Hate showering & washing my hair-Do you shower every day?

[Dontfeelchristmassyyet]

Don’t know why I hate i?! Does anyone else?

I shower on working days (3 x per week) and if meeting up with friends etc, but if i’m off for a while, I don’t, is that gross? I could easily go a week if only doing school drop off and food shop, dog walks

Depends how you're defining 'quite old'.

I’m 36, don’t feel “quite old” yet, and definitely don’t shower every day.

Kinda wish those who shower once, twice or more a day would STFU about what other people might do. They don't smell, it's not 'GRIM' either. It's getting boring now.

Interesting, I didn’t realise you could smell someone through a phone.

Haha!! I'm early 30s and am in the not showering every day camp. What a bloody rude thing to say, basically OLD PEOPLE SMELL, NYER. You may be clean, but you're also a cunt

Haha...definately not. Funnily enough my ex DH was more into me unwashed - which is pretty freaky isn't it. He used to hate to have sex with me if I was freshly out of the shower. I was happy to be a bit more minging with him cos of that. My DP is definately not like that.

Do you think because I shower every day and think people who don't do that are smelly, that I have OCD? That's really insulting to people who have OCD which can be a debilitating mental health problem. The diagnostic criteria for OCD state that OCD obsessions/compulsions take in excess of an hour per day and cause significant distress and impairment to functioning. Maybe you could educate yourself a bit?

I don't know if anyone else has answered further on, but yes it's a really common ND trait. I'm AuDHD, I was happy to find other people find it hard like I do. I have to psych myself up for a shower, there's so many issues with it. It feels like it takes a lot of time, you get cold, then you get wet (and then water around my face is a sensory issue too), then it's pleasant and warm for a couple of minutes, but then you're cold again and damp. Going out makes sure that I do it. I've read a couple of books on ADHD and autism that give tips to encourage you to do it. I wash my hair only once a week, but that's on advice of my hairdresser as I have tight curls and was drying it out by doing it every time I showered.

I know plenty about OCD, but thanks for the lecture anyway.

Do people not love that fresh, clean feeling when you’ve just had a shower and put on clean clothes or pyjamas?
I love that freshly showered feeling.

I'm old and I shower and wash my hair every day. Guess being lazy isn't an age thing.

And still it goes on, sniping at each other.. you'd think women would be supportive..

You're welcome. From your comment, I assumed you knew nothing about.

What tips please? Would help my family member.

This type of discussion always gets so long because of one major problem - the lack of ability to imagine life from other people's perspectives - we forget that we don't all see things the same way, and that there is more than one way to live.

You do realise this is Mumsnet you're on? 😉😄 IME very many people on this forum are incapable of viewing things from anyone else's perspective. For some it seems there are only two ways to do life: 1. their way, and 2. anything done differently, in which case the person doing it is just wrong and/or stupid.

Shower x 2 a day and usually wash hair everyday. I'm a hairy, sweaty Betty though. I'd love to get away with less. Each to their own I say as long as you don't stink.

I shower in the evenings after work. If I miss that then I'd definitely shower the next morning. Baths use a ridiculous amount of water which is in short supply and I feel much more invigorated after a shower. Unless you're rushing around or getting really sweaty it's totally fine not to wash every single day but wouldn't go more than 24 hours without a shower.

i really really do - but I love it when I am already really dirty, and its not cold, I have plenty of time, and Im not rushed or feeling stressed. I like to really take my time over it, and bedding is fresh as well. But im autistic and quite sensory so thats probably why. I don't want/need that feeling every day when its rush rush rush, and its cold, and ive got wet hair etc. Someone described being sensory as walking around with a hair shirt on all the time and thats exactly it. So for me, that deeply sesnory experience of showering or bathing can be nice but only under certain circumstances, and only when there is an extreme difference (eg being really dirty and smelly, and hairy, and having a complete clean and shave). Probably doesnt make sense.

Come to think of it - that is exactly what im like with cleaning. I dont like doing it in bits regularly and daily - I like big blitzes once a week ish, Really getting stuck and i need to see a significant change. Like the little and often for me there isn't that 'reward' cos I cant see the difference.

Yes and that is my problem 😄

I get frustrated because really I don't think it matters that much if someone showers 4 times a week vs 7 or 14. Whatever makes you happy, so long as you don't actually smell (and not everyone does). But most people instantly go to 'you don't do the same as me therefore you're an IDIOT/DISGUSTING/DELETE AS APPLICABLE'

Of course if it was a discussion of preferences without judgement, it wouldn't be so entertaining, would it?

I’m also autistic, but one of my things is I can’t stand feeling unclean. I can’t think of anything else if I need a shower. Even being late for my shower by a couple of hours makes me feel horrid.
Strange how differently it affects people!

A few ideas - schedule it into your day (doesn't then feel like it takes up so much time, but feels like something you can tick off your list, it's the only way I can do it); reward yourself with something afterwards; have clothes ready so you can get warm quicker; use a speaker to play some music while you do it (my autistic DP does this); also not applying pressure - if you just manage to wash a little, and not get as far as washing your hair, it's a start

@henlake7

eh? How do you get washed ? And what century do you live in to not have running hot water?

I boil a kettle and either have a sink wash or a 'DIY shower' (stand a bucket in the bath with a jug.....works exactly the same as a shower except I have to direct the water myself).
and I live in a century where some people cant afford to spend a fortune on a new boiler because they are piss poor.🙄
(also I have a freakishly low water bill because I really pay attention to what water Im using so Im not even a little bit mad about it!😂).