It’s never occurred to me to not wash my back. When I shower, I clean my entire body.
Prior to this thread, I would have assumed this was the norm, the default. Personally, I find the idea of leaving large swaths of skin uncleansed to be kinda gross.
Seriously? BO, bacteria, acne, blackheads, clogged pours, etc.
The Removal of Dead Skin Cells on the Face
You don’t have to take sandpaper to your skin, but yeah, give yourself a good washing. There’s a happy medium in there, folks.
I’ve never washed my back in my entire life. The water and shampoo residuals take care of that.
I also never wash my feet for the same reason. Well, a handful of times during the summer when they may actually get dirty.
ETA: Hair, pits, face, crotch and ass, with a bit of chest and arms thrown in for good measure.
What is your back actually doing that deserves washing? Do you wash your legs too?
During the summer, my back seems to sweat quite a lot. So I wash it. I suppose at this time of year, I could probably skip it, but I’m in the habit of washing it, so it’s probably easier to let inertia carry me than to try and deliberately stop washing it.
Define “uncleansed.” Does warm, moderately high-pressure, clean, sometimes rather soapy water washing over a body part for, say, a full twenty seconds, count as “cleansed”? If so, most Dopers in this thread cleanse their backs quite often – they simply don’t SCRUB them.
Sebaceous glands generally don’t exist in large numbers on one’s back. Despite not scrubbing my back while showering, I can’t say that I’ve ever had issues with odor, acne, blackheads, or clogged pores on my back. Shampoo and soapy water sluicing down from my head and neck seem to keep things on my back well under control; over the years I’ve never heard any complaints about my back hygiene from my intimate partners.
Soap and washcloth every time; brush if I feel my skin is a little dry or particularly dirty.
It’s the bit that the rest of us have to look at the most.
Just like me, except I have done it nearly all of my life, except for a few years when my wife and I would shower together.
If you are using soap or soapy water then I would qualify that as cleaned. Simply getting wet, however, doesn’t cut it.
I’m in the camp of “I spray hot water down my back while I shave and shampoo” and also the “The sudsy shampoo dripping down my back will have to be good enough” camp. However that being said, just last week I noticed a new implement hanging in my shower. It’s about the size of two washcloths sewn together with a cloth handle sewn on to the ends. It looks like a giant surgery mask. I can only assume it’s a new device to “stretch across my back and ‘saw’ it back and forth.”
:rolleyes: Gross? Really? Most people can’t reach their back, and I’d bet that most of that group don’t even own a back scrubber. If that’s gross to you, then I don’t think you want to see how most food is prepped.
I wash everything when I am in the shower most of the time, with special attention to my feet all of the time.
If I am in a hurry, I may skip my back or legs and just figure the water and residual soap will take care of it mostly. But I always scrub my feet thoroughly; mainly because I managed to pick up eczema on my feet and found that daily scrubbing is the only way to make it through the day without going crazy with itchy feet.
Yes, with a loofah.
You’re right, I don’t.
I have backne, so everyday is a good scrub with Neutrogena.
I recently started soaping behind my knees upon reading this crease is one of the germiest spots on the body
Uh?
I thought everybody did?
Granted i cant directly reach anymore with out fighting (dont shred your rotators or this is hat happens) but i have no trouble grabbing a wash cloth by the corners and scrubbing my entire back with it and soap.
Heck there isnt any part that i dont scrub when in the shower, everything from top of head to bottom of feet.
I dont like the idea much if using the towel as a cleaning device, dont use the towel much anyways, it’s usually warm enough here that you air dry mostly before you got the shower cleaned up to get out and get to the towel.
And who ever says you dont need a shower every day
a) either does not live some place where its 90+ degrees most of the time
b) or goes from AC building to AC car to AC home as fast as possible
If i’m thinking i smell pretty bad, it can only be 100 times worse for anyone else.
Heck i even have a cold water shower rigged up outside for those times when one becomes too dirty to even go in the house.
Not to worry, i live too far from other human beings for them to be subjected to watching