How often do you bathe/shower?

[Gooch's dad]

I saw a bumper sticker on my drive home the other day: "Patchouli isn't a bath!" There are a fair number of old-fashioned hippies around Madison, I guess.

And that got me thinking about cultural norms regarding bathing and showering. I've taken a few trips to Germany for business, and at least one trip was in the heat of summer, to Kiel, where it was quite hot, in the 90's Farenheit, and of course there was no AC in the facility where I was working. Many of the Germans I was working with didn't seem to shower daily, and they were noticeably rank to my American nose. Of course, it didn't seem to faze any of the other Germans.

I'm hoping to hear from people outside of the U.S., where daily showering seems to be the norm. BTW, I shower daily, and if I run or workout, I'll usually shower again after that, especially if I'm going out to a club afterwards.

[Goldie]

Daily

We have a lot of the "old hippies who do not bathe much" tribe here, as well.

[RevRobert]

Every morning unless I'm really sick and even then I try sometime during the day because it makes me feel better.

[Wally]

Evening; daily in hot weather... or as needed.

[Christina]

Daily

We have a lot of the "old hippies who do not bathe much" tribe here, as well.

Here too. I used to drive my deadhead friends crazy because I made us stop somewhere every day so that I could take a shower or at least swim. Just thinking about stinky people drenched in patchouli oil is kind of traumatic.

[tjakey]

Usually once a day, though on a bike trip I might get a good 2 or 3 day grub going. Also, anytime I have to spent too much time around a fundie.

[His Noodly Appendage]

Daily here also - possibly more if it's really hot / etc.

[Hedwig]

Daily. Sometimes twice if it's been a hot and sticky sort of day (minds out of the gutter, people).

[JackRussell]

I like rolling in the snow. Shower daily too.

[Ian Nerr]

Daily, more often if I sweat a lot or get dirty. I might skip a day if I don't do anything all day or in unusual circumstances.

[hecaterin]

Daily. Unless on some sort of camping trip, or sick.

My Mum came from the one bath a week generation in the UK. I can't remember when she changed over to modern standards.

[His Noodly Appendage]

Can we make it legal to hose down smelly people with extreme prejudice?

I encounter a few on a regular basis, and it's not fun.

I once worked with someone who literally made your eyes water to be in the same room with him. I know winos that smelled better.

Then there was the lovely old couple who regularly took the same bus home that I did - in their 80s somewhere, always pushing one of those covered trolley things. I am SURE it was filled with decaying chicken. I HOPE it was, for I do not want to know what could possibly make a human smell that bad.

And there's the man in our building who apparently has never taken a shower in his entire life, and always keeps a handkerchief over his nose and mouth when he's in the lift, to avoid catching a cold. Seriously, mister, don't worry. Nobody is breathing within 15 feet of you, and that's my personal guarantee.

Can I carry a backpack model SuperSoaker full of bleach and rubbing alcohol? Please?

[BWE]

Once a month whether I need it or not.

ETA: Do I get a prize for being the first to use an old joke as an answer to an OP?

[seebs]

Very close to every-other-day. I very, very, rarely skip a day. I sometimes shower two days in a row, but I don't like to; my hair and skin don't take to it well.

[Ray Moscow]

Usually I shower every morning -- occasionally more often than that if I've had a hard workout or something later in the day.

[Jet Black]

one a day or two days. My mum was from the one bath a week generation and I kept to it for ages until the Mrs forced me to wash everyday. I think it's wasteful and decadent to use up so much water, but hell, the wrath of the other half overrides any moral principles I have.

[Febble]

When I was a student in Switzerland, I was allowed one bath per week, but had to clean the stairs twice a day.

[Nialler]

Twice a day. Morning and evening.

[BWE]

one a day or two days. My mum was from the one bath a week generation and I kept to it for ages until the Mrs forced me to wash everyday. I think it's wasteful and decadent to use up so much water, but hell, the wrath of the other half overrides any moral principles I have.

So many levels JB. So many levels.

[Flying Buttress]

At least a whore's bath daily. With 4 people racing for one bathroom in the morning, sometimes that's all I can manage. I prefer a proper shower everyday.

[Worldtraveller]

Daily during the week. Sometimes more than once a day (usually after a workout or swim), and very rarely, I'll skip a day on a weekend when I haven't done anything.

My normal routine is to shower in the morning, but if I shower late at night, I will skip the morning shower.

Cheers.

[Christina]

I spent ten years cooped up with homeless people when I ran a shelter. Sometimes it got so bad that we had to tell people that they couldn't come into the dining hall until they bathed because they were making everyone sick. There was one guy that hadn't bathed in years and we finally got him into a shower, but the moment that the water hit him he ran naked and screaming out of the shower and the staff had to chase him around with a towel.

Sometimes they would stink up my office and then the next person who came in would give me a weird look as though I were the one that smelled that way. A few times I sprayed people with air freshener because I couldn't breath around them.

[mac_philo]

I take a shower every morning. My hair is unmanageable if I don't shower. I think it's because I turn a lot in the night, grinding my head on my pillow.

In college I was more of a dirty hippy, but not to the point where I stunk. I at least changed my clothes. I never used patchoulli or anything as a bathing substitute.

[Christina]

That's the other reason I shower at least once a day. I wake up with a tangled mess of curls that I can't comb unless I get put conditioner on it first.

[ck1]

When I was a freshman in college there was another student in my dorm who had a real problem. It wasn't that she didn't bathe - her hair would turn greasy within a few hours of washing it. You could tell she entered a room even if you were not facing the door.

One day after she went to class, a group of us entered her room and took all her clothes and sheets to the laundry and put them through the machines three times. Small, temporary solution.

[B Cereus]

Daily, unless camping or backpacking.

[Garnet]

Every morning unless I'm sick.

[Hookpunch]

Daily, sometimes more after a workout or on a hot summer day.

[seebs]

I get the impression that there's a huge variance in how quickly people get dirty, not just in how much dirty they are comfortable with.

[DMB]

I shower at least once a day. More often if I feel manky or have had a swim at any time other than first thing in the morning.

When I was a small kid during WW2, we lived in a house in the country with no electricity, piped water or sewage. I remember being bathed in a galvanised tub in front of the fire, probably about once a week, but I sluiced myself down every day standing at the sink. I think it was facilities like that that explain the weekly bath.

In my first proper job at the beginning of the 1960s I had a colleague who convinced me she was a Neanderthal. She was short but very powerfuly built, with almost no neck and an undershot jaw. She had such a powerful odour that all her female colleagues shied away from her. If you had to stand near her it mad you gag. But the curious thing was that despite (because of?) the pong, she was apparently sexually attractive to men. She seemed to have a new man every night.
:confused:

[Lanakila]

I shower every morning, and with having to be at work by 5 am, that means getting up at 3:30 on work days. On my days off I'll lounge around and not shower until about 10 sometimes, but I have to shower. I was not brought up in the conserving water generation.

[Oolon Colluphid]

Suffering from -- or, more often apparently, enjoying -- anosmia, I have to shower every day, just to be on the safe side (apart from it feeling nicer).

[Oolon Colluphid]

In my first proper job at the beginning of the 1960s I had a colleague who convinced me she was a Neanderthal. She was short but very powerfuly built, with almost no neck and an undershot jaw. She had such a powerful odour that all her female colleagues shied away from her. If you had to stand near her it mad you gag. But the curious thing was that despite (because of?) the pong, she was apparently sexually attractive to men. She seemed to have a new man every night.
:confused:

Oddly enough, I saw a review in the Sunday... somethingorother, probably Times... last weekend of a book called Clean: An Unsanitised History of Washing (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clean-Unsanitised-History-Katherine-Ashenburg/dp/1846680956). Seems it's entirely cultural: some cultures find the pong of unwashed human repulsive, others highly attractive. Your anecdote then reminded me that the reviewer quoted the author on Napoleon, who apparently sent a letter to Josephine saying "I'll be home at the weekend, don't wash" (or similar).

Evolutionarily speaking, I imagine that the smell ought to be attractive, and our (well your ;)) sentitive noses have just gotten so accustomed to to low-levels of human smell that we now find it more overpowering than actually off-putting.

Then again, I'm dancing about architecture here.

[Ian Nerr]

Some people smell better than others.

[Jesus Tap-Dancin' Christ]

Depends on where I am. Here--weekly or so. My shower blows, and I do not like being near it. Salerno, daily. Bragg, M-F.

[Cath B]

...one a day or two days. My mum was from the one bath a week generation and I kept to it for ages ... I think it's wasteful and decadent to use up so much water...

Nowadays I feel uncomfortable if I don't bathe daily (our shower has been broken for the past five or ten years:I jest not).

But I feel guilty:the noble person I aspire (but fail) to be knows that it is far, far worse to wantonly overuse resources than to worry about offending the fastidious noses of our neighbours.

[Cath B]

Oddly enough, I saw a review in the Sunday... somethingorother, probably Times... last weekend of a book called Clean: An Unsanitised History of Washing (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clean-Unsanitised-History-Katherine-Ashenburg/dp/1846680956). Seems it's entirely cultural: some cultures find the pong of unwashed human repulsive, others highly attractive. Your anecdote then reminded me that the reviewer quoted the author on Napoleon, who apparently sent a letter to Josephine saying "I'll be home at the weekend, don't wash" (or similar).

Evolutionarily speaking, I imagine that the smell ought to be attractive, and our (well your ;)) sentitive noses have just gotten so accustomed to to low-levels of human smell that we now find it more overpowering than actually off-putting.

Then again, I'm dancing about architecture here.

I saw some research once where folk had to remain unwashed and wear the same teeshirts for several days running. The teeshirts from several folk were then sniffed by members of the opposite sex who had to rank the rank teeshirts in order of sniff / pheromone (not sure if this is quite the same thing) appeal. The researchers claimed that folk preferred the smell of folk with complimentary immune systems who would give them fitter offspring. Not sure quite how reliable the research was, but an interesting idea. Of course, out tendency to wash off our natural aroma and to use deodorants and perfumes inhibits any latent ability to sniff out suitable partners.

Another interesting snippet: on more than one visit to castles I have seen references to the location of the wardrobes of the poshest inhabitants. These were placed in the privies where the ammonia allegedly kept bugs at bay.

[David B]

I saw some research once where folk had to remain unwashed and wear the same teeshirts for several days running. The teeshirts from several folk were then sniffed by members of the opposite sex who had to rank the rank teeshirts in order of sniff / pheromone (not sure if this is quite the same thing) appeal. The researchers claimed that folk preferred the smell of folk with complimentary immune systems who would give them fitter offspring. Not sure quite how reliable the research was, but an interesting idea. Of course, out tendency to wash off our natural aroma and to use deodorants and perfumes inhibits any latent ability to sniff out suitable partners.

.....


I've come across, and posted about, stuff like that before, on iidb.

It seems pretty solid, as I recall, that mice use complimentary smells as guides to complimentary immune systems, but IIRC it's not as well demonstrated in people.

Jude and I like each others natural smells.

David B (wonders if modern high divorce rates can be blamed, in part at least, on the perfume and toiletries industry)

[Goldie]

When I worked for the ranch and at the vet clinic (large animal)
My days were filled with gore... as was my hair, ears, skin and clothes.... blood, puss, feces, urine, spooge... you name it.

So, two showers was a must. One in the AM to freshen and wake up to start the day, and one after work... to remove the gak and the smell of disinfectant (usually Weladol, a tamed iodine)

[shipload]

Being as I consider cascading hot water one of the blessings of civilization, I like to enjoy once a day...and, once a week I enjoy a long, luxurious hot shower, sometimes with both showerheads running.

But then, due to extremely sensitive skin, I cannot use deodorants, antiperspirants, colognes, or even scented soaps. I have to used a special disinfecting soap (the stuff surgeon's use for washup) for my axillae, to kill the bacteria which cause the rank odor.

I seem to remember the sweaty teeshirt study, too. IIRC, they also found that women were attracted to scents which were similar to their fathers'.

[Goldie]

Being as I consider cascading hot water one of the blessings of civilization, I like to enjoy once a day...and, once a week I enjoy a long, luxurious hot shower, sometimes with both showerheads running.

But then, due to extremely sensitive skin, I cannot use deodorants, antiperspirants, colognes, or even scented soaps. I have to used a special disinfecting soap (the stuff surgeon's use for washup) for my axillae, to kill the bacteria which cause the rank odor.

I seem to remember the sweaty teeshirt study, too. IIRC, they also found that women were attracted to scents which were similar to their fathers'.

That explains my love of Old Spice... (not really... but it does leave me with fond memories of my Daddy, who died when I was 8.)

I cannot imagine not being able to wear fragrance. I get so much joy from my rather extensive, expensive foof collection.

I also buy nice foof for my hubby.

[Christina]

That explains my love of Old Spice... (not really... but it does leave me with fond memories of my Daddy, who died when I was 8.).

I can't stop sneezing around any kind of perfume, aftershaves and artificially scented stuff, but the smell of old spice always reminds me of my dad too. He died when I was 11.

We have so many weird things in common : )

[Arctish]

In the summer I shower daily. I usually muck around in the garden and the greenhouse for an hour or so each day and I like to be outdoors a lot. Between the sunscreen, bug spray, soil, and grass clippings I get happily grubby over the course of the day. In the winter, though, I shower every 2-3 days, usually at night.

In the interior of Alaska the winter air is very dry. The climate semi-arid and furnaces, heaters, and woodstoves dry the air further. If I shower every day my skin becomes very dry and itchy. It's a common problem around here; I doubt my seasonal showering pattern is unusual.

[Pendaric]

Every morning, and most evenings.

[dancer_rnb]

I cannot imagine not being able to wear fragrance. I get so much joy from my rather extensive, expensive foof collection.


I thought you wrote foot collection at first.

People, beware if you see Goldie with an axe!

[A Dead Relative]

I shower once a day, unless I have gotten really dirty, or plan on on going out. I feel grungy, if I don't get a daily shower.Can we make it legal to hose down smelly people with extreme prejudice?

I encounter a few on a regular basis, and it's not fun.

I once worked with someone who literally made your eyes water to be in the same room with him. I know winos that smelled better.

Then there was the lovely old couple who regularly took the same bus home that I did - in their 80s somewhere, always pushing one of those covered trolley things. I am SURE it was filled with decaying chicken. I HOPE it was, for I do not want to know what could possibly make a human smell that bad.

And there's the man in our building who apparently has never taken a shower in his entire life, and always keeps a handkerchief over his nose and mouth when he's in the lift, to avoid catching a cold. Seriously, mister, don't worry. Nobody is breathing within 15 feet of you, and that's my personal guarantee.

Can I carry a backpack model SuperSoaker full of bleach and rubbing alcohol? Please?I use to work with a guy who probably smelled worse than anything you can imagine. I mean, I've smelled more appealing skunks. Some days were worse than others, but if he was even in a large room, you could smell him throughout the whole room, after a short time. Someone told me it was the drugs seeping out, through his pores. I swear someone could have gotten high, just standing next to him. I will never understand how his wife or kids put up with it.:yuck:

[Hedwig]

I knew a guy in college who lived in my dorm. He was always cooking the tastiest-smelling food in the kitchen. You knew it had to be delicious because it managed to mask his natural aroma. He took a shower, once, at the beginning of the year. About two thirds of the way through, they (res life) had to evict him because of the aroma seeping out of his room. You could smell when he entered the common rooms. When they did evict him, they found that his room was full of stubbed out cigarette butts on every surface (floor, desk, window sill, etc.) and raw meat sitting out on any non-cigaretty surfaces.

The guys who moved his stuff out had to shower afterwards.

[A Dead Relative]

That reminds me of a smelly college roommate, I had. He worked at Burger King, but the smell had to be more than just that. I always kept the door to my room open, even if it was just slightly cracked. Lucky for me, my old roommate told him I was claustrophobic, because I couldn't think of a way to get him to keep the door open. He would still close the door, when I was gone, and the smell would hit me like a brick wall, when I opened the door.

[spikepipsqueak]

Shower every morning, with the exception of Sunday when I'm in and out of the sea so often that I shower in the evening so I can sleep salt-free.

Have a problem, at the moment, that I am riding my bike to work - where there are no shower facilities.

I comfort myself that what people encounter is fresh sweat, not days old..

[DMB]

Years ago my mother was running an hotel and she had employed some staff who were mentally challenged (or whatever the pc term is) from a local home. (The home were keen to find work that their people would be able to do.) One of them had severe hygiene problems. My mother came into the hotel kitchen and he was there ponging out the others workers. She cried, "What's that terrible smell?" and "accidentally" sprayed air freshener all over this character. He actually had a bath immediately afterwards.

[llanitedave]

I usually shower every evening just before bed. Occasionally, but not often, I'll skip a day if I haven't been active at all. Usually I'm out in the yard after work and on weekends, wallowing around in dirt, steer manure, sawdust, and/or glue, so even if the work day was easy, the evenings usually aren't.

Sometimes I'll take a long, hot epsom salt bath.

I knew some folks in the Navy who were naturally stinky no matter how often they bathed. Some are just cursed, I suppose. It's not necessarily a matter of hygiene.

[Goldie]

1/2 hour after my son showers, if he forgets deodorant, he gets VERY ripe. (Odd because my hubby and I don't have this problem) So, we have to TELL him... Then, just putting on deodorant WON'T work, nor will a "spitz bath." He actually has to re-shower.
If he wears deodorant, he's fine.

I finally bought some deodorant for our main floor shower. He is the only person that uses it (when he doesn't feel like running home.)
My husband could go a couple days without deodorant and work hard and sweat and still not have much of an odor.
I guess everyone is different. I just wish people would give a shit how their stench affects others.

[His Noodly Appendage]

I don't know how much I smell, but when I work out, I sweat *buckets*. Even drowned in antiperspirant, give me 20 minutes in the gym and I just drip on the floor. From the hem of my t-shirt.

And while I've put some weight back on of late, this has been true even when I was in bloody good shape. I've always had a major problem with heat dissipation. I don't know why this is.

[Droopy]

Every morning and after any grubby activity (working out, gardening, full force house cleaning). I smell musty if I don't use deodorant and feel awful if I don't wash my hair every day.

[hecaterin]

I can't wash my hair every day, it would turn to straw.

People's senses of smell aren't the same. I remember sniffing a vial of some male hormone at a Science museum somewhere (San Francisco??), and to me it was disgustingly stinky, while most of the guys and a couple of the girls couldn't smell it at all.

Also, you acclimatise. When everyone around you eats garlic and spices and fermented shrimp paste, everybody smells of garlic and spices and fermented shrimp paste, and so you tune it out, like background white noise. Take someone out of that cultural & cuisine setting, and ewww! I've also heard that vegetarians who mostly interact with other vegetarians find that meat-eaters smell revolting. But vegetarians whose social networks are wider don't notice a thing.

[Cath B]

I guess everyone is different. I just wish people would give a shit how their stench affects others.

I just wish people would give a shit about the way their wanton use of toiletries damages the environment - a much bigger issue.

[Droopy]

People's senses of smell aren't the same. I remember sniffing a vial of some male hormone at a Science museum somewhere (San Francisco??), and to me it was disgustingly stinky, while most of the guys and a couple of the girls couldn't smell it at all.

There are a couple of streets in Sydney that I will avoid on Saturday and Sunday mornings because of the stench of the urine from the previous night's party goers. The smell makes me gag and makes my eyes water but my husband can't smell a thing.

It's a definite hormonal thing that's entirely changeable. I got insanely sensitive to smells when I was pregnant. I couldn't stand the smell of raw red meat and realised that I was holding my breath in a shopping centre lift once because all the people in it smelled like meat.