Is it the end of daily showers

Alnat1

A few comments seem to indicate that it's unclean or unhygienic not to shower or bathe daily. If I felt sweaty or smelly I would shower more often.

Mstty

Ignoring all the unrelated "beans" comments and chats which could find a home somewhere else on the forum🙄

There is research that over washing removes the protective natural skin layer but whether this is relevent to a shower a day or not is not clear.

Perhaps someone knows something about this on here?

We can manage to shower everyday with our cutting back on hot water heating and time and compared to last year saving 312kwh of electricity with our changes .

The_Green_Hornet

In my household a tank full of hot water has gone up from 10p a day to 30p a day. Daily showers will continue.

Mstty

All well and good for us that can afford it but £73 extra on showering daily at current rates for the year is beyond the means of many right now.

Yet I read in this thread someone complaining about a person who stank in the supermarket.

Think we are all going to have to have a little more sympathy of the plight of others.

Spoonie_Turtle

My skin certainly felt the difference going from daily showers to every other day.  Hard water is not kind to skin.

alibean121

RavingMad said:

MattMattMattUK said:

No, it is not the end of daily showers, whilst most people do not like the increased energy prices they are able to pay them. There are also other things to give up before letting personal hygiene drop.

Couple of interesting points. Does anyone think they're dropping their hygiene standards as a result of the increasing costs of living? I've seen people on the news etc that would boil a kettle to bathe. Friends of ours are paying £400 a month, their house is toasty and warm compared to ours but I know they don't have any disposable income. They're used to living on credit cards. It's people that aren't willing to change their habits that intrigues me.

I'm thinking what will the news headlines be next year when most families don't get any assistance 

I think my hygiene habits altered quite drastically during the pandemic. I swim a lot so really mainly now I shower when I'm doing that rather than at home. That was a laziness and lifestyle thing - not cost. Not getting up in the morning and having to be sharp in a suit with freshly blow dried hair. Even when I go in the office now, everyone is casual. If showers for free, I don't think it would change my habits now.

Mstty

RavingMad said:

MattMattMattUK said:

No, it is not the end of daily showers, whilst most people do not like the increased energy prices they are able to pay them. There are also other things to give up before letting personal hygiene drop.

Couple of interesting points. Does anyone think they're dropping their hygiene standards as a result of the increasing costs of living? I've seen people on the news etc that would boil a kettle to bathe. Friends of ours are paying £400 a month, their house is toasty and warm compared to ours but I know they don't have any disposable income. They're used to living on credit cards. It's people that aren't willing to change their habits that intrigues me.

I'm thinking what will the news headlines be next year when most families don't get any assistance 

This is one of the reasons I started this thread.

I wouldn't call showering 4 times a week instead of all week a drop in hygiene like some harsh people on this site. 

But like you I think it's an expense many should consider with all there other cut backs.

There's a reason they make 48 hour protection deodorants.

One of the points I have been making across the board is the lack of £150 for council tax band D and below and the £400 for all. Next year is going to be really tough for many.

MattMattMattUK

Mstty said:

All well and good for us that can afford it but £73 extra on showering daily at current rates for the year is beyond the means of many right now.

It may be beyond the means of some, but it is not beyond the means of the majority, whilst for some it will not be a choice, for many it will be part of a wider lifestyle choice based on how they choose to spend their income.

Mstty said:

There is research that over washing removes the protective natural skin layer but whether this is relevent to a shower a day or not is not clear.

There is evidence that can cause issues, but it does depend on what is used to clean the skin rather than just being showering. Most of the evidence that exists comes from medical staff who are required to wash their hands dozens, sometimes hundreds of times a day, for the majority of people with normal washing habits using normal cleaning products they will not get issues unless they have a skin condition (eczema as an example).

Mstty said:

Think we are all going to have to have a little more sympathy of the plight of others.

Making everything about someone's "plight" and "sympathy" is not the way to go about a rational discussion. There are some people who will not be able to afford to shower every day, I doubt apart from the extreme right of the Conservative party you will find anyone who takes that position, equally there will be those who claim that significantly large percentage of people are unable to afford to, with the actual answer being somewhere in the middle. There are some people who cannot afford to shower every day, or even more than once a week, they will be people with what Citizen's Advice calls "negative budgets", for them there is no way to make things balance. Equally there will be others who make a range of lifestyle choices which mean that they could afford to, but choose not to, they might keep their home warmer instead, they might decide that they would rather save the money for a holiday, they might rather smoke, they might rather eat more expensive food options, pay for subscription services etc. 

I know people who are keeping their homes cooler than previous years because they would rather save the £100-200 pcm to spend on a holiday then on heating, equally I know people who are foregoing holidays to be able to keep their homes at at toasty 24c, I know someone who has given up smoking to be able to afford to keep their home warmer. Beyond a base level of poverty there will be an increasing lifestyle component to other expenditure. 

Mstty said:

I wouldn't call showering 4 times a week instead of all week a drop in hygiene like some harsh people on this site. 

Going from showering every day to every other day is a drop in personal hygiene, that is not a judgement or an opinion but an objective fact, just as going from showering twice a day to once a day would be a drop in personal hygiene, the only opinion or judgement would be is it an acceptable or a healthy drop in personal hygiene and much of that will depend on one's working conditions, ones physical health and fitness and one's partner's preference for cleanliness if the person in question has one.

Mstty said:

But like you I think it's an expense many should consider with all there other cut backs.

Every expense should be considered, evaluated and weighed up against the other expenses, that is the sensible position.

Mstty said:

There's a reason they make 48 hour protection deodorants.

Marketing.

Mstty said:

One of the points I have been making across the board is the lack of £150 for council tax band D and below and the £400 for all. Next year is going to be really tough for many.

However those most in needs will be supported, it will be the squeezed middle and up where there drop in discretionary income is felt most. Those on benefits are seeing a rise in line with inflation, together with an additional £900+ of cost of living support, that should leave them in a roughly similar position to this year, however those who are not in receipt of benefit and rely on their own income will be unlikely to see their income rise with inflation and will also not receive the £550, however those people are people who can absorb those costs but with drops in their wider expenditure, they will have to make wider lifestyle adjustments which will have an overall negative impact on the economy. 

MalMonroe

MattMattMattUK said:

Alnat1 said:

It seems that @MattMattMattUK has decided that everyone who doesn't bath/shower daily must be poor, smelly and probably doesn't have a partner.

How rude!

Not everyone no, but I have also had the misfortune to work with people who claimed that they did not need to shower daily and did not smell, sadly for the rest of the office we all disagreed with them. If someone had a very physically inactive job then they may not need to shower every day, but for the short amount of time that it takes and the low cost, why not shower?

We may never know. But I do know that sometimes, some people don't look after themselves (self neglect) because they may be clinically depressed or need some care and understanding. I've also worked with people who have, from time to time, not been as fragrant as they may have been but really, who are we to judge them - and particularly behind their backs.

A friend of mine stopped showering and taking care of himself and it was discovered that he was clinically depressed and although he received excellent mental health support, he committed suicide which was a terrible shock for his family and all of his good friends. He may have been a bit smelly, I don't know but I'd really rather have my lovely friend here with us, alive and smelly than smelly (if he was) and dead.

Always best not to judge others. As it says on this very site, you don't know what others are going through.

And also aren't we forumites supposed to be "a friendly community of MoneySavers sharing our experiences and tips to help each other out"?

The rules say, "no one knows what another person may be going through. In summary – please keep it kind and please keep it clean."  Pun intended. 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/forum-faqs/?

I now don't shower every day because my skin's getting wrinkly enough and I fear my energy bills. I'm clean enough and that will have to be good enough. I work from home for myself now I'm retired so won't offend anyone. My hair is washed once a week instead of daily (all those natural oils being washed down the drain, I'm ashamed).

No harm has befallen me now I've fallen into these money and skin saving ways. Please can we all get along and not be snobby about how many baths and showers we all take? We are here to save money and help each other with our tips. 

Qyburn

What do people reckon is the cost saving from a shower every two days, versus every day?  Worst case I guess would be for an electric shower.
And by the way, how many on here don't shower anyway, preferring a bath?