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How often do you bath / shower your children and yourself

79 replies

fairydust · 04/03/2004 17:59

I was talking to a friend today about baths and she was saying how long it took to bath them all (herself & two kids) in the morning and at night- i explained we only bathed at night and she looked at me in discuss.

So am i a dirty buggar or is it normal to only bath once a day

OP posts:
dkdad · 04/03/2004 21:24

I suspect a lot of this is depends where you are in the world - not only culturally but also on the state of the plumbing!

For instance, The Brits like baths, which take time and so they tend to take them in the evenings when they have the time. Most of Europe prefers showers which are quick and invigorating so we take them every morning.

Half of British houses can't really do the shower thing because British plumbing has this bizarre lack of water pressure. Equally, Britain is the only country I've lived in that has the expression 'don't use all the hot water'. What is that about?!

suzywong · 04/03/2004 21:26

Very astute of you dkdad (are you a Dane?)
My DH is Aussie and he thinks I am gross for not showering everyday in the winter.
Plus everyone knows if you use the hot water the monsters from under the bed will get you

dkdad · 04/03/2004 21:28

No, Suzywong, I'm a Brit but I've lived in many countries over the past 10 years or so and, how can I put this, the Brits are the least-washed of any of them!

kiwisbird · 04/03/2004 21:38

I shower daily as does DH (mornings), DS aged 10 is in shower every 2nd day or quick jump in the bath every day after his baby sister if he is in early enough - she has bath everyday at night as she loves it... Sometimes we use no SOAP
Oh the filthy shame of it all
Sometimes if I have my period I like to shower at the end of the day too... And in summer if its really hot a cool shower before bed, but not for hygiene reasons!!

eddm · 04/03/2004 21:39

Does anyone think people have started bathing/showering more often than when they were kids? I seem to remember 'bath night' was a big deal when I was little, involving acres of talcum powder. More like once a week than every day (although we were washed every day). I did ds every day with the occasional top and tail instead at first, then when he got eczema bathed only every two days, then heard latest research says do wash every day to get rid of creams/ any infection but use Oilatum in the bath. No doubt next week there'll be another study that says people with eczema should only wash when there's a full moon or something, Apparently all this water is very bad for our skin, BTW. We'll all be wrinkly way before our time!

sunchowder · 04/03/2004 21:40

This is such an interesting thread.....well....we all shower daily here-hardly time for baths. DD and I wash our hair every other dayI have her get in the shower with me so I can srub her head madly. It is so hot here, sometimes I shower after I get home from the market because I can't stand myself! The wet bosom thing kills me....

suzywong · 04/03/2004 21:42

Hey sunchowder long time no read!
Yes dkdad we are positively grubby, but as eddm points out we have good skin because of it.

suzywong · 04/03/2004 21:42

Oh and I remember my mum washing my hair with Fairy Liquid on the Sunday night bathtime which was, indeed, a big deal

Chinchilla · 04/03/2004 21:44

I shower and wash my hair every morning. So does dh (although it was every 1.5 days before he lived with me). Ds has a bath every night, but that is more for a routine wind-down. His hair does not get washed every day. If I need to shave my legs, or need to relax, I have a bath in the evening too, although that is not a cleanliness thing.

I hate the fact that us Brits are thought of as dirty. I have always been almost obsessed by not having BO. However, I can understand where our reputation comes from, as it amazes me the number of people you can walk past in town who have BO. How do they not notice? Why does their partner not tell them? I would tell dh if he smelled.

Hulababy · 04/03/2004 21:44

eddm - as children we had bath night too. I always remember Sunday ights before school. Used to have a bath and come into the front room with wet hair and in PJs. Had to sit in front of coal fire to dry my hair, and we were allowed tea in there after a bath as a treat. Had washes at night the rest of the time.

Can't imagine doing that now though. I hate not being able to wash and do my hair each morning now.

sunchowder · 04/03/2004 21:48

Hi Suzy! I have been missing everyone! Well, I do believe all of the washing is drying for the skin but I have some lovely things that I put on to nourish and moisturize after the shower. My SIL actually left something by Radox (shower creme)that was a bit sweet for me,but it was quite moisturing. My DH is a brit but I guess I have convinced him to shower more than he used to?He's clean in all the right places...that's what counts!

Janh · 04/03/2004 21:49

eddm, yes! Big deal bath night! Not having central heating in the bad old days was part of it - we had a paraffin heater and we all bathed once a week whether we needed it or not (cf Liz I)

DKdad, agree re English water pressure and showers. Electric showers, which were the bees knees 20 years ago, were a dribble. Power showers are brill, and if you have a combi boiler (we do) mains showers are OK too, and no tank to use all of the hot water from - do Danes have combi boilers too? (Still have to have the heating on and a nice warm room to step out into though.)

dkdad · 04/03/2004 22:02

Janh

well most(?) Danes have what's called community heating. It looks like normal central heating (radiators and such) but the hot water is pumped into the building from outside. To simplyfy, your rubbish in collected and incinerated, the resulting heat is returned to you as hot water and central heating. Smart, eh?

It's much more complex than that but you get the gist.

Seriuously, I am a Brit but I haven't lived there for 10 years, but the state of plumbing, insulation, heating etc shocks me when I look back on it. I live in a much colder country now but nobody is cold, nobody runs out of hot water and the concept of having the heating on a timer so that everything goes cold at night just seems plain barmy!

suedonim · 04/03/2004 22:04

Dh and I bath nightly - I couldn't get into bed with the day's dirt still on me. Dd2, usually every two days but often with extra baths added in. Dd1, age 16, only gets OUT of the bath to go to school.

When I was a child, I think we were bathed two or three times a week. In the winter when it was cold (no ch, as Janh says!) mum used to plonk us on the kitchen draining board and give us a swill down.

84 yo MIL seems to have given up bathing, as the bath is full of clutter and stuff. She strip washes every day and I must say, she doesn't pong at all. She says a good layer of dirt keeps the bugs out and as she's thus far pretty healthy, maybe she's right.

Chinchilla · 04/03/2004 22:08

The trouble with bathing at night is that you sweat at night. I read a statistic once, and it was pretty amazing how much the average person sweats in the night. So the accumulated sweat from the bed sheets is on your body when you get up. At least if you wash in the morning, you leave the house fresh.

suedonim · 04/03/2004 22:10

Dkdad, you'll be pleased to hear that we never use the timer on our heating and hot water, both are on 24hrs. Because we have thermostats on radiators, if the weather is warm the ch won't come on anyway - not that it ever is warm in Scotland!

We don't think it costs us any more to heat the house like that than to let it get cold and have to warm up again, esp on nights such as this week, when it was -14 and then -16degC.

Janh · 04/03/2004 22:11

dkdad, that sounds like the perfect solution - what happens if you live in a house though and not in an apartment block?

dkdad · 04/03/2004 22:12

Ah, Suedonim - you probably live even further north than me in Scandinavia so you understand these things! You're probably a viking really!

Janh · 04/03/2004 22:13

We do use our timer - the heating goes off at about 11.30 and back on about 7. If it gets left on overnight by accident everybody wakes up stuffy and bunged up and grumpy.

SenoraPostrophe · 04/03/2004 22:13

how clean everyone is. dd has a bath once a week (but does get thoroughly flannelled at every nappy change). I have a shower or bath some nights a week. wash hair when it needs it. and when I have time in the day.

But we don´t have central heating and have a titchy boiler. At least in this house the baths are small enough to fill with hot water before it runs out. Our last house had an enormous bath which you could only fill by turning the boiler up to scorching, waiting 3 hours and topping up with the kettle. This is Spain - who says the Brits are rubbish with hot water?

Slinky · 04/03/2004 22:14

I have a 6.30am shower and hair wash every morning. I couldn't go out of the house without having had a shower. I have a bath some evenings - purely for relaxation or to warm myself up!

DH leaves the house at 5am so he has a bath every night and either a proper wash in the morning or a shower at the gym before work.

The kids have a bath every other day.

suedonim · 04/03/2004 22:18

I know that's what they say, but I'm not really a sweaty person, thank goodness. A flannel and the bidet sorts any overnight grot, while clean sheets sorts out the accumulation!

dkdad · 04/03/2004 22:18

Janh

Houses can have district heating too, no problem. It's easily the most common form of heating here ahead of gas, oil or, heaven forbid, electricity. A lot of the heat for water and heating pumped to your house in this way is a product of the power stations that also generate electricity.

You pay for it in two ways, hot water is on a meter. As for heating, each radiator has a sensor on it which records a combination of temperature and time.

SenoraPostrophe · 04/03/2004 22:20

I want to move to Denmark!

suedonim · 04/03/2004 22:21

Lol, DKdad! I'm not Scottish, though, I'm from the soft south, Kent.

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