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

[Goldencurtain]

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?

I shower once or twice a day. I hate feeling grubby. Even if I’m not going out I’ll shower and put clean nightwear on.

At least daily. I am very overweight now. When I was slim, I could get away with bathing/showering a couple of times a week as long as it wasn't sweltering as I didn't sweat as much.

Showering every day is it at all necessary in countries that aren’t hot. It’s a massive waste of resources. However, it has become a social convention. I suspect the big pharma companies marketing shower gels and shampoos have something to do with it.

People who don’t shower every day and are being accused of having BO obviously didn’t get the memo about still washing their bits and pits. You don’t need to have a full shower to be clean but you still ought to do bits and pits daily.

I have a shower every other day but wouldn't admit that publicly because fear I would be shamed for being dirty.

Because it is. I can assure you, you will have that musty smell. You are a grown woman, probably have an active day, travelling, work etc you need at least a shower a day.

Used to shower every day (still do sometimes, depends what I've been doing) but when I was in my early 20s a pretty senior/experienced Dr told me that it's actually bad to wash every day as it messes up the oils and so on that your body naturally produces to regulate your skin etc. So try to do every other day on that basis (unless it's hot or I feel like I need it!)

At some point between going to uni in 1984 and leaving in 1994 it became “necessary” to shower once a day. In reality, in my experience, unless you work out or something people cant tell until it’s less than every 4 days providing you wear a clean shirt everyday and find an excuse/cover for your hair (and that’s without antiperspirant).

I think it depends a lot. People have very different activity levels, jobs where they get dirty, some people naturally sweat more and can get smelly quickly. Personally every other day would be fine for me but I work as a 1:1 in school and I'm forever getting sand thrown at me and drawn on so I have to wash daily through the week.

Ok I'll be totally honest here
I grew up on baths every other day as part of a big family with an old immersion heater - there wasn't enough hot water for everyone to bath daily. We still had to share water.
I've never liked showers so I still bath in the evening. I use the water after my son has had his. I bath on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, as I have work the next day. I flannel wash my fanjita every morning.
Friday evening I often don't bath. Saturday is random and depends what I do. If I exercise then I'll bath after. If I have social plans then I will. But I usually spend Saturdays at home so often don't get round to having a bath.
By Sunday I feel pretty grotty and definitely feel the lack of washing and having a bath is a priority in the morning. However I can comfortably go all day on Saturday without having bathed the night before and don't feel particularly mucky.

I shower every day but only bath the kids 2 or 3 times a week. I'm not sure what age they'll start showering daily. They're 2 and 4.

I've never understood the strip wash thing though... surely it's quicker and easier just to hop in the shower for a quick wash down of your whole body but not wash your hair. I just lower the shower head on non hair wash days

I have a bath or shower most days but not every day (say 5 or 6 times a week). I don't think it's necessary to have one every day (unless I've been for a run).

Every day and twice if its hot.
Unfortunately i commute on public transport and can smell sleep, stale bo and even sex/wank smell 🤢 i wish people would wash and put fresh clothes on daily.

I shower every day or every other day. I start to feel a bit scummy If I don’t, particularly my hair. If I relied on baths, the extra effort required might reduce the frequency, unless I realised I’d begun to pong. As a kid I think I had a bath once or twice a week and sometimes tried to avoid it. I have no opinion on how often others should shower or wash.

When I was little I remember the once weekly bath. DM used vosene shampoo on us and it stung like mad if it got into your eyes.
By the time I got to senior school my parents had a shower installed and it was a novelty to use. I think around late 80s I was getting a shower most days - I would have been 14-15.

Now I get a shower daily, sometimes twice daily. Use Nesti Dante soap not shower gel.
I'd feel gross without getting a daily wash.

Normal routine: shower each morning and a wash at the sink each night.
Hot weather: shower morning and evening
Or if going out the evening I will shower or have a bath in the evening as part getting ready to go out

I started showering daily in my teens, which would have been the late 80s. I'm not sure if that coincided with a general change. My parents have never showered every day.

I use public transport and can often smell people. It's fucking grim.

Probably every other day on average. I've made it to 34 without anyone saying I smell so I'm happy enough with that!

Every other day .Am not sweaty and have very dry skin .

Also when we have people to stay, they often don't shower every single day and I can't say I've ever noticed any of them smelling either. But I think MN gets a bit crazy on this topic

I'm old enough to remember 'bath night' being once a week.

In between we would wash in the sink our face, neck and bits twice a day. That meant the rest got a once a week cleaning only.

None of us stank that I remember. The thought of sweaty backs in the summer though......

I believe that we are too clean now from the point of view of our immune system and defences. We are designed to be covered in spores of bacteria and fungi from the soil we live on and the food we eat and we are meant to have parasites. All of this tunes the immune system and keeps the host healthy. We get ill because we manipulate our environment so much that almost non of this can happen.

Every day, I feel grubby if I don’t. I don’t see the point of a pits and bits wash, I’d rather have a quick shower.

My in laws don’t shower everyday and they smell. You still need to wash, you can’t put deodorant on top of yesterday’s sweat.

People going on about bathing weekly back then It was fine because everyone smelled bad, you didnt know the difference.
Now we dont need to wash once a week, we can do it every day. You certainly do know if people are clean or not even if they think washing bit, and pits is fine.

Every morning. Otherwise I'm a ball of oil and grease.

I've often skipped a daily shower so going 2 days. I only wash my hair every other day. I use deodorant daily and don't sweat a lot in summer let alone Winter. I would feel grubby after a third day which I have done when really ill.

I do insist the kids wash daily even if it's just a hand shower. We invented a phrase when they were little of a "willy and bummy" wash (kids don't get smelly armpits) and that's what we still call it (even for my DD!). My dniece has insisted on showing after she does a poo since she was about 3. It's just the way she is (her mum is not at all) so I'm sure she'd feel gross if she didn't do that but not everyone would.

I do think showers use a lot of water these days. And my son in particular seems to take a good 10 minutes when he has short hair, not sure what he's up to!

Every other day with a bits wash at the sink on the day that I don't!