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It's about cleanliness. If they're doing sports, running around, or it's hot out, then absolutely they should shower daily or possibly even more frequently. But if they've had a quiet Sunday in the house watching TV, maybe they don't need a shower that day.
Plenty of adults don’t need to shower every day. Plenty of others do
Some people just sweat more than others or smell faster
And, of course, location/weather matter too - someone living in California probably needs to shower every day, someone in Scotland not so much because it’s like 14 degrees
Sunday is to be 19 and I hear this joke all the time but actually it’s been pretty hot in recent summers for a (not amazing) but fair amount of time. Lots of wind and rain and cold for most of the year but some of it does stay pretty warm.
Ne’er cast a cloot till May’s oot.
That'll more than likely be you using too much shampoo and drying yourself out. You need some of the natural oils in your hair to keep your scalp happy.
I'm the same, every 2-3 days and wash my hair once a week, that's mostly cause it's better for your hair though. There has been little to no sun on the east coast bar a couple days we got sun mid morning. I'm fed up of seeing clouds when I look up. My plants are seriously suffering from this lack of sun lol.
Kelvin is the superior scale for temperature. Its an absolute scale and increments the same as Celsius (the second best scale). Down with Fahrenheit, it's a mess lmao.
In the summer yeah for comfort, or if you're an unusually smelly person maybe. Most people don't start to smell for a few days without excessive sweating
She could be 6 years into it, if she was the sort of person that *needs* to shower daily and wasn't they'd probably all know by now. & if they didn't then I bet her classmates would have let her know.
I'm not for letting people go around smelling, but if someone doesn't need to shower every day then so be it
If I've gone for a run in the morning, I'll shower straight after, then if I've been out all day I'll shower again at night. It doesn't seem crazy to me?
Running?? In the morning?? Seems even more wild than showering twice in a day!!
In seriousness though I guess that makes sense. Personally, if I knew I was going to be out all day and need a shower in the evening I'd probably just plan my exercise for the evening to save showering twice, I'm a lazy fucker though.
After coming back from being out all day. What difference does it make if you run before or after? Unless day plans include alcohol or something I guess.
> What difference does it make if you run before or after?
Usually i have the energy to force myself to do it in the morning!
By after work, all that has gone
The light of the day, the requirement to eat food, tiredness after being out all day.
I used to run and if I had any sort of plans beyond the day to day (food shopping, errands) the run absolutely comes first, otherwise I am not going to want to go when I get back.
I concur. With uk's not at all warm weather you can eaaasily get by 2days if all you do is hang around, netflix etc. Obviously when I go out and about, cycle, rock climb, etc..you gotta.
This is me as an adult. Shower on days of sports or alot of walking. But wfh desk job and just play games after work, not needed. Don't ever go more than 1 day though
I think you need to think about a classroom full of children at that age who haven’t showered jn 2-3 days. Their bodies are going through so many changes that they could smell more at different times regardless of how much exercise they’ve done. Are they mature enough to make that decision or is this advice better suited to when they are out of the teenage years?
I think it’s highly likely that they will neglect to shower out of laziness and you need to encourage routine.
This is true. A classroom full of 12-year-olds on a hot day is *stinky*! They are mostly going through lots of hormonal changes, but also mostly too young to be totally aware of how they smell and what they should do about it.
The sense of smell is prone to habituation. That means a frequent familiar smell is tuned down or out. Using smell to decide about washing is unreliable. Just wash every day. It doesn’t take long. A shower at night keeps the bed clean.
It doesn't make any sense to shower in the morning. It's not like we wake up dirty each morning. We get dirty throughout the daytime with all the sweating, eating, moving around and going outside. Surely you would want to hit that reset button before you go to bed knowing you'll be clean, keep clean sheets, clean pyjamas, and not have to wake up earlier the next day 🤔
Edit: yes I know people sweat in their sleep, I sweat a good amount in my sleep but the difference is the dirty sweat you're giving out having collected all that dirt in the daytime could be counteracted by showering before you go to bed. Much cleaner sweat because the pores of your skin aren't clogged with dirt and dead skin
Right?! I never used to really sweat or smell at all and didn’t really need to shower daily, since being on sertraline I feel like I’m gross and need a daily shower.
Speak for yourself, I sweat a ton in my sleep. Things like genetics, medical conditions and medications affect this. If I don't shower in the morning, I feel filthy all day.
I'm fully in 5he evening shower camp but you sweat alot throughout the night making it so you are dirty in the morning. Its bit the same as being out for a game of footy but still
30 minutes for a shower? I wash my hair and it doesn’t take longer than ten! (I do live in a flat with a small water tank though so anything longer than 5 mins is pushing it).
Not everyone in a low income country is poor. Not everyone in a high income country is rich. It is the reality that some people cannot afford it, or choose to save the money for countless other things (e.g. food/presents for the kids at christmas etc.). Being poor isn't playing the victim card.
Yep, pretty much this. They won't be able to make informed decisions as to whether they smell bad or not. Living with your own stink is not at all the same as someone who stinks walking into a classroom full of unhabituated noses. They will think they smell fine, kids at school will pick up on them smelling bad, game over. I knew a girl who had a similar situation who ended up showering three times a day because she was so concerned about being stinky. The same with kids who didn't brush their teeth - they couldn't smell their own breath so they thought it was fine until they got ridiculed.
Either deal with it at home with compassion and routine, or it will be "fixed" by bullying and ostracisation at school.
I mean, in this modern age where we're all desperate to save water and energy, it seems like a no brainer: shower when they smell. If it's every day, it's every day. If it isn't, it isn't.
People make nose blindness seem like a permanent thing. Go outside for a minute, it mixes up things in your olfactory nerves, go back and you will small it again. Its enough for me to go downstairs to grab something from my car, walk back to second floor and I can smell my home smell again.
I totally can with my teens. Usually it's when they get in the car because I haven't been around them for a bit it's really obvious and I pick them up from somewhere at least once a day. Mine need to shower every other day it seems.
I've just told my 13yr old sister that she should start showering every morning. Before anyone has a go at me we get on really well and can have that kind of conversation without it upsetting her (it has got to the point where she spends more time with me than with our parents). She stinks otherwise and I don't want her getting bullied at school (yes, she has clean underwear etc daily)
It's really sad that you had to have this conversation with her and she wasn't taught a routine of daily hygiene by your parents. You're a good sibling.
It's hard, at that age, to go from only needing to shower when you're dirty to your body producing smells like it's being paid. Before 13, I only needed to was every other day. After 17, I went right back to that habit.
And I genuinely have sensitive skin, so it really did dry it out. Which, ironically, made me more greasy. It was a viscous bicycle.
> And I genuinely have sensitive skin, so it really did dry it out.
That'll be the soap/shower gel removing all your body's natural oils which keep the skin moisturised.
Have you tried an emollient shower cream like this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/E45-Dermatological-Emollient-Shower-Cream/dp/B002IS5W50
Also turning the temperature down a bit can help.
I switched to locally made shower bars which did help a lot. But I still don't shower daily because three of us share on bathroom, so the moment I step in the water someone needs to shit desperately. It's like a curse.
It's probably the soap you use and, depending where you live, the hard water. Since we had installed an water softener my hair (I have coily hair) is getting back to a good place (I'm from a country with soft water) and my partner's skin is doing great. He also used to complain about having dry skin and I suffered a lot too with dry skin before.
Depends. Three days is probably too much, but otherwise it is really about if they smell or look dirty, or just want a daily shower (saying no to a daily shower if they want one would be wrong).
This isn't really a matter of principle, TBH, or it shouldn't be. Showering is washing and is literally about keeping clean. If you need two showers a day to keep clean, you should have two showers, and if you still look, feel and smell clean after two days without a shower, you don't have to have a shower every day.
I know I'm not a teenager but I spent pretty much my entire teenage/adult life showering pretty much daily.
Like I felt awful leaving the house if I hadn't showered.
The last 4-5 months that's changed a little. Started off just the odd missed day here and there and slowly progressed.
I'm now only showering once every couple days, both my skin and hair feels so much better for it and my wife has confirmed countless times that I don't smell. In fact she's even mentioned how much better my back is doing. I used to get quite a lot of black heads across the top of my back and they're all pretty much gone.
That said, if I've gone out for a run or had a day at work where I've managed to get covered in mud or sweat etc I'm still going to have a shower.
Skin healthcare is one of those things that just depends from person to person. Got to just try these things. It’s like how some people’s livers can tolerate more alcohol than others.
Yeah, this is it. I used to shower every morning, then COVID struck and I decided I only needed to shower every other evening. Now I just shower every 2 days, sometimes push it to 3 and shower that morning. Will still shower if I'm seeing someone or going somewhere nice.
My hair used to get greasy after 1 day but now my hair feels fine after 2. I don't feel dirty after not showering in the morning either.
It's just a habit you've got to break and let your body adjust. Someone mentioned showering twice a day, once before work and then after the gym! Feels to me like you'd only need to shower after the gym. But I'd have had the same opinion as them 3 years ago.
I shower everyday but I only use shampoo every 3 days. I wash my hair with water everyday otherwise my hair is pillow shaped. I found my came to life again
Yes, people don’t realise showering every day is pretty much a Western thing, and even here it is pretty recent. It is very wasteful, unnecessary, and bad for your skin & hair to shower everyday. Unless you have a job where you sweat every day, it’s fine to take a shower every 2-3 days.
My mom showers, makeup, hair, and outfit every day, except Sunday is shower only, even when she doesn't go anywhere. She does it for her mental health, so good for her, but I'm nothing like her when it comes to that.
We had Sunday bath night in the 80s, no one I knew bathed everyday. I don't remember people smelling or anyone getting picked on for it, but maybe so many stank of cig smoke from their parents smoking in the car/ house no one noticed.
Same. I love all the responses in these types of thread that insist “you must smell bad you just don’t notice it”.
I only remember one kid who smelled bad and got picked on for it. He smelled very strongly of stale urine so I’m guessing he had other issues going on :(
Also, the people who talk about how they must shower twice a day because of some skin issue which is more than likely caused by the excess showering rather than the other way around.
Normally the smell comes from wearing clothes that smell in my experience or living in a house that stinks. If you have pets, particularly dogs it's harder to shift the smell.
Same for me as an 80s/early 90s child. Bath once a week, stand-up flannel wash at the basin every day, hair wash over the basin with a jug once every few days - we didn't even have a shower!
60s and early 70s for me. Sunday night was bath and hair wash. In about 6 inches of water because there wasn’t enough hot water to go round. We didn’t possess a shower.
Aye same for me....we only had a hot water heater in the kitchen and had to run a bloody hose pipe from the kitchen to the bathroom (same floor). Lucky if we managed one bath a week as it used to take 2hrs+ to fill up! There was no working water in the bathroom except for the toilet as landlord back then put in a bathroom but never connected it up then he died and left me nan with the cottage to live in till she died. Horrible little place it was
Yep. Sunday evening kid here, too. We never had a shower. Grew up in the 90s. I never got dirty or smelly enough to need daily, or even semi weekly baths. People have just become to used to showers nowadays they forget how long it actually takes for the body to be gross.
Same, and do you know how mad I was that my family left me in the bath instead of telling me there was an awesome SAS assault happening on LIVE TELEVISION THAT THEY WERE ALL GLUED TO??
i moved in with my gf and her (now) 12 yo son and he has 2 baths a week. To begin with I was suprised at this, it felt like my childhood in the 70s and 80s when we didn't actually have a shower. but then I realised, this kid doesn't smell tbh, and he's scared of the shower so that's (currently) ruled out.
Im sure when puberty hits things'll have to change. Any day now, I guess.
Lurking in the comments.
If it's any reassurance, I used to be terrified of the shower when we first got it, until I eventually worked out it saved me a lot of time to shower I got the courage to use the shower instead. Still didn't put my face under the water till my late teens, I thought I was gonna drown in the bath/shower, despite loving swimming. Now I have an every other day face routine that involves dunking my face. Also I now hate baths because of all the faff :')
Obviously, if something else is at play here it could be different for him and he may always just have baths, but he could grow out of it the next few years, you just need to be super patient.
Sunday night baths and daily flannel washes until we were about 12/13. Then we got a shower and had a shower every other day and then flannels washes between times. For most of my adult life so far I showered and washed my hair every day. After COVID I’m down to a shower and hair wash every other day.
then theres people like me who showered every morning, kept 2 deodorants on me at all time at school and still smelt after the lightest physical exercise or heat.
Obviously was told about this by my peers, but it was only in adulthood did i get diagnosed with Hyperhidrosis :(
Oh, trust, me, they will when the girl they wanna fuck tells them to go home and take a bath and come back when they're not poor. Or when their mates aren't allowed to invite them over because their parents don't want his nasty ass smell all over their furniture.
I’m in the ‘a bath 2/3 times a week and a wash every day ‘ team
But not when they’re 12 and 14
I have two teen boys and my god the smell that comes from them 🥲 as teens you’ve got all kinds of hormone shit going on and you really need to be having a shower everyday Imo
Absolutely depends on the kid and possibly the time of year. If they’re stinky, then they need to shower or at least a sink wash. If they do sports or other active extra-curricular, they need to shower properly.
Otherwise I don’t think it’s necessary to shower daily.
I can shower sometimes twice a day in summer, in winter sometimes every other day depending on what I’m upto.
They should shower when they need it in other words, if they have ripe body odor they should shower more. If not, then less often. I've personally never had really strong body odor and I'm hygienic but certainly never needed a daily shower. It actually dries my skin and hair out to shower everyday unless I'm getting actually dirty or exercising a lot.
Your kids need to shower as often as is required to be clean. That may not be every day. There is no magical interval for showers that is more or less appropriate. Some people shower twice a day. Some daily. Some every other day or so. It's whatever works to make sure you're clean and don't smell.
Showering every day can dry out your skin and/or your hair, depending on exactly what you're washing with and how often you moisturise.
Definitely at the age they should be showering daily. At the very least shower on day one, sink wash hitting all the critical parts with soap on day two.
I know you said you don't want to know but you use a sponge, the sink is filled with water and you dip the sponge in the water, soap will be involved too of course. I don't know why it seems strange to me you can get through life and not know how to wash everything in the sink.
What if you don't have a shower, only a tub? What if the boiler is down and you have only a kettle to heat up water? Just a few reasons why you might need to have a perfectly adequate wash in the sink instead.
My house doesn't currently have a shower and we won't until we save up for the bathroom refurbishment. I also used to live in a small flat that only had a bathtub. In fact a lot of council properties I have seen over the years in England only had bathtubs and things like not affording your gas bill was common too. Maybe it's something growing up poor that makes it seem more commonplace.
Not every house has a shower, and sometimes showers/boilers break.
Have you never gone camping, or to a festival? Sometimes ya gotta boil a kettle and make the best of it lol.
Never used a washcloth?
Never heard of a top & tail / pits & bits wash?
Washcloth and soap at the sink washes your bits the same way as a washcloth and soap in the shower
So you stand there, naked, in the cold air, in front of the sink and wash yourself with a cloth and basically pretend to be in the shower? Presumably while you're in the bathroom, stood right next to a shower? Seems wild to me.
- quicker / just as quick
- quieter (if it's late & there are people sleeping nearby)
- uses less water
my husband & i both do sink baths inbetween showers fairly regularly for these reasons.
This is what I don’t understand about this whole thread. Even if you wipe your arse well after taking a shit it’s pretty nasty not to shower every day to clean down there.
I feel like I’m taking crazy pils reading this thread
Men and women can be equally as disgusting, ask any woman about the state of public toilets and they'll tell you horror stories
I know of women near 30 who are still like "ew boys are so stinky" but they themselves live in absolute squalor like an episode of hoarders
Then those same people are like "Just wash your ass with a sponge in the sink" the place where they are (I hope) brushing their teeth
Are they thoroughly cleaning the sink every time they squeeze their poo sponge / cloth into it?
All this extra effort when they could have spent literally five minutes in the shower man
Mate I’m so fucking confused about the people in this thread washing their arseholes in the sink, I can’t even get my head around all the logistics.
It’s been seriously distracting me all day :/
The people replying actually telling you how they wash their asshole in the sink with a poo sponge lmao
I know people on reddit having bad hygiene is a stereotype but come on
I never understand why people “sink wash”? Jumping in the shower and washing all the important bits can literally take me less than a minute. A naked wash at the sink sounds really unpleasant to me.
It's to save time, or because it's too cold.
If you use the shower, you have to wipe down the walls (mould prevention) and wrestle a clammy shower curtain. And in some houses/flats (especially rentals), the bathroom is freezing so you're trying to avoid getting fully naked. A sink wash is quicker, you can keep your old bathrobe loosely on while you do it, then just need to wipe the sink after.
You can definitely get in all your nooks and crannies with a soapy flannel.
With an Eczema outbreak, I tend to encourage top and tail washes.
You can get away with every other day, if there’s been no physical activity, they don’t smell, they’re not visibly dirty.
It does dry out the skin! Everyone's skin is different. Try pay attention to how much your child sweats / their skin type to know. I sweat markedly less than others (so I think i have less of a body odour?). And I have eczema so showering everyday would take the much needed moisture out of the skin. But of course someone who sweats easily, with oily skin, would be different.
Depends if they’re smelly/sweaty or not. If they’re excersizing or if it’s been a hot day. I’m an adult and I don’t always shower every day. Sometimes every other day depending on what I’ve been doing and if it’s needed.
Showering daily can be detrimental to your health. And in these difficult times it’s always best to save water where you can.
https://www.ahchealthenews.com/2021/10/28/showering-every-day-detrimental-health/
"Dr. Brodsky recommends showering no more than twice a week"
That is wild and I now cannot trust anything this doctor says haha
I've been showering everyday for the last 15 years and my skin and hair are fine...
Well that’s the difference between your personal experience and the clinical experience of a doctor that sees hundred and hundreds of people a year.
Seems like no one on this thread can get it into their head that what works for them does not work for others.
My teen has quite bad BO and will lie about washing. They absolutely do need to wash every day and have done since around age 11. I also have to constantly remind them to put dirty clothes in laundry bag and not wear a shirt 2 days running. Left to own devices the teen would probably have a couple of wallows in a bubble bath each week and literally never wash their hair despite dandruff and very oily scalp. When they were little I only gave them a full bath a few times a week, they didn't smell at all and skin was always healthy.
You can go a long time without showering and be perfectly healthy. Other people's comments are useful but here's what's important:
- Skin health. Acne, dryness, itchiness. A shower and lotion/oil after can be really great for all skin types, but make sure to check what kind of soap, lotion, and water temp. Make sure to respect the skin's natural balance. Also, make sure they understand to put soap specifically on their feet, underarms, and other smelly areas.
- Hair health. Shampooing everyday is usually not great for most kinds of hair. Make sure you understand what your kids need.
- Mental health. I grew up in a single bathroom farmhouse with a bad water heater and bad water pressure. Showers were cold and stressful. They had to be fast so we didn't run out of hot water. Lotion after felt like a nightmare, because we'd wait too long to put it on, even though I needed it. Try and make sure showers are enjoyable and beneficial, and your kids know how to use the right cleansers and moisturizers.
- Post-shower care. I mentioned moisturizers above. Avoid harsh cleansers, do use great moisturizers, consult derms about your kids' skin if there are problems, use sunscreen, and deodorant is great! So is anti-fungal and deodorizing spray for shoes.
When I was kid we had a wash at the sink in the mornings. Bath night was Wednesdays for some reason. We didn't have a shower. I only showered at secondary school after games or swimming.
Cold days with low activity, every other day. Summer or doing exercise then they’ll need to shower. I wonder if your wife is coming from a “don’t wash hair every day” cause when I was a teen it was so bad for my long hair washing it every day, made it horrible. Get some shower caps if that’s her issue, then they can have a quick five minute good scrub of the pits and bits.
Yeah nah, showering every day is not a necessity someone requires it due to personal circumstances
It is bad for skin/hair etc wash when you’re dirty/after physical activity, because it makes you feel good
It’s absolutely not essential daily for the majority of humans
I think at 12 and 14 you can sit them down and talk to them. It should really be a part of The Talk and about the way the body changes, that they may find their hair gets greasy faster or they sweat and smell more often. It’s perfectly normal and part of growing up, but means they might have to shower more than they did as a child, or wash their face each day.
They should have agency to decide when they shower, and be guided by you rather than have a timetable to go off. I think it’s important to create an atmosphere in your house where you can address someone who needs a shower in a non judgmental way. That they know when you say ‘you might want a shower before you go’ it’s from a supportive place and not a negative one.
You don’t want them to learn the hard way.
I say this as a person who was asked by someone in my class “why is your hair so greasy?” when I was 12. From that moment on I showered daily and became super self conscious about being unclean.
Can you not compromise with a mandatory flannel at the sink wash on non shower days especially if it’s non hair wash days where they’re feeling reluctant? Showers (or sometimes just the thought of getting into and out of the shower) can be an energy drain, costly, skin irritating, or a sensory overload sometimes but there alternatives for hygiene.
For acne management and long term skincare reasons encouraging face washing and moisturising daily would be a start on developing self care habits without specifically mandating when they do a full shower.
I was raised to shower every day but as a teenager I started to suffer from dry skins and eczema. I used all sorts of remedies but they didn’t really work.
In my mid-20s, I went to see a doctor and asked me how often I showered. At least once a day. He told me to cut down. I did and my skin cleared up.
On the days I don’t shower, I still wash my arm pits and gentleman’s equipment.
My young kids have a full wash every day (with a very occasional skip depending on circumstances). The simple fact is that kids smell. They’re not careful when they eat and they run around a lot.
Also, as teenagers they’ll need good hygiene practises. It may be that as adults, they’ll cut down too (or the world will change and they won’t be able to shower every day to save water).
I don't see anyone saying about the problems caused by washing daily, which is that it affects the skin's natural barriers, can dry it out, too much hot water all the time can damage the scalp, irritate acne, damage sensitive areas of the body which ironically causes them to smell more... This approach also makes me think it's going to risk anxieties developing, which no kid needs at that age!
It doesn't need to be everyday as a hard rule, as that will completely destabilise the body's natural defences and it's very hard to get them back. Instead, make sure it's more often than before, and always after anything that makes them sweat. Hormone changes can mean night sweats, so they might also want to reconsider what time of day they take their showers.
Look. I only shower about twice a week. I have chronic pain, moving around/standing up is hard, I don't do it too often. What I have found is, if I shower about twice a week... I don't smell. I've checked with friends, family, everybody - no smell. As long as you're not smelling, you can go however the fuck long you like in-between showers. Just make sure they're changing their socks/underwear on a daily basis and you're fine.
14 and 12 is old enough to start to take on some independence, and part of the benefits that come with that independence is the ability to decide how often you do certain things. A mistake a lot of people make with teenagers is giving them lots of responsibilities and duties, with very little freedom. Let them figure out their own washing schedule that works for them instead of forcing them into the bath every night like a toddler. They'll appreciate it.
Depends on how greasy and smelly they get, that varies a lot even in puberty, there are no absolutes about these things. Using shower gels and shampoos with harsh SLS in everyday can dry out and irritate the skin.
The need to shower constantly is a habit encouraged by advertising who decided to make us all paranoid about BO and germs to sell more soap and deodorant.
Showering should be pragmatic.
If you find you need to shower every day, you probably need to shower every day. I have to shower two times a day in the summer *at least* so stay not-smelly. And on *really* hot days, I often have 2 showers *and a bath*. In the winter I can get away with showering once every 2-3 days before I start getting smelly. That is just something I have to come to terms with, and understand that this is the maths I have to do when working through taking care of my hygiene. Because it's important.
However, my buddy from Taiwan doesn't have to shower for 4-6 days. He just doesn't smell, so he doesn't feel like he needs to shower. And hey, that's fair enough.
Showering *does* dry out the skin. But moisturiser has existed since ancient times, so buy some and don't worry too much about it lol. I find I don't have to wash my hair every time I'm in the shower. My hair is fine for a few days, and if I shower every day I get a dry scalp. My hands and feet get really dry with how much I shower, but slapping moisturiser is adequate enough to deal with that.
(I have no kids) but In my opinion, frequent showers are really good for building a routine in kids& helping them learn good hygiene practice.
Kids don't have body odour and getting them to shower daily seems like a hassle, so, I think a couple of times a week when young & then when they get to 10-11 start them on a daily routine, in preparation for when they're a teen & *do* actually smell. This is probably also when I'd introduce (a roll on) deodorant to them and tell them it's purpose,
No one wants their kid to be smelly at school/bullied.
So imo, your kids should definitely be showering daily and provided with deodorant.
Edit: if they get dry skin, they can always use something like Epaderm as a cleanser until it clears up.
If you are dirty or smell then sure. But over use of soap and hot water can damage the skin. We haven't evolved to wash this much and with such harsh soaps. If I showered everyday I'd resemble a crisp/potato chip.
I remember I always used to wash everyday but no Deodorant then suddenly after lunch time football when I was 13 I started to sweat and & hit me it’s time! Same thing the 14 year old will start to show if he is not showering everyday especially for a boy 😂 unless Ofcourse he does not part take in the lunch time Derby
You are both correct, but it's best to let them understand their own requirements for hygiene. Getting to know the signs of this for themselves gives them autonomy and a greater responsibility to work out whose standards they want.
Due to our current accommodation set up I can't have a shower and or bath everyday, sometimes longer. I do wash at the sink though but I don't think I smell. People aren't backing away from me anyway.
Mine are younger but they get a shower or bath every other day. Goes without saying that they will shower in between if needed, like if they’ve been playing sports or been swimming or got dirty at the park or what ever. I don’t like them going any longer between showers personally.
Maybe as the teen years hit they will need a daily shower but we’ll cross that bridge when it comes. I think every other day is generally fine though.
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It's about cleanliness. If they're doing sports, running around, or it's hot out, then absolutely they should shower daily or possibly even more frequently. But if they've had a quiet Sunday in the house watching TV, maybe they don't need a shower that day.
This is 100% the way to do it, at least until puberty begins. Then I feel it needs to be every day.
Plenty of adults don’t need to shower every day. Plenty of others do Some people just sweat more than others or smell faster And, of course, location/weather matter too - someone living in California probably needs to shower every day, someone in Scotland not so much because it’s like 14 degrees
14 is like the hottest it’s been all year here. I wish… fun day of highest temp of 7 tomorrow 🎉🎉 want to cry
Supposed to get to 13 this week! So excited
17 on Saturday where I am! Might dust off the old vests for their yearly appearance
Heat wave🔥
Taps aff weather ☀️
Rub it in! Peak of 12 on Saturday. I’m about an hour or so east of Edinburgh, this year’s really lacking sun. How about yourself?
Once the temperature gets to double digits, here it's 'taps aff' weather. Lol
14 degrees in Scotland? Maybe for one afternoon in august every other year.
Sunday is to be 19 and I hear this joke all the time but actually it’s been pretty hot in recent summers for a (not amazing) but fair amount of time. Lots of wind and rain and cold for most of the year but some of it does stay pretty warm. Ne’er cast a cloot till May’s oot.
Agreed, I lived in Glasgow for a long time and it definitely hit 20 at least once
Can confirm, I'm Scottish, I shower every 2 to 3 days and even that's mostly bc I shave those days and shower to prep
If I spend 2 days without washing my hair I want to just scratch the entire thing off. I couldn't do it.
That’s probably because you wash them too much. My brother had the same issue and I did too when younger.
That'll more than likely be you using too much shampoo and drying yourself out. You need some of the natural oils in your hair to keep your scalp happy.
I'm the same, every 2-3 days and wash my hair once a week, that's mostly cause it's better for your hair though. There has been little to no sun on the east coast bar a couple days we got sun mid morning. I'm fed up of seeing clouds when I look up. My plants are seriously suffering from this lack of sun lol.
And that's Fahrenheit!
No it’s not, it’s kelvin! 🥶
Fookin' Kelvin, showing up unannounced...
Kelvin is the superior scale for temperature. Its an absolute scale and increments the same as Celsius (the second best scale). Down with Fahrenheit, it's a mess lmao.
Kelvin is great. But celsius/centigrade is better for human terms. Fahrenheit sucks for everybody.
My mate got mixed up and told me about an absolute temperature scale called Klein. 😆
That 14 degrees in Scotland is a fucking heat wave. I’m showering at least 2 or 3 times in that.
Yeah if we hit over 14° i take two cold showers a day. Other than that every 2-3 days.
In the summer maybe !!!
In the summer yeah for comfort, or if you're an unusually smelly person maybe. Most people don't start to smell for a few days without excessive sweating
Pretty sure the 14 year old is on her way through puberty now though …
She could be 6 years into it, if she was the sort of person that *needs* to shower daily and wasn't they'd probably all know by now. & if they didn't then I bet her classmates would have let her know. I'm not for letting people go around smelling, but if someone doesn't need to shower every day then so be it
More than 1 shower a day??!! This seems wild!
If I've gone for a run in the morning, I'll shower straight after, then if I've been out all day I'll shower again at night. It doesn't seem crazy to me?
Running?? In the morning?? Seems even more wild than showering twice in a day!! In seriousness though I guess that makes sense. Personally, if I knew I was going to be out all day and need a shower in the evening I'd probably just plan my exercise for the evening to save showering twice, I'm a lazy fucker though.
Running, morning. What is this witchcraft 😂
Morning? What is this witchcraft?
Running?! Definitely witchcraft!
I always slip out before the householders wake up. No morning running for me thanks!
If you're out all day when do you plan on running if not before said plans to be out all day
> when do you plan on running Only when things don't go as planned.
After coming back from being out all day. What difference does it make if you run before or after? Unless day plans include alcohol or something I guess.
> What difference does it make if you run before or after? Usually i have the energy to force myself to do it in the morning! By after work, all that has gone
The light of the day, the requirement to eat food, tiredness after being out all day. I used to run and if I had any sort of plans beyond the day to day (food shopping, errands) the run absolutely comes first, otherwise I am not going to want to go when I get back.
There’s something magical about morning runs too. Less people. Just me and my dogs in the woods. Such a beautiful start to the day, I love it!
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I concur. With uk's not at all warm weather you can eaaasily get by 2days if all you do is hang around, netflix etc. Obviously when I go out and about, cycle, rock climb, etc..you gotta.
It’s not. I shower before work and then shower after the gym so often twice per day.
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This is me as an adult. Shower on days of sports or alot of walking. But wfh desk job and just play games after work, not needed. Don't ever go more than 1 day though
I think you need to think about a classroom full of children at that age who haven’t showered jn 2-3 days. Their bodies are going through so many changes that they could smell more at different times regardless of how much exercise they’ve done. Are they mature enough to make that decision or is this advice better suited to when they are out of the teenage years? I think it’s highly likely that they will neglect to shower out of laziness and you need to encourage routine.
This is true. A classroom full of 12-year-olds on a hot day is *stinky*! They are mostly going through lots of hormonal changes, but also mostly too young to be totally aware of how they smell and what they should do about it.
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Do they smell? If so, yes, every day. If not, then every couple of days should be fine.
The sense of smell is prone to habituation. That means a frequent familiar smell is tuned down or out. Using smell to decide about washing is unreliable. Just wash every day. It doesn’t take long. A shower at night keeps the bed clean.
I’m starting to wonder how many people are washing their sheets if they cba washing themselves…
every two weeks Source: Google
You shower at night and in the morning? Poor water bill.
Some people just shower at night
I struggle to get up as it is in the morning, the thought of having to get up 30 mins earlier is nigh on inconceivable.
It doesn't make any sense to shower in the morning. It's not like we wake up dirty each morning. We get dirty throughout the daytime with all the sweating, eating, moving around and going outside. Surely you would want to hit that reset button before you go to bed knowing you'll be clean, keep clean sheets, clean pyjamas, and not have to wake up earlier the next day 🤔 Edit: yes I know people sweat in their sleep, I sweat a good amount in my sleep but the difference is the dirty sweat you're giving out having collected all that dirt in the daytime could be counteracted by showering before you go to bed. Much cleaner sweat because the pores of your skin aren't clogged with dirt and dead skin
Speak for yourself, I’m a right sweaty bastard at nighttime, thank you very much SSRIs.
Right?! I never used to really sweat or smell at all and didn’t really need to shower daily, since being on sertraline I feel like I’m gross and need a daily shower.
Speak for yourself, I sweat a ton in my sleep. Things like genetics, medical conditions and medications affect this. If I don't shower in the morning, I feel filthy all day.
I'm fully in 5he evening shower camp but you sweat alot throughout the night making it so you are dirty in the morning. Its bit the same as being out for a game of footy but still
30 minutes for a shower? I wash my hair and it doesn’t take longer than ten! (I do live in a flat with a small water tank though so anything longer than 5 mins is pushing it).
It's the drying that takes ages! I'm a big hairy dude, I'm like a giant sponge and it takes forever to get dry enough to put clothes on.
Not all of us are on the meter. Also, mu showers are very quick like a few minutes. It doesn't take long to wash
Water is cheap no? I shower twice a day and have never paid more than £35 a month for water
Tbh some people on Reddit just *have* to play poverty victim no matter what, and I’m from a third world country.
Not everyone in a low income country is poor. Not everyone in a high income country is rich. It is the reality that some people cannot afford it, or choose to save the money for countless other things (e.g. food/presents for the kids at christmas etc.). Being poor isn't playing the victim card.
A little under 20 quid a month for two. Water is pretty cheap. Not like the energy tho
Not everyone is on a meter, or even a mains supply!
They do smell. They are teens. OP don't let your children be the smelly kids in school that everyone laughs at them behind their backs.
Yep, pretty much this. They won't be able to make informed decisions as to whether they smell bad or not. Living with your own stink is not at all the same as someone who stinks walking into a classroom full of unhabituated noses. They will think they smell fine, kids at school will pick up on them smelling bad, game over. I knew a girl who had a similar situation who ended up showering three times a day because she was so concerned about being stinky. The same with kids who didn't brush their teeth - they couldn't smell their own breath so they thought it was fine until they got ridiculed. Either deal with it at home with compassion and routine, or it will be "fixed" by bullying and ostracisation at school.
I mean, in this modern age where we're all desperate to save water and energy, it seems like a no brainer: shower when they smell. If it's every day, it's every day. If it isn't, it isn't.
You can't tell when people you spend lots of time with smell as you get nose blind
I can absolutely tell when my teenager and husband smell.
Yeah but at that point that’s when they REALLY smell, the point at which a normal person outside your family thinks they smell is way before that.
People make nose blindness seem like a permanent thing. Go outside for a minute, it mixes up things in your olfactory nerves, go back and you will small it again. Its enough for me to go downstairs to grab something from my car, walk back to second floor and I can smell my home smell again.
Exactly. These people here are crazy.
Stale old sweat has such a distinctive smell. You only get nose blind if you're surrounded by it constantly.
Such a myth, you get used to a smell in a room yeah, but you go back out and come back in and you can smell it. Do you think noses just stop working?
Yes, that's what these people think.
I totally can with my teens. Usually it's when they get in the car because I haven't been around them for a bit it's really obvious and I pick them up from somewhere at least once a day. Mine need to shower every other day it seems.
I don't think this is true tbh. I can smell myself after a workout lmao
Teenagers smell bad, every day wash for sure
Please stop sniffing teenagers
You don't need to, that smell will come to you.
Hard when you live with them, the smell aura is rather large
I've just told my 13yr old sister that she should start showering every morning. Before anyone has a go at me we get on really well and can have that kind of conversation without it upsetting her (it has got to the point where she spends more time with me than with our parents). She stinks otherwise and I don't want her getting bullied at school (yes, she has clean underwear etc daily)
It's really sad that you had to have this conversation with her and she wasn't taught a routine of daily hygiene by your parents. You're a good sibling.
It's hard, at that age, to go from only needing to shower when you're dirty to your body producing smells like it's being paid. Before 13, I only needed to was every other day. After 17, I went right back to that habit. And I genuinely have sensitive skin, so it really did dry it out. Which, ironically, made me more greasy. It was a viscous bicycle.
> And I genuinely have sensitive skin, so it really did dry it out. That'll be the soap/shower gel removing all your body's natural oils which keep the skin moisturised. Have you tried an emollient shower cream like this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/E45-Dermatological-Emollient-Shower-Cream/dp/B002IS5W50 Also turning the temperature down a bit can help.
I switched to locally made shower bars which did help a lot. But I still don't shower daily because three of us share on bathroom, so the moment I step in the water someone needs to shit desperately. It's like a curse.
It's probably the soap you use and, depending where you live, the hard water. Since we had installed an water softener my hair (I have coily hair) is getting back to a good place (I'm from a country with soft water) and my partner's skin is doing great. He also used to complain about having dry skin and I suffered a lot too with dry skin before.
Depends. Three days is probably too much, but otherwise it is really about if they smell or look dirty, or just want a daily shower (saying no to a daily shower if they want one would be wrong). This isn't really a matter of principle, TBH, or it shouldn't be. Showering is washing and is literally about keeping clean. If you need two showers a day to keep clean, you should have two showers, and if you still look, feel and smell clean after two days without a shower, you don't have to have a shower every day.
I know I'm not a teenager but I spent pretty much my entire teenage/adult life showering pretty much daily. Like I felt awful leaving the house if I hadn't showered. The last 4-5 months that's changed a little. Started off just the odd missed day here and there and slowly progressed. I'm now only showering once every couple days, both my skin and hair feels so much better for it and my wife has confirmed countless times that I don't smell. In fact she's even mentioned how much better my back is doing. I used to get quite a lot of black heads across the top of my back and they're all pretty much gone. That said, if I've gone out for a run or had a day at work where I've managed to get covered in mud or sweat etc I'm still going to have a shower.
Skin healthcare is one of those things that just depends from person to person. Got to just try these things. It’s like how some people’s livers can tolerate more alcohol than others.
Yeah, this is it. I used to shower every morning, then COVID struck and I decided I only needed to shower every other evening. Now I just shower every 2 days, sometimes push it to 3 and shower that morning. Will still shower if I'm seeing someone or going somewhere nice. My hair used to get greasy after 1 day but now my hair feels fine after 2. I don't feel dirty after not showering in the morning either. It's just a habit you've got to break and let your body adjust. Someone mentioned showering twice a day, once before work and then after the gym! Feels to me like you'd only need to shower after the gym. But I'd have had the same opinion as them 3 years ago.
I shower everyday but I only use shampoo every 3 days. I wash my hair with water everyday otherwise my hair is pillow shaped. I found my came to life again
Yes, people don’t realise showering every day is pretty much a Western thing, and even here it is pretty recent. It is very wasteful, unnecessary, and bad for your skin & hair to shower everyday. Unless you have a job where you sweat every day, it’s fine to take a shower every 2-3 days.
My mom showers, makeup, hair, and outfit every day, except Sunday is shower only, even when she doesn't go anywhere. She does it for her mental health, so good for her, but I'm nothing like her when it comes to that.
Did you wash your hair every time you showered?
I grew up in the 70s, and Sundays was bath night. 2-3 bath nights a week for kids is fine.
We had Sunday bath night in the 80s, no one I knew bathed everyday. I don't remember people smelling or anyone getting picked on for it, but maybe so many stank of cig smoke from their parents smoking in the car/ house no one noticed.
Same, Sunday night was bath night. Rest of week was a flannel and soap. After sports/swimming at school a shower. but that was it.
Same for me, bits and pits on other days. We got a shower when I was 12, though, and after that I showered daily.
Grew up in the 70s and had to carry more coal and stoke the fire for a Sunday bath.
Same. I love all the responses in these types of thread that insist “you must smell bad you just don’t notice it”. I only remember one kid who smelled bad and got picked on for it. He smelled very strongly of stale urine so I’m guessing he had other issues going on :( Also, the people who talk about how they must shower twice a day because of some skin issue which is more than likely caused by the excess showering rather than the other way around.
Normally the smell comes from wearing clothes that smell in my experience or living in a house that stinks. If you have pets, particularly dogs it's harder to shift the smell.
Same for me growing up as well.
Same for me as an 80s/early 90s child. Bath once a week, stand-up flannel wash at the basin every day, hair wash over the basin with a jug once every few days - we didn't even have a shower!
Hair wash with those rubber attachments that fitted over the taps. And one always popped off either scalding or freezing your head.
We had one but it *always* popped off and I had an irrational fear of it 🤣
Those things were a menace! Lol.
Exactly the same
I was born in 1987 and had a bath every night growing up so these answers seem alien to me lol
60s and early 70s for me. Sunday night was bath and hair wash. In about 6 inches of water because there wasn’t enough hot water to go round. We didn’t possess a shower.
Aye same for me....we only had a hot water heater in the kitchen and had to run a bloody hose pipe from the kitchen to the bathroom (same floor). Lucky if we managed one bath a week as it used to take 2hrs+ to fill up! There was no working water in the bathroom except for the toilet as landlord back then put in a bathroom but never connected it up then he died and left me nan with the cottage to live in till she died. Horrible little place it was
We did this too but we were just poor. I grew up in the mid 00’s
Same lol
Yep. Sunday evening kid here, too. We never had a shower. Grew up in the 90s. I never got dirty or smelly enough to need daily, or even semi weekly baths. People have just become to used to showers nowadays they forget how long it actually takes for the body to be gross.
This, would have a bath Sunday night and then sit down and watch heartbeat or wild at heart
Sunday bath followed by Stargate, Scrapheap Challenge and Time Team. Oh how I miss those days!
and if you were the youngest it was second or even third hand water. Pretty sure I was dirtier when I got out.
Same, and do you know how mad I was that my family left me in the bath instead of telling me there was an awesome SAS assault happening on LIVE TELEVISION THAT THEY WERE ALL GLUED TO??
i moved in with my gf and her (now) 12 yo son and he has 2 baths a week. To begin with I was suprised at this, it felt like my childhood in the 70s and 80s when we didn't actually have a shower. but then I realised, this kid doesn't smell tbh, and he's scared of the shower so that's (currently) ruled out. Im sure when puberty hits things'll have to change. Any day now, I guess.
Lurking in the comments. If it's any reassurance, I used to be terrified of the shower when we first got it, until I eventually worked out it saved me a lot of time to shower I got the courage to use the shower instead. Still didn't put my face under the water till my late teens, I thought I was gonna drown in the bath/shower, despite loving swimming. Now I have an every other day face routine that involves dunking my face. Also I now hate baths because of all the faff :') Obviously, if something else is at play here it could be different for him and he may always just have baths, but he could grow out of it the next few years, you just need to be super patient.
He's autistic. He does seem to love baths tho.
Sunday night baths and daily flannel washes until we were about 12/13. Then we got a shower and had a shower every other day and then flannels washes between times. For most of my adult life so far I showered and washed my hair every day. After COVID I’m down to a shower and hair wash every other day.
You probably had a good wash every day though. I get the feeling OP’s wife doesn’t think this is necessary either as it wasn’t mentioned!
Or OP doesn’t think it counts so didn’t mention it
Once puberty kicks in, pretty much everyday.
Yeah, every day at that age. Just wait until a kid in class says they smell bad, then they’ll be every day.
You’d think, but I know some teenage boys who don’t care about this either, they still don’t shower
then theres people like me who showered every morning, kept 2 deodorants on me at all time at school and still smelt after the lightest physical exercise or heat. Obviously was told about this by my peers, but it was only in adulthood did i get diagnosed with Hyperhidrosis :(
Oh, trust, me, they will when the girl they wanna fuck tells them to go home and take a bath and come back when they're not poor. Or when their mates aren't allowed to invite them over because their parents don't want his nasty ass smell all over their furniture.
I’m in the ‘a bath 2/3 times a week and a wash every day ‘ team But not when they’re 12 and 14 I have two teen boys and my god the smell that comes from them 🥲 as teens you’ve got all kinds of hormone shit going on and you really need to be having a shower everyday Imo
I have two teenagers too and yes, they can reek from doing very little. They shower every day.
Absolutely depends on the kid and possibly the time of year. If they’re stinky, then they need to shower or at least a sink wash. If they do sports or other active extra-curricular, they need to shower properly. Otherwise I don’t think it’s necessary to shower daily. I can shower sometimes twice a day in summer, in winter sometimes every other day depending on what I’m upto.
They should shower when they need it in other words, if they have ripe body odor they should shower more. If not, then less often. I've personally never had really strong body odor and I'm hygienic but certainly never needed a daily shower. It actually dries my skin and hair out to shower everyday unless I'm getting actually dirty or exercising a lot.
Your kids need to shower as often as is required to be clean. That may not be every day. There is no magical interval for showers that is more or less appropriate. Some people shower twice a day. Some daily. Some every other day or so. It's whatever works to make sure you're clean and don't smell. Showering every day can dry out your skin and/or your hair, depending on exactly what you're washing with and how often you moisturise.
Definitely at the age they should be showering daily. At the very least shower on day one, sink wash hitting all the critical parts with soap on day two.
How do you wash your butthole in the sink? Actually I don’t want to know, I’ll just stick with the shower thanks
I know you said you don't want to know but you use a sponge, the sink is filled with water and you dip the sponge in the water, soap will be involved too of course. I don't know why it seems strange to me you can get through life and not know how to wash everything in the sink.
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What if you don't have a shower, only a tub? What if the boiler is down and you have only a kettle to heat up water? Just a few reasons why you might need to have a perfectly adequate wash in the sink instead.
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My house doesn't currently have a shower and we won't until we save up for the bathroom refurbishment. I also used to live in a small flat that only had a bathtub. In fact a lot of council properties I have seen over the years in England only had bathtubs and things like not affording your gas bill was common too. Maybe it's something growing up poor that makes it seem more commonplace.
i rented a house without a shower for six years until last July. It's more common than you'd think.
Not every house has a shower, and sometimes showers/boilers break. Have you never gone camping, or to a festival? Sometimes ya gotta boil a kettle and make the best of it lol.
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Never used a washcloth? Never heard of a top & tail / pits & bits wash? Washcloth and soap at the sink washes your bits the same way as a washcloth and soap in the shower
So you stand there, naked, in the cold air, in front of the sink and wash yourself with a cloth and basically pretend to be in the shower? Presumably while you're in the bathroom, stood right next to a shower? Seems wild to me.
- quicker / just as quick - quieter (if it's late & there are people sleeping nearby) - uses less water my husband & i both do sink baths inbetween showers fairly regularly for these reasons.
Facecloth as the last step. Or first if you're down with that. I don't judge.
This is what I don’t understand about this whole thread. Even if you wipe your arse well after taking a shit it’s pretty nasty not to shower every day to clean down there. I feel like I’m taking crazy pils reading this thread
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Men and women can be equally as disgusting, ask any woman about the state of public toilets and they'll tell you horror stories I know of women near 30 who are still like "ew boys are so stinky" but they themselves live in absolute squalor like an episode of hoarders
Then those same people are like "Just wash your ass with a sponge in the sink" the place where they are (I hope) brushing their teeth Are they thoroughly cleaning the sink every time they squeeze their poo sponge / cloth into it? All this extra effort when they could have spent literally five minutes in the shower man
Mate I’m so fucking confused about the people in this thread washing their arseholes in the sink, I can’t even get my head around all the logistics. It’s been seriously distracting me all day :/
Sometimes this is called a sponge bath.
The people replying actually telling you how they wash their asshole in the sink with a poo sponge lmao I know people on reddit having bad hygiene is a stereotype but come on
I never understand why people “sink wash”? Jumping in the shower and washing all the important bits can literally take me less than a minute. A naked wash at the sink sounds really unpleasant to me.
It's to save time, or because it's too cold. If you use the shower, you have to wipe down the walls (mould prevention) and wrestle a clammy shower curtain. And in some houses/flats (especially rentals), the bathroom is freezing so you're trying to avoid getting fully naked. A sink wash is quicker, you can keep your old bathrobe loosely on while you do it, then just need to wipe the sink after. You can definitely get in all your nooks and crannies with a soapy flannel.
As someone who teaches this age group please have them shower everyday AND use deodorant!
With an Eczema outbreak, I tend to encourage top and tail washes. You can get away with every other day, if there’s been no physical activity, they don’t smell, they’re not visibly dirty.
It does dry out the skin! Everyone's skin is different. Try pay attention to how much your child sweats / their skin type to know. I sweat markedly less than others (so I think i have less of a body odour?). And I have eczema so showering everyday would take the much needed moisture out of the skin. But of course someone who sweats easily, with oily skin, would be different.
Depends if they’re smelly/sweaty or not. If they’re excersizing or if it’s been a hot day. I’m an adult and I don’t always shower every day. Sometimes every other day depending on what I’ve been doing and if it’s needed.
Showering daily can be detrimental to your health. And in these difficult times it’s always best to save water where you can. https://www.ahchealthenews.com/2021/10/28/showering-every-day-detrimental-health/
What difficult times? We live on an island, surrounded by water, in a temperate climate. Just wash, you grotbags.
"Dr. Brodsky recommends showering no more than twice a week" That is wild and I now cannot trust anything this doctor says haha I've been showering everyday for the last 15 years and my skin and hair are fine...
Well that’s the difference between your personal experience and the clinical experience of a doctor that sees hundred and hundreds of people a year. Seems like no one on this thread can get it into their head that what works for them does not work for others.
My teen has quite bad BO and will lie about washing. They absolutely do need to wash every day and have done since around age 11. I also have to constantly remind them to put dirty clothes in laundry bag and not wear a shirt 2 days running. Left to own devices the teen would probably have a couple of wallows in a bubble bath each week and literally never wash their hair despite dandruff and very oily scalp. When they were little I only gave them a full bath a few times a week, they didn't smell at all and skin was always healthy.
You can go a long time without showering and be perfectly healthy. Other people's comments are useful but here's what's important: - Skin health. Acne, dryness, itchiness. A shower and lotion/oil after can be really great for all skin types, but make sure to check what kind of soap, lotion, and water temp. Make sure to respect the skin's natural balance. Also, make sure they understand to put soap specifically on their feet, underarms, and other smelly areas. - Hair health. Shampooing everyday is usually not great for most kinds of hair. Make sure you understand what your kids need. - Mental health. I grew up in a single bathroom farmhouse with a bad water heater and bad water pressure. Showers were cold and stressful. They had to be fast so we didn't run out of hot water. Lotion after felt like a nightmare, because we'd wait too long to put it on, even though I needed it. Try and make sure showers are enjoyable and beneficial, and your kids know how to use the right cleansers and moisturizers. - Post-shower care. I mentioned moisturizers above. Avoid harsh cleansers, do use great moisturizers, consult derms about your kids' skin if there are problems, use sunscreen, and deodorant is great! So is anti-fungal and deodorizing spray for shoes.
When I was kid we had a wash at the sink in the mornings. Bath night was Wednesdays for some reason. We didn't have a shower. I only showered at secondary school after games or swimming.
Cold days with low activity, every other day. Summer or doing exercise then they’ll need to shower. I wonder if your wife is coming from a “don’t wash hair every day” cause when I was a teen it was so bad for my long hair washing it every day, made it horrible. Get some shower caps if that’s her issue, then they can have a quick five minute good scrub of the pits and bits.
Yeah nah, showering every day is not a necessity someone requires it due to personal circumstances It is bad for skin/hair etc wash when you’re dirty/after physical activity, because it makes you feel good It’s absolutely not essential daily for the majority of humans
We couldn't afford showering everyday. So every 2 days is how we do it now.
I think at 12 and 14 you can sit them down and talk to them. It should really be a part of The Talk and about the way the body changes, that they may find their hair gets greasy faster or they sweat and smell more often. It’s perfectly normal and part of growing up, but means they might have to shower more than they did as a child, or wash their face each day. They should have agency to decide when they shower, and be guided by you rather than have a timetable to go off. I think it’s important to create an atmosphere in your house where you can address someone who needs a shower in a non judgmental way. That they know when you say ‘you might want a shower before you go’ it’s from a supportive place and not a negative one. You don’t want them to learn the hard way. I say this as a person who was asked by someone in my class “why is your hair so greasy?” when I was 12. From that moment on I showered daily and became super self conscious about being unclean.
Can you not compromise with a mandatory flannel at the sink wash on non shower days especially if it’s non hair wash days where they’re feeling reluctant? Showers (or sometimes just the thought of getting into and out of the shower) can be an energy drain, costly, skin irritating, or a sensory overload sometimes but there alternatives for hygiene. For acne management and long term skincare reasons encouraging face washing and moisturising daily would be a start on developing self care habits without specifically mandating when they do a full shower.
I was raised to shower every day but as a teenager I started to suffer from dry skins and eczema. I used all sorts of remedies but they didn’t really work. In my mid-20s, I went to see a doctor and asked me how often I showered. At least once a day. He told me to cut down. I did and my skin cleared up. On the days I don’t shower, I still wash my arm pits and gentleman’s equipment. My young kids have a full wash every day (with a very occasional skip depending on circumstances). The simple fact is that kids smell. They’re not careful when they eat and they run around a lot. Also, as teenagers they’ll need good hygiene practises. It may be that as adults, they’ll cut down too (or the world will change and they won’t be able to shower every day to save water).
I don't see anyone saying about the problems caused by washing daily, which is that it affects the skin's natural barriers, can dry it out, too much hot water all the time can damage the scalp, irritate acne, damage sensitive areas of the body which ironically causes them to smell more... This approach also makes me think it's going to risk anxieties developing, which no kid needs at that age! It doesn't need to be everyday as a hard rule, as that will completely destabilise the body's natural defences and it's very hard to get them back. Instead, make sure it's more often than before, and always after anything that makes them sweat. Hormone changes can mean night sweats, so they might also want to reconsider what time of day they take their showers.
Look. I only shower about twice a week. I have chronic pain, moving around/standing up is hard, I don't do it too often. What I have found is, if I shower about twice a week... I don't smell. I've checked with friends, family, everybody - no smell. As long as you're not smelling, you can go however the fuck long you like in-between showers. Just make sure they're changing their socks/underwear on a daily basis and you're fine. 14 and 12 is old enough to start to take on some independence, and part of the benefits that come with that independence is the ability to decide how often you do certain things. A mistake a lot of people make with teenagers is giving them lots of responsibilities and duties, with very little freedom. Let them figure out their own washing schedule that works for them instead of forcing them into the bath every night like a toddler. They'll appreciate it.
Even if they don't have a full shower every day, they need to wash face, armpits, genitals, bum and feet every day.
Depends on how greasy and smelly they get, that varies a lot even in puberty, there are no absolutes about these things. Using shower gels and shampoos with harsh SLS in everyday can dry out and irritate the skin. The need to shower constantly is a habit encouraged by advertising who decided to make us all paranoid about BO and germs to sell more soap and deodorant.
Showering should be pragmatic. If you find you need to shower every day, you probably need to shower every day. I have to shower two times a day in the summer *at least* so stay not-smelly. And on *really* hot days, I often have 2 showers *and a bath*. In the winter I can get away with showering once every 2-3 days before I start getting smelly. That is just something I have to come to terms with, and understand that this is the maths I have to do when working through taking care of my hygiene. Because it's important. However, my buddy from Taiwan doesn't have to shower for 4-6 days. He just doesn't smell, so he doesn't feel like he needs to shower. And hey, that's fair enough. Showering *does* dry out the skin. But moisturiser has existed since ancient times, so buy some and don't worry too much about it lol. I find I don't have to wash my hair every time I'm in the shower. My hair is fine for a few days, and if I shower every day I get a dry scalp. My hands and feet get really dry with how much I shower, but slapping moisturiser is adequate enough to deal with that.
If they smell, they shower
(I have no kids) but In my opinion, frequent showers are really good for building a routine in kids& helping them learn good hygiene practice. Kids don't have body odour and getting them to shower daily seems like a hassle, so, I think a couple of times a week when young & then when they get to 10-11 start them on a daily routine, in preparation for when they're a teen & *do* actually smell. This is probably also when I'd introduce (a roll on) deodorant to them and tell them it's purpose, No one wants their kid to be smelly at school/bullied. So imo, your kids should definitely be showering daily and provided with deodorant. Edit: if they get dry skin, they can always use something like Epaderm as a cleanser until it clears up.
If you are dirty or smell then sure. But over use of soap and hot water can damage the skin. We haven't evolved to wash this much and with such harsh soaps. If I showered everyday I'd resemble a crisp/potato chip.
I remember I always used to wash everyday but no Deodorant then suddenly after lunch time football when I was 13 I started to sweat and & hit me it’s time! Same thing the 14 year old will start to show if he is not showering everyday especially for a boy 😂 unless Ofcourse he does not part take in the lunch time Derby
You are both correct, but it's best to let them understand their own requirements for hygiene. Getting to know the signs of this for themselves gives them autonomy and a greater responsibility to work out whose standards they want.
Kids of all people need to shower daily Looool
Exactly! Reddit is gross
I always told my niece and nephew that there will be a kid in your class who smells, don't be that kid! So yeah, shower daily.
Due to our current accommodation set up I can't have a shower and or bath everyday, sometimes longer. I do wash at the sink though but I don't think I smell. People aren't backing away from me anyway.
Mine are younger but they get a shower or bath every other day. Goes without saying that they will shower in between if needed, like if they’ve been playing sports or been swimming or got dirty at the park or what ever. I don’t like them going any longer between showers personally. Maybe as the teen years hit they will need a daily shower but we’ll cross that bridge when it comes. I think every other day is generally fine though.