How often should I shower?

[grosstonotshower]

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 😂)

I don't shower every day, probably miss one or two days in a week. But we have a bidet so even on non-shower days the undercarriage gets washed.

Surely it's easier to just have a daily bath or shower than stand washing your arse and pits, getting water everywhere.

@Gwenhwyfar

"Rinsing of soapy water at a sink is a pain compared to washing it all off with a spray"

It really isn't that complicated. I think there are a few people where who've had showers from a young age so have never learned how to wash in the sink. You don't have to plaster yourself in soap, you just use the amount you need, just like washing your hands.

In that case, do we even need showers? Might as well not be invented if there's so little difference

@Gwenhwyfar

"Rinsing of soapy water at a sink is a pain compared to washing it all off with a spray"

It really isn't that complicated. I think there are a few people where who've had showers from a young age so have never learned how to wash in the sink. You don't have to plaster yourself in soap, you just use the amount you need, just like washing your hands.

Yeah if i have to (post op) I use v hot water with a really well wrung out flannel and stand on a towel! A lot of the older people I cared for preferred a strip wash as it was warmer, and they felt safer but they all LOVED v hot water for it

@Gwenhwyfar

"Rinsing of soapy water at a sink is a pain compared to washing it all off with a spray"

It really isn't that complicated. I think there are a few people where who've had showers from a young age so have never learned how to wash in the sink. You don't have to plaster yourself in soap, you just use the amount you need, just like washing your hands.

God forbid one shouldn’t teach their children to wash at the sink.

I will say that a proper wash is easier in the shower than the sink - it’s nothing like washing your hands because your hands can be moved away from your body into the sink, as opposed to posters saying they wash their armpits, bra area, and genitals in the sink. Washing your fanny in the sink is not the same as washing your hands in terms of ease and comfort.

I use the time I would have spent scrubbing the shower to rinse my flannel and use it to remove anything left on my skin

You SCRUB the shower every time you use it? Fuck me that's even crazier than the people showering twice a day.

I shower every evening after dinner inc hair ~ I just couldn't get into bed unwashed !!
In a morning I wash face and under arms and genital area before getting dressed.

As a disabled person, I can categorically tell you that it is easier having a pits and bits wash than a full shower.

@JinglingHellsBells

You can shower without getting your hair or face wet. Use a shower cap or don't stand under the showerhead.

If i get in the shower and dont wash my hair, it makes it feel like it is sweaty and horrible, so every shower means a hair wash

I have a bath or shower every day, I cannot go to bed unshowered or bathed. To me that’s utterly grim.

@YanTanTetheraPetheraPimp

I have a bath or shower every day, I cannot go to bed unshowered or bathed. To me that’s utterly grim.

Let's hope you never find yourself unable to shower everyday then

Agree with a PP that a lot of people did smell worse back in the day. I was a child in the 80s and the BO smell was common enough, especially from men.

Also I'm amazed how many women on MN supposedly look 10 years younger. 😂

"You can shower without getting your hair or face wet. Use a shower cap or don't stand under the showerhead."

For me the whole point of a shower is to wash my hair. Otherwise, I'd wash in the sink, but for the few times when I've wanted to avoid washing my hair eg going to the hairdresser and having been told not to wash my hair before, my hair still gets frizzy in the shower even when wearing a shower cap.

@DirectionToPerfection

Agree with a PP that a lot of people did smell worse back in the day. I was a child in the 80s and the BO smell was common enough, especially from men.

Also I'm amazed how many women on MN supposedly look 10 years younger. 😂

Some of that might have been down to men not wearing anti-perspirant, wearing their shirts more times than a woman would and probably also sweating more than many women.

"In that case, do we even need showers? Might as well not be invented if there's so little difference"

Showers are good for washing your hair and body at the same time. Washing hair in the sink is a pain in the arse. Showers are also good for when you need to wash your whole body, which most people don't need to do every day.

@AllThingsServeTheBeam

As a disabled person, I can categorically tell you that it is easier having a pits and bits wash than a full shower.

This has been answered multiple times now but you seem determined to make it about this.

Obviously if someone is disabled it won’t be as easy for them to shower.

It’s like if I said ‘oh why don’t we just use the stairs it’ll be just as quick’ and the person I was with said ‘well not if we were in wheelchairs it wouldn’t be!!’

The people I was replying to had said it was quicker/easier than showering. They didn’t mention if they were disabled, obviously if they were it’s then a very specific and different situation. For the grand majority of able bodied adults showering will be easier than and as quick as scrubbing your armpits, bum, genitals, and boobs over a sink with a wet flannel.

"You SCRUB the shower every time you use it? Fuck me that's even crazier than the people showering twice a day."

I have a glass door and have to squeedgy it down every time I use the shower. It's a complete pain. I'd rather have a shower curtain.

" For the grand majority of able bodied adults showering will be easier than and as quick as scrubbing your armpits, bum, genitals, and boobs over a sink with a wet flannel."

Well, no, it's not easier for many reasons given above, even for able-bodied people.

And as for the ‘let’s hope you never end up not being able to shower every day’ I’ve had to do this after surgeries, sometimes for long periods. Of course I still washed myself/did a strip wash as best as I could, but it was very much the best of a bad situation, not something I would choose to do because it’s apparently quicker and easier.

Usually shower in the morning and bath in the evening.
Always one or the other- so if busy morning shower only, if lazy days afternoon bath only.

@Gwenhwyfar

" For the grand majority of able bodied adults showering will be easier than and as quick as scrubbing your armpits, bum, genitals, and boobs over a sink with a wet flannel."

Well, no, it's not easier for many reasons given above, even for able-bodied people.

That’s your opinion. I’ve given mine. I genuinely don’t see how standing naked in the bathroom washing all those areas with a flannel is easier or quicker than showering for the average able bodied adult. If you prefer it you prefer it but in my experience it’s not easier or quicker and it’s certainly not as comfortable as a warm shower.

Utter daft washing over a sink IMO

I have showered every day my whole adult life. Twice a day if I do a workout. My hair is very fine textured and if I don't wash it daily, it gets greasy and plastered to my head.

I don't understand why anyone would wash at a sink unless they are unable to shower. I had to sink wash when in hospital last year and by the time I got home I could not wait to have a shower even though I had to faff around with plastic wrap to cover an abdominal wound.

I don't understand why anyone would wash at a sink unless they are unable to shower

Because they don't want to shower.

@Kanaloa

And as for the ‘let’s hope you never end up not being able to shower every day’ I’ve had to do this after surgeries, sometimes for long periods. Of course I still washed myself/did a strip wash as best as I could, but it was very much the best of a bad situation, not something I would choose to do because it’s apparently quicker and easier.

I am arguing the fact that people are saying that not showering everyday is either, manky, gross, grim or disgusting. It isn't. And for a lot of people, whether they choose to or because they are disabled it is completely acceptable.

My nan has no disabilities and she showers twice a week and has a sink wash on the other days as in her words 'its less of a faff'.