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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:
avocadotofu · 14/01/2022 21:00

I shower daily unless I'm really sick. I couldn't personally do three days but I think if it works for you that's all that matters though.

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 14/01/2022 23:05

@Justheretoaskaquestion91

Bothers me more that you don’t wash your children every day!
Children certainly don't need washing every day. Unless it's summer they're actually dirty
Fr0thandBubble · 15/01/2022 00:08

I shower twice a week. I promise I don’t smell (I don’t “work out” and don’t eat meat or dairy).

avamiah · 15/01/2022 00:15

I get a bath every evening or a shower if I’m washing my hair and I have always done this.I get up at 6.15am most days and the only time I’ll get a shower at that time is if I’m on my period.

Therealrealitystar · 15/01/2022 00:24

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

avamiah · 15/01/2022 00:48

@Therealrealitystar

I’ve bathed everyday of my life apart from when I had surgery. Even when I had covid and could barely move. I would not live with or date someone who didn’t.
I totally agree with you. My beautiful mum who was 84 passed away 5 months ago and she had a bath and hair wash 3 days a week and washed twice a day. Even when she wasn’t well she still wanted her hair done.
AllThingsServeTheBeam · 15/01/2022 00:58

@Therealrealitystar

I’ve bathed everyday of my life apart from when I had surgery. Even when I had covid and could barely move. I would not live with or date someone who didn’t.
Let's hope you or someone you live with doesn't start with mobility issues.
AuntTwacky · 15/01/2022 00:58

@Therealrealitystar

I’ve bathed everyday of my life apart from when I had surgery. Even when I had covid and could barely move. I would not live with or date someone who didn’t.
Why are you ocd? Unbelievable
Kanaloa · 15/01/2022 01:02

Plenty of people would want to be with someone who showers daily Hmm there’s threads all the time complaining about bad hygiene where posters often agree that showering daily is a minimum that they’d want in an intimate relationship.

And obviously if someone you loved suddenly became disabled to the point they were bedbound/couldn’t shower it would be a very extreme and different situation.

Same as you might say ‘oh I would want a relationship with someone who works, not somebody who is unemployed.’ Obviously you’re not saying if the man you’ve loved for twenty years had a stroke and could not work you’d boot him out on the street. People don’t feel the need to state any possible situation.

Eg ‘aibu to think cycling is better for your health than driving? Obviously this doesn’t apply to people who don’t have legs or have dyspraxia or can’t afford a bike or live up a mountain so can’t bike or have five kids and can’t fit them in a bike or…’

AuntTwacky · 15/01/2022 01:12

You can keep clean without showering every day wasting precious water and damaging the planet

MrsPuddle · 15/01/2022 01:16

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles 😂😂

My children are scrubbed with wire wool and detol every morning, and their pyjamas are thrown on the bonfire to be replaced by the daily Boden delivery. Once the Covid mask is superglued in place they are ready for their day.

ShowOfHands · 15/01/2022 06:29

Well doesn't matter if it's the op who works for a news outlet, somebody has picked this up and written a scintillating article.

HacerSonarSusPasos · 15/01/2022 08:56

@Fr0thandBubble

I shower twice a week. I promise I don’t smell (I don’t “work out” and don’t eat meat or dairy).
Do you wash in between the showers?
JS87 · 15/01/2022 09:29

I’m guessing everyone washes all their clothes after a single wear too?

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 15/01/2022 09:33

@JS87

I’m guessing everyone washes all their clothes after a single wear too?
Pants and socks yes. But not everything.
Kanaloa · 15/01/2022 09:34

@JS87

I’m guessing everyone washes all their clothes after a single wear too?
Of course. I just scrub them up in the sink with my strip wash water when I’ve finished washing my bum and feet in it! I wouldn’t want to be wasting water in the washing machine when I can do it so much more easily in the bathroom sink. Then I boil the water up and cook my noodles for tea in it to further save water.
CurlyhairedAssassin · 15/01/2022 10:44

@JS87

I’m guessing everyone washes all their clothes after a single wear too?
Knickers and socks, of course (I did have to teach DH to do this when we were first living together - yuck).

In summer on a hot sweaty day, then, yes, I'd put a fresh top on every day after having in my daily shower in the morning. Not jeans, skirt etc, though, unless they actually had dirty marks on that wouldn't sponge off. In winter I'd wear a top for 2 days running, probably. Maybe 3 if I'm just slobbing around the house and getting up late eg over Xmas.

There's not much point sweating all day in a T-shirt then getting up next day and showering then putting the same sweaty T-shirt back on, is there? You may well start off with clean armpits after your shower but the stale sweat in the underarms of your clothes will still have the bacteria that causes smells sitting there in the fabric strands. As soon as there's a bit of body heat or moisture again then it just gets added to and there'll be potential pong.

Come on, we all have met people in our workplace who stink who make out they shower every day. Well, ,perhaps they do but they certainly aren't putting a fresh shirt on after it. Probably wearing the same one for 4 days straight.....

CounsellorTroi · 15/01/2022 10:54

3 things to prevent BO

Wash
Use deodorant
Change and wash clothes often enough.

TBH if you only do two of those 3 things you are unlikely to pong. Not in winter anyway. And there are a lot of nasty synthetic fabrics these days which really hang on to the smell of sweat.

MidnightMeltdown · 15/01/2022 13:07

I mostly shower every other day and wash my hair at the same time, unless there's a reason for me to shower on consecutive days (exercise etc).

The only reason that I don't shower everyday is because I don't want to wash my hair everyday. If I shower without washing my hair then the steam seems to make it greasy.

However, I'm not a sweaty person. People have often commented that I don't seem to sweat much, even after exercise. It surprises me how much some other people sweat. I think that there are individual differences in how often you need to shower.

UnsuitableHat · 15/01/2022 13:20

If 3 times a week works for you, nothing wrong with that.

Agrudge · 15/01/2022 15:07

This has made it to the sun paper

Mammyloveswine · 15/01/2022 15:15

I shower daily!

SC215 · 15/01/2022 15:59

You can keep clean without showering every day wasting precious water and damaging the planet

Showering daily doesn't mean that you are wasting water. I lived and worked somewhere where hot water and time were in short supply, and got used to having a "navy shower": turn the water on for 30 seconds, get wet, turn it off, soap up, and then rinse with another 30 seconds. I still do this every morning and most evenings. Same concept as turning off the tap in-between washing your hands or brushing your teeth, and much easier than faffing about having a strip wash.

KatyRebecca84 · 16/01/2022 08:39

www.indy100.com/viral/shower-three-times-week-mumsnet-b1993253

Just found this news article!!

Theoldwoman · 18/01/2022 05:12

Surely this has to be some kind of joke!

In this day and age, daily showering is just basic hygiene.
Also, who in their right mind would need to ask a bunch of strangers on the net?