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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not shower every day

254 replies

AngryGinger · 07/01/2017 11:18

To make it clear, I do have a wash every day but I don't see the need to actually shower or bathe every single morning. was talking to people at work about it, most of the women seemed to agree with me whilst the men thought it was weird that we didn't have a whose presence every single morning. Aibu to be washed but not showered every day?

OP posts:
LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 07/01/2017 17:41

I wouldn't feel clean after a strip wash

TheGardenOfEdenExists · 07/01/2017 17:46

Shower or bathe at least once a day, often twice if a) I've been to the gym or b) I just fancy a soak in the bath in the evening.

I don't feel clean if I don't hit water in the morning.

AccioMerlot · 07/01/2017 18:02

Er... I have just realised that I have never in my life washed behind my knees.

I use a scrub on my shins/calves/thighs, knees don't get a look-in. I've also never washed the crooks of my elbows I guess.

IceMap · 07/01/2017 18:19

I always shower before work, I think it's unusual not to. A shower takes a couple of mins (I use a shower-cap and wash hair every 3 days). I think it's professional to be freshly showered with clean clothes. I hate working with people who smell stale/sweaty/musty. Not showering before work is like not brushing your teeth IMO.

Topseyt · 07/01/2017 18:25

I always shower every morning. It is so much part of my routine that I couldn't even contemplate getting dressed without it.

I like the nice clean and fresh feeling. It starts the day properly.

MrsMattBomer · 07/01/2017 18:59

I shower every day but DP is probably more like 4ish times a week. When he started out in the forces they sort-of told them how to manage when you didn't have access to things like sanitation and where he trained the showers were absolutely awful anyway so he's still stuck in that mindset!

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 07/01/2017 19:10

I wouldn't share a bed with someone who didn't shower every day

Snap8TheCat · 07/01/2017 19:29

Oh don't be so dramatic!

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 07/01/2017 19:31

I didn't say it made them a bad person just that I wouldn't like it.

BarbaraofSeville · 07/01/2017 19:32

No way does it take 2 minutes to shower and get dried properly enough to get dressed.5-10 minutes minimum.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 07/01/2017 19:36

2 minutes to shower/wash hair
1-2 minutes to dry
2 minutes to dress

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 07/01/2017 19:37

Just because you can't do it in that time doesn't mean that nobody can. I have it down to a fine art as I have a habit of missing my alarm!

SexLubeAndAFishSlice · 07/01/2017 19:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

EmmaC78 · 07/01/2017 19:44

I shower every day before work but sometimes don't bother at the weekends. I can easily be showered in 2-3 minutes in the morning if I am not washing my hair.

EpoxyResin · 07/01/2017 19:45

I can't believe the majority of people need showers every day. Some people, yes, in some weather conditions, after some activities, at some points in their life - maybe - but normally? Surely not.

My big issue with this is the environmental impact. And not just the water; the gas to heat the water, the plants to treat the waste water, the products, the packaging of the products, the production of those, the same for the laundry you apparently need to do of every towel you've ever used to wipe CLEAN water off yourself after a single shower (this is not necessary!!), Christ, I can't get over it!

For most people most of the time surely this is horribly wasteful.

...or am I just a terrible hippy?

Grindelwaldswand · 07/01/2017 19:46

I take a bath every evening but i only shower once a month if my hair needs a really good wash because i find washing it in the bath doesn't get it completely clean but DP takes a shower every evening I think its because men have short hair and don't have to worry about blow drying and straightening when they get out of the shower

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 07/01/2017 19:53

Most people don't need to but I feel manky if I don't and also I'm paranoid about smelling. I don't think the environmental impact of one person having a two minute shower once a day okay three times in the summer is going to make that much difference - I don't drive, fly, I have no children so I'm not bothered about it.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 07/01/2017 19:54

That came out wrong - I meant that my general environmental impact isn't as bad as a lot of people

lljkk · 07/01/2017 19:57

How short is your hair, Livia, if you can get it dry in 2 minutes!?
Mine would be pure frizz if I blow dried it daily.

EpoxyResin · 07/01/2017 20:03

I have a lot of respect for someone weighing up their own usage of the world's resources and coming to the conclusion that greater-than-average use in some areas is fine as they have reduced usage in others. Fair play.

What I can't stand is a gun-ho attitude that everything is "free" and available for use with no consideration for actual necessity, then I hear that anyone who uses resources on the basis of actual necessity rather than some privileged Western middle-class presumption that something is "minging". Aaargh!

Sorry, perhaps excessive rant but honestly there are so many of these threads and they wind me up. MN loves to point out when others are being entitled. Saying someone should literally spaff valuable resources down the drain - the impact of which damages us all - when they do not need to is pretty frickin' entitled.

user1481140239 · 07/01/2017 20:04

I sometimes leave it 2 days when it's not hot and sweaty weather...... I don't think I smell though.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 07/01/2017 20:05

ll Short-ish - if I dry it, it only takes a couple of minutes and it's dry by the time I get to work an hour later

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 07/01/2017 20:07

Epoxy Actually I agree. A lot of the people bleating about the environment then happily fly all round the world, drive a gas guzzler for a two minute journey etc and think nothing of using 'free' resources

ButteredToastAndStrawberryJam · 07/01/2017 20:09

Epoxy best post on the thread.

ReasonsToBeModeratelyHappy · 07/01/2017 20:11

AccioMerlot - what about the soles of your feet?? One of my friends suddenly realised with a shock that he had neglected to wash his all his life. They get a bit wet in the shower, but they have you on them, so possibly won't get very clean ;-0? You might need an actual bath to tackle the long neglected areas :-D.