Speaking of other cultures, I should probably mention at this point that the culture is quite different here in China, although most people still shower every day.
Firstly, most people shower last thing before bed (only), so the majority of people you meet have not showered yet today. And very few people use deodorant, or even know what it is. Having said that, most of the locals basically do not produce the kind of underarm sweat that stinks (they have fewer apocrine sweat glands), so largely get away without deodorant.
This does further support my point that eliminating odor is not the only function of showering.
I shower twice a day. It’s a side effect of living by the Mediterranean, with a body designed to live by the Baltic. Besides, I like being clean. Clean feels good.
By the way, I’d like to clarify that essential oils—particularly patchouli – are not and never have been deodorants. If you are applying this stuff—particularly patchouli—in the belief that is keeping you smelling fresh and clean, you are wrong. It is the modern day mustard gas. A few drops of lavender oil diluted in witch hazel and water make a lovely linen spray. Dabbing this stuff undiluted onto your skin is unwise even to those who believe you can cure rickets with the right combination of oils.
I have psoriasis. My doctor recommends bathing daily and washing with a gentle soap like Cetaphil. And moisturizing. Have I bought into western marketing and big pharma? Eh. So be it. I don’t clear a room if I wave good-bye. I don’t have dirt rings on my neck (if you don’t believe you’re dirty after a couple of days without bathing, please wipe a white tissue behind your ears and on your neck). My roots are west Texas where dirt blows hard and water is hard to come by. Neither of my grandmothers were loathe to hose down their grandchildren lest they get all that damned dirt in the house. I concur.
True, but I like the feel of a shower, wakes me up.
One thing to do then, is to only soap areas which are actually dirty and of course the armpits, crotch and asscrack. Dont soap the other areas of your skin unless they are dirty. Also make your showers shorter.
Everyone does now know that daily shampooing is bad for your hair, right? Once a week is fine.
Well, in the dead of winter, I don’t shower daily if I don’t have to be around other people, and if I haven’t worked out or done anything strenuous. Alternate days work fine. (God bless menopause. Oiliness is gone, gone, gone.)
But it is just me here, so YMMV.
(And, yes, I’m sensitive to my own smell, so I’d really notice if I stank.)
It might be entertaining in a professional capacity to find out who can ID the smell.
It depends on the person, their hair, how much they sweat, and where they live. When I lived in Florida, once a week would’ve resulted in stringy, greasy, sweaty, stinky hair. I rinsed and conditioned many nights, especially if I exercised. I shampooed three to four times a week, depending on heat/humidity/exercise/hot flashes. Now I shampoo twice a week, though I might rinse/condition my hair on a third day.
Daily hair washing is a must for me, because without it my hair and scalp feel greasy and heavy, and I need to wash it to redry it into a presentable shape. I currently use wen which claims to not have the damaging effects of shampoo/SLS, but even with shampoo it didn’t hurt my hair. I used moisturizing shampoo and conditioner and my hair was fine.
I’m not disagreeing, but oil, which gets produced even when you’re relatively clean, is going to show up as gray on a white tissue. I can live with a certain level of that.
You’re that guy that I sat next to in 1st class from Houston to Amsterdam back in 2001. Nicely dressed, professional, but reeked to high heaven. I’ll stick to bathing on a daily basis to combat that.
It is not psychological for me at least. I have tried going without shampooing for up to two weeks at a time (I still had showers, just no shampoo) and it was a disaster that showed no sign of ever letting up. My hair quickly became this matted, greasy, wavy mess that stuck to the top of my head like feathers on a bird rescued from a crude oil spill.
The only reason that I did it all was because I literally had zero money to buy shampoo for a couple of weeks in college and was too proud to bum some and I forgot shampoo once during a long camping trip. There is no way I would intentionally extend that experiment voluntarily.
I already responded to the “no poo” terminology in my original reply.
I’ll take your word for it. I had to go without washing my hair for a week when I was in the hospital and it was a freaking mess. Not an experience I care to repeat. Call it psychological, call it vanity, call it hypochondria, whatever.
Are you familiar with the concept of “no poo?” It isn’t just “don’t wash your hair for a week at a time.” It involves either washing the hair with water (i.e., vigorously rubbing the scalp and rinsing thoroughly) or a blend of apple-cider vinegar and maybe baking soda, usually a few times a week. And even advocates say it can take up to six weeks or so for your hair to fully acclimate to the lack of washing. And even then most people are washing their hair with SOMETHING. Just washing your hair once a week is, for most people, a recipe for greasy greaseball hair. It’s “no shampoo,” not “no washing.”
Here is a good article that talks about some of the major disadvantages of showering too much – and even some dermatologists agree that showering daily is too much (and showering multiple times a day is definitely too much). Aside from causing dry or irritated skin, it can also make you more susceptible to viruses and bacteria: http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/blogs/how-often-do-you-really-need-to-shower
The take away from this seems to be that most people really don’t “need” to take more than 3 or so showers/baths in a week.