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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Disgusting behavior in swimming pool changing rooms!

233 replies

WakeAndBake · 08/04/2020 12:20

Returned to the U.K. a few months ago and took the kids swimming to an indoor water park with a ‘changing village’.

The facilities were not sex separated and everyone goes into cubicles to change. And that is when things got nasty.

Instead of having a decent shower and getting clean before entering the pool people just stood under a shower IN THEIR SWIMWEAR for a few seconds. No attempt made to wash sweaty bum cracks or armpits. Most women did not even bother to wet their hair!

How horrible to swim in a soup of shit, smeg, sweat, hairspray and toe-jam. This also meant the amount of chlorine in the water was insane, burned my eyes and I nearly crashed the car on the way home!

Who thinks this is a good way to do things???

OP posts:
Goingfarawsy · 08/04/2020 12:21

Never seen anyone shower before in U.K. it’s just the way it is here.

TheReluctantCountess · 08/04/2020 12:21

Thank goodness for chlorine!

TheFuckingDogs · 08/04/2020 12:22

This has clearly been playing on your mind for at least a fortnight?!

Outtedagain · 08/04/2020 12:23

We’ve been on lockdown for 2 weeks. It didn’t upset you too much because it’s taken you 2 weeks to voice your disgust.

inwood · 08/04/2020 12:23

Why bring this up now, two and bit weeks into a lockdown?

I agree with you though. Swimming pools are gross.

NetballHoop · 08/04/2020 12:23

There are plenty who don't even do that. That's why the chlorine levels have to be so high.

I can't get overly worked up about it. People will never be 100% clean when they get in the pool.

SoupDragon · 08/04/2020 12:23

IN THEIR SWIMWEAR

Would you have preferred them to use the communal showers naked?

Outtedagain · 08/04/2020 12:24

Going far .... I take my children swimming every week pre lockdown .. people always shower before swimming. In fact the teacher doesn’t allow the kids in otherwise.

notsureneversure · 08/04/2020 12:24

I think most people would probably have a hard time getting worked up about it this afternoon.

Maybe try again in a few months?

cologne4711 · 08/04/2020 12:24

It's very rare for people to shower before using a swimming pool in the UK, even though each pool's rules tend to require it but they don't enforce it. I do have a quick shower, but I don't wet my shoulders (because otherwise I feel really cold waiting to get into the pool) or my hair (because I wear a hat).

There is no way on this earth that people in the UK would strip off in front of each other to have a shower! We're far too straitlaced for that!

drunkyhumptydumpty · 08/04/2020 12:25
  1. Can I suggest a hobby if this is bothering you so much.
  1. Hurrah for the invention of chlorine.
  1. Are you aware that baby swim nappies only collect poo and allow urine to flow through into the pool.
I know this is solved by chlorine but I would be more worried about all the piss in the pool than some sweat.
Pelleas · 08/04/2020 12:25

It doesn't sound like communal swimming pools are for you, OP.

confusedyoungthing · 08/04/2020 12:25

This sounds pretty normal to me.

Doyoumind · 08/04/2020 12:26

Is this the most important thing currently on your mind?

The majority of people in the UK don't shower beforehand. Chlorine is there to kills germs. If you don't like it, don't go swimming.

fascinated · 08/04/2020 12:26

Yep. It’s disgusting. I love swimming abroad, esp Germany, so refreshing without the chemicals. Most people here have no idea what it is like to swim in clean water!

Doyoumind · 08/04/2020 12:27

Btw, it's behaviour in the UK.

fascinated · 08/04/2020 12:27

You won’t get any sympathy here though, unfortunately.

Stet · 08/04/2020 12:28

Never seen anyone showering in the nude and soaping up their bum crack in communal mixed-sex showers before entering the pool! You want someone to be washing their willy and arse in an open mixed-sex shower? Confused Also yes, baby pee just comes straight out of swim nappies so you're swimming in piss anyway.

Thehop · 08/04/2020 12:28

It’s just the way it is here.

cologne4711 · 08/04/2020 12:28

I am pretty sure most pools in Germany do have the chemicals unless they are ozone treated. The difference is that urine or shampoo reacts with the chlorine in the water and that's what you can smell and makes your eyes sting. If people are better about having a shower, you don't get that reaction and therefore smell.

Original poster
WakeAndBake · 08/04/2020 12:29

All the people asking if this is the only thing on my mind... actually the lockdown is a bit boring and I thought it would be fun to discuss swimming pools without it having to do with trans rights. Are we only allowed to think about the pandemic???

OP posts:
cologne4711 · 08/04/2020 12:30

I agree it's disgusting. You just can't think about it too much.
What I will say is that to my knowledge, in 16 years of swimming regularly as an adult I've never caught anything from a pool (verrucas excepted). I don't think ds has either.

But he got some sort of parasite from kayaking and falling into a freshwater lake, so go figure. A germ chemical soup, or a lake full of other nasties?

boli · 08/04/2020 12:30

Pretty standard I'd say, I'm surprised everyone showered.

ragged · 08/04/2020 12:31

Stay away from the pools, OP. More room for me without you in there.

Noworrieshere · 08/04/2020 12:32

I don't want to see anyone washing their bum crack in a communal mixed sex shower thank you very much.