Prompted by a bit of traffic jam in our household this morning for use of the showers, the conversation over breakfast turned to washing habits in the modern world.
I'm in my late 50s and can't really remember a time even from early childhood when my morning routine didn't include a shower. I'm guessing that applies to most people my age and younger?
I really can't remember the last time I had a bath ( as opposed to a shower ) it must be decades ago and no one in our house ever uses the bath as a bath so to speak. When my son was a baby he was bathed in it but as soon as he was able to wash himself he started using a shower.
That led us on to think about our parents habits. My father was always suited and booted for work, but now I come to think about it, he probably only had a bath or shower once a week and simply washed himself at the sink with a flannel the rest of the time. By the early 70s though he was showering every day. My mother, I think anyway, was a more regular, but certainly not daily bather, and I recall only washed her hair once a week. Although in later life she showered daily.
My father didn't use anti-perspirant / deodorant until the 70s either but I did from the age of 13 or so.
Of course this didn't seem abnormal at the time, but it does occur to me that in workplaces where smoking was normal and populated by adults who only washed once a week and didn't use deodorant it must have been, shall we say an exotic atmosphere...
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Mon 18 Jan 16 at 10:38
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I'm just a year or two older than you and that exactly ties up with my recollection, if I'd written a thread on the subject it could have been identical so I guess that was (and is) the norm
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I also can't remember the last time I had a bath ... or a shower, but then I am a Dog.
We have two baths AND showers in this humble abode too - but I still prefer a load of flannel.
I don't use any 'king chemicals under my arms or sham pooh on my hair [strange but true]
My late mutt Milo never had a wash in 15 years and it didn't do him any 'arm.
Wifey on the other hand, has a shower 365 days per annum.
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I shower once a day, and I have a good hot power shower to make it an invigorating experience. I also bath a couple of times a week, and there i have a huge cast iron stand alone bath, to fill it empties the hot water tank. I can't think of anything more relaxing than soaking in a hot bath, and I can't imagine anyone never doing it, that amazes me.
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I also swim most nights so maybe that's my relaxation bit. Couldn't be bothered to sit in a bath. Don't have a rubber duck either.
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I recall that Friday night was bath night for my brother & self. Strict routines in those days. Monday afternoon was washing, Friday was baking day. Sunday a roast meal on the table at noon on the dot. We ate out alternate Sundays with a small convoy including aunt, uncle, grandmother. Again, we always expected to be saved bang on noon.
Cannot remember last time I used the bath in my house. Or the 'house' bathroom. I think it's still there... Will open the door and have a look. Shower every morning in the en suite ( which I've been thinking of modernising the past 14 years). Sometimes evenings as well if on a promise. Baths are for soaking in after a hard days skiing, ( if the accommodation has one) or exceptionally hard physical work.
I can never understand people who don't shower after the gym... Preferring to go home smelly & sweaty. Our gym showers aren't that gross.
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>> huge cast iron stand alone bath, to fill it empties the hot
>> water tank. I can't think of anything more relaxing than soaking in a hot bath,
>> and I can't imagine anyone never doing it, that amazes me.
>>
Me too. If we've got the water and the heat (private spring, log-burning stove) I have a deep bath every evening. There's no shortage of water at present :)
I can't understanding wanting a bath or shower in the morning. I want to get clean and relax in the evening after a day's work - who wants to go to bed unwashed?
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>>who wants to go to bed unwashed?...
I don't usually Cliff, shower in the morning, swim and another shower at night most days.
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I'm older than RDH by more than a decade. My memories chime in exactly; my mother, who was never other than obsessed with cleanliness, did not bathe more than once a week - and it was a bath, not a new-fangled shower - at the same time as which she washed her hair. Same for my father, who was, shall we say, less enthusiastic about hygiene. Same for me until I was well into my teens.
The rest of the time it was washing once a day at the basin ("sink" indeed! That's what's in the kitchen, Runfer) with a flannel. So feet got washed only once a week, in the bath.
I never recollect seeing deodorants.
Nowadays the day doesn't start right without either a bath/hair-wash or shower - I alternate these. And do a thorough flannel-at-the-sink routine before bed. Isn't that normal?
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>>My father didn't use anti-perspirant / deodorant until the 70s either but I did from the age of 13 or so.
>>
Some folks pong but others do not.
I have seen/watched recent items re deodorants.
It appears that many folks do not actually need deodorants .
The most surprising statement was that there appears to be that is your have hard ear wax then you may not need deodorants.
( it is not 01 April )
www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-lucky-two-percent-of-people-have-a-gene-for-stink-free-armpits-2508106/?no-ist
www.theguardian.com/science/sifting-the-evidence/2013/feb/14/wasting-money-deodorant-ears
www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/15/deodorant-facts_n_4032353.html
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"The most surprising statement was that there appears to be that is your have hard ear wax then you may not need deodorants."
It seems startling, but not when you know that ear wax is secreted by modified sweat and sebaceous glands.
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yeah, but you dont spray deodorant into your ear
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>> Ball or aerosol ?
I keep them all clean, oh sorry, misheard.
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I knew someone would remember it.
:-)
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Mon 18 Jan 16 at 19:39
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>> Ball or aerosol ?
>>
Neither. I want it for my arm pits. God rest his soul (Mel Smith).
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>> It seems startling, but not when you know that ear wax is secreted by modified
>> sweat and sebaceous glands.
>>
Sweat doesn't smell. The bacteria which it encourages does, however.
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We do not have a bath at all. Just a decent sized walk in shower. Shower every morning and wash hair (on head) too!
The shower does not get hot enough for me, although no-one else who has used it complains. I lurve hot, hot, water on my knackered back.
I doubt I could easily get out of a bath-tub these days!
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I've seen adverts for baths with a door in the side for those with limited mobility. Must make a hell of a mess when you open it though...
;-)
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>> I've seen adverts for baths with a door in the side for those with limited
>> mobility. Must make a hell of a mess when you open it though...
>>
>> ;-)
Its got central locking, but the shaving mirror tends to blow off in the wind I hear
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>>I doubt I could easily get out of a bath-tub these days!
One of the only times I've really enjoyed having a shower was when we rented a holiday let for a few months during house moves and it had a large wet room where y'all could walk about with gay abandon.
My old (80) brother who lives up by mad f managed to wangle a wet room out of SS for his privately-owned owse. He does suffer with his back at times, but he's far from disabled in any way and, he's not short of a few bob.
Maybe worth you seeing what's available in your area Dodger.
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www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-lucky-two-percent-of-people-have-a-gene-for-stink-free-armpits-2508106/?no-ist
I'm one of the 2% in Henry's link above. I used to think I didn't sweat, because I've never had smelly armpits. Then someone bought me a silk shirt and it had underarm stains after I'd worn it for just a couple of hours. I managed to wash them out eventually, but it took so long that I've never worn it again. As the link suggests, I have dry earwax.
When I do sweat, it's seems to pour off my shaved head. That must be the culprit for what my daughters call "Dad's hat smell". I know what they mean - my father's hats had it too.
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Herself takes a proper bath every night before going to bed.
I take a shower a couple of times a week, or whenever I think I need one, using whatever shampoo is to hand and soap for the rest of me. But then I've always been a filthy squalid brute.
No idea whether people notice. They may be too polite to mention it of course.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Mon 18 Jan 16 at 13:58
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Shower daily, but if I miss, wash feet in the bidet…..
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When you think about having a shower once or twice a day and using detergent to strip the natural oils rom your skin its a pretty harsh and unnatural thing to do. If you take the world's population into account rather than the privileged Western economies its an unusual thing to do too.
Deodorants are a modern phenomenon. Virtually unknown before the 1960s especially for men and a triumph of the advertising industry.
All in all the obsession with "hygiene" looks to be a strange quirk of then late twentieth century
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Inclined to agree with you CG, but I wonder what any of us here would make of the "atmosphere" now, were we able to time travel back to a crowded office or similar environment on a hot day in 1956 or thereabouts ?
I suspect we'd all find it a bit ripe for our modern noses.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Mon 18 Jan 16 at 14:36
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Possibly but do Non-western" societies without showers really smell that bad? There is a theory that after a while your skin reaches a sort of equilibrium and you you don't get any dirtier or smellier. Might be an interesting theory to test.
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Indeed, and no better place than Norwich to do it, given the prevailing westerlies...
;-)
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>> Possibly but do Non-western" societies without showers really smell that bad?
Yes.
Mind you, so does Paris.
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There is a theory
>> that after a while your skin reaches a sort of equilibrium and you you don't
>> get any dirtier or smellier. Might be an interesting theory to test.
>>
>>
>>
I suppose there is an upper limit on smelliness but the mongol hoards were said to spend months in the saddle, also said you could smell them before you saw them.
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>> a crowded office or similar environment on a hot day in 1956 or thereabouts ?
>> I suspect we'd all find it a bit ripe for our modern noses.
Nothing modern about my nose comrade.
Deodorants are ridiculous and harmful. What's more they smell much worse than sweat, especially in combination with man-made fibre shirts and suits.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Mon 18 Jan 16 at 14:54
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>>Deodorants are ridiculous and harmful
Especially antiperspirants. Many con-tain aluminium.
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"Many contain aluminium"
The third most abundant element in the earth's crust. Its a dangerous old planet you're living on. A bit less aluminium in Mars' crust so you might feel safer up there. ;-)
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>>A bit less aluminium in Mars' crust so you might feel safer up there. ;-)
I'm still waiting for 'the call'.
(*_*)
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>>
>> Deodorants are a modern phenomenon.
1888 apparently:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deodorant
But I think Alum and natural scents were used historically.
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If you take the world's population into account rather than the privileged Western
>> economies its an unusual thing to do too.
>>
I would say more through lack of ability to shower that often rather than a choice.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Mon 18 Jan 16 at 19:02
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>>Shower daily, but if I miss, wash feet in the bidet.....
>>LOL<<
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I like a bath at home, we've just had a new bathroom fitted but the bath is quite small...as is the room. We opted for a shower bar to run the shower, which is now over the bath. I haven't used it yet 'cos I'm not too steady when standing still. No electric shower again for us. Never use soap, just Foamburst gel........soap has fat in it and means you have to clean the bath after !
I swim 3 mornings a week and use one of their disabled showers afterwards 'cos I can take my time and lean on the wall or use the handrails. I use shower gel and also have a shave whilst I'm in there.....it's all free !
We've now started booking camp sites with disabled facilities, the one we go to at Hartington in The White Peak has a wetroom that could grace any top hotel . There is a shower in the van but I don't think we've ever used it...apart from storing the sleeping bags overnight.
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I've met a few people recently who have skin problems and have been told by their doctors that they're washing too frequently. Generally speaking, I think most people wash too much.
Many years ago I was very taken by a passage in Jack Kerouac's book "Big Sur". He thought americans were obsessed by showers and deodorant, yet didn't appear to have their own flannels at hand to wash their bums after they'd been to the toilet. That hit me like a revelation.
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Its damned hot here and so a shower a fay is minimum, two is more usual.
Fortunately the locals are very concerned with personal hygiene. Working for Alcatel in Ruo (French) was awful since the parisiens saw no need to amend their already sparse bathing routine.
Yellow stained shirt armpits were the norm.
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Apparently hair is self cleaning. If you don't use shampoo for three months it learns to clean itself with only a plain water rinse needed a few times a week to keep it sparkling.
That's according to that hippy bird on Steve Wright in The Afternoon, anyway.
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I don't remember my bathing frequency in childhood, but my parents never had a shower fitted (over the bath or separate). One was finally installed last year before I began renting their house out.
I've only lived in a shower-equipped house for 2 years. It was a bath most evenings for me up until then; a shower every morning without fail now. My teenage daughter has a shower most weeks, whether she needs one or not.
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Without going Four Yorkshiremen we lived for a time with my maternal grandparents on their farm in County Cork when I was five. The old man was working over here as was my uncle so along with mum, myself and brother my aunt and her two kids were also in residence. No electricity or running water so it was candles after dark and water was pulled from a hand pump about 1/4 mile down the road. Going down with buckets to fill was the kids job. Bath night was once a week in a tin tub with the water heated over an open fire and the toilet was in a corner of the field behind a bush. That was quite a common scenario in Ireland in the fifties and I dare say in many places over here too. In my relatively short lifetime things have progressed to the extent where those conditions would be seen as extreme poverty now but back then as long as you had enough food to eat and a roof over your head it just meant you were not very well off.
In many parts of the world today the conditions above would be seen as luxury living, something we could do well to remember when we whine and groan about how put upon we are.
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Did you have t'lick t'road clean on't way t'get watter?
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Recollection much same as those of others in the 45-60 age group.
Parental home lacked a shower until they downsized (slightly) well after my sis and I had left home. Large bath and separate bog and house we lived in after I was 9 had wash basins in all four bedrooms. Daily stand up wash was de-riguer from very early.
Mum tended to bath every evening but Dad's was a weekly soak on a sunday pretty much to the end of his life.
Tried showering daily when we first had a the facility but it played hell with my skin which got very dry, particularly in winter. Shower alternate days now with a basin wash on others.
Dad's generation regarded deodorant, and to some extent after-shave, as effeminate affectations. Used deo (but not anti persp) since my late teens - Dad's disaproval was evident until usage 'mainstreamed' in eighties.
The other linked subject is laundering of clothing. Today's machine washable trousers go through the machine every few days. I'm sure suits worn by dad's generation were lucky to get monthly dry cleaning. Stains were 'sponged' out.
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Shirts were generally worn for a couple of days prior to the widespread introduction of washing machines. They came with detachable collars attached with collar studs. I can remember my dad searching for the things.
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>> >> I'm sure suits worn by dad's generation were lucky to get
>> monthly dry cleaning. Stains were 'sponged' out.
>>
Interesting spin-off from the smoking ban... apparently the dry-cleaning industry took a kicking due to many 'new' smoke-free environments meaning less smell clothes.
back on topic - my father tells of austerity years in the 40s when it was a weekly bath, 5" of water, the whole family shared it, and changing of underwear/bedclothes was a semi-weekly ritual.
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>> Sweat doesn't smell. The bacteria which it encourages does, however.
>>
I learned from a diabetic friend that one of the payoffs (if you can call it that) of the condition is that you don't suffer from BO. Can't remember exactly how he explained it though, can anyone on here who's either diabetic or whose partner is, enlighten me?
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All this talk of sweat and austerity years isn't helping tight now.
I'm living the dream.
The boiler decided to stop working yesterday morning and the heating engineer left at 6pm last night with the verdict 'the PCB is knackered'
He did leave us 2 'loan' fan heaters and we have a DeLonghi Dragon oil filled radiator but of course, no hot water either.
It's -3 degrees here this morning and I await a phone call as to whether it's a new boiler or new PCB but whichever, it's not going to be solved quickly. Brrrrrr!
Pat
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Gas Boilers, Circuit Boards, electronic ignition......................I run a 1984 Coal fired boiler. Failing 1970s oil boiler & no gas in the area it was coal / gas cylinder and coal won.
Depends on gravity and a fan.
32 years, it has needed 2 fans - they never "died" just lost their capacity slowly. Gravity has worked without fail!
Maintenance is 2/3 minutes per day in winter & every 2/3 days in milder times.
£150 this week to top up the coal stocks - should last 6 weeks+. Mind you a new boiler would cost me £4,000 + fitting but at least the pipes & fittings are the same as 1984 but weighing some 150/170 kilos it is not a DIY Sunday morning job.
Gas eventually came to my street about 1987 and my neighbours seem to be on at least Gas Boiler # 3 having burned out boilers every 10 to 15 years blown PCBs, unique parts unavailable etc etc.
SWMBO is pushing for gas boiler to which I have agreed to when "the old faithful" fails - rusting boiler from the inside is the death knell.
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>>Brrrrrr!
That's the good thing about having a wood burner - no PCB's, heat exchangers, thermostats etc.
Just bung some wood on it, light a match and then ... 3 happy yappy Dogs!
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Pat, when my boiler failed I asked around at the pub and the consensus was that the PCB had failed.
I found these people online www.cctltd.com
Job sorted in double quick time
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Oops, that didn't work
Look up Control Engineering Technology Ltd . Watford. They supplied me with a reconditioned PCB in double quick time.
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Should be www. CETLTD.com.... I need to visit Specsavers or have a brain transplant. Both probably.
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Thanks Legacy Lad, much appreciated.
They have the one we need as well but despite offering to go and fetch it today for them, the heating engineering firm who look after the boiler insist it has to be a 'genuine' part and must come from their supplier in Lancashire.
At that point I had a word with our landlord and he has insisted it is working by Thursday and he doesn't care how they do it:)
He wanted to fit a new boiler but they had already ordered the part and we both agree it will be quicker than getting someone to fit a new boiler.
He's also popped round with another oil filled radiator and that's the first time I've seen him in about 4 years, so it was nice to have a bit of a catch up.
By the way, the one in your link was £95, and the one they have coming is £394 so I think he may be looking for another gas service firm for his properties!
Pat
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"As long as people wash their hands often enough and pay attention to the area of the body below the belt, showering or bathing every other day would do no harm.â€
www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/how-often-should-you-be-showering-a6819486.html
:-)
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From article linked by Dog:
Overwashing causes 'defatting' of the skin – getting rid of the natural body oils we produce to protect the skin cells. This can cause actual damage making them more permeable to bacteria or viruses, precipitating itchy skin, dryness, flakiness and worsening conditions like eczema.
Exactly my experience with daily shower.
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Wash and brush up - smokie
