# Why don't people bathe? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 10, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475 "2015-01-10T15:01:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![buddy431](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@buddy431](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddy431)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/61 "2015-01-13T04:56:44Z")
I can go a long time without bathing without feeling gross. I’ll stink, for sure, after a day or few (depending on the level of exertion), but I was never bothered by going camping for a couple weeks without any serious bathing and wearing only a few sets of clothes. And if I don’t think about it, I don’t really realize that I stink. Bathing as often as is socially necessary in the U.S. is definitely a learned habit, and if you don’t learn it, you probably don’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/62 "2015-01-13T05:00:40Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I don’t buy that. I went to grad school with a bunch of Indian people, and at work (IT Department), we have a freaking swarm of Indian contractors working for us. > > The vast majority do not smell bad, but the ones that do… smell like they don’t freaking bathe AND eat funky stuff. These guys who do stink… well, they stink out loud. Like from feet away, and it lingers. That’s not diet, that’s just grunge. > > The thing I don’t get is how bathing/showering isn’t an automatic habitual thing. I mean, I shower daily whether I “need it” or no, and only occasionally on the weekends do I skip a shower if I’m not doing anything or going anywhere and am just feeling slothful. > > I can get not shaving daily, but in general, not bathing daily is in the same league of filth as not brushing or flossing your teeth daily, or not wiping your ass or things like that. Dunno about the guys but some women from India put coconut oil in their hair often, I don’t know if the oil goes rancid or what but it can create a strong odor. There is also an herb in common in Indian food I forget the name of, but it is an odd musty smell that really permeates. Starts with an A I think. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/63 "2015-01-13T06:08:20Z")
Hey, **Grude** , the spice you’re thinking of is asafoetida. My husband bought some once at the international food market…Lord only knows why. It smells like white pepper and ass. Thanks, guys. Now all I can think of is > [@](#): > > **Shel Silverstein wrote:** > > The Dirtiest Man In The World > > ``` > Oh, I'm Dirty Dan, the world's dirtiest man, > I never have taken a shower. > I can't see my shirt--it's so covered with dirt, > And my ears have enough to grow flowers. > > But the water is either a little too hot, > Or else it's a little too cold. > I'm musty and dusty and patchy and scratchy > And mangy and covered with mold. > But the water is always a little too hot, > Or else it's a little too cold... > > ``` [http://www.qu-i-x.com/dirty.html](http://www.qu-i-x.com/dirty.html) Anecdote: My ex was one of those people. Could go days without bathing (or brushing teeth) and never seemed to bother him. It sure bothered me! My children with him have similar tendencies which drives me nuts, especially as they are now teenagers. Well, my son will spend a long time in the shower, but sometimes I don’t think he’s actually doing much _washing_, if you know what I mean. :smack: Uggghhh… It’s a battle. Me, I don’t mind being somewhat unkempt if I’m not going anywhere, especially since the babies cover me in shmutz constantly. But I almost always shower and groom before I make dinner, even though I may just put clean PJs on and a ponytail, so that I’m not a total wreck when my husband comes home from work. 😃 About smells, though…I think my husband smells awesome even when he’s not so clean. (He says the same about me and actually asks that I don’t use deodorant, but I just can’t go there most of the time.) He usually even has good morning breath. I mean really amazing, kind of like how a newborn baby smells. I don’t get it… ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/64 "2015-01-13T08:37:07Z")
It’s sometimes cultural. One entry on a very long list of things Germans do for which there is no reasonable explanation is showering more than 2-3 times a week. I’ve never asked, but from the way people smell, I’m pretty sure that deodorant/antiperspirants are similarly rationed. Many Germans are also convinced that something terrible will happen if you open the windows on the dinky little local train, which makes those summertime trips into the city just _lovely_. I was always tempted to carry a bottle of air freshener with me and just spritz people. ---
**Author:** ![Idilia\_Dubb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c2a13f/32.png) [@Idilia\_Dubb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idilia_Dubb)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/65 "2015-01-13T09:56:45Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > It’s sometimes cultural. One entry on a very long list of things Germans do for which there is no reasonable explanation is showering more than 2-3 times a week. I’ve never asked, but from the way people smell, I’m pretty sure that deodorant/antiperspirants are similarly rationed. > > Many Germans are also convinced that something terrible will happen if you open the windows on the dinky little local train, which makes those summertime trips into the city just _lovely_. I was always tempted to carry a bottle of air freshener with me and just spritz people. Golly, **NinjaChick** , my experience here in Germany has always been exactly the opposite: I find the Germans to be exceptionally clean, tidy and unsmelly - and I say that as a card-carrying germaphobe. Now the French, OTOH, are another story entirely. I’d describe in horrifying detail how miserable it is to ride the Metro in July if it weren’t for the fact that this isn’t the week to diss the Parisians. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/66 "2015-01-13T13:26:02Z")
I was cautioned prior to going to France that the French had different bathing customs and deodorant/antiperspirant never caught on to the extent they did in the US. Which is true. But most of the French I encountered didn’t smell bad so much as… well, like people. Strongly like people. It was very noticeable the first few days I was there but by the end of my visit I pretty much stopped noticing. There’s definitely a perception thing here. If you’ve been taught that the normal smell of the human body is something bad and disgusting it’s quite likely that’s how you will perceive it. If, however, you grow up in a society where that scent is considered normal and is a neutral thing someone would have to really, really reek to be commented on. Most Americans seem to have an absolute paranoia about how even a clean human body smells, hence all the heavily fragranced soaps, washes, after shower sprays and powders and deodorants and all the rest. Other cultures have a different view of these things. Obviously, these differences can cause friction when they butt up against each other. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/67 "2015-01-13T13:42:34Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > He cleaned out septic tanks. When the guy comes by from Seidl’s Sewer & Septic Sucking Service, he doesn’t smell. But I understand his nose runs. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/68 "2015-01-14T02:15:54Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Most Americans seem to have an absolute paranoia about how even a clean human body smells, hence all the heavily fragranced soaps, washes, after shower sprays and powders and deodorants and all the rest. Other cultures have a different view of these things. Obviously, these differences can cause friction when they butt up against each other. As with so many insidious aspects of American culture, it was Marketing (especially modern Post-WWII era TV Marketing) that did this to us. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/69 "2015-01-14T02:45:40Z")
I had a very sweet coworker once. A homeschooled teenager. One day he had clearly just showered, as his hair was wet, but he reeked. Because he did a lot of activities, I knew he sweated a lot. I assumed he showered and laundered his clothes, but didn’t use soap. Water itself will wash a lot of smell away, but you need a soapy degreaser to get all of the funk off. It wasn’t like that episode of Seinfeld where the scent permeated the car and everyone who went in it wanted to die, but it was enough that you took a step back and breathed through your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/70 "2015-01-14T04:30:25Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Actually, the Indian co-workers are the single most awesome thing about potluck dinners at my company. > > We’ll have the usual variety of things like scalloped potatoes, green beans, chips, dips, etc… and then huge plates of samosas, tandoori chicken, those weird little cake balls in syrup, 2-3 different kinds of rice side dishes as well as biryani and all sorts of other things that are awesome, but that I don’t know what they’re called. > > What kind of freaks people out is when people (no idea what nationality) bring in day-old fish dishes and microwave that shit; it’ll pollute half the floor of the building with fish stench. And on the whole, I like fish, but some of these dishes have horrendous fishy odors. Agreed. I should have clarified that this was a fairly sheltered young person and this was almost 20 years ago. Let’s hear it for palek paneer. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/71 "2015-01-14T05:29:35Z")
[Naya Rivera Says Showering Daily Is “Such a White People Thing,” Viewers Freak Out on Social Media](https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/naya-rivera-says-showering-daily-white-people-thing-220500664-us-weekly.html) > [@](#): > > No, Naya, no! Naya Rivera shared a rather controversial theory about people’s hygienic tendencies while guest-hosting The View on Tuesday, Jan. 13, and the Internet is not reacting well to her comments. > > The Glee actress, 28, presented her opinion to Rosie O’Donnell, Nicolle Wallace, and the other ladies seated at the roundtable. “I have to say I have a theory about showering, [which] is that I think that white people shower a lot more than ethnics,” Rivera remarked as Wallace started laughing. “I feel like showering more than once a day or every day is such a white people thing.” ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Jake\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/72 "2015-01-14T06:08:14Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I was cautioned prior to going to France that the French had different bathing customs and deodorant/antiperspirant never caught on to the extent they did in the US. Which is true. But most of the French I encountered didn’t smell bad so much as… well, like people. Strongly like people… > > Most Americans seem to have an absolute paranoia about how **even a clean human body smells** … I guess it depends on how you define clean. Clean of dirt or clean of odor. If I’m understanding you correctly, you’re defining a clean human body as one free of dirt, not odor. It absolutely is cultural, but when an entire culture has been raised for generations to be accustomed to people being free of strong body odor (which should not and does not require heavy artificial fragrance at all, in my opinion) I don’t think it’s fair to describe the aversion to it as paranoia. Sure it’s a learned response either way, but given the choice, would you choose to share an elevator with a guy who smelled “strongly like people” or “like not much of anything”? ---
**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:** [January 14, 2015, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/73 "2015-01-14T13:07:12Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > I guess it depends on how you define clean. Clean of dirt or clean of odor. If I’m understanding you correctly, you’re defining a clean human body as one free of dirt, not odor. Correct. > [@](#): > > It absolutely is cultural, but when an entire culture has been raised for generations to be accustomed to people being free of strong body odor (which should not and does not require heavy artificial fragrance at all, in my opinion) I don’t think it’s fair to describe the aversion to it as paranoia. Sure it’s a learned response either way, but given the choice, would you choose to share an elevator with a guy who smelled “strongly like people” or “like not much of anything”? Honestly… I don’t care. Seriously, I really don’t care. I don’t care if the guy in the elevator smells like a “clean of dirt” human being or “like not much of anything”. My objection would be heavy artificial scents/musk which, frankly, I find more offensive than smell of a (clean) human being. A culture that requires abolition of ALL body odor is unrealistic. And, really, it hasn’t been “generations”. My parents remember a largely deodorant/antiperspirant free US. That would be, what, three generations? Not really that long in a cultural context. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/74 "2015-01-14T13:53:52Z")
People sure must have stunk back in the old days, since [Harry A. Cole](http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsoap.htm) came up with **Pine-sol** as a welcome alternative to ablute the spaces they’d inhabited. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/75 "2015-01-14T14:39:57Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > I guess it depends on how you define clean. Clean of dirt or clean of odor. If I’m understanding you correctly, you’re defining a clean human body as one free of dirt, not odor. > > It absolutely is cultural, but when an entire culture has been raised for generations to be accustomed to people being free of strong body odor (which should not and does not require heavy artificial fragrance at all, in my opinion) I don’t think it’s fair to describe the aversion to it as paranoia. Sure it’s a learned response either way, but given the choice, would you choose to share an elevator with a guy who smelled “strongly like people” or “like not much of anything”? Some people really do prefer “natural smells”. Or what we may call “BO”. My mother dated a Nigerian dude back in the 60s, and he would frequently request that she not use deoderants. Not because he didn’t like how they smelled, but because he loved how women smell naturally. My mother found this too bizarre and dumped the guy. But it actually makes sense to me, from a pure biological/psycho-social stand-point. We react to pheromones just like any other critter does. How we smell probably provides a lot of useful information: our general health, our hygiene (a part from being able to douse on perfume), degree of kinship (you don’t want to mate with someone who smells exactly like you), and cultural background (maybe you don’t want to mate with someone who smells completely foreign either). Of course, all of this information is being delivered on an unconscious level. The guy who doesn’t smell “like much of anything” does have a smell. It’s just that you’re acclimated to it and can’t detect it. Your preference for him over the other guy may be due not to the smell per se, but by what the smell indicates to your unconscious mind: ““Smelly guy” is a stranger. Beware of strangers.” ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/76 "2015-01-14T14:44:13Z")
> [@bump](#): > > What kind of freaks people out is when people (no idea what nationality) bring in day-old fish dishes and microwave that shit; it’ll pollute half the floor of the building with fish stench. And on the whole, I like fish, but some of these dishes have horrendous fishy odors. Ah, I hate people who bring in fish. We used to have two girls in here that always used to get nasty greasy fish fridays and bring it in. It’s obnoxious and rude. I feel self conscious when I even bring some Indian food in. People should be polite about overly smelly foods in the office. As to the rest, I’m Indian. I submit I _need_ deodarant, and you want me to have it. 🙂 ETA: What **monstro** says is really true, I think. If you like someone’s natural scent, it probably doesn’t smell like bad BO to you. It just smells like them. But if you don’t, if the pheremones aren’t attractant or whatever, then it’s gross. This of course excludes people who are actually smelly in a bad way. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/77 "2015-01-14T14:58:05Z")
Some people I have known are well aware that they smell, but think people that care are the ones with a problem, so too bad for them. They shower, but often don’t use soap or use some crap ineffective “natural” soap and won’t wear deodorant. I think they just don’t understand how unpleasant they are making it for others and think that people are just pretending to be bothered, the way sometimes cigarette smokers refuse to believe their smoke is actually harming and disturbing everyone around them. When they are around someone who is heavily perfumed though, they get upset. No matter how many times I tell them that the way they feel about the perfume is the way others feel about their stank, they disagree that such a thing could really be possible. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/78 "2015-01-14T15:20:19Z")
The historical archives contain letters from Napoleon to Josephine announcing his return within a few days, and that she should stop washing. One hundred years later, soap and razor manufacturers [convinced women](http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/offending_bo2.jpg) that they had actually been undesirable all these centuries. Chiang Kai-shek would order the windows be opened after any meeting with Westerners, although the Chinese were no more circumspect than Europeans about washing. I’d be interested in what the mutually shvitz-happy Finns and Japanese thought of each other. Meriam Webster’s definition of HOGO:now dialectal, England \*a notably strong flavor or smell \* Origin: modification of French haut goût high savor or flavor (my go-to adjectives are _halitotic_ and _gingivitic_) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/79 "2015-01-14T15:23:42Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Ah, I hate people who bring in fish. We used to have two girls in here that always used to get nasty greasy fish fridays and bring it in. It’s obnoxious and rude. I feel self conscious when I even bring some Indian food in. People should be polite about overly smelly foods in the office. Plenty of people microwave some vaguely stank stuff in the break room, but it usually just stinks up the break room. But for some reason, the fishy reek permeates a much, much larger area. I don’t know if it’s just more detectable, or if the other molecules react with oxygen or what, but the other stuff usually just smells funky in the actual breakroom, while the fish carries out into the work areas. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475/80 "2015-01-15T03:22:49Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Correct. > Honestly… I don’t care. > > Seriously, I really don’t care. I don’t care if the guy in the elevator smells like a “clean of dirt” human being or “like not much of anything”. My objection would be heavy artificial scents/musk which, frankly, I find more offensive than smell of a (clean) human being. And some of us have serious allergies to the artifical scents. Going overboard on products can cause the person next to them to have an asthma attack. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-bathe/709475.md?page=5)