush shower gel (at the moment), alternate hair washing days (often do it at night and let my hair dry whilst I sleep). I exfoliate twice a week and moisturise my body when I feel like it.

[PollyPerky]

Here is the feature.

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3514020/Revealed-10-ways-showering-wrong-washing-hair-hot-water-using-pouf-shower-gel.html

it says nothing about washing your vulva with soap - it says only use soap on your pits and groin. A groin is IMO what a man has either side of his tackle, so if you must, soap your pubes, but not between your legs.

As someone else posted pages back, any advice you read anywhere about avoiding thrush tells you never to use soap on your bits.

[emcwill74]

I'd be less concerned about how you shower than the fact you read the Daily Fail!

[Gazelda]

This is just like Brexit. So many opinions, lots of 'facts', fear-based innuendo and rumour. I don't know who to trust, nor how to shower.

[Leta86]

I scrub all over every day without fail and con gusto. Also moisturize every day and enjoy the process immensely. It is my 30 mins of daily pampering and I refuse to budge on that (yup, no DC yet ) Only my hair escapes it for a once in 3 day treatment, otherwise its frizz-strike all over

[HangingRockPicnic]

Christ, don't put it on your bits you'll get thrush!!

And yet I do every day and never get thrush.