View Full Version : What is normal for having a bath or shower?
We all know how anxiety can affect normal daily tasks and you get out of touch with what is normal?
I recently learned that a twenty something showers once a month, which if in high anxiety mode is not strange at all. But, what is classed as a normal?
I had a sister n law who showered twice a day, my dad had a bath once a week on a Friday night and my mum stopped having baths for years and just had a strip wash.
Weird, but curious subject......
MyNameIsTerry
07-11-18, 10:52
Once a month? I would have thought they were in the shower more than previous generations and less understanding of what a sink used to be for before showers were everywhere? :shrug:
What is normal in the shower? Me singing girls just wanna have fun. :biggrin:
When working I have one before I leave otherwise I tend to jump in every couple/few days. It depends if I'm just mooching around on my own or seeing someone for something that may mean close proximity...:whistles:
After certain activities (use your imagination :blush:) or if I've been doing a load of sweaty dirty jobs over some hours like being at work. Otherwise I can't be bothered and use the sink.
Rarely use the bath. Pre shower days it was bath time Sundays. We were always made to have one before the school week started.
I struggled using the shower when my anxiety got bad as it made me feel rough when I got out which was a trigger, still is for many activities, but I got over it. At my worst just being under the shower made me more anxious. Back then I could go months but the sink was still there and used daily except at the worst of the breakdown stages when personal hygiene went out of the window for a while.
mezzaninedoor
07-11-18, 11:28
My Wife showers every day.
She thinks Im not hygienic because I tend to shower/bath once a week favouring standing washes on other days.
I think if you are bigger you probably also need to shower more often as sweat can gather in crevices on the body.
I dont think theres a normal. I cant imagine in the middle ages they bathed that often, was probably a monthly luxury. Maybe the scent of man & woman included the sweat & toil of a days work ?!?
Not sure what would be classed as normal.
I have a shower every morning.
Like Terry notes, it's not about being unclean, it's more about using the shower or bath, as opposed to a Wash down via the sink. Maybe a time factor, doing hair factor, health factor, disabled factor, mental factor or pure anxiety prevents us from using the bath or shower, I know that. But I just wondered what is accepted as normal, taking out the equation of a hot day, dirty work and a romp. :D
---------- Post added at 11:54 ---------- Previous post was at 11:53 ----------
I also know of a top hairdresser that only washes his hair once a month. :shrug:
For me a hot shower relaxes my muscles, so it helps my anxiety a little. I barely add any cold and come out a bit pink.
I've also always been a big night sweater so just feel i need a shower. I would think that once/twice a week would be about normal.
Shower every day, sometimes twice if have been working in the garden or doing dirty jobs. Tend to not bother on Saturday LOL For me its quick and convenient. I dont know if there is a 'normal' either, providing you are keeping yourself hygenically clean in some way or other thats all that matters.
MyNameIsTerry
07-11-18, 13:36
My Wife showers every day.
She thinks Im not hygienic because I tend to shower/bath once a week favouring standing washes on other days.
I think if you are bigger you probably also need to shower more often as sweat can gather in crevices on the body.
I dont think theres a normal. I cant imagine in the middle ages they bathed that often, was probably a monthly luxury. Maybe the scent of man & woman included the sweat & toil of a days work ?!?
Interestingly I've seen this commented on before and how diet changes how we smell. It was said that until the introduction of more sugars people doesn't smell the same.
Although I think the main reason would be more likely medieval man, and probably every generation going past WWII for a certain period of time, we just less wussy about stuff.
Yeah, bacteria accumulates in crevices so skin folds mean more of that. Body hair traps it in too.
Haven't there been studies showing daily showering is excessive and removes oils from the skin?
Anyway don't women like a man "smelling like a man"? (Which might essence of lager and pork scratchings up here :roflmao:)
---------- Post added at 13:36 ---------- Previous post was at 13:30 ----------
So, you worked me out then, Carnation? Not that a romp is much more frequent than what Santa gets once a year with his mince pie :ohmy:
Some people say the shower is quicker than the sink. That may be true if you are washing your personal bits as opposed to face & pits. Uses much more water though and it's going to mean a heavier carbon footprint.
I always find hair washing under the shower isn't as good as the sink but we don't have a power shower, just a basic gravity fed one, or those luxurious hotel ones with the huge flat shower heads (they are great! ).
Look warm water for me. I could never stand boiling hot showers or baths.
Bathing is such a subjective thing, I think. As a norm, I would say that to bathe/shower minimally once a day would be right.
When I am depressed, I go days without showering and end up disgusted with myself. It takes so much effort and motivation for me to eventually go and shower, but ironically when I do, I feel a lot better within myself. It is motivation that is the struggle. I think for mental health sufferers, personal care is a really difficult issue.
I am the polar opposite when I am well. I shower every day, once a day, sometimes twice if I am on holiday (for instance), after a day out and before an evening out. I wash my hair every other day.....religiously!
I must admit though, I do have pyjama days if I don't have to go out. I work from home so unless I have an errand to run/shopping to do, I just say sod it. :shrug:xx
What a good subject Carnation......... I was born in the forties. We had a boiler to heat up for hot water and tin bath in the back kitchen.
First my Dad had a bath, then my Mum, then Sister two, then sister three, then little me. I refused to get in the bath the water was filthy, but no I had to get in it.
We only had gas light and candles.
When my Dad retired from work, he had a lump sum pention or something. We had electric put in and a television. I was eighteen!!
Now in my own house. I have a bath every other day. In the summer this year every day to cool down from the sun. We have a shower down stairs, but I don't use it as it is to closed in for me.
There is one thing I am most grateful for is hot water out of the tap, and I don't waste any either it is too precious
This post makes me feel old. I am old. but young at heart.
MyNameIsTerry
07-11-18, 14:30
Now I'm getting reminded of this...
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ca/88/eb/ca88eb0de5b2371dd7df2b2977696ac4.jpg
:roflmao:
Magic, my parents said the same about when they were young. Unluckily for my dad he was the last of 13 :biggrin:
Heavens above Terry. :D Once a week for us. Every Friday night. Forgotten to say that. What a chore. Nit comb after that sitting on the table under the gas light. Oh what joy.:emot-giggle:
Towel Rules....
White for hands
Brown for feet
Green for torso, thighs and seat
In the cupboard beneath the stair, you'll find the red for pubic hair.
Towel Rules....
White for hands
Brown for feet
Green for torso, thighs and seat
In the cupboard beneath the stair, you'll find the red for pubic hair.
:yesyes::roflmao:
Love it.
mezzaninedoor
07-11-18, 18:23
ha ha ha
I agree with the commentor who said that they bathe less when depressed.
I find my hygiene can suffer when Im dreadfully depressed and anxious.
Some interesting info here.
I suppose since the introduction of the shower, as most households would only have a bath in their bathroom, it made it easier and quicker to use.
It's a bit of a ritual waiting for the bath to fill, getting your bits together and so on.
The problem with a shower for women is the hair!
Some women use conditioner and have to leave on for ten minutes and stuff like that. Then they have the ritual of drying, styling, straightening.
Easier for a guy with a No.1 haircut. :D
The problem with a shower for women is the hair!
Some women use conditioner and have to leave on for ten minutes and stuff like that. Then they have the ritual of drying, styling, straightening.
Easier for a guy with a No.1 haircut. :D
I have a bit of a routine in the shower when it comes to leaving the conditioner on. I usually bung it on my head and then spend a while actually doing the body washing stuff, shaving my 'pits and legs, etc. I have one of those scrubby net things so I can have a good scrub and exfoliate :D
This kills some time while waiting for the conditioner to soak in.
I have come to loathe the drying and straightening thing. Sometimes I dodge it for so long that my hair ends up drying by itself while still wrapped in a towel :roflmao:xxx
I have a bath every evening before bed, sometimes I’ll have one in the morning at weekends if I’m feeling poorly or I’m cold. I’ll shower in the morning to wash my hair. For me a bath is relaxation - I read in it, sometimes a face mask / hair mask too. I love a bath, get antsy if I can’t have one.
I always think you should wash every day / however you do it is your choice as long as you can keep hygienic.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
MyNameIsTerry
08-11-18, 02:28
getting your bits together and so on.
I didn't know they were detachable. We blokes learn something new about the ladies everyday :D
---------- Post added at 02:28 ---------- Previous post was at 02:27 ----------
Towel Rules....
White for hands
Brown for feet
Green for torso, thighs and seat
In the cupboard beneath the stair, you'll find the red for pubic hair.
:roflmao:
Green bum? Time to see a doctor mate! :winks:
I didn't know they were detachable. We blokes learn something new about the ladies everyday :D
---------- Post added at 02:28 ---------- Previous post was at 02:27 ----------
:roflmao:
Green bum? Time to see a doctor mate! :winks:
:D:D:D:D
Up until six weeks ago I'd say I have a shower every day , that was the point were the so called heating engineers ripped out our bathroom leaving us with a blocked up bath and no floor , four weeks with no shower was horrible , there was a time when my anxiety was at its peak that a shower felt like a million needles sticking into my body and mind but you have to stay clean a clean nutcase is much more approachable.
Four weeks without a shower they then fitted the new one ( blissssss ) turning up one day a week they have bodged their way through refitting our bathroom , yesterday I sat talking to the decorator asking if he'd leave me some paint to finish off the bad bits ( he agreed it was a shite job ) so almost finished, partner almost happy they were going and today they turned up and because they'd been rumbled on bodging they ripped off the new tiles , ripped out the panelling and took off my lovely new shower , why ? Because the pipes were in the wrong place which I'd said all along .
I do love my showers when I'm flagging with fatigue from worry it wakes me up for while
It's not just about getting clean and I am a mucky pup , it's relaxing and invigorating ( sounds like shower gel ad ) .
My old man like Magic was a baby boomer , he used to say he'd have a bath once a year on his birthday wether he needed it or not :D
Rule of thumb is if you are always the last in the queue in the super market and no one stands behind you then you aren't standing close enough to the water often enough :D
Ps I've bought a disability seat to sit it the shower now my daughters have left the nest so can stay in there and have a secret weep over where it all went wrong :weep:
Every day I have a shower, occasionally twice a day. In my teens I got depressed and would shower a bit less, sometimes go a few days, but thankfully that idea isn't one that stuck around. Saying that the water pressure in my area went off yesterday, Yorkshire water told me the pump had broken, three hours without a drop, sods law I found this out after exercising! Sat their feeling very manky for a bit, eventually I shaved and "washed"using half a breaker of water from my bed side table lol. Classy.
MyNameIsTerry
09-11-18, 01:47
Every day I have a shower, occasionally twice a day. In my teens I got depressed and would shower a bit less, sometimes go a few days, but thankfully that idea isn't one that stuck around. Saying that the water pressure in my area went off yesterday, Yorkshire water told me the pump had broken, three hours without a drop, sods law I found this out after exercising! Sat their feeling very manky for a bit, eventually I shaved and "washed"using half a breaker of water from my bed side table lol. Classy.
Knowing Yorkshire Water they probably use one of these...
http://indtechservices.co.in/wp-content/gallery-bank/gallery-uploads/o_19nh428g7p2uul31l197iv18tsr.jpg
:winks:
---------- Post added at 01:47 ---------- Previous post was at 01:44 ----------
Up until six weeks ago I'd say I have a shower every day , that was the point were the so called heating engineers ripped out our bathroom leaving us with a blocked up bath and no floor , four weeks with no shower was horrible , there was a time when my anxiety was at its peak that a shower felt like a million needles sticking into my body and mind but you have to stay clean a clean nutcase is much more approachable.
Four weeks without a shower they then fitted the new one ( blissssss ) turning up one day a week they have bodged their way through refitting our bathroom , yesterday I sat talking to the decorator asking if he'd leave me some paint to finish off the bad bits ( he agreed it was a shite job ) so almost finished, partner almost happy they were going and today they turned up and because they'd been rumbled on bodging they ripped off the new tiles , ripped out the panelling and took off my lovely new shower , why ? Because the pipes were in the wrong place which I'd said all along .
I do love my showers when I'm flagging with fatigue from worry it wakes me up for while
It's not just about getting clean and I am a mucky pup , it's relaxing and invigorating ( sounds like shower gel ad ) .
My old man like Magic was a baby boomer , he used to say he'd have a bath once a year on his birthday wether he needed it or not :D
Rule of thumb is if you are always the last in the queue in the super market and no one stands behind you then you aren't standing close enough to the water often enough :D
Ps I've bought a disability seat to sit it the shower now my daughters have left the nest so can stay in there and have a secret weep over where it all went wrong :weep:
My dad says the same, Buster. He gets the micky taken out of him for it all the time "oh, it must be Xmas if he's in the bath" :D
I can't believe they have done that to your shower after all this. They should be throwing some compo your way. :mad:
Lol Terry, poor Yorkshire water! They made a lovely and VERY striking 17 foot high fountain outside the house for 3 entire days last year, it was an incredible spectacle.
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