First, let me say that I shower at least once every 24 hours. I work a desk job and generally am not a sweaty person. I am in my 30s, female.
I have noticed that when I make plans with friends or whoever, that almost without fail when discussing what time to get together, the person mentions that they are going to shower prior to meeting. I work fairly far from where I live, and usually go out right after work - I don’t have time to go home and shower before going out, and really don’t feel the need since I just showered that morning and haven’t gotten sweaty or anything. Most everyone I go out with lives close to where I work so they can go home to get ready.
What drives people to tell me (or others) that they are showering? Is this just normal conversation and everyone does it? Are they trying to tell me they think I should be showering? Are they just trying to make sure I know they have good hygiene? I always figured it was the first - just conversation - thinking out loud to make an estimate of what time to meet. It isn’t like it is some conspiracy with my friends because I have a few groups of friends who don’t know each other, but they all do it. But even if I could shower, I doubt I would mention it. I mean, who cares?
I am not obsessing about this, so don’t tell me to stop thinking about it. It was just a thought in passing. I am just curious to see what you guys think.
My first guess is that maybe you have a lot of friends/coworkers/whoever that shower at night before bed and not in the morning before work. And they feel like a shower in the evening before going out will freshen them up and make them feel pulled together.
A lot of my friends, myself included tend to be evening showerers. It saves time in the morning, most of us have kids we have to get ready also. If I’ve been out to the horses or worked out, I don’t like going to bed all dirty and sweaty. Why shower again in the morning?
As to why they tell you. Who knows? but I suspect it has to do with sorting out the timing of the meeting.
I almost always shower in the evening before I go to bed. I rarely shower before I go out, unless I’m genuinely dirty or the event I’m going to is a dress-up deal.
As for why they tell you, I’d side with Rhiannon - it’s likely just about the timing.
I envy anyone who is ‘not sweaty’ most of the time. Because I’m the exact opposite, and it drives me nuts. Anti-persperant, you say? Well, unless they had it in some kind of salve I could smear over my entire body, I’m out of luck :mad:
I often sweat very easily merely from walking to one building to another at school. It doesn’t even have to be hot out. If I get nervous or excited, I tend to sweat a lot. I go through about 2 or 3 undershirts a day going from one job to another. The undershirt paradox sucks- if I don’t wear an undershirt, I’ll sweat through my uniform, which would be incredibly embarassing. Wearing an undershirt absorbs the moisture, but make me hotter and more uncomfortable. Ah, such is life
But enough about my disgusting sweating problem I take a shower at least once every 24 hours. I usually shower first thing in the morning. If I am doing something special in the evening after work, I will shower beforehand if I have time. I don’t do this out of obsessive-compulsiveness, I do it because no matter how diligent I am about hygene, I get smelly/disheveled really easy and so I gotta stay on top of personal hygene/grooming.
If one has an allergy to airborne stuff, showering in the evening is MUCH better. That way, you get to have a whole night to be free of the allergens. Otherwise, you are spending the night with all the allergens you picked up during the day.
I think it’s quite clear that your friends are hinting to you that you are excessively odorous and that you need to practice better personal hygiene, Stinky!
No, not really.
My friends will often pass along this little tidbit and I suppose I do sometimes as well. Why? I don’t know. It’s partly about timeline, as bdandhr suggested. But then, one could simply say “I’ll be ready in an hour” or what-have-you. Which still doesn’t answer the question of why people say this. Do these same people say, “I want to go home and eat first” or other such things? I think that it may be purely conversational in nature. Or maybe not.
Maybe my being Japanese makes me bath at least two times a day; more, if I have bowel movement, go swimming or exercising, clean the house/yard, or sweat such that I need to change my clothes.
I’d do that if it wouldn’t send the water bill through the roof. (A shower at night to wash my hair and shave, then a quick one in the morning, to freshen up).
So I just shower at night, like most people here. I have to curl my hair in the morning, and wet hair + hot curling iron=burnt hair.
I take a shower at least once every 24 hours. I usually shower first thing in the morning. If I am doing something special in the evening after work, I will shower beforehand if I have time. I don’t do this out of obsessive-compulsiveness, I do it because no matter how diligent I am about hygene, I get smelly/disheveled really easy and so I gotta stay on top of personal hygene/grooming.