Daily Showering

[whiskeryron]

When I was a child & growing up we were taught to wash face,neck,in & behind the ears & our special little bits, & we would bathe once a week on Friday. Now we have showers fitted my family & I shower daily. I have spoken to people who say that by showering daily one is doing oneself a disservice because one is constantly removing natural oils that keep the skin supple & healthy. What is the opinion of A/Bers ?

WR.

[wolf63]

Love your phrase "special litter bits". :-)

[gingejbee]

If you have oily or normal skin, then fine. But people with dry skin should limit baths and showers using warm water only and special moisturising products...otherwise you make the situation worse.

[woofgang]

Well if I don't shower daily I stink, even to myself. I suspect that in our young days, we all stunk together. When I was at work in the NHS I saw older folk who didn't/couldn't shower or bath every day and believe me they stunk and in their skin folds and creases, the skin was neither supple not healthy!

[wolf63]

I can't believe I said litter instead of little. Cats on the brains!

[gness]

Ron.....I have had no shower for over a week now.....No amount of washing and standing in the kitchen sink feels satisfactory.
I can't see how you can feel really fresh without one. And I can't see that it damages the skin...... you can use a good moisturiser...x

[Baldric]

Shower at least once a day, usually twice, no problems here!

[Baldric]

Need a hand or two rubbing it in gness?
;o)

[Ken4155]

I shower daily but it's more to wake me up than anything else. That said; i suffered a heart attack in '09 and was hooked up to wires and machines for 4 days so couldn't shower. The fifth day was absolute bliss and i must have been under that shower a long, long time.

[aelmpvw]

i was probably six before i realised that my mother was exaggerating by saying i could grow potatoes behind my ears

[jomifl]

If you change your clothes more frequently you don't need to shower so often, since your sweat is absorbed by your clothes if they are natural fibres. Artificial fibres next to the skin make you stink quite quickly.

[gness]

There are some difficult to reach bits, Baldric...thank you.
You're obviously well on the road to recovery....☺

[Baldric]

Just luv a challenge.

[Psybbo]

Gness, in the meantime, how about the garden hose?
Are you turning the bathroom into a shower room?

[DTCwordfan]

A shower or a bath a day, one at least.

I am not French.

[KARL]

I once started chatting with a fellow sitting beside me on an aeroplane into the UK. Well into the flight, after he had told me he was returning from a six week trek across wilderness, he mentioned that he had not washed since he left for the trek. It seemed to me he was expecting some noticeable reaction from me because he went on to ask if he smelled objectionably. I told him the truth, no he didn't.

Suppleness of skin apart, healthy people, particularly young people (he was in his early twenties I would say), develop a balanced flora on their skin and chemicals actually alter this balance (and can therefore be expected to give rise to various effects). Soaps, etc. are in that context classed as chemicals. I have come across people who no doubt wash regularly, even daily but still give off an odour - this is as often as not due to the nature of the clothing and footwear worn. Very many of those who shower daily do not in fact wash thoroughly all over but instead stand under a constant stream of water and add soap into that stream which immediately runs off to very reduced effect. Only those who turn off the water while soaping themselves all over actually wash thoroughly. Daily showering has become a social totem but has little to do with needs, other than to be able to tick a box and feel acceptable/accepted (some perhaps to feel superior). I really don't care how or how frequently people wash, it is their own affair and my habits are for me to decide, not to seek approval of from others.

[boxtops]

I don't think it's necessary, if you are not a smelly person (and some can't help it) - a good flannel wash most days does me. My skin gets very dry if I submerge it too often - one thing I hoped I hadn't inherited from my mother.

[gness]

No, Psyb....bath and shower....I have at last a little bath so I don't risk drowning when I lie back with the glass of red...the candles and Joan Baez....or Luke if I'm feeling frisky....☺

[Sqad]

What and where are these "essential " oils that are " washed" away to the detriment of our skin health?

Nonsense.

I shower, always once a day, mostly twice a day and on occasions three times a day.

Now if you have sensitive skin and used perfumed bath salts, it may well be better to bath/shower only daily, but that is an irritant problem, nothing to do with " oils."

[Khandro]

Thrice daily squad! you must be very dirty :-)

[Sqad]

Khandro...LOL...you better believe it.....;-)