MIL bathing habits

[Bitesize89]

My in laws come to stay with us pretty frequently and I've noticed over time that mil never bathes when she comes. She can be here 3-4 days without a shower or bath. It recently was revealed that she only ever uses baths and no soap in her bath. This came up after she bagged my DD and didn't use any soap on her and she said well there was bubble bath in the water, I was shocked as I don't think that's a proper way to bathe and she said when she bathes she doesn't use soap and only bubble bath. So not only does she not bathe for days on and but when she bathes she just has a bubble bath and no soap.im really grossed out.

But it’s that ‘range of time’ we’re discussing.

Someone isn’t ‘gross’ because they have a different range to you. No-one fixed the magic number at 24 hours.

You sound like a super judgemental person. This post says more about you than MIL.

And BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20240423-theres-no-need-to-shower-every-day-heres-why

Oh and The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/hygiene-is-overrated/612235/

I didn't say it was scientific I'm saying it's impolite to smell - which people do if they don't wash every day unless they're doing absolutely. Most people are walking around every day in unbreathable fabrics and are going to smell if they don't wash along with .The article you linked agrees. It's not that there's necessarily a health benefit (although there is if you're washing with gentle soaps going to be healthy benefits for doing that daily in some areas rather than letting them fester and turning into a health issue). I brought yo hand washing because even though it's proven to be 100% necessary we still have swathes of society shirking it as not being necessary every time and the attitude they have is usually the same you hear from those that don't want to shower regularly.

There seems to be a lot of equating washing with washing with harsh soaps or chemicals. It's perfectly possible to wash with a gentle soap that is kind on your skin you know, they sell lots of them. It doesn't have to be either / or.

No one has answered my query of how people are confident or sure they don't smell even though they don't wash regularly.

Just funny that the bacteria on your hands is bad; but the bacteria in your pits making you stink is fine

Everything your linking is still agreeing with what I said - these people are still WASHING just not showering - fine, I said either is ok. There is still a social benefit to yourself and others in not stinking, I don't really care if there isn't a health benefit to showering. There isn't a health benefit to trimming your toenails either, but I'd still think it's gross for someone to walk around with talons.

Did you pay attention at school?

Some bacteria good, some bacteria bad.

Hand bacteria bad if it’s just come from your arse, or you’re planning to ingest it. Not all hand bacteria, just the ones that cause illness and disease.

It’s not bacteria that causes the stench, the bacteria causes the sweat to smell. That will depend from person to person on how they produce sweat and individual conditions (fear, anxiet, menopause etc all produce sweat from different glands and smells different). Some people naturally produce less sweat than others - the bacteria is irrelevant.

Funny yes, but true.

But this whole thread has been about arguing in favour of ‘washing’ rathee than showering.

Everyone has assumed the MIL is still washing.

Bubble bah IS soap you wally 🙄

I don't think we all have? A thorough wash of all required areas is going to require a clean flannel just as taking a shower and towels to dry etc. OP said MIL only washes by bathing and hadn't taken a bath in the time she was there. There's been many people on this thread commenting that they shower/bath only 2 or so times a week with no mention of a thorough wash in all their crevices including between their toes daily in between their biweekly shower/baths insisting they don't smell.

I think we're never going to agree. I think the people who think their arse crack isn't sweating "enough" that they need to wash it everyday are deluded.

Also @outofofficeagain it's not just sweat! Bacteria is growing in moist areas which everyone is going to have when your arms are against your sides, your legs are touching, all of us mostly wrapped in synthetic fabrics. It's perfectly fine to say you don't wash until your smell bothers you, but you absolutely do have bacteria there that stinks and could do with a wash.

Where have I said I don’t wash until the smell bothers me?

I do shower, regularly, I just don’t go around assuming that everyone is the same as me and disgusting if they’re not. But if I’m at home by myself all day, or got caught up in something else, I might miss a day and so far no massive harm has come to anyone around me.

Apart from you people who only change your sheets once a week. Absolute mingers.

If bubble bath isn't soap what is it?

When I have my shower with pears soap AND dove scented body wash, I’ll be sure to think of you all who shower once a millennia!

It's pretty obvious really, you don't eat or prepare food with your armpits do you? You don't ever put your armpit in your mouth.

I don't use soap unless I'm visibly dirty/need to get something greasy off me. Soap is often really drying of the skin on top of the horrible hard water we have in many parts of the country. It's also generally full of chemicals. I understand needing soap if all you do is stand under a shower, but in a bath you really don't need it.

I'm always amazed at how many people on MN stink so much that they have to shower/bath every day. Maybe they all wear a lot of hot, tight clothing. I wear loose clothes and could go a week without bathing and not smell.

As for bacteria a square cm of skin has between 10,000 and a million bacteria - it's perfectly natural to be covered head to toe in bacteria.

Bubble bath is exactly the same as shower gel. If I run out of bubble bath I run shower gel under the tap and swish it with my hand and it’s exactly the same.

That's because you then use your hands to prepare food and eat food with. I don't often wipe my bottom with my armpits and it's quite tricky getting dinner ready single them too. Have you seen how thoroughly surgeons wash their hands before operating? They don't scrub their armpits or any other body part quite as thoroughly.

Carry on destroying all the good bacteria (yes, there are such things) that live on your skin.

Can I ask though, how are you confident you could go a week of not washing and not smell? What makes you say that? Is it your own perception?

Bubble bath is soap

yiur hands get more none native bacteria - the rest of your body much less so

i rarely notice BO - and I’m at a festival at the moment and no one is smelling

i do notice over chemical scents - first thing in the morning until it evaporates

But if you got 💩 on your hands would you just wipe it with tissue and wait several days until you next washed your hands with soap? Regardless of if you were gonna prepare food

I think posters who think those that wash regularly "think they smell so bad they feel the need to" are kind of proving the point that not washing regularly means you do smell. We aren't washing because we stink, we're washing daily to prevent the build up of a stink occuring, not washing when we start to smell.

Not quite. Who's the wally now? 🫣

I’m a bit shocked at the number of people who think shower gel and bubble bath are the same as soap.