# Why do Americans bathe daily? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427 "2006-10-05T20:21:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jtnewsom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jtnewsom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtnewsom)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/1 "2006-10-05T20:21:47Z")
I understand that we do it so that we smell good and so we do not offend others. But this is more of a recent development. It can’t be because we have indoor plumbing now because the Germans have that, yet, many bathe once a week. I have thought that it may have come from Asia where some folks bathe more than twice a day. I’ve also heard that it came from the plague in Europe causing those who did not bathe to die out leaving the ones who bathed. If that’s the case, it looks like Darwins theories kicked into high gear. Best Regards Jon ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/2 "2006-10-05T20:27:58Z")
Water is cheap here and most homes have modern plumbing with large water heaters. That isn’t true for some European homes. I think you may need to turn the question around and ask why everyone that can doesn’t? I skip days showering sometimes and I can’t go more than one day before I must find a bathing facility and get rid of the oily, scaly, itchy feeling. Lots of people are neglectful and lazy about just about everything else in their lives but I don’t know any able-bodied person that doesn’t bathe at least every other day. The compulsion is a strong one once you get into the habit. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/3 "2006-10-05T20:31:54Z")
[QUOTE=jtnewsom] I’ve also heard that it came from the plague in Europe causing those who did not bathe to die out leaving the ones who bathed. If that’s the case, it looks like Darwins theories kicked into high gear. [/QUOTE] This has nothing to do with Darwin unless you are suggesting that there’s a genetic component to frequent bathing. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/4 "2006-10-05T21:00:18Z")
I think my professor credited this to several factors: 1)the World Wars- GI’s were all taught basic hygiene 2)young men’s organizations(YMCA,Boy Scouts)/health clubs(Dr. Kellogg’s)- which stressed excercise and “cleanliness is next to godliness” ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/5 "2006-10-05T21:00:39Z")
Why do Americans bathe daily? Because we can. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/6 "2006-10-05T21:21:05Z")
I don’t, but if I don’t shower at least every three days, then my hair gets incredibly oily, and I start to feel very uncomfortable. This may have had suervival value at one point, but I;m considerably easier to be around and to look at if I’m washed at least that often. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/7 "2006-10-05T21:22:19Z")
Spread of the plague in Europe was due to poor public sanitation (wretched waste disposal practices, large numbers of rats and plague-spreading fleas), not poor individual cleanliness. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/8 "2006-10-05T21:33:54Z")
Many Germans bathe once a week? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/9 "2006-10-05T21:44:54Z")
I was brought up in the 70s to bathe once every two days. At the time, heating costs were very high - and my and everyone else’s parents had post-war rationing thrift - so we shared bathwater, in rotation. Nowadays I feel disgusting if I don’t shower once a day. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/10 "2006-10-05T21:47:39Z")
Could climate have something to do with it? Here in humid Louisiana, you can get pretty sweaty from just a few minutes spent outdoors from about March through October. Also, from a physiological standpoint … people differ quite a bit in, well, natural body odor. Some are more blessed than others in that department. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/11 "2006-10-05T21:51:40Z")
I shower every day because I am a very stinky man. 😉 Seriously, though, I work in the casino industry and come into direct contact with customers. As a valet driver, I run around a lot and can get sweaty, fumigating the cars I park. I must remain clean and deoderized everyday. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/12 "2006-10-05T22:09:19Z")
Germans may _bathe_ weekly, but I doubt they _wash_ weekly. There’s such a thing as a spongebath in Europe; here it’s a lost art, unless you’re hospitalized. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/13 "2006-10-05T22:12:15Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] There’s such a thing as a spongebath in Europe; here it’s a lost art, unless you’re hospitalized. [/QUOTE] Oh yes, I remember now, we used to do that too when I was a kid. And then there’s the “French whore’s bath”… ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/14 "2006-10-05T22:26:23Z")
I don’t bathe every day, unless I’m bored. 🙂 I tend to bathe every other day, or roughly 3 times a week. I don’t have a lot of oil in my skin, so I tend to really dry out if I bathe every day. Sometimes, of course, I’ll bathe every day- but that’s if I’m doing a lot of sweaty outdoors stuff. Normally, even after three days, I don’t stink- I just don’t sweat that much in my job. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/15 "2006-10-06T00:09:54Z")
I am a very structured person when it comes to my morning routine. I shower every work day, right around 5:17am. Same thing for the last 10 years or so. Occasionally, I will wait till later in the day if I’m just hanging at home, and working on the house. But, for myself, to be on the road to work at 6am I almost need to shower to get the whole thought process “I’m up and awake, let’s do it” going. And I would feel like shit warmed over if I didn’t shower and had to sit at work all day. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/16 "2006-10-06T00:21:09Z")
According to comedian Tim Wilson, it was due to intense marketing campaigns by a couple soap companies at the turn of the century. They wanted to sell more soap, naturally, so their ads extolled the virtues of daily bathing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/17 "2006-10-06T00:41:12Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I don’t, but if I don’t shower at least every three days, then my hair gets incredibly oily, and I start to feel very uncomfortable. [/QUOTE] Me too, plus the fact that the shower in the morning helps wake me up (I don’t drink coffee). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/18 "2006-10-06T00:54:51Z")
There’s no way I couldn’t shower every day. I work out nearly all weekdays, so that kind of requires it right there. I’ve organized working out into my weekday routine so that the post-workout shower is the same shower I’d be taking anyway. Also, I like to wear jeans more than once between washings, and that’d be pretty hard to defend if I didn’t shower daily. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/19 "2006-10-06T01:12:01Z")
For me, it’s because my hair looks like hell unless it’s freshly washed. (Well, it actually looks like hell anyway, but if it’s freshly washed it looks a mite better.) Spritzing it with water doesn’t work, and damned if I’m going to stick my head in the sink. The only way to fully wet it is to get into the shower. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427/20 "2006-10-06T01:47:57Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] Many Germans bathe once a week? :dubious: [/QUOTE] No, they bathe daily. I’m an American with an intimate knowledge of Gemany, having studied at a German university, married a German citizen and lived and worked over there for years. Although I’m back in the States now, I keep an apartment in Germany. I’m here to tell you that that the Germans are fanatical about bathing and personal cleanliness. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-bathe-daily/375427.md?page=2)