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 used to shower or bath two or three times a week as a teen.

Then I went away to university and was lucky I got a room with an ensuite shower.
I have showered or had a bath every single day since then, occasionally twice a day, and feel horrible if I don't.

Also showers only use less water than a bath if you have short showers. Plenty of people have long showers that use lots of water.

By the time you’ve wiped and squeegeed the shower afterwards it’s quicker to do strip wash

Yeh, I don't do that 😬

Re the bath once a week - the norm was to wash hands, face, under the arms and your genitals morning and evening every day with a basin of water, so technically the people showering every other day are less clean....

By the time you’ve wiped and squeegeed the shower afterwards it’s quicker to do strip wash

I don't do this either.

So the musty smell, is that actually from not washing regularly?
I used to have a colleague who had this very musty odour, almost like a damp smell about him, and I had just assumed it was coming from his clothes, not from him.Horrible to think it was his lack of personal hygiene!

I was bought up in the age of bathing once a week and cannot remember anyone I know actually smelling.
As a student living in bedsits I remember there being only 1 bath which about 7 people shared. All my time in college most of us were in the same situation and again I do not remember anyone smelling.
I think these days it is more about people's need to feel clean and fresh rather than actually needing it.
I do not shower every day, I believe it is not good for the skin and I do not smell. However in the Summer months I might shower very quickly a few times a day as I get so hot.

PIL bath once a week, and share the water! I'm sure they're not 'dirty' but they do smell musty. The whole house does.

@ClosdesMouches A musty smell I would assume is from clothes either not washed enough, or dried in less ideal conditions.

I shower everday (though that went out the window when DS was tiny) and twice a day during my time of the month or if I've been to the gym. Every other day is an odd notion to me, but then I've grown up as everyday being the norm.

As a teen/early 20s i had really bad eczema on my arms and legs, i found showering or bathing daily made my skin so much worse so showering every other day became my normal with a pits and bits wash every day. I still do this today despite my skin now being better, because its part of my routine. I use deodorant, i don't have a particularly active lifestyle and in the past 20 years of this routine no one has ever commented on any kind of odour from me, and i know my friends and family definitely would if there was an issue.

By the time you’ve wiped and squeegeed the shower afterwards it’s quicker to do strip wash

Why would you need to do that after every shower? Is this one of those things that people with hard water have to do?

I shower every single morning and wash my hair every other day.
I pong in the morning. Could never contemplate not having a shower as so sweaty.

It may depend on time of year and your job. I shower every day as I often go in places that aren't very clean due to my job. shower at night helps me sleep too.

I generally only shower twice a week unless I'm especially sweaty (exercise, hot weather etc). Other days I have a full strip wash with soap and a flannel. TBH I feel cleaner on wash days that I do on shower days.

@fallfallfall haha! Same 😂 I genuinely don’t know how I go to bed with pin straight hair and wake up looking like I’ve been electrocuted then dragged through a bush backwards, only washing and brushing sorts it out also!

Every morning for me too, my hair goes crazy in the night and needs washing every morning and also I sweat absolutely loads so I stink in a morning!

Washing everyday when you're on your period isn't 'person specific'. What woman who has the means to wash daily skips washing on their period?

I grew up with tank water during a drought so I grew up with short showers (turn off the water while soaking and washing your hair water back on to rinse) 3 times a week.
I still do because it’s habit and I’m reasonably water conscious.

I don’t see the need to shower twice a day.
It’s wasteful and not great for your skin.

I was born mid 60s. Bath once a week with (or sent to the swimming pool on a sunday) Did in between hair washes as a teenager with the hose thing attached to the bath taps and kneeling over the bath. Moved out when i was 18 and probably moved to bath a couple of times a week (expensive to heat water) with in between hair washes. Got a shower fitted when in my early twenties so mid to late 80s and moved to more regular showers but probs still not every day. I would say late 20s onwards when living with boyfriend and then married, a shower daily.

Nowadays I'm probably not everyday, but most days. I sometimes work from home and just have a wash or if I'm doing housework at the weekend I don't bother until night time but would then skip next morning and just have a wash instead. I'm in my 50s though, post menopause and don't sweat much, hair is fine for every other day.

I think when i was young, there weren't showers in my social circle and baths were expensive to fill, I think as we've become more affluent and showers more common place then more frequent washing has been common. Also baths were cold and no central heating so you were pouring hot water (coal fire back boiler) into a freezing bath and freezing room - not a pleasant experience.

Maybe middle/upper class people had different experiences?

Why would you need to do that after every shower? Is this one of those things that people with hard water have to do?

I live in a soft water area and do this too, it stops any mildew and makes your bathroom look better for longer. It's a pain in the arse drying it out after every shower, DH and I try to take turns of going last so we don't need to dry it every time.

When I got up this morning I asked myself if I should bother with a shower as I'm off to the gym and am going to shower after that anyway. But I did, not so much for the 'cleanliness' as because I just find a brisk hot shower is the best way to wake up in the morning.

I guess it depends on how you define 'clean' but in this climate I really don't think you need to shower every day. I know this is MN and everyone thinks you will stink to high heaven if you don't shower every day, but this really isn't true in the age of anti-perspirants and washing machines.

I shower every day even if not working. I may have a strip wash if we were going out later or sometimes have another shower after work and wash my hair.

My dh likes a bath and sometimes I will hop in after him.

Also, I bought one of them Korean italy towels for exfoliating as everyone said after a bath that 'layers of skin' etc came off. Nothing came off me at all. I am thinking that is because I dont use any lotions or moisturiser.

I'm wondering if all the body creams and moisturisers are nice when they go on but then make people sticky and smelly after a few hours? That's just my own thinking on it. People use a lot of them. They leave a bit of a film. There is no way everyone is the same and needs a shower every day or start to smell.

I have a very very strong sense of smell and I know a few people who smell very bad but I still love them.

The whole 1950s 'strip wash' thing cracks me up. Only on MN!

And who "squeegees' the shower every time? You can get that anti-limescale stuff in the supermarket for about 50p - just give the shower a quick spray with that and a proper wash maybe once a week.

"Strip wash"? As if!