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 know someone who does this. They think overcompensating with stronger deodorant helps. Even that begins to smell as the day goes on.

I shower every day. I really wouldn't feel clean otherwise. If you wash underarms, bits and feet every day, I suppose it's okay to shower every other day but if not, then I think you probably smell, sorry.

I don’t understand the washing of pits and bits. Do you fill a sink with water and then flannel yourself? On the rare occasion I’ve tried it (due to boiler breakdown) I’ve found it to be a hassle, soaping up and then trying to rinse the soap off without soaking the room/getting cold....and after all that, you don’t get that comfortable shower feeling.

I have a super quick shower in the morning - about 5mins, in and out. My shower in the evening is often a little bit longer.

I’m sure it’s all in my head, but I don’t feel ready to take on the world until I’ve showered in the morning. I usually run or cycle after work so get sweaty, but even if not, I like to ‘wash the day off’ and get cozy.

My DF was a war baby but he’s showered twice a day, all my life. I’ve no idea when he started that habit. He insisted from a young age that all of us children showered each morning, no excuses. There was four of us and I still remember my bathroom time slot was 0710-0720. 😂

DH has a friend who proudly showers 2-3 times a week. He never smells fresh and once took his shoes off in our house (unasked might I add!) and the smell was obscene. DH ushered him out to the pub pretty quickly. How he could be unaware of the smell, I don’t know.

I shower daily now. When I worked in a hospital I showered twice a day as it was hot dirty work. I can smell people who haven't showered. It's not a bad thing. It's up to them but let's not pretend that they're isn't a musty beddy smell about them because there is. But like I said it's their choice, It doesn't bother but I can tell the difference. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I just wash when I’m dirty. Some days that might be twice per day, other times I might skip a day. Certainly most days as I exercise most days but if I have a rest day and showered the evening before I might not feel the need. I always give my armpits etc. A little flannel wash though.

I wash my hair everyday because it needs it. Even leaving it one day, it looks greasy and awful. But I don’t think you necessarily need to shower or bath everyday to not smell. I often re-use tops two or three times before I wash them and they don’t smell bad.

OP I grew up in an era when a weekly bath was normal for many people. Fuel was aften in short supply, so Sunday night would be the evening that extra buckets of coal would be brought in to load up the fire to heat lots of extra water for baths.

However we were taught how to do a strip wash when we were children, so this would be done every day. I still think it is an efficient and economical way of cleaning the body. A lot of our skin does better without a daily lathering with soap.
I have a shower most days, will have a head to toe strip wash instead maybe twice a week.

I had a shower and hair wash last night before going to bed. THis morning it will be a strip wash in the sink.

@ILoveAScotchEggMe
Totally agree.

Josh Axe has written a great book on microbiome and the importance not being overly scrupulous. It’s called Eat Dirt...He’s a doctor btw, not a charlatan.

That said I couldn’t go a day without a shower. It would be like leaving the house with dirty teeth.

Goatinthegarden

I think a strip wah is something that can be taught.
My uncle and his 8 children lived close, I remember the older girls teaching the younger ones how to do a strip wash.
There are ways of doing it to make sure you are not freezing cold during the process and don't leave a wet floor.

Yes I've found the pit wash to be a faff, messy and I tend to feel cold trying to do it.

If we didn't have a shower, that's what I would do and I suppose we, as a nation, did the pit wash when we didn't have showers.

a bath every evening. using soap. not a deep bath though.
sink wash in the morning

We seem to be washing our bodies more as well as washing our clothes more which seems silly and unnecessary.

We had a bath once a week as a small child but that was due to the expense of hot water. When we had more money, we washed more. Also having a house with a shower made a difference.

I've found the pit wash to be a faff, messy and I tend to feel cold trying to do it.

I find it easier and warmer than a shower. Yuo have to be told or taight how to do it.

It does not involve standing starkers in a bathroom dripping water all over the floor.

I like to wash everyday but do sometimes skip if im having a particularly mad morning with my toddler. I definitely do feel less clean on those days though. I find my hair is a lot healthier if I give it a break from washing some days too.

Shower every morning , in the summer the evening as well. My mum bathed us every night as kids , I'm 44
DS is 5 , he has a bath or shower every night .

To answer you question though I bath / shower daily unless unwell when I might postpone.

As a small child I was bathed in a tin bath in front of the fire . We had a bath in the kitchen under a wooden lid . I was always worried that spiders lived there. When I was older we had a bath once a week and a strip wash , in the kitchen sink, every day. I actually quite enjoyed the compulsory showers at senior school apart from them being communal! When I started work I joined a gym and showered there.
I now shower at least once a day and have an occasional bath to relax. In the late 1970s we went to view a cottage for sale. We could not see a bath anywhere. The estate agent lifted a trap door in the lounge and there was a bath sunk into the floor in front of the open fire !

I grew up in a house with 2 bathrooms (1 had a shower from the 70s) and started showering daily once I was a teenager. Because I grew up on a farm I was used to Dad showering every day because he was out doing physical work.

I now swim before work every day and shower at the pool. I mainly smell of chlorine . DH's family don't wash everyday and all have a musty smell, I insist he showers every day, he cycles to work and gets sweaty.

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.

Disagree. I shower every other day and no complaints. And I have a brutally honest mother who would absolutely have mentioned it!

I'm a normal young professional in an office based role and always look (and smell) presentable!

I suspect the “bath once a week” was from before people had warm central heating, and before people worked in 90cm work stations in open plan offices.

For me, shower every morning, unless something specific like getting stuck on the tube which always makes me feel horrible, so I have another shower to feel better.

Goat you are right it is a faff (imo) but as a child of the 70s its what we did. We had a bath but no shower and quite simply didn't have the resources for a daily bath. 50p in the meter didn't go far with an immersion. I remember getting up for school and running a sink full of water to wash my hair then you would flannel pits, neck, back and bits. We had no central heating so it wasn't pleasant. As an adult I shower daily. Twice if I exercise or there is a heatwave. Yesterday I didn't shower in the morning though as I was working alone all day. I don't smell (awaits a MNr to tell me my nose will have accustomed to the stink ) but I don't feel right if I haven't showered. I couldn't wait to jump in the shower when I got home.
I don't get BO under my armpits though. I know I'm not mistaken by this as after an extreme workout I can easily detect disco minge
If I have been ill and skipped the shower for a few days I tend to smell horribly 'greasy' for want of a better description.

I go on smell, OP.

I have always made my son have a shower every day. When you're young and you work with people, a shower a day is not too much. As I am getting older, like 50, I wash my private part one night and a shower the following and this gives me a chance to wash my hair. It''s just alternate like that. I always clean myself after a wee with tissue paper. I hate smelling urine from old man next door but his house is perpetually smelling good. I remember when I was sitting to a student who smelt very badly in the summer, the teacher had to wear a headgear with a fan to disperse the strong odour. LOL! Poor woman! She must be in heavens now! Quite offensive when you smell!

It really is personal and you can't generalise. When I was younger we had a bath every other day and I still do that (although I also wash my bits in the bidet morning and evening). I don't smell anything other than fresh and clean and of my body lotion and shampoo. I have double checked this with DH who is a clean freak.

I have a hot bath (long soak) wash my hair, shave, apply body scrub, and then when I get out apply body lotion all over. DSs then use my bath water. The following day I'll wash my bits in the bidet but not have a bath. I then use body lotion and deodorant.

DH and DS1 shower every morning. DH needs it and would smell without a daily shower. DS1 doesn't particularly need to shower each day from a smell perspective but likes to feel clean. DS2 uses my bath water one day and showers the other day. If he didn't wash every day he would smell really bad. He's just a sweaty child.

Some people sweat a lot and some people don't.