# How often do you shower? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 16, 2010, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317 "2010-04-16T07:17:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Earl\_E.Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c67d28/32.png) [@Earl\_E.Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_E.Bird)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/41 "2010-04-16T15:20:25Z")
Every morning, and every time I’ve taken a crap when I’m at home. On the other hand, I change the bedclothes only 2-3 times a year. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/42 "2010-04-16T15:27:00Z")
Every morning and every evening. And if sweaty work is involved perhaps more often. I am grateful I am not close to a few participants in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/43 "2010-04-16T15:27:52Z")
Every couple of days, barring getting sweaty or dirty in the meantime. It is _very_ dry here and if I did every day my skin and hair would dry up, flake up, and fall off. Really, it’d be awful. I promise I don’t smell. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/44 "2010-04-16T15:54:28Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > I promise I don’t smell. I don’t think I do either. I never work up a sweat, and as long as the clothes we’re wearing are clean, I think we’re okay. Isn’t sweat (and dirty clothes) where BO comes from? I showered every week day when I was working full-time, but now that I’m retired, it’s every other day. Sometimes I’ll go three days, if my hair looks okay. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/45 "2010-04-16T15:56:44Z")
No, you don’t smell after not showering for a day or two. You really don’t. And I speak as one who showers daily! The twice a week one does weird me out a bit, though. 🙂 However, there is another aspect to this, too. Some people just flat-out sweat more than others. ---
**Author:** ![breaking-reality](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a8b319/32.png) [@breaking-reality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breaking-reality)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/46 "2010-04-16T16:01:31Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > No, you don’t smell after not showering for a day or two. You really don’t. And I speak as one who showers daily! > > The twice a week one does weird me out a bit, though. 🙂 However, there is another aspect to this, too. Some people just flat-out sweat more than others. One of my friends told me he wouldn’t shower until he could smell himself. I was like, you realize by the time you smell yourself, we’ve all noticed at least a day prior, right? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/47 "2010-04-16T16:12:47Z")
Due to doctor’s advice, I have to limit my showering (and actually I '_ **hate** _ showers, I _never_ truly feel clean after a shower, I"m a bath person) because of my sensitive skin which, as I age, is producing progressively less and less protective oils. As most replacements (i.e. “moisturizers”) cause my skin to blossom into amazing rashes this is a bit of an issue. So… I wash my body as often as I need to. Thus, some parts, such as hands and armpits, see water more frequently than other parts. However, when I am working outside doing manual labor I may, in fact, shower more than once a day - although really all but the final clean up will be rinsing the sweat off under a stream of water and not actually _washing_ using soap/cleanser/whatever. I am always gobsmacked by people who work in climate-controlled offices doing sedentary work who take _multiple showers per day_ and are hypertwitchy that they smell bad. Usually, when I perceive such people to smell bad it’s due to all the perfumed crap they’re using on their bodies. Bottom line - there is a range of normal here, both in a hygienic sense and a social norm sense. Some people have less trouble with body odor/sweat/etc. than others, some are more physically active than others, and so forth. Diet and heredity are also factors. Really, though, in the US most people wash far, far more frequently than is needed for hygiene, and often more than needed for odor control. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/48 "2010-04-16T16:47:16Z")
A minimum of once a day. I shower after I workout in the morning. Sometimes I shower a second time depending on what I do the rest of the day. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Very odd. Generally, I shower twice a week. My wife showers every few days. > > If I’ve been working and getting sweaty, I’ll shower more often, but since I work in a desk in an air conditioned office, wear clean clothes each day, and use antiperspirant, I don’t need to shower daily. > > I doubt anyone here does, either. Do you ever workout? I’m a little incredulous at your belief that no one here needs to shower daily. I workout hard for an hour a day and if I didn’t shower and wash my hair after it would be disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/49 "2010-04-16T16:59:34Z")
Some people don’t work out daily, if ever, of course. I can see not showering daily. What I can’t see is showering only twice a week. Even my poor cousins in India, who don’t have showers or tubs and have to heat the water on the stove and then pour it with a cup over their heads from a bucket, bathe at leas 3-5 times a week and absolutely daily in the summer. But then, it is also brutally hot in the summer and usually pretty warm in the winter. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/50 "2010-04-16T17:03:42Z")
Of course you’re right about working out. I guess I was just taken aback by him saying that he doubts anyone here needs to shower every day. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/51 "2010-04-16T18:07:00Z")
Daily, except if camping (but then I’m usually swimming), or some weekend days (where I just get lazy), or after a particularly sweaty day (then before bed). ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/52 "2010-04-16T18:10:51Z")
If I don’t do it twice a day I just would feel gross. Every other day or twice a week would kill me. Psychologically I’d just feel SO disgusting. I’m probably not as oily as I think I am, but still. I’m a really fastidious type. Any kind of body emanation–grease, sweat, anything–freaks me out. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/53 "2010-04-16T19:40:33Z")
Every morning, plus again if I exercise. I skip it about once a week, on Saturdays or Sundays, so it all works out to maybe 8 showers a week. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/54 "2010-04-16T22:51:46Z")
Usually once in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/55 "2010-04-17T01:06:45Z")
Before bed. I read that people with allergies should always wash their hair before bed since hair traps allergens then drops them on the pillow. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do like to go to bed squeaky clean. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/56 "2010-04-17T01:18:11Z")
Minimum once a day. One drop of sweat and it’s twice a day. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/57 "2010-04-17T01:46:13Z")
At least once a day in the mornings, sometimes twice (in the summer) if my activities dictate. I answered once, because that happens most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/58 "2010-04-17T02:42:11Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Very odd. Generally, I shower twice a week. My wife showers every few days. > > If I’ve been working and getting sweaty, I’ll shower more often, but since I work in a desk in an air conditioned office, wear clean clothes each day, and use antiperspirant, I don’t need to shower daily. > > I doubt anyone here does, either. Well, none of us need to shower daily like we need oxygen or something. But to maintain the hygienic standards expected in our society, you do, in fact, need to shower more than twice a week. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/59 "2010-04-17T02:55:42Z")
Once every evening, at minimum. I like showering at night because I don’t have to blow dry my hair. I am so not good at it. If I’ve worked out, I get a shower at the gym: so it could be twice a day on workout days. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317/60 "2010-04-17T03:16:14Z")
I try to shower every other day to leave more oils on my dry, itchy skin. That said, I showered twice today because I was working in the yard and got dirty and sweaty before going out for dinner. I’m not a sweaty person, though (usually). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-shower/536317.md?page=4)