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Of course you should wash every day otherwise you stink of either BO or some gawdaful stuff to mask your BO
You might, I don't.
You could be washing away your healthy skin biome by showering every day.
I got some Pit Rock alum crystal deodorant a while back. At first I thought it was rubbish, because my pits stank. But I kept at it, and they stopped stinking. Now, I only use it every few days and I rarely stink - but I do smell a bit randomly at odd times if I go more than a couple of days. If I use normal deodorant though I reek 24hours later. So I think it's a question of bacterial balance. Over-washing seems to reduce the competing bacteria more than the stink producing ones.
Well growing up in the 50s and 60s it was a bath once a week.
I grew up in the 70's and usually had a bath once or maybe twice a week.
I definitely don't need to shower everyday and never do.
molgrips - your nose just became accustomed to the stink! 😉
I'm deviating from the question, but I find it a bit worrying that even on a bike forum (where you think we would self select for fitness/health) there are a number of people that are going many days without any sort of meaningful exercise. (I do agree on the shower =/= wash though, pits and bits with soap and a flannel may be adequate for a number of situations, saving time and water)
WFH and supermarket delivery are meaning people are going days without even stepping outside.
Long term NHS impact as yet unseen?
I will tell you what is weird. My wife’s new habit of brushing her teeth whilst in the shower, that’s weird.
See, I'd have agreed with you in the past but I've starting doing it and it's a revelation. Less mess, less chance of tooth paste being left around your mouth and you stand under a warm shower whilst doing it.
It's the way forward.
You don't brush your teeth in the shower? It is so much more efficient - what else do you do as you wait for the conditioner to work? (actually don't answer that!)
I could not shower for a week and I wouldn't smell. But I do pretty much every day cos I exercise every day. Days that I don't exercise, depends how sweaty my nuts feel.
Its only weird not to if you are one of those whiffy types.
there are a number of people that are going many days without any sort of meaningful exercise
The only exercise I enjoy is cycling. All other forms of exercise bore me. I cycle every Sat/Sun and fairly often one day mid week so am usually 4 days a week without any meaningful exercise.
I would take a guess that I ride my bike more than the majority of people on this bike forum...
If I've done any exercise then I absolutely have to shower before bed, and I'm agreed with the having to brush teeth twice a day without fail. Luckily it's only my teeth that might rot if I don't clean them daily.
I don't shower every day*. Never wear deodorant. Definitely don't smell.
* I probably do in the summer and always immediately after exercise. It seems that some people just reek without any effort whereas others don't get BO, I'm the latter.
Stop pissing before you put your todger away
im in my 50s, if i were to wait for the last drip before putting said todger away, id never be out the bog.....
Yes weird
(unless you live in a cold environment, don’t exercise, and have self-cleaning crevices)
I will tell you what is weird. My wife’s new habit of brushing her teeth whilst in the shower, that’s weird.
Electric toothbrush? She may not be brushing her teeth...
Yes every day.
TBH - very surprised at the number of folks not showering every day
I'm not doing much exercise these days (aside from walking the dog) and I still shower every day
I think the washing everyday has only really become normalised once everyone got access to cheap (reasonably) unlimited hot water.
Indeed. Before the amazing invention of the immersion heater the only way to get hot water for a bath was the coal fire. That certainly wouldn't be lit every day during the summer, so a stand up wash was the norm. Dad got a shower every day but he needed it and it was free at the pithead baths when he came up after his shift. I'm certainly not knocking anyone who enjoys showering twice a day but it doesn't make you healthier or more hygienic.
I’m in the every morning and additional after exercise camp. I just feel all types of wrong if I don’t grab a shower first thing. I’ll wear jeans until they start moving of their own accord though. Just chuck them in the freezer overnight and wash when needed.
One of my pals was a Instructor in the RAF, he was the bloke you see in all those programmes shouting at Parades. Most of his time was taken up with teaching boys how to shower, brush their teeth properly, iron clothes, and so on. Just day to day admin.
Hmmmm
I'm clearly unhygienic
Must do better
If you don't shower every day, you're an absolute tramp.
TJ
You know that long distance walk you've planned round Scotland, or that month long cycle tour round Europe or that big mountain in Soth America.
Good luck with the daily showers 🙂
I will tell you what is weird. My wife’s new habit of brushing her teeth whilst in the shower, that’s weird.
Good time saver with the option always there of triple tasking...
I also brush my teeth in the shower. Sometimes I’ll have a wee too.
In the evening before sex, in the morning after sex, and at least every other day after other forms of exercise = about 2.5 times a day 🤷♂️
I don't really care what YOU do..
But I shower every day (if i can...). I don't feel fresh or awake unless i've had a shower.
I'll have a shower before a long bike ride, tehn one after too...
I just feel rough if i don't shower!
DrP
In the evening before sex, in the morning after sex, and at least every other day after other forms of exercise = about 2.5 times a day 🤷♂️
what about during? is anyone else involved?
As some others have said, not showering is not synonymous with not washing at all.
I had a hurried shower before the quiz on Weds and it occurred to me, it's the first time I've actually had a shower since moving in here four months ago. I didn't even possess a shower at all until maybe ten years ago.
Minging? I have a bath every few days, I like a good long soak with a bit of music, a podcast or an audiobook playing (I do use the shower for a final rinse-off of suds before getting out), and I have a strip-wash at the sink every morning.
Donald - yup - I will just be stinking then as with every " non wash" adventure. Its nice to have a train compartment to yourself on returning
Be honest OP, does "work argument" actually mean "HR grievance" in this instance?
what else do you do as you wait for the conditioner to work?
What is this "conditioner" you speak of?
I'm also in the "shower every morning or I don't feel awake" camp, but I'm often in and out in about three minutes - soap, lather, rinse, done. Wash my small amount of hair once or twice a week, with a tiny blob of shampoo.
What about when you shave, shower, get dressed and then want a poo? Always seems to happen before weddings and funerals or before cycling to work.
#annoyingthings
#evenafixedclockiswrongonceaday
What is this western obsession with being 'clean'? Never understood it. Too regular washing is bad for your skin anyway. And whilst bad BO isn't nice, neither is the overwhelming chemical stench I encounter whenever I make one of my rare trips by Tube. Deodorant is truly nasty stuff, I can't understand why anyone would want to put such noxious chemicals on their bodies. Showering daily, unless it's high summer and you sweat a lot, is unnecessary. Being bothered by other people's natural smell, is just weird, in my opinion. Shows how much we've become conditioned to being repulsed by that, and how much people are influenced by the marketing of 'personal hygiene' products.
Bridges - the chemical smelling bunch are not the same as the shower every day bunch! ( or not always). I don't use any antiperspirant / deodorant and I don't smell - because I am clean having had a shower or bath at least once per day!
What is this western obsession with being ‘clean’?
What is this western obsession with having a nice cup of tea in the morning too? How benighted and lost we are, please do show us the path to enlightenment, oh wise guru.
"What is this western obsession with having a nice cup of tea in the morning too? How benighted and lost we are, please do show us the path to enlightenment, oh wise guru."
Sorry? Most westerners drink coffee. Tea is only really popular in the UK. The UK is only a tiny part of the 'west'. So drinking tea is hardly a 'western obsession'...
How times have changed. Napoleon wrote to his wife, home in a week, don't wash. Used to be the 'muricans who were obsessed with the cleanliness being next to godliness thing. If you stop showering everyday with detergents that destroy yout skin's natural defences you'll stop smelling ripe after a few hours. Except for stress sweat, or garlic.
Ditto clothes. No need to wash the outer layers everytime you wear them unless they have visible dirt.
Theres plenty of evidence that, just like ones gut microbiome, ones skin microbiome is important for correct immune system normalisation and skin health.
The relentless use of soaps and surfactants on our skin during showering/washing sterilises our skin, strips all its natural oils and opens the way for less desirable microbes to form imbalanced communities in their place, cause our skin to overproduce its natural oils in order to compensate and make plenty more body odour than we would normally generate if our akin microbiome was more 'normal'. Interestingly, soil bacteria that metabolise ammonia are heavily implicated.
So, the use of soap and surfactants makes us smell more, and it becomes a vicious cycle.
Who'd have thunk it eh.? The soap we use to make our hands clean for food prep also kill bacteria across the rest of our bodies!
It's all out there on t'internet to learn about.
I shower every other day, or after exercise. As an experiment, I stopped using soap or shampoo last August, using only an exfoliating sponge, so I effectively rinse.
My wife and kids dont know this, nor have they noticed and my wife is always ready to criticise me any chance she gets.
@reluctantjumper
Full MemberShower every day for me. I struggle to sleep if I haven’t, I just feel dirty and I definitely have to change the bedsheets more often if I miss a day. I’m not particularly sweaty though, just tend to do some form of exercise every day and work was always physical with a cycle commute too.
First part for me, sometimes on a weekend if I haven't been doing much I will try not having a shower. Always have a terrible nights sleep bedclothes stick to me and I just feel grubby, have even got back up at 3am after being awake and had a shower then go to sleep easily?
My job is often physical and in hot mucky conditions so the thought of not having a shower makes me shudder.
I hated being a child in the early 70's with the lack of a shower just baths
Probably not helped by having greasy skin and a sweaty sod (what a catch eh)
Ditto clothes. No need to wash the outer layers everytime you wear them unless they have visible dirt.
You need to meet my girlfriend's daughter's boyfriend.
He showers at least daily (though he's a mechanic so after work is fair enough) and somehow manages to generate enough laundry to run the machine pretty much every single day. That's despite the daughter almost never leaving the house and therefore rarely even changing out of PJs, and it's not our stuff because if I leave so much as a damp tea towel in the drum the cheeky little bollocks will take it out to do his own.
It'll save me a fortune when they move out. The tumble drier packed in a couple of weeks ago, I'm not fixing it until they've gone.
Single, work from home, exercise 5 days and probably shower three times.
Definitely single. 💩
If you stop showering everyday with detergents that destroy yout skin’s natural defences you’ll stop smelling ripe after a few hours.
I only use warm water (sometimes cold) and some simple natural soap. Very, very rarely use deodorant of any kind. BO is caused by bacteria, sweat and often a number of other factors. How exactly is our skin’s ‘natural defences’ dealing with sweat and bacteria, and stuff?
"Bridges – the chemical smelling bunch are not the same as the shower every day bunch! ( or not always). I don’t use any antiperspirant / deodorant and I don’t smell – because I am clean having had a shower or bath at least once per day!"
I have no idea if people wash and use deodorant, or don't wash and use deodorant. I'm not party to their hygiene routines. All I know is that the Tube stinks of a mixture of BO, horrible chemicals of various kinds, and that electrical burning smell. As for you not smelling; it's more down to your diet and lifestyle, than washing, as pointed out; some people can stink even straight after washing. And you probably do smell; everyone does. You just don't notice it.
I shower or bath once a day and use a non-perfumed roll on deodorant. If I do smell then it's only my manly musk, not BO or chemicals.
No deodorants for me either, the active ingredients in them make me sweat heavily! Never had a complaint of me smelling from anyone under normal circumstances so I must be doing something right.
not being smelly is part of the consumer society. people who are scared of being smelly have been brainwashed
Holy mother of god, I'm not going down on any of you soap-dodging stinkers!