Shower etiquette at the swimming pool

barbarawright

I go to an outdoor poor all year round. There are open (single sex showers) and an open changing room by them plus cubicles outside. I would say about 70% of women take their cossies off in the shower. Why wouldn't they?

waterbaby

egon wrote: »

Over here in Germany, it is normal to shower fully naked after a swim.
It is actually odd, seeing someone showering in there cossi:o

When we swam in Reykjavik, a naked shower was mandatory before swimming. An attendant was always watching, to make sure that everyone complied! A little out of my comfort zone, but all the Icelandic women were obviously thoroughly comfortable with it, so I was ok too.

I visited a Swedish friend, in Sweden, and she took me to a place where you alternate sauna with a plunge in the sea - and everyone, without exception, was naked the whole time (men and women separated) and the wearing of costumes would apparently be have been thought bizarre. So I stripped off, and felt quite at ease very quickly.

But in answer to the original question - as long as the towel was well secured, I wouldn't give it a second thought - as others have said, you're covering up more than if you had your costume on.

Bogof_Babe

You could get yourself a towelling robe. No-one could complain then.

onlyroz

Well I do exactly what you've described. At our pool the showers are mixed sex but there are three lockable cubicles. If one is free I'll go into one and have a full shower after taking my cozzy off and then go to a changing room with a towel round me. It never occurred to me that this could ever be considered an issue.

As for the "pool showers are just for washing the chlorine off" comment - this is MSE right? Why not make use of the hot water at the pool for a full shower instead of using my own at home?

boliston

jetplane wrote: »

daft question - we have communal changing rooms with lockable showers at our pool. I always take my swimsuit off and shower, wrap a towel around me and then walk to a cubicle (as do others - or so I thought). This week I came out of the shower and a woman announced that I was disgusting to take my swimsuit off and walk around nearly naked.

I had never really considered this before and wonder if I am in the wrong and what others thought?

the woman sounds like a bully to me - i have a policy of never rewarding a bully as bullies are best ignored

duchy

onlyroz wrote: »

Well I do exactly what you've described. At our pool the showers are communal but there are three lockable cubicles. If one is free I'll go into one and have a full shower after taking my cozzy off and then go to a changing room with a towel round me. It never occurred to me that this could ever be considered an issue.

As for the "pool showers are just for washing the chlorine off" comment - this is MSE right? Why not make use of the hot water at the pool for a full shower instead of using my own at home?

Exactly this

I think the original complainer was in the wrong.
Many people go swimming before work or in their lunch hour so to assume a shower is not for showering but for just rinsing off the chlorine makes little sense unless swimming is reserved only for the retired or unemployed or those with a day off.

I personally wouldn't wander naked around a single sex communal changing room but would use a towel to cover myself - but if someone got a flash whilst I was drying or getting dressed I wouldn't be losing any sleep over it. The human body isn't something to be ashamed of -but it's polite to draw a line between flaunting and reasonable modesty I believe and a bath towel as a cover up meets that criteria .

KiKi

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I would only change in a private cubicle, definitely not in front of strangers.

Not sure which bit of my post you were referring to - the last bit?

If so, at the gym I used to be at there were no cubicles - you had to change in front of everyone, no choice! But they were single sex.

Torry_Quine

KiKi wrote: »

Not sure which bit of my post you were referring to - the last bit?

If so, at the gym I used to be at there were no cubicles - you had to change in front of everyone, no choice! But they were single sex.

It was where you said you have to be naked at some point. I would never use a communal changing room.

thorsoak

KiKi wrote: »

Having said that, in the mixed sex changing rooms I'm at now, most people do shower in their costumes - they seem to rinse off then go home for a proper shower. I prefer to have a proper shower there - wash my hair and everything - so I also strip off to a towel. Depends what you think the shower is for, I guess, but I think she was wrong to criticise you (unless parts of you were hanging out!!).

So do you go home wearing a wet cossie under your clothes?

Frogletina

KiKi wrote: »

(Mind you, at the private pool I was at, women would be in the middle of changing (naked) then go to the toilet naked, and come out of the toilet cubicle again, naked, and stand there and dry their hair naked. I thought the hair drying in the nude was odd, but at least they were facing a wall.

That would be me...except I did sit on a towel to dry my hair rather than stand. With wet long hair I never wanted to get my clothes on before drying it. This was in a communal changing room where I used to go a few years ago, just women but no cubicles.

I think people have got more prudish over the years. I used to go to a sauna with my mother many years ago which was for women only (council run pool and sauna in a large city). We all stripped off in the communal changing rooms there and used the saunas and showers while naked - no showers in cubicles then. There were a couple of places to change behind curtains but it hardly seemed worth it when we were all naked afterwards.

frogletina