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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:
Momicrone · 13/01/2022 08:49

Nah, I'm not going to need fillings in my body if I don't wash it

Darbs76 · 13/01/2022 08:51

I shower 3 times a week too. I don’t care if anyone thinks it’s grim. I will shower more when it’s very hot but I don’t sweat much. Takes ages to dry and straighten my hair and I never shower and don’t wash it so 3 x week is fine

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 13/01/2022 08:53

@HacerSonarSusPasos yes they are. But one doesn't need to be done everyday

BlackeyedSusan · 13/01/2022 08:55

I used to be bathed once a weekin a plastic bath in the living room in winter, in the 1970s. It was normal even for adults.

Bits and pits everyday. But full shower/ bath not necessary.

CounsellorTroi · 13/01/2022 08:56

@Momicrone

Nah, I'm not going to need fillings in my body if I don't wash it
Good dental hygiene prevents gum disease and tooth decay. What’s the equivalent that can happen to your body if you only shower three times a week?
FruitMelange · 13/01/2022 09:43

yes they are. But one doesn't need to be done everyday

And the claim that "it only takes 2 minutes"
Implies to me that it's the shower equivalent of swishing water to clean your teeth.

Momicrone · 13/01/2022 09:45

Counsellertori, exactly my point, my body is not going to disintegrate if I don't shower

HacerSonarSusPasos · 13/01/2022 09:48

@FruitMelange,

20 sec wait for the water to get hot
30 seconds to get your body wet then turn water off
60 sec to soap up and scrub all important bits really well
30 seconds to rinse off
30 seconds to dry off

In and out in less than 3 minutes.
I timed it once

Idontknowlondon · 13/01/2022 10:30

@PurpleRainlnTheSky

Bloody hell *@PattyPan* where are you? The far reaches of Northern Canada?
I'm in North England and my bathroom this morning was 8.9 degrees. That's pretty cold!
Idontknowlondon · 13/01/2022 10:36

Doesn’t showering several times a day damage skin/dry it out?

Yes it does. Which is why I don't shower/ wash my whole body daily.

Lifeisnteasy · 13/01/2022 10:37

2 minutes isn’t as quick as it sounds. I could probably do a body wash in under 60 seconds if I was in a mad rush - just foam up, soap under the armpits & rinse.

The excuses people make not to wash 🙄

countrygirl99 · 13/01/2022 10:42

[quote HacerSonarSusPasos]@FruitMelange,

20 sec wait for the water to get hot
30 seconds to get your body wet then turn water off
60 sec to soap up and scrub all important bits really well
30 seconds to rinse off
30 seconds to dry off

In and out in less than 3 minutes.
I timed it once[/quote]
And drying your hair?

CassandrasCastle · 13/01/2022 10:47

My bathroom is freezing too @PattyPan! (For reasons similar to yours.) It seriously puts me off showering every day, so I am also a 3 times a week person AND PROUD. I wash my hair every time

HacerSonarSusPasos · 13/01/2022 10:49

@countrygirl99, I mentioned in a previous post that it's less than 5 minutes if I don't wash my hair.

When I do, it maybe 2 more minutes for washing and 5 more more drying.

Brings us to a whopping total of 10 minutes

CassandrasCastle · 13/01/2022 10:50

And I don't care if people are like 'Ohhh EXCUSES! You filthy hound'. These threads are always so amusing.

Oddly, MN is generally in favour of peeing in the shower (which I never do. Not because it's 'grim' although tbh it does sound a bit odd, just because it had never entered my head to do so...)

AllThePogs · 13/01/2022 10:50

I shower very quickly. But if I shower every day I then have to spend a while applying moisturiser. Every second day I only have to moisturise once a week.

cinci · 13/01/2022 10:52

How many times do you need it explained to you that people can keep clean without using a shower?

Inefficient and messy. How are you meant to wash your crack with a flannel in the sink?

Especially in summer, just get in the shower unless you physically can't.

Sink washing is silly, it's from the days when people didn't have running showers.

cinci · 13/01/2022 10:54

@Idontknowlondon

Doesn’t showering several times a day damage skin/dry it out?

Yes it does. Which is why I don't shower/ wash my whole body daily.

We have products that retain moisture. Do people not wash their hands in case it dries out, like what?

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 13/01/2022 10:54

@cinci

How many times do you need it explained to you that people can keep clean without using a shower?

Inefficient and messy. How are you meant to wash your crack with a flannel in the sink?

Especially in summer, just get in the shower unless you physically can't.

Sink washing is silly, it's from the days when people didn't have running showers.

Just because you can't do it properly or without making a mess doesn't mean other people can't
Bollindger · 13/01/2022 10:59

Wetting myself laughing at the germ phobia on this thread.
I bet 3/4 of the people you meeting in daily life didn't shower today.
Some of you really are bullies.

countrygirl99 · 13/01/2022 11:00

[quote HacerSonarSusPasos]@countrygirl99, I mentioned in a previous post that it's less than 5 minutes if I don't wash my hair.

When I do, it maybe 2 more minutes for washing and 5 more more drying.

Brings us to a whopping total of 10 minutes[/quote]
Well lucky you. Takes a lot of people more than 10 minutes to wash their hair. Plus they may not have an endsuite and need to move to a different room to do it.
Quite frankly if your time in the shower is that brief it's no more of an effective wash than pits and bits so stop bring so judgey.

ravenmum · 13/01/2022 11:00

I think she has beaten the record - or can anyone find a shower thread longer than this?

IamGusFring · 13/01/2022 11:01

@Bollindger

Wetting myself laughing at the germ phobia on this thread. I bet 3/4 of the people you meeting in daily life didn't shower today. Some of you really are bullies.
Urrggh you do really need a shower then if you can't control your bladder 🙄
Kanaloa · 13/01/2022 11:08

Quite frankly if your time in the shower is that brief it's no more of an effective wash than pits and bits so stop bring so judgey.

I don’t think most people are insisting a shower is any more effective than a ‘pits and bits’ wash. I simply said for most able bodied people I don’t see how washing your hands, face, armpits, boobs, bum, and genitals at the sink with a flannel every day is as easy or comfortable as just having a shower.

It seems like making long work of a short job.

Obviously if you can’t afford water/are disabled/live in a shack on top of a mountain and have to carry your water 900 miles and heat it with friction from two sticks you foraged from the woods it’s a different situation. But for most of us able bodied people in the uk it would surely be easier to shower.

Even when I’ve been in hospital very unwell a sponge bath/strip wash was sort of the last resort or best of a bad lot, and as soon as you were well enough to be able to you were encouraged to shower.