Am I being dirty / unhygienic/ smelly ?

[pineapplesouffle]

Hi

this isn’t a competitive cleaning thread. I’m just looking for some honest help and advice here because I’ve totally lost track of what is normal and what isn’t

I’ve had OCD for a while, I’ve been in denial about it but it’s come to a head and I’ve realised I can’t shut it out anymore. I was obsessed with cleaning myself and was utterly convinced that if I don’t scrub my body 11 times with new soap or shower gels then I’ll be dirty and smelly etc

i don’t want to be like this and I’ve decided it stops NOW. I went to lush and treated myself to a nice new bar soap which I intend to wash myself with. And I’m NOT doing it 11 times. I’m going to wash my body once over with it.

I just feel so worried because it goes against everything my OCD tells me. But washing once with a bar of soap will make me clean won’t it? I don’t need to wash my body with it several times? And I can rub it directly on my body and build a lather etc and by washing my body 1x I won’t be dirty or smelly will I?

thanks, I’ve just completely lost perspective but I want to stop my ocd habits right now, I just need someone to tell me I’m not being smelly or unhygienic by doing this

thanks x

Buy some really lovely soap. I like the hand made vanilla soap. It has a lovely fresh vanilla smell and I promise you washing once is all you need to do then stand under the shower and let the water wash the soap off of you.

You will be clean and fresh after one go. AND you will not be damaging your skin by stripping it of the totally natural protective oils that are supposed to be there to protect you from bacteria, etc!!!

Remember OP the more you say NO to obsessions, the more they will weaken.
Try not to seek reassurance. You KNOW one wash is fine. You can and will do this OP!
I've a tendency to check. If I feel the obsession really starting to flex it's muscles again I ensure that I just check once and done. It's sometimes really, really hard to not look again or do whatever the obsession is making you doubt, but we have to show the imp who's boss! 🙂