Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

How often should I shower?

999 replies

grosstonotshower · 12/01/2022 10:36

Ok so I'm having a few drinks with friends last night. We are all female a mix of parents and non parents. One friend mentions she is struggling to find time for o shower every day since she had her baby. I said "well I don't shower every day without a young baby," All of my friends looked at me in horror. Apparently even the ones with kids shower daily. Full disclosure I have two dd one under five and I work part time. I shower on work days plus one extra day so usually three times a week my days off usually consist of playing at home, walking dog, school run and maybe park. I would shower extra if exercising/having sex/on period etc. I bath my dc three times a week. My oh works out every week day so he does shower more than me. AIBD? (Disgusting 😂)

OP posts:
PattyPan · 12/01/2022 13:11

No wonder olaplex etc are doing so well with all these people destroying their hair by over washing 😱

lynntheyresexswappers · 12/01/2022 13:11

Shower Everyday but wash my hair 3/4 times a week.
In the summer when it's absolutely boiling I shower in the morning and the evening, just a really quick 2 mins makes it so much fresher and cooler getting into bed!

fantasmasgoria1 · 12/01/2022 13:12

I bath usually 5 times a week. Sometimes every day. I definitely couldn't bath twice a day because of my eczema. I itch so badly that I scratch until I bleed. Even with the cream the doctor prescribes it just dries out my skin too much. But I bath as opposed to shower because I can put oil in the Water and soak in it which helps.

HavfrueDenizKisi · 12/01/2022 13:12

You can shower as little as you like.

But yes I would also think you were fairly manky if I was one of your friends.

I'm a shower daily person. So is DH. So are my kids. But then they've always been bathed daily and as teenagers now they shower without question.

Don't understand those who don't - it's hardly difficult to step in a shower for 5 mins. Also cannot abide those who wash their little kids twice a week - yes there's a load of those too who claim their kids are little so never smell. Guess what? They smell.

PattyPan · 12/01/2022 13:13

@Hottbutterscotch

I shower everyday but I also wash my entire body with a combination of a soft cloth and an exfoliating one and then I moisturise from head to toe. I don’t know how that could take anyone two minutes.

When I’ve spoken to people about this they say they either don’t moisturise or do so very infrequently. Ergh

You probably wouldn’t need to moisturise as much if you weren’t scrubbing off your skin's natural oils every day.
AryaStarkWolf · 12/01/2022 13:13

I'd feel a bit manky if I didn't shower every morning but it's probably just what I'm used to now, I know my mother generation didn't shower everyday

MonicaGellerBing · 12/01/2022 13:13

Gross

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 12/01/2022 13:14

@HavfrueDenizKisi

You can shower as little as you like.

But yes I would also think you were fairly manky if I was one of your friends.

I'm a shower daily person. So is DH. So are my kids. But then they've always been bathed daily and as teenagers now they shower without question.

Don't understand those who don't - it's hardly difficult to step in a shower for 5 mins. Also cannot abide those who wash their little kids twice a week - yes there's a load of those too who claim their kids are little so never smell. Guess what? They smell.

Ahh another abelist view. Just can't understand how privileged you are at all can you. Being disabled makes you 'manky'. Another to add to the list.
HacerSonarSusPasos · 12/01/2022 13:14

@Arabellla

I shower 3 x per week every and wash my hair twice a week.

I also look about 10 years younger than all the people I went to school and work with. Not do I have to dye my hair.

I think they’re linked.

You seriously think how often you wash has any impact on hair going grey? Confused Confused
Kanaloa · 12/01/2022 13:14

@Arabellla

I shower 3 x per week every and wash my hair twice a week.

I also look about 10 years younger than all the people I went to school and work with. Not do I have to dye my hair.

I think they’re linked.

Oh absolutely. I only wash once a month (need it or not!) and last week my dd’s brownies leader took me by the hand and tried to lead me away with the group! She just couldn’t believe I wasn’t dd’s little sister.
lynntheyresexswappers · 12/01/2022 13:15

@Arabellla - they aren't Grin
Showering less doesn't make you look younger Hmm

starfishmummy · 12/01/2022 13:16

Yes I get the bus daily and there are often smelly people on it, seems a lot of people are in denial about it.

But that doesn't mean they haven't showered. Some people are just extra smelly. Sometimes it's their clothes haven't been changed often enough and smell even when they shower.

onedayoranother · 12/01/2022 13:16

In lockdown I was only showering every other day because I wasn't going out. I may skip one day a week now again if not going out, but otherwise every day.
I never understand this 'can't shower with a baby'. Why ever not? Baby doesn't move. Even a crawling baby isn't an issue - I never had a problem showering with two kids under two - just put them in the room nearest the shower, in a travel cot if child is mobile and you think they might hurt themselves.

Supersimkin2 · 12/01/2022 13:16

Dry skin if you shower daily is a pain in the long term.

Innocenta · 12/01/2022 13:17

I love both showering and baths, but can't do every day as I find it super exhausting, and hard for my body to cope with. Fortunately I have a lot of support now, which has allowed me to up the frequency from a previous depressing low to now, every other day - usually it's two showers a week and one bath, but occasionally an extra finds its way in!

Lockheart · 12/01/2022 13:18

@HacerSonarSusPasos You seriously think how often you wash has any impact on hair going grey?

Heat damages hair, I don't think it's impossible that someone washing their hair in hot water every day would damage their hair more than someone who doesn't. It's well-known that lukewarm water is better for washing hair - I wash my hair in water as cool as I can tolerate.

Fraternaltwin · 12/01/2022 13:19

@Phrowzunn

Love these threads! Competitive over-washing. I have a 2yo and 4yo and shower twice a week. I’ve never showered every day, even before children. I forget to put on deodorant most days because it’s pretty rare that I actually sweat 😂 people are just different. You do you OP but people will get very uptight if you admit it! I honestly can’t fathom why they care so much about when or how often other people are washing their own bodies!
Is that you Prince Andrew, with your ‘I don’t sweat’ lies.
MaxNormal · 12/01/2022 13:19

In the 70's people tended to have a bath once a week - I don't recall anyone smelling bad

I was boen in the mid 70s and my parents bathed me every evening.

Brindle88 · 12/01/2022 13:20

I think it’s a bit gross not to wash the lady garden and bum crack daily. Even if it’s just a quick wash with a flannel or wet wipe. I don’t want to have stale wee or poo on me. My arm pits also whiff if I don’t wash them daily. I prefer to shower daily as it’s less faff than a shower. My gran used to bath once a week but have a sink wash of the “smelly bits” daily. But she was from the wartime generation.

PattyPan · 12/01/2022 13:21

[quote lynntheyresexswappers]@Arabellla - they aren't Grin
Showering less doesn't make you look younger Hmm[/quote]
There might be a grain of truth in it in that dry skin makes you look older (alas, I suffer from this on my face!), and frequent showering dries your skin out.

Brindle88 · 12/01/2022 13:21

I meant I shower daily as it’s less faff than a sink wash.

noblegreenk · 12/01/2022 13:21

I shower about 3 times a week or every other day. My husband showers daily. I definitely don't smell as I checked with my husband and he's brutally honest! It's not good for your skin to shower daily. If it was a hot day or on the odd occasion I do some exercise (not very often) then I would shower. Also, if I had any hormonal changes that made me more sweaty then I would shower daily. I just don't see it as necessary.

LadyDanburysCane · 12/01/2022 13:22

I don’t judge other people (unless I can smell them 😷) but I shower every morning plus after exercising. So yesterday I showered before work. After work I went for a treadmill run and had another shower.
Today I am not exercising so won’t be having a second shower.

ravenmum · 12/01/2022 13:23

I get the bus daily and there are often smelly people on it
Some people will be on their way home from work. Some people will just have been out jogging. Some people have problems washing due to their health/finances/being homeless etc. Some people sweat a lot. Some people couldn't give a shit whether you can tell if they have had a shower that morning. Isn't diversity great?

ravenmum · 12/01/2022 13:25

There might be a grain of truth in it in that dry skin makes you look older (alas, I suffer from this on my face!), and frequent showering dries your skin out.
I admit to liking a hot shower, but it is bad for my skin, too.

Swipe left for the next trending thread