is it necessary to take showers everyday?

C

chris4355

Registered Senior Member
I broke my wrist about 2 months ago...

20 days later I got surgery done. I showered the day before the surgery, and went on 2 days recovering in bed, followed by another 3 days where my doctor did not recommend I showered just because I had stitches on in a thick cast, meaning I would sweat a lot and moisture is not good around new stitches, that and the fact that I could slip in the shower, holding my arm up would cause a strain on my shouder, and the heat will cause swelling, were all good reasons as to why I should not shower.

So ya, I admit it, I spent 6 days without showering, the idea of it disgusts me too lol.

I still have the cast on and taking a shower is such a pain in the ass that I do it every other day or so. Its not like I am anywhere as physically active at the moment so it doesnt matter.

But one thing that I noticed is that I feel fine. I no longer feel dirty about it, and to be honest I hung out with my friends on the 6th day and none of them even noticed or said anything.

So my question is... is this shower thing just a hype? Or could there really some serious health problems involved with avoiding showers... because so far it seems like there aren't any, and at the same time its such a waste of water when millions (or billions?) of people take showers everyday when they do not really need to.

to be honest I kinda lost the point of showering unless:
1) I am about to go out with a girl
2) I spent the whole day snowboarding or went to the gym, beach etc...
3) fell in a pile of shit

coming back from a long school day where I just sat on a desk? whats the point?:shrug:
 
Hi, I am sorry about your wrist, how is it now? I hope you get well soon.

About the shower thing, well, 2 years ago I visited the capital city of Nepal to do a project related with water infrastructure. People over there in general take shower only once a week (yes, once a week). The teachers at schools teach them to do so. This is because the supply of water in that area is less than the demand. Even when I stayed in hotel, there was very little water coming out in the shower, and it was only available between 6-8 AM, and between 5-7 PM (more or less 4 hours a day). They have got used to it for years, but surely the hygiene is relatively poor. I got itching everywhere on my body, perhaps my skin is a little sensitive, but then again the temperature was also quite hot.

In my opinion, if you do have access to water, you should do shower regularly, because when it comes to skin disease, you will lose more. If you are ill and hence unable to take shower routinely, maybe you could wipe your body with wet towel, avoiding the injured area. I think that it will not only make you clean, but also feel fresh.

In my home country, I took shower twice a day, because the daily temperature in my hometown is around 27-35 degrees whole year, so I did sweat a lot.

Here where I live now, I took shower twice a day just in the summer. For all other seasons, now I only take shower once per day, i.e. before I sleep. This is I learn from the Japanese people (my ex boss). In Japan, people only take shower before going to bed. In the morning, washing face and brushing teeth is sufficient. In addition to that, as I pray 5 times a day, I have to wash several part of my body 5 times a day as part of the ritual before praying (I have to wash hands until elbow, legs until calf, face, mouth, ears, and front hair). I find this quite effective.
 
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when I fell on my hand two months ago in January ... it was real bad, I had to get special x-large bandages with this material that speeds up healing. Well when I showered I just held my hand above the stream of water and than I carefully washed with the other the area around it.

However every three days I would open the bandage a bit and dry it up. One time I opened it up completely and poured alcohol 70% on it...the pain was excrutiating, but that did it. I suffice to say that alcohol really helps prevents bacteria and fungi from forming...so you might try it.

My wound healed completely and I cant even see it now. And it was real deep, up to the muscles.
 
chris4355 said:
coming back from a long school day where I just sat on a desk? whats the point?:shrug:
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it does good things to the parasympathetic system of our body. Or in english terms, calms the nerves. My parasympathetic system is out of sync, because I used to spend weeks without showering...back when I was a bum and lived in a tent. But that was than, now that I shower every day, my parasympathetic system is all good and I no longer have the sideffects (like running nose constantly and allergic-like reactions).
 
inzomnia said:
About the shower thing, well, 2 years ago I visited the capital city of Nepal ...

I got itching everywhere on my body, perhaps my skin is a little sensitive....
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It could also be as a result of low oxygen content...after all the capital of Nepal is located at altitude of 8km above sea level.
 
My take on it is body odour, which is a relative thing. If you don't shower as often as those around you, it'll become an issue. If no-one showered, non-one would think you stink!:p
the nose gets immune to it.
 
I think yes. But really it depends on you: are you really physically active? If so, please do. Is your environment, well, disgusting? Then please do.

It depends on the individual.
 
It depends really on a few things.......Did I work out that day? Have sex that day?
Sweat my ass off cleaning the yard?

If none of the above I will forgo the shower everyday. I am lucky my hair still looks great a week after I wash it. I will take a shower and tie my hair up, because if I washed it everyday or every second, third day it would be like straw.
 
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shorty_37 said:
It depends really on a few things.......Did I work out that day? Have sex that day?
Sweat my ass off cleaning the yard?

If none of the above I will forgo the shower everyday. I am lucky my hair still looks great a week after I wash it. I will take a shower and tie my hair up, because if I washed it everyday or every second, third day it would be like straw.
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Is yours curly? My hair is like that too, I think because it's soooo curly. It can be mildly greasy but just look more shiny than usual.
 
visceral_instinct said:
Is yours curly? My hair is like that too, I think because it's soooo curly. It can be mildly greasy but just look more shiny than usual.
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My hair is wavy if I let it dry on it's own. If I put mousse in it and scrunch it while it's wet it will dry curly. I wear it like that or I put a flat iron to it to make it straight. My hair takes about a week to start looking greasy. I love it because it would drive me nuts if I had to wash it everyday.
 
shorty_37 said:
My hair is wavy if I let it dry on it's own. If I put mousse in it and scrunch it while it's wet it will dry curly. I wear it like that or I put a flat iron to it to make it straight. My hair takes about a week to start looking greasy. I love it because it would drive me nuts if I had to wash it everyday.
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Mine too.

Grease isn't bad unless it actually smells. It just looks like serum.
 
Does it go really frizzy when it's damp or raining out? Mine goes nuts and I usually tie it in a ponytail on those days.
 
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