I am a recently-non-teenage guy and I shower every day. Otherwise I’d get gross, and I know this from past experience.
As little as possible. I wash my face every day, but the hair usually gets washed 1-2 times a week and rinsed another 1-2. So that’s 2-4 showers per week during the winter. If I’m gross, I hop in the shower, but I’m not really a stinky type even when I sweat.
every other day is the default more than that and my hair gets pretty bad, not to mention everything else. some times more often
for everyone with the dry skin going on you might try changing soaps, I make my own olive oil soap and have zero dry skin issues (not so recommended for your face if you have acne issues)
Like others have mentioned, I wonder what is wrong with those of you who feel that if you don’t shower every single day you will offend the senses of those within 10 feet of you. For most people that is absolute silliness.
In the summer, or if I go for a long bike ride and get sweaty I will wash up–usually just a bit of Dr. Bronner’s and a wet washcloth. I take an actual shower two or three times a week, or so. Anything more is obscenely wasteful, I believe.
I shower every day because I have extremely oily skin and unlike some people I get a severe case of pillow hair after a nights sleep. Not showering is simply not an option if I want to go out in public.
Since I don’t (shouldn’t) drink caffiene, a shower is necessary to wake me up from zombiehood. And I hate the way my hair feels after 2+ days of not washing it.
Usually every morning, although I’ll skip it sometimes if I’m running late. I hate that, though, my hair looks lousy if I don’t wash it in the mornings.
Honestly, more than once a day seems pretty wasteful, unless something unusual happens (like getting all muddy or having something nasty spilled on you or something like that). I know from experience that I only start getting funky after two days of not washing.
Upon the recommendation of a dermatologist I bathe/shower much less than most of you. No more than one immersion bath a week (and I love soaking in a tub!). In winter the face, armpits and crotch get washed daily but the rest only every second or third day and I use a very mild skin cleanser, not soap (again, the type recommended by the dermatologist). The hair gets washed once a week, unless I get something in it.
Thank goodness my skin doesn’t react to deodorant, so I can use that. I also use lotion, too - when I can find the variety that doesn’t cause my skin to freak out.
If I wash more often in winter I get dry skin and rashes. When I say rashes I don’t mean a little itch, I mean it looks like I was dragged naked down a gravel road while tied to stampeding horses. This forum has documented two rather serious skin infections I have suffered so “problem skin” is my middle name.
Now, in summer, when I’m working outside I’ll wash before I go to work, mid-day if it’s possible, then again when I get home because I am genuinely filthy and covered in sweat. However, two of those three episodes will be a water-only rinse with the final one the real scrubbing of the day.
Contrary to what some people might think I do not stink. Americans have been conditioned to think their bodies are disgusting and exude stenches when, in fact, they do not. There are Dopers who have met me in real life and any of them that might be reading this are free to confirm that statement. Honestly, my washed-every-third-day skin smells a LOT better than some of the skin infections I’ve had as a result of my skin being a rash or a cracked bleeding mess. My skin has been healthier since I cut back on bathing. Your mileage may vary, of course, particularly if you have greasy/oily skin. I’ll take the recommendation of a professional skin specialist with an MD after his name over the opinion of someone with hygiene hangups.
Good move.
My body doesn’t get very dirty after a day of not showing, but my hair sure does (especially overnight; I seem to be unable to sleep without completely ruining my hair, which is why I take showers in the morning). I would not be presentable in public without showing once a day. Of course, if I don’t need to be presentable in public, then I don’t shower that day.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
ETA: Broomstick, no offense, but most of us don’t have terrible skin problems, so I don’t think it is unreasonable for us to want to shower more frequently.
I usually shower about every other day, but ask me in a couple of weeks when I’m living in a cabin with no running water. Along with that, I brush my teeth 2-3 times a day, wash my face and apply a fresh coat of deodorant when needed.
I actually think my hair looks better with a day or two’s worth of grease in it.
Daily, generally first thing in the morning. If I happen to do grubby work during the day, I’ll shower before bed. I think I’m the fastest showerer in the house - in and out in about 5 minutes or so.
Heh, it takes me at least 10-15 minutes (and that’s consciously trying to go fast). Double that if you count drying off, getting dressed, and blowdrying my hair.
I don’t have any body hangups. I just look like shit without a shower.
Once a week.
Usually.
Hey VOX
Forgot to sign post 53.
All the Christmas Hustle got you slipping?
I cannot function in the morning without my shower. I get up, stumble directly into the bathroom and into the shower. Many years ago, in order to minimize my morning prepare time, I limited myself to 10 minutes. Now 20-30 is common. It would be longer except that I know I have to get out and go to work.
But seriously, there’s very little in this world that I like more than a long hot shower when I’m chilled to the bone or wake up to a cold apartment (which is every day in the winter).
In the summer when I was working outside, I would take a second shower, a cool one, when I got home, just to clean up and cool off. Hell, there were some days when I even took a third (cool) shower just before going to bed.
Showers are my friend. Me Love Showers. Water Good.
I completely understand - a poster upstream, however, said people who showered less than once a day were disgusting and stank, which is just a little judgmental. If I’m a bit touchy it’s because I’ve spent my life alternating between being judged for looking like an oozing, bleeding mess and being regarded as intact but unclean due to less than daily bathing.
One should wash as often as necessary for one’s skin/hair and activity level. Since we all vary, as do our activities, clearly the frequency of washing will likewise vary. Do what works best for you. Not me and not some other person, what’s best for YOU. Maybe if our society was less hung up about these things I wouldn’t have had to go to a doctor to figure out I was bathing too much and it was contributing to my skin problems.
I’ve gone longer than a month without a shower on a few occasions and had people comment on my freakish ability not to smell or appear dirty. So I’m not down with the “shower twice a day because anything less is gross” crowd. “As often as I feel it would be beneficial to my personal comfort”… Which works out to be about twice a week under normal circumstances.
Usually nightly.
I always have recalcitrant hair, so sleeping on it doesn’t really matter. I look like Heat Miser most mornings.