Do I smell?

Agree with MissA and Culag - daily shower is not necessary - not good for the skin and certainly not good for the immunity - all the research shows that the increasing incidence of asthma is down to living in an environment that is far to clinical - armpits, bottoms and genitalia should of course be washed every day - personally I think a bidet is much more use than a shower and uses less water - and the planet doesn’t have enough water - the more we have to process dirty water the less energy there is to produce drinking water for those who don’t have it

Meant to add, bearing in mind the main point of the post, I keep my showers brief, baths I believe do use far more water.

I agree MissA. I shower every other day and wash the important bits with a flannel (or sometimes a wipe) on the other days. I can’t see the sense in the washing off of natural oils and spending time replacing them with manufactured ones all the time. Think of the planet. (I don’t think I smell )

Yes daily shower here too, I can't imagine not doing that, although the weekly childhood bath and a daily wash bring back memories and if I remember rightly the flannel seemed to play a very important part in my childhood washing. I think the population as a whole were dirtier then, most people are ultra clean now and a bit obsessed with cleansing per se, so if people smell now, it's more obvious. If we were capable of travelling right back in time, I have no doubt everyone reeked to high heaven. Of course there were various factors to take into account when we were all growing up, I lived in a classic 1930s house with one bathroom and no central heating which was pretty standard, most houses didn't have showers, getting out of a warm bath when the temperature of the house was pretty cold wasn't a pleasant experience.

I remember going to Australia some 30 odd years ago where I heard the frequent jibe "as clean as a pommie's bath towel" so obviously our reputation went before us. My first husband was from overseas and he also commented that he didn't find the British the cleanest race in the world, so I think that there were murmurings about our hygiene from other quarters.

Small children don't have bodily areas that smell, although they get sticky and dirty of course, I tended to put mine in the bath at the end of day as young children, it seemed a lot more satisfactory than a wash and a good way to prepare them for sleep.

A daily shower for me, too, but I don’t linger. I remember a bath a week and stripped down washes at the kitchen sink.

I think we're far too fussy. As long as obviously sweaty bits are kept clean that's all that matters.

A daily shower is the minimum for me and certainly if I have played sport then a shower after that. In previous houses it would have been baths but I rarely have one now so my water consumption has gone down and indeed my water bill has gone down since last year by £60!

Hi Tanith, I don’t really know what I’m suggesting about planetary water supplies because I have read conflicting information about the amount of drinkable water, whether it is declining and the possible impact on the planet and other communities of excessive water use. You may have more reliable information than I do - I hope so!

Clean undies are important too , any one remember in Cider With Rosie. , where the well ran out and the older women turned their knickers inside out to save washing ! Eugh...
The sour smell of unwashed children was a feature of my schooldays

I think in days of yore when most people only washed their hair once a week etc. then everyone was a bit whiffy so it was not noticed. As we became more used to a daily dip and used so many chemicals to dampen our natural smell then it became unacceptable to skip washing. So I think that the answer is probably yes and no!

I'm unconvinced that the weekly bath and wash "if dirty" is enough for anyone. We had the weekly bath and hair wash but a stand up total wash down at the sink every night. I remember sitting next to very smelly children at school. I know this still happens as neglect remains with us.
I was shocked when I started work in offices, at the number of people who smelled. Its much more pleasant these days.
I have a quick daily shower.
We don't have a water shortage in this country and if we do, we need to be better organised.

I don't feel comfortable unless I shower every day but it's a quick shower I'm not in there for ages. The amount of water on the planet is constant so not sure what you are suggesting?