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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think one bath/shower a day is perfectly adequate in the UK?

267 replies

AfraidOfMyShadow · 03/07/2017 20:15

I can even understand twice a day especially when it is hot or after exercising.
I did think DH was a bit odd for bathing at least two times a day without fail (even in winter) but DSS showers three times a day! I think it's insanity.

So a personal question to you all - how often do you bathe/shower and AIBU?

OP posts:
KoalaDownUnder · 04/07/2017 07:04

Our increased attention (not reduced by the TV ads for even more cleansing products) might be the cause of more infections and having fewer natural defences.

I doubt it. Washing off dirt with good old soap and water isn't the problem; splashing anti-bac and bleach everywhere is.

Crunchymum · 04/07/2017 07:11

Everyday in summer, every other day in colder months (wash pits and bits with a clean flannel on non shower days)

Have never been told I smell.

heron98 · 04/07/2017 07:19

I shower three times a day. I swim before work so wash my hair after, I exercise at lunch so shower after that and then by the the time I've spent the day at work and walked home I feel quite grimy so wash when I get home too.

EastMidsMummy · 04/07/2017 07:27

The only correct answer answer to the original question is "It depends."

I shower every morning because I am a sweaty Betty overnight. Then I shower again if, for example, I have exercised or am going out in the evening. Anyone who thinks this is unreasonable or unusual is nuts.

DrDreReturns · 04/07/2017 07:35

Once a day. In the winter I could shower every other day and still be hygienic.

Roomba · 04/07/2017 07:36

My 11yo DS insists that once a week is quite enough showering - 3x a day would be preferable trust me! I practically have to drag him in. I don't wish to give him a complex by saying he stinks, but, er, he stinks. Polite hints and chats about hygiene haven't worked as he doesn't care if he stinks. This may well change when he discovers girls (or boys) Grin

Personally I shower daily, twice if it's a really hot day if I've been cleaning something filthy or similar. I used to wash my very long, fine hair daily too, as it would be greasy again by 4pm. After having DC2 and not having time to have a wee let alone wash my hair, I discovered if I washed it every 2 or 3 days the greasiness actually decreased a lot after a couple of weeks.

yaela123 · 04/07/2017 07:42

Every other day in winter, every day in summer

IrritatedUser1960 · 04/07/2017 07:51

Twice but only because I work in the NHS and need to wash it all off when I get home, At weekends I shower once when I get up.
My son when he was a teenager used to spend half his life in there. I'm surprised the tiles didn't fall off.

StarHeartDiamond · 04/07/2017 07:59

Network guy - washing with soap is the best way to avoid spreading bugs, it's why surgeons still scrub up before theatre even though it's 2017 and we can do face transplants and all manner of amazing stuff!

Rememberallball · 04/07/2017 08:18

We don't have a shower so I bath twice a week and wash my hair when I do. I sometimes only bath once a week if particularly busy but will always wash my hair at least twice a week by leaning over the bath. I wash in between (once a day) baths. Am not a particularly smelly sweaty person so that's enough for me!

Oblomov17 · 04/07/2017 08:28

Don't they recommend that for young children 2 or 3 times a week is enough? Any more than that dries the skin?
I generally do once a day. First thing in the morning. I don't feel dirty when I go to bed.

Autofillcontact · 04/07/2017 08:51

People who say children used to only bathe once on a Sunday- this is true and I remember it well- stinky filthy hair and dirty finger nails and skin creases in class. Children were not clean when they bathed once a week. Not smelly, because small children don't smell, but they were dirty

sysysysref · 04/07/2017 09:09

When I was a child no-one bathed more than once a week.
How old are you? I'm in my 40's and we had a bath every single night without fail, no exceptions.

coffeeaddict · 04/07/2017 09:13

Rhubarb - yes showering is 'nice' but then lots of things are 'nice' and yet bad for the world! I feel a shower before the gym comes into that category.

I quite often stand over the basin and wash under my arms with soap (And feel like someone in a 1960s movie.)

BrieOnAnOatcake · 04/07/2017 09:14

Wow really? I'm late 30s and "bath night" was a thing amongst me and my friends. They'd mention if it was "bathnight" as a reason for a shorter play date!!!

We'd bathe more if we'd been to the beach or possibly sports day!

Proper showers were less common and Gina ford hadn't instituted daily baths as part of a routine then!

BrieOnAnOatcake · 04/07/2017 09:15

(My kids shower every other day but they're primary!)

silkpyjamasallday · 04/07/2017 09:26

I'm just not a sweaty person, I don't even sweat that much when exercising, so I bathe once a day in the evening when DP takes DD out to the park. If I miss a day because we are out late I don't smell in the morning or for the day after. Washing twice or more a day is ridiculously wasteful, I don't believe it necessary unless you are obese or sweat a lot.

Figaro2017 · 04/07/2017 09:27

Twice a year. Whether I need it or not.

UsedToBeAPaxmanFan · 04/07/2017 09:32

Usually twice a day for me. But in cooler months if I haven't exercised during the day, I occasionally go to bed without having a shower.

Our 2 ds have very long showers every morning, and ds2 does loads of sport so he tends to shower every evening as well. We are on a meter. Ds1 moves out shortly and ds2 is off to Uni in September. I suspect our water bill will halve!

Rhubarbginisnotasin · 04/07/2017 09:36

*Rhubarb - yes showering is 'nice' but then lots of things are 'nice' and yet bad for the world! I feel a shower before the gym comes into that category.

I dont and all the more so if the gym is coming 3 or 4 hours after being out in warm weather. In fact I'll quite often even have a shower before I excercise if I arrive at the gym after I've been out doing chores for a few hours in temps of 115 degrees. Its basic hygiene and considering your fellow gym users.

But then again it could be like today when I woke up, had a shower, and was at the gym an hour later.

Im no fan of the 'cats dicht' way of keeping clean - too many years way back in the 60's of one bath a week and a wash in the sink twice a day. We've moved on from that thank goodness.

Rhubarbginisnotasin · 04/07/2017 09:38

When I was a child no-one bathed more than once a week

Im almost 60 and that was the way it was for us as well.

WonderLime · 04/07/2017 09:45

Its basic hygiene and considering your fellow gym users.

Sweat itself doesn't have an odour. It's the bacteria that's produced that causes the odour. If you showered 3 hours prior and you are starting to smell, you might need to get to the doctor's to see if there is an underlying condition to your excessive body odour problem.

Rhubarbginisnotasin · 04/07/2017 09:56

Sweat itself doesn't have an odour. It's the bacteria that's produced that causes the odour. If you showered 3 hours prior and you are starting to smell, you might need to get to the doctor's to see if there is an underlying condition to your excessive body odour problem

I dont, and Im not sure what gave you that idea. But thank you anyway for the advice. Grin

PickingOakum · 04/07/2017 11:10

I think it depends on where you live and what you do. In my youth, I worked outside in rural Europe and my hair never got greasy nor did I smell. Even dirt (soil and leaf debris) didn't seem that dirty. It was enlightening as to how a polluted urban environment really screws with the way your body works.

When I lived and worked in London, I did tend to shower once or twice a day. If I didn't, I smelt terrible and my skin would itch something chronic.

Now I live in a rural part of the UK and can go a day without a shower and maybe two without washing my hair.

scortja · 04/07/2017 11:39

I bathe sometimes five times a day in winter but then in summer I can easily go without for a few days! (this is a secret) Basically I use just the bath to warm myself up not for cleanliness..