To wash hair once a week - disagreement with Mil!

[Enidblyton1]

Just wondering how often your DCs have a bath/shower and wash their hair? Mine (aged 5 and 2) have a bath most evenings - at least 5 out of 7 days a week - and wash with soap. Hair wash once a week on a Sunday.
Mil was horrified to learn that they don't have a thorough wash every single night and appalled that hair is only done once a week.
Now I'm beginning to doubt my routine..... AIBU?

Water is fine to wash them with then a mild shampoo its hardly spraying them with chemicals its just keeping them clean

All 3 of mine - 5, 2.5 and 11 months - have a full bubble bath every evening and have their hair washed twice a week. DH said that MIL used to give him and his three siblings only one bath a week and all together which I think is a bit gross. Having said that - maybe they don't NEED a bath every day.

As regards smells, I can't stand heavy detergent smell on clothes- gives me a sore throat and makes feel itchy just thinking about it. All those chemicals on skin from baths and next to skin from clothes can't be good.

My kids both occasionally get eczema so we don't use any products at all (apart from doublebase for after their bath), but they get a bath and hair wash every day. They they get filthy and they're both in nappies (5 and 2, eldest has SEN). Food - and other stuff - in hair is very normal. A flannel wash would be no fun. Can't imagine bedtime routine without bath time. Surely washing your kids only a couple of times a week would make them smelly and sore and how are they going to get the habit of washing more often for when they're older and they really need to?

I remember staying with a friend when her kids were having their first bath in three days. They stank. And her eldest still got eczema. She's a beloved friend, but she's always been a bit crusty. Those of you not washing your kids that often: they smell of wee, you're just used to it.

My DS (3) and DD (1) have a bath 3 times a week and I have never put shampoo on their hair, only water. They have also never used soap (only on their hands) just specialised bath emollient.

I promise you my children are perfectly clean, don't have greasy hair and definitely don't smell. Washing kids daily is bad for their skin and completely unessessary

Miffy - it depends how you change nappy surely as to whether they would be sore and smelly? We used reusable nappies and wipes. So every nappy change their bum/willy had a full wash with water and solution using flannels. Then dried using dried flannel. Their bum was therefore probably cleaner than their faces as nappies changed every 2-3 hours and area fully washed. So when they had a bath that area was already cleaned before they went in bath

Bath/shower every night, hair wash every other night. Can't stand seeing kids with dirty fingernails. It's fine obviously at the end of the day after playing out etc but at the beginning of a school day? Nope
As a pp said you can definitely tell the kids who don't get washed enough. Normally their clothes are a bit grotty too. It's mean and I think if you wouldn't start the day that way then don't make your kids either.

I have a DS aged 7. He has bad excema so has a light shower every second day, and a proper bath with medicated soap once a week. But I use dry hair shampoo on him almost daily.

PS- I love dry shampoo. It has changed my life. :)

BUt you can wash hands without a bath? Mine wash their hands and faces before every meal, and when they come in from outside ( London public transport requires hand washing after). So if they didn't have a bath for a year, their hands would be nice and clean still

When I was small, I had a bath once per week. I am still totally capable of now showering at least once per day. So not too worried about my kids either, I'm sure they'll manage.
They don't smell of wee as baby's butt is washed as needed - washing or not washing her hair would not make a difference there, would it?

But I do think I messed my own hair up by washing it too often when I was a teenager, and now I need to wash my hair daily whether I want it or not. If possible, I don't want to cause the same issues for my DC.

katrina - agree with you entirely and I have the same problem: washed my hair too often as a teenager, stuck in the cycle! With short oily hair it is difficult now to get out of it...

As others have said too many products (shampoo/soap) is harmful to the hair/skin. Water is generally fine of course but even then some sensitive skins may not like it so much.

My kids definitely do not smell, thanks for the posters suggesting that they 'must smell'. They do not. :) my parents also (no shampoo at all) do not smell...

Maybe some ppl are confusing lack of shampoo/artificial smell and body odours?? With some of the comments here one must wonder what you think we survived until the 20th century and indeed how do ppl in many parts of the world manage to live happily without daily smothering of chemicals on their body/hair LOL :)

Maybe try to reduce the frequency yourself (or on your kids) and see how you fare? I do know my kids' skin has benefitted from fewer baths and their hair (and skin) is much lovelier than mine to be frank!

once a week on sundays for my six year old boy.

oblada same here - when my DC1 was born, we used to give him a bath every evening, as the tv ads tell you to. He had quite a nasty eczema, and we tried all kinds of over the counter and prescription remedies. But got rid of it only once our old-school GP told us to stop all the washing and once per week is plenty.

No I'm not confusing lack of perfume ;) I don't wear anything perfumed as it smells too strong. Just soap.
People up to the Middle Ages did used to wash daily. Then it all went a bit wrong. Places like Versailles absolutely honked - people just used to pee wherever they were . Grim.
Most cultures do bathe often - in the warmer countries I've lived in it's not uncommon to shower twice or more a day. The British (and a couple of other European countries) have a bit of a rep for smelly people ;)
Many people don't seem very sensitive to it - but if you don't wash, you do smell. Get on any bus or go in any crowd and it assails you.

My main concern would be kids being picked on at school - kids can be very cruel and pick up on things like this. I certainly remember kids at my school being bullied for it :(

but I can assure you young children having a bath a week is perfectly normal and as long as other hygiene practices are respected (hand washed, face washed when necessary etc) they do not smell! And look perfectly lovely and well groomed! So why the fear of bullying? You're confusing this with other poor hygiene practices I can assure you! Many on here have said that weekly bath is what they do and indeed has been recommended at times and their kids are fine. You cannot possibly know every kid whose parents choose to do that. So give us the benefit of the doubt :)

And I'm not British and the OH is from even further afield from those hot countries where a couple of showers per day can be necessary due to the weather there!

My main concern would be kids being picked on at school - kids can be very cruel and pick up on things like this. I certainly remember kids at my school being bullied for it

I remember kids at school being bullied for being smelly too. They were the kids who stank of fag smoke from their parents or the ones who were wearing clothes over and over, that were clearly never washed because they smelled fousty.

A young child that baths once a week, washes hands and face daily and wears clean clothes and lives in a clean environment will NOT smell or be bullied for it.

Mine are 6 and 8 and gravitating more and more towards the shower (which is fine with me, it's a lot easier!). They bath or shower a minimum of weekly...sometimes it's once a week, sometimes three or four times depending on what they've been doing/whether they fancy a bath/shower and whether we have time or if there are just better things we could be doing in the nights.

I do think I messed my own hair up by washing it too often when I was a teenager, and now I need to wash my hair daily whether I want it or not

I did this. I washed my hair daily from the age of 12 to about 25. And it does change your hair and eventually you have to wash it daily just to keep it looking decent.

It's not too late to change it though. I made a conscious effort to not wash my hair every day and started doing it every other day. I HATED it and felt like a completely minger because my day 2 hair was looking greasy.

It took a few months and my hair seemed to readjust itself though...and my day 2 hair nowadays looks the same as my day 1 hair. Day 3 hair seems disgusting though, but I wonder if I could train my hair further and start only washing it every 3 days...not quite ready for that jump though!

mygiddy - may give it a go during my maternity leave :) it's gonna be my last maternity leave in all likelihood so last chance!!

I agree Uncle. I remember two smelly kids from school. They will not have been having weekly baths and wearing clean clothes as I and other kids would have been. One of them had completely rotten teeth.

Bath every other night. Hair wash once a week (as it's such a trauma!!)

I only wash my hair once a week if i can get away with it!

Wash a kid less time than an adult is disgusting. Smelly mothers, smelly little kids. Im quite shocked about the comments here and how some people manage to have partners. I would vomit every time if my parter washes his hair once a week and bath 3 times.