Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask how often you need to wash yourself to be clean?

456 replies

Goldencurtain · 01/02/2020 04:27

I have a shower every other day but wouldn't admit that publicly because fear I would be shamed for being dirty. When my mum was growing up it was standard to have a bath once a week, no shame attached at all to that. Indeed it's probably only been fairly recently there has been an expectation of a daily/twice daily shower.

When did social attitudes start to change on what 'dirty' meant and what do you do?

OP posts:
Frenchw1fe · 02/02/2020 12:20

I was shocked to learn that my father and his brother never possessed underpants until they did national service. That is so gross.

ItFigures · 02/02/2020 12:23

I shower twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. I could probably just shower once a day but I like going to bed smelling fresh.

I use soap and shower gel. Find soap far better at getting me clean.

ColourMyDreams · 02/02/2020 12:27

I was brought up with a daily shower so I've always continued with it.
It's a personal preference, some people like to shower/bathe daily, others not so often.

Halloweenbabyy · 02/02/2020 12:33

Daily. I prefer baths to showers.

Shell4429 · 02/02/2020 17:27

I have a bath every week whether I need one or not Grin

AppropriateAdult · 02/02/2020 17:39

I have a good sense of smell for other people and I can tell who only showers a few times and week or washes their hair once a week

No. Unless you also ask each of those people when they last washed and cross-reference it to your own observations, then no, you really can’t tell.

Having worked in care environments and dealing with vulnerable members of the public, I can say confidently that in most cases when somebody smells bad the problem is unwashed clothing, not an unwashed body. Clothes which have got sweaty and dried and been worn again repeatedly really do pong. A person who showers every two or three days, barring vigorous exercise or a very hot climate, does not.

Thisisnotreallymyname · 02/02/2020 17:40

Shower every other day, but wash bits and pits morning and night.

Sally2791 · 02/02/2020 17:40

I grew up with weekly baths, I think I only went to daily when I went to university. Shower daily now, but happy to skip a day if I’m not going out.

Namechangerextraordinaire1 · 02/02/2020 17:43

I wash every day generally, although occasionally go 2 days inbetween if I'm busy or just cannot be bothered. Also, on the very, very rare occasion I'll go 3 days, but that is very rare.

My partner doesnt shower daily or even every 2 days. Occasionally he will only shower once a week and whilst I find it pretty gross, he never actually smells from a once a week wash. I won't be intimate with him if it's been that long though!

di2004 · 02/02/2020 17:43

I wash my face in the morning. I also have a lovely long soak in a hot bubble bath every evening, that’s it! x

LittleMissMe99 · 02/02/2020 17:45

I have a shower twice a week. Top n tail as it were when needed.

MurrayTheMonk · 02/02/2020 17:46

I can do every other day with no issue. I dont sweat a lot. And I don't smell on day two at all as a rule.
I do feel a bit grubby though (it's psychological) so I usually shower every day unless I know I'm not going out anywhere, in which case sometimes I don't bother.

Prokupatuscrakedatus · 02/02/2020 17:53

DGM and her two sisters washed daily in the kitchen, the three boys were sent of to do the same in the goat shed.
Body wet, body soaped and scrubbed, body rinsed - no large bath tub, no shower, just a tin bath to stand in and jugs of water heated on the oven and carried to the tub.

I shower daily but according to the same principle - wet, scrub, rinse - everything else seems to me to be a waste of water and gas.

Oscarsdaddy · 02/02/2020 17:56

I work from home so can’t say I get dirty as it’s office (home office) job

This time of year I don’t do anything to get especially dirty (chance would be a fine thing) so every second or third day for me

However in the summer if it’s hot then daily without doubt

Toomuchtrouble4me · 02/02/2020 17:56

Daily shower. People bathed less in the past because they had to go to the boathouse or boil water for a tin tub. We now have baths and showers in our homes - why not jump in daily and be fresh! In the summer I often have a evening shower too because it feels so good after a hot sweaty day in the city.

Petrachat · 02/02/2020 18:00

At least once a month .

happybunny03 · 02/02/2020 18:00

I shower everyday for relaxation and social conditioning, but I don’t need to... I do not have the BO gene (I don’t use deodorant, and I have asked loads of (honest) people if I smell, including my partner, and they have said no)). I also have dry skin that never feels greasy and would probably prefer not to be showered everyday. Everybody is different - some may need it on a daily basis, some don’t.

Tunnocks34 · 02/02/2020 18:01

Mainly Daily although sometimes I skip a day if I really can’t be arsed. Only wash my hair weekly though. It’s waist length and extremely thick and curly and it takes around 12 hours to dry naturally, or about 3 hours to dry and straighten manually. I was it on a Sunday and I can get away with it being down until about Thursday when then it’s a ponytail/french plait and dry shampoo.

Earthling1994 · 02/02/2020 18:03

I shower twice a week usually. and change underwear and my top.
I use deodorant every day, brush my teeth etc. I feel clean and don't smell.

Takingshape12 · 02/02/2020 18:12

Shower daily here and wash hair in it. OH every other day, which is weird to me as helis job is physical but saying that he doesnt smell. I dont feel fresh unless I've showered.

I only bath my kids twice a week. At 3 and 6 I dont think they need more

Youmakemewannashout · 02/02/2020 18:18

When I was a child ( many years ago) there was one coal fire for the entire house and winters were considerably colder than they are today . It snowed every winter and our windows were often frosted over on the inside. We had an immersion heater within a tank for the hot water and had to put money into the meter to keep it ticking over. Heating enough hot water for one bath took a full day so on Sunday evening, the whole family took a turn in the ever cooling water... mam, then dad then the cleanest of the kids first , muckiest last ! No chance of one bath each but we had a rub down with a soapy flannel every day Ahhhh the good old days 🙄!

Rainbowsparkle · 02/02/2020 18:22

I have a shower in morning and bath in the evening. I work on the railway though so I get filthy!

ChicChicChicChiclana · 02/02/2020 18:29

348 messages and still the posts come. Has any one of them said something unique or even interesting ??

Cineraria · 02/02/2020 18:33

My routine has changed a lot with the facilities available at different homes I have lived in.

Until I was seven, I had evening baths and not every day but both my parents bathed daily (at my mum's request in my dad's case).

When we moved in 1982, we had baths with showers fitted in and plenty of safe outside space and other children to play with (small friendly cul de sac) so DB and I were usually mucky and bathing was easier, so we were bathed or showered daily together.

At 10 we moved again and had a few months between selling our house and getting the next one so rented a house that had only a bathtub and limited outside playing space so were cleaner and bathed less often again. I don't think we were ever strip washed after we were out of nappies (I remember topping and tailing DB) except on holiday. I really didn't like that as I always felt there was soap residue however many times I wiped. In the new house we were back to regular bath/showers except I asked not to share with DB. As a teenager, before I got to the sweaty stage, I was encouraged to bath or shower in the morning by being allowed to use my mum's bathroom and any of her products. When I got a weekend and evening job based in a greenhouse, she also suggested that I might need to shower after returning home too on hot work days before I started the job. It was nice that she tackled preventing smelliness before it happened rather than telling me I smelt bad and should shower more after it happened!

I moved to a large city aged 19 and was in a low paid job while studying part time. I rented in an old house where the owner lived in a ground floor extension. I had a bedsit, a toilet and a tiny kitchen which only I used. They were all separate rooms along a communal corridor. The toilet should have been shared with another tenant in a bedsit with internal kitchen area on the same floor but that room had been taken for storage only by a couple in a bedsit upstairs. The only bathroom was shared by all tenants with only a bathtub and there was no chance to use it reliably in the morning. Instead, I bought a large washing up bowl and jug to wash daily in my kitchen. I'd make breakfast using toaster and kettle, which warmed up the tiny room, fill the kitchen sink with hot water, stand in ther washing up bowl, pour one jugfull over me, lather up everywhere with soap and an exfoliating glove and pour more water over until I was free of soap. That felt much better to me than a traditional strip wash. I did my hair over the sink with the water in the washing up bowl. I have seen bucket and jug bath set-ups like that in other countries on holiday and quite like it in a proper bathroom. I have also used that system on holiday where there isn't a proper shower, even on sleeper trains and when we haven't had hot water at home. I do appreciate all the fitted showers I have had in my homes since then though. A lovely hot shower feels great!

Her1mum · 02/02/2020 18:36

I have had a bath or shower every day my whole life and start feeling manky if it's more than 24 hours since the last one eg Saturday morning, Sunday evening. Hair every third day. I think you can tell who bathes every day and who doesn't.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.