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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wash everyday?

558 replies

Brodiebirdy · 16/04/2019 13:17

I currently wash my hair every other day and on the days in between I just have a quick wash in the shower (I’m only in there for about 2 mins). I’m staying with my sister for the week and she says it’s a lot of water to use and that you don’t really need to wash every day- she says that every other day is fine. I just wondered if other people thought that washing everyday is too much? Thanks

OP posts:
TreaclePumpkin · 18/04/2019 13:59

I don't really sweat, even when I exerciseHmm, but I wash Every. Single. Day. At least once. As does my whole family - immediate and extended (most of us I'd say would wash morning and evening). Unless it was truly a case of not being able to afford to, or being sick/bedridden of having some sort of skin issue/water allergy, I cannot fathom why people would not start every day by having a wash. Perhaps it's a cultural thing...

Barbie222 · 18/04/2019 14:21

It really wasn't the norm to have daily showers back in the 70's and we all lived and didn't smell.

Of course people did - I well remember how my grandparents smelled of unwashed bodies up close, and according to my Mum they'd got a lot better at washing by then. Smoking covered a lot of it, and I'm sure everyone was just used to the rest of the smell, it was considered normal. Of course you wouldn't die and no doubt there were and are lots of benefits to not washing daily, but it's not for me!

OldAndWornOut · 18/04/2019 14:21

Nobody here has said they don't wash, though.
They have said they don't cleanse themselves in a way that comes up to other peoples standards.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 18/04/2019 14:24

Barbie222 sounds like your grandparents weren't washing properly. There's no guarantee they'd have smelt any fresher if they'd stood under the shower. It's perfectly possible to keep clean by washing.

Barbie222 · 18/04/2019 14:25

Dame I think you are right - they never had a shower though so we'll never know!

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 18/04/2019 14:28

Barbie222when my ds little he could come down from the shower as filthy as when he went in! We had lots of conversations about actually using soap/shampooGrin

Lweji · 18/04/2019 14:46

Bits and pieces is fine. I would do it if it wasn't more work and if it didn't take longer than showering. We tend to smell from armpits, feet and genitals.

However, just a token wet flannel... Hmm
When I grew up we used the bidet a lot and used plenty of water and soap washing armpits. Baths or showers once a week still meant we washed daily.

cherryblossomgin · 18/04/2019 15:07

*None if these strip washers have answered.

Do you wear make up perfume daily?

Keep you skin moisturised and exfoliate the dead skin of?

Wax/shave?

Wear freshly laundered clothes daily, regardless of weather they look dirty or not they are washed after a days use to freshen them up?

How often do you brush your hair or teeth?*

I don't wear make up or perfume. I wear deodorant every day.
I exfoliate In the shower and use a body brush on my back. I moisture after a shower but not a strip wash.
I never wear clothes or PJs more than once, if I am having a day in the house I'll have a shower and put new PJs on
Hair brushed twice a day and teeth twice a day.
I have a daily skin care routine.

cherryblossomgin · 18/04/2019 15:10

Forgot to add I shave when I feel like it, usually in the shower but if I'm working and wearing trousers I leave my legs as my skin reacts to waxing/shaving.

MumofTinies · 18/04/2019 15:41

My MIL has a strip wash when she stays, it really makes me feel ill to think of the sink we use to clean our teeth in and wash our hands being full of minging fanny/armpit water. Said fanny and armpit water also drips on the floor so whoever goes in after gets wet socks. She also leaves the flannel in the sink for the next person to move, dirty bugger Envy

I wouldn't tell a guest how and when to wash though (DH has called her out about the flannel though) I wish my MIL was a daily showerer instead!

YourSarcasmIsDripping · 18/04/2019 15:42

Do you lick the sink when you brush your teeth?

LaurieMarlow · 18/04/2019 15:48

it really makes me feel ill to think of the sink we use to clean our teeth in and wash our hands being full of minging fanny/armpit water

See, this is where the miracle of soap kicks in. Soap molecules bond to the skin oils that harbour the germs and these bonded molecules disappear down the plug hole. Tada.

Washing the flannel after use is highly recommended though

Barbie222 · 18/04/2019 15:55

I think washing clothes is a good point as unwashed clothes really smell too. If you wear dirty clothes over a clean body you will be just as smelly.

MumofTinies · 18/04/2019 16:14

YourSarcasmIsDripping by that logic there isn't much point cleaning the sink at all is there? Or if we do bother we might as well use the same cloth for the loo as the sink. Would you want to accidently drop your toothbrush into a sink that had contained your MIL's body water a few minutes before? I always wash the sink out after she has been in now but it is annoying.

LaurieMarlow I don't know if she uses soap for it, hopefully she does.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 18/04/2019 16:27

My MIL has a strip wash when she stays, it really makes me feel ill to think of the sink we use to clean our teeth in and wash our hands being full of minging fanny/armpit water. Said fanny and armpit water also drips on the floor and if she showered you'd be stepping into an area where she had washed herself.

You don't lick the sink when you clean your teeth as a pp said so there is no issue. It's no worse than washing your own hands after you've used the loo. Or is it just MIL's germs you object to?

Presumably you clean the sink?

intensiveeveline · 18/04/2019 16:28

full of minging fanny/armpit water

Grin
TheSmallAssassin · 18/04/2019 16:30

I'd hate to have a job that required a full face of make up. Mine depends more on my technical and personal skills. Mind you, even when I had a Saturday job on the make up/perfume counter in a chain of chemists I didn't wear make up.

TheSmallAssassin · 18/04/2019 16:30

I think some of you would prefer not to be made of flesh and blood.

formerbabe · 18/04/2019 16:43

I'd hate to have a job that required a full face of make up. Mine depends more on my technical and personal skills

Congratulations on being such a superior human being

YourSarcasmIsDripping · 18/04/2019 16:46

@MumofTinies I hope you all flush with the toilet seat down.

hopefulhalf · 18/04/2019 17:04

I think it also depends on what you do during the day.....I work in an overheated hospital and have to wear semi-formal clothes, sometimes for up to 12 hours and come imto contact with up to 50-60 other people. When I get home I can't wait to change my clothes. Not washing between shifts or not wearing deoderant would be totally revolting. However I am on leave today and have done 3 loads of washing, a supermarket shop and interacted with my children, I may cook dinner later. If I don't go for a run this evening or DTD tonight then I wouldnt necessarily feel the need to shower.

hopefulhalf · 18/04/2019 17:05

Oh and I have no deorderant on :0 !

YouBumder · 18/04/2019 17:07

Am I the only person who can’t stand flannels?

LaurieMarlow · 18/04/2019 17:09

I'd hate to have a job that required a full face of make up. Mine depends more on my technical and personal skills

And some require both. Who knew?

hopefulhalf · 18/04/2019 17:15

How else to get paint/yoghurt/godknows what off the 2yos face on their return from nursery though ?