I like being clean. It makes me feel nice. But is it really necessary to give my body a full-scale cleaning every day?
For example, let’s say I take a shower one day and, for the rest of that day, do nothing that even comes close to making me break a sweat. I go to bed and wake up the next day. Do I really need to clean every part of my body?
Second, is showering every day good for my skin? I would imagine it would dry it out after awhile.
(Just if anyone’s wondering, I always shower if I’m stepping outside the house and will interact with people. So if anyone ever meets me, I’m most likely clean.)
ANYWAY, the question: Are there actual health benefits to showering every day, or would I be better off showering less frequently and just washing my hair and slapping on some deodorant on the days I don’t?
YOu may not notice, but others may-you might start to stink.
I know I need to shower everyday. Sometimes, if I don’t have anywhere to go the next day, I may not take my nightly shower. My HAIR clumps into long, greasy, limp strands. Icky!
well, during sleep your skin releases oils that waterproof the hair, and that makes your hair all greasy. that same oil makes your skin break out in acne.
so, For the record,
Shower = Clean!
no shower = big smelly mess = nobody wants to talk to you
I very much doubt there are definite health benefits as long as you don’t develop parasites (e.g. lice) or have excessively oily skin. (But why are you bothering to put on deodorant if you’re not going out? So you don’t smell yourself? :D)
Historically, in certain times and places, I have no doubt that some people went years between bathing without serious ill effects. (And a few places today too, but I won’t mention where they are. ;))
Sometimes, when on field trips, I have probably gone more than a week without being able to bathe, and in pretty hot climates too. While it’s no fun, I never noticed any problems (aside from itchiness). And the social side wasn’t an issue because everyone else was in the same boat. But that first plunge into the river after coming down off the mountain certainly feels great.
IThe idea that it is impossible to be clean without a shower or bath every day is a little… well, elitist. It’s only in very, very recent days that most people have had access to a daily shower or bath. My grandparents, for instance, didn’t have indoor plumbing until the late 1950s. In fact, Granddad and Grandma kept the hygiene routine of their youth throughout their lives – and they were perfectly clean people, I assure you. They bathed on Saturday night (to be clean for Sunday). Every evening before bed they each took a sink bath. I don’t mean just whacking a wet washrag around either – they undressed, filled up the sink with hot water and cleaned with soap. Grandma washed and set her hair every Saturday along with her bath and also washed it in the sink and set it on Wednesday as well. This was the way they raised their kids to wash – before they had indoor plumbing, Grandma would fill a huge washtub with water every night after supper and heat it on the stove. Each person would fill a washbowl with hot water and wash before bed. Neither Granddad or Grandma ever smelled or seemed anything but perfectly clean. And, my grandfather was a manual laborer his whole life – he worked on the railroad, then for many years in a sawmill and, finally, worked in the laundry of a state hospital. If he’d been dirty we’d have smelled it. Certainly, a person who never bathes or showers or washes at all is going to be pretty skanky – but the idea that a daily shower is necessary for cleanliness is just untrue.
For more than thriry years I have been showering or bathing once a week. There are exceptions though: Heavy excerise, extensive dirty work, sprayed by skunks, or other major reasons to immediatly shower. There appears to be no ill effects and no comments about any particular odor problems. I wear clean cloths daily and wash my hair every morning. No ill effects from the above.
When my oldest son first got his own place, he started to stink.
He had to do his own laundry (at a laundromat). It was a major chore for him. No car, no money, etc. He still showered and washed his hair every day, but he’d wear clothes more than once between washings, and he really reeked.
Maybe sometimes the odor is on the clothes, and not the person.
I’m with Auntie Pam here. One’s body does shed dead skin cells as one sleeps, just as one wakes. Considering that they decay, and mixing in other oils and…er…secretions, well- I’d be thinkin’ that he’d be stinkin’ too !
This is a bit of a sore topic for me this month. My wife insisted that we switch from more normal laundry soap to This Space Aged Hoo-Hah. God help me. I was SO unsure. And yet, I must confess, it does make the clothing smell every bit as clean. The same ionizing theories also apply in a deodorizing thing that I plug into my cigarette lighter in the car. ( I don’t smoke, but hey, everyone’s car smells a bit…). Seems to also work.
So, give him some of those disks, Auntie- they’re good for like 500 loads, and are light and easy to carry about. Perhaps it might spur him on to…greater…scents?
I have extremely dry skin (have to use hand lotion after I wash my hands or they’re white and lined and rough) and during the winter months, I shower every other day. Oily face and acne isn’t really a problem, I usually have but a single zit, if any. I have fairly clear skin, I guess.
My hair is soft, thick, and non-oily even after not washing it for three or four days (a rarity). I can’t use antiperspirant (something with the aluminum) without terrible itching, so I use a nice smelling deodorant. I wear a clean shirt and beater everyday, as well as socks and underwear, but will wear the same pants a few days in a row (all my pants look the same).
The biggest problem I find is that I smell not of BO, but of stale sweat, after three days of not showering, so I shower every other day during the winter. The only reason I shower every single day in the summer is because I will sweat, and therefore, develop BO.
Sometimes if I’m going to a party or out with girls or something I wear a spray of cologne (Polo Sport).
Actually, my skin gets very dry and itchy when I shower every day, if I don’t get out and sweat and stuff.
Dr. Zorba Paster, on NPR, says that under normal conditions, I.E. not digging in the garden or otherwise getting “dirty”, showering everyday is not required. Can actually be bad for your skin, depending on the type of soap used.
I heard him on his radio show, but it might also be covered on his web site at http://www.wpr.org.
In one of Cecil’s columns he commented that American hair isn’t acceptable for wigmaking because it’s been washed so often that all of the protective oils are gone, and it goes brittle too fast.
I also know more than one American who has donated or sold hair for wigmaking. So who knows?
I’ve also heard people say that daily bathing robs your skin of too much oil. I say, that’s what lotion is for.
Cartooniverse, if you’re referring to laundry balls or laundry discs (your link was broken; is this what you were talking about?), check out what Cecil had to say on the subject: