Showering

irukandjisting · Post by **irukandjisting** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:15 pm

Has this been covered before??
anyways...
was just chatting to a mate in the UK who says it's 'most uncommon' and wasteful to shower daily, she doesn't - and she almost had a hissy fit when I said I shower twice a day - quick showers - no more than a couple of minutes
What do you think???....
Showering is important, yes ???

secretwealth · Post by **secretwealth** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:40 pm

There is a big cultural divide between Europeans and Americans when it comes to showering/bathing. Americans obsess over hygiene and think it's disgusting to shower less than once a day. Europeans disagree in general, and I think most Europeans wash their hair even less--which makes sense, because washing your hair daily is really bad for it. I imagine washing your skin daily is bad too, especially with some of the soaps on the market.
I think from a cost perspective the difference is too marginal to be a major factor, but from a resource consumption standpoint daily showers and particularly twice-daily showers are a huge drain on the water supply.

chicago81 · Post by **chicago81** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 3:33 pm

I shower twice daily. Once in the morning, and once in the evening after working out at the gym.
I love feeling clean and smelling nice. I would not give this up.

44deagle · Post by **44deagle** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 4:30 pm

you should go without showering for a few weeks and tell us how it goes

chenda · Post by **chenda** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 6:45 pm

@ inkandjisting - are your sure she was'nt joking ?! I don't know anyone who would'nt shower at least once a day here.
Hot water on demand for everyone has to be one of the last centuries biggest achievements.

Aaldert · Post by **Aaldert** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:00 pm

[Euro guy here] - back in the days when I was young, I used to only take a bath a week and just wash up at the sink on occasion. Did this for a long while because at the dorm room, the hygeine in the bathroom was worse than just walking around unbathed (once even put up a 'plz, no sex' sign).
It worked well actually, without anyone ever telling me. Maybe they were just scared to tell. Or perhaps bathing not that often makes you smell/sweat less.
Nowadays I take baths* every day or at least shower. And it's nice to feel clean, but never lasts long. So perhaps the good ol' dirty days were better, even from the view of the person next to you.
*) Not very minimalist, aye. Measured it though in terms of gas and water, and was only marginal in terms of the total.

irukandjisting · Post by **irukandjisting** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:41 pm

Maybe she was chenda lol
Although, she is involved in a 'frugal website' big time...so possibly could be some truth - I will ask her next we speak
I like cleanliness - and sometimes I work with terrible terrible lifestyles due to mental health illness
When the phone rings for work, I can be showered in less than a minute and getting ready for work - n probably a 2 min shower when I finish work
I love getting out of the surf and just having a cold shower in the open, down at the beach - awesome
~~S~~

Dragline · Post by **Dragline** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:29 am

Sounds like more of a social issue than an economic one to me. But you may be limiting your acquaintances and potential partners if you don't shower often -- or perhaps self-selecting them.
Anyway, whatever the choice is, it's nothing to have a fit or get sanctimonious over. Life is way too short for that.

irukandjisting · Post by **irukandjisting** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 5:30 am

yep Aaldert... she has just told me she only showers a couple of times a week and washes up in the bathroom sink...
Bit like when we are on water rations in Australia, and you can only bucket wash your car - by the time I spray it, turn the water off, soap with a sponge and a 30 sec rinse off - same deal, same amount of water as using a bucket - imho
- each to their own

Rora · Post by **Rora** » Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:14 am

I have gone long stretches without showering, though these days I probably average 2-3 times/week. I've never had any problems with it: People are often surprised if I tell them. I also haven't used actual shampoo in years, instead washing my hair with baking soda and vinegar as need be. Again, people wouldn't guess. It's certainly nothing to get sanctimonious about either way, but depending on your replacement habits and natural bodily composition, it doesn't necessarily limit you socially, either. I do it because I dislike feeling so dependent on commercial shampoos. When I did use culturally normative methods, I would have to shower very frequently to keep my hair from looking greasy. My reduced showering habits came out of that, because I don't need to do that anymore.

aussierogue · Post by **aussierogue** » Tue Aug 14, 2012 9:03 am

Can confirm that many europeans dotn shower / bathe too aften - so she probably wasn't joking. I on the other hand love my showers...often have 2 per day and feel completely guilty afterwards. The problem here in Melbourne is that for years we had water restirctions due to critically low dam levels. So a long shower has been somewhat of a luxury. Since la ninya hit and water levels have risen, water restrictions are now off and I can shower to my hearts delight.
I have been many days without showering. Once DW and i hiked through nepal for 16 days and were only allowed to hand bathe. Not very nice considering the weather was close to zero, and on most days we hiked 15-20 kms...

FPMLLC · Post by **FPMLLC** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:02 am

Showering is nice, but can live with out. I know when i was deployed over seas, I'd go 20/30 days with out a real shower. You wash up with baby wipes, or when you had some clean water, but it didn't kill you. I will say, After 30 days of NOT that hot shower felt amazing. I am guilty of multiple showers a day, and feel awful...it's not the money, but the water. The AM shower is usually ICE cold, and nore more than 2 min...cold showers are AWESOME for you, and great for your skin and body, and wake you up FAST. Then ill shower at work after the gym, and usually a fast one before sleep, esp if i was working in yard. Although i've got no problems jumping in the pool or ocean instead +)

riparian · Post by **riparian** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 8:37 am

My sociology professor used to always say Americans have a bathing fetish. I frequently go a month or two with just dips in the river and no soap, or in the winter I'll go 1-2 weeks between stove top "baths."
Where I grew up dirt is a virtue, it means you're a hard worker.

Myakka · Post by **Myakka** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:43 am

My personal take on Jacob's idea of cold showers (as mentioned in his book) has been to do some of my showers with water from a plastic squeezy bottle. It is one of the larger ones, but still is alot less water than a regular shower is. Because I fill up that bottle at the end of the previous shower it has room temperature water rather than cold water in it. (I've never had to refill the bottle midshower.)
Cold showers feel pretty brutal to me, but this I really like. (I focus on the smelly parts in these showers and have yet to wash my hair this way.) I have been surprised how refreshed I feel afterwards -- and no longer like the dead feeling I have after a hot shower.
I still do the hot showers every couple days when I want to wash my hair -- or if I have a bit of a cold. (A pretty good solution to a stuffed up nose is to wash it out in a warm shower -- I tried that once with cold water and it was pretty brutal.)

FrugalZen · Post by **FrugalZen** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:45 pm

I started taking cold showers a couple of years ago and I don't know if there is any correlation...but since I started taking them (and reduced the house temp in the winter pretty steep as well) I've noticed that I DON'T seem to catch all the colds and flu's that everyone else does.
Just a strange thought.....

tzxn3 · Post by **tzxn3** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 8:49 pm

My mum always used to tell me the biggest difference between halls of residence (dorms) in England and France was that in English halls, there was one shower between about six people and it was always occupied. In France, there was one shower between about twenty people and it was always free.
I also observed when I was in the accommodation at a university with a high number of international students, that the shower was rarely occupied. Of course, this is also probably due to the university consisting almost entirely of science and engineering students