No. I do not bathe every day. So?
Written by Helga
Tuesday, 19 January 2010 01:51
I know, I know.
Some of you think I’m kinda icky. Some of you know better.
You should know there is some TMI in this post. And – I was not paid or solicited to not bathe for this post.
I live in New England. We get quite a bit of winter here. And rainy springs. I take care of my 5 and 8 year old. I clean my home. I work at my desk. I work out. I shovel snow.
Why would I need to bathe every single day under these circumstances? I’m not that dirty.
Yes, I shower after I exercise, 2-3 times a week. That’s when I wash my hair, too. *TMI Alert!* I do wash my
armpits & lady bits on a daily basis. How very European of me!
Summer is a different story. Sun block, bug spray, swimming at the pool and the lake, mowing the lawn,of course I bathe daily.
Your skin and hair does not need to be washed everyday if you are working in an office, around the house, etc. Some of you work in a physical environment and you need to – this post is not aimed at you. Some of you say “I need a shower every morning to wake up!” Maybe you just need more sleep. Get to bed earlier. Dunno.
Your skin produces its own natural oils as protection, to keep moisture in. Why strip it off everyday with harsh soaps, then have to slather on lotion to make up for what you just took off? That’s a vicious cycle, strip and slather. Strip some more. It’s one thing if you have skin issues you need to deal with, but the majority of us have never let our body do what it is designed to do, which is to take care of itself. Let your skin balance itself. Good eating habits
, good sleep habits, drinking enough clean water on a daily basis, clean(er) air and common sense cleansing will do wonders. When I do shower I like to use an organic soap. I just love Dr. Bonner’s organic fair trade soaps. Don’t be put off by the price! They last a long time. And I wash the kids’ hair with it. Peppermint – refreshing! And have you looked at their labels?! You can learn alot from their labels.
You hear the advice “Don’t take too-hot showers in the winter, to prevent dry skin”. Are you going to take a lukewarm shower in the winter? I love a hot shower! I do not believe it is the hot water that is causing the dry skin, I believe it is the soaps we use. (Who takes a shower without washing themselves?? Just letting hot water run over you?) But the dermatologists, the doctors, cannot say “Don’t strip your skin with soap everyday in the shower” because all those big huge companies that sell soaps would be none-too-
happy. (Dee, not again with your conspiracy theories! Like the saying goes, don’t mess with a man’s rice bowl. If bigwigs that millions of people listened to for advice starting pointing at your product, saying cut down on how often you use that product, for your own good, you would howl in protest, I promise)
I do not need to wash my face twice a day. I’m not a teen with hormones producing oil slicks. They are a different story altogether. I’m 40 and my skin issues are (mostly) under control. I wash it in the evening. I splash with warm water in the morning. I do not wear make up often, so that isn’t an issue for me.
My little boy was born with eczema. His pediatrician specifically told me that in the winter NOT wash him every day, that it would aggravate it. Fortunately his condition gets better every year, we are down to just a couple of patches. I do not bathe my children daily in the winter. No one has complained to me or social services about it.
Your hair, as an adult, anyway, does not need to be washed daily. I have read many times in magazines at photo shoots with hot models that the hair stylist tells the women not to wash their hair the day of the shoot. Styles better with natural dirt and oils in it. Heck, some hair 
products are promoting themselves as DIRT for your hair to get that bed head tousled.
Hair and scalps that are stripped daily of their natural oils end up with split ends (you care if you are a woman) and many times, dandruff. Because the majority of us do not wash our hair and then put a moisturizer on our scalp. We apply styling products that contain alcohol and then we blow dry. The perfect set up for a dry scalp – dry skin! – that starts to flake. Try that on your face. Wash every day. Apply alcohol based product. Blow dry. See what your face looks like! If your scalp is oily and has dandruff, that could be a case of your dry, flaky scalp going into oil production overload to try and combat the dry, arid conditions you subject it to. And if you color or highlight your hair, you are extending the life of your color by not washing your hair every day.
I don’t smell and my hair isn’t gross. Yes, by the time I wash it it does look like it needs a little TLC. But I have a healthy head of hair and I’ve never experienced flaky dandruff or an itchy scalp.
I have a girlfriend from Czech and she has the most gorgeous, thick head of hair. She washes it once a week, folks. And my stepsisters in Germany? They, too, have thick, healthy heads of hair. They only wash a couple of times a week.
You know what the bonus is here? We don’t waste as much water and energy. I do not feel guilty enjoying my bath. I believe I am starting my children off on the right path to learning how to take care of their bodies sensibly and naturally.
It is ads and commercials that lead us to believe we need to wash & bathe, buy and use their products on a daily basis or else someone is going to know that you don’t – and then they might not like you. You will be ostracized. Left out. Bullshit!
Please remember that there are no absolutes, except for death and taxes. Everybody is different. Situations are different. Don’t flog me if you work for the city laying sewer pipe and you need to bathe twice a day. I acknowledged there are exceptions.
It will be interesting when people I know read this post. Will they view me any differently? Stare at my hair to see where I am at in the week, right before a wash, right after a wash? Sniff me surreptitiously to catch a whiff, to confirm I’m ripe?
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No. I do not bathe every day. So? http://is.gd/6BTjN
RT@LiveGreenMom No. I do not bathe every day. So? http://is.gd/6BTjN
RT @LiveGreenMom: No. I do not bathe every day. So? http://is.gd/6BTjN
RT @LiveGreenMom: No. I do not bathe every day. Well, now that it's summer I do. http://is.gd/6BTjN
No. I do not bathe every day. Well, now that it's summer I do. http://is.gd/6BTjN
RT @livegreenmom: : No. I do not bathe every day. So? http://is.gd/6BTjN
: No. I do not bathe every day. So? http://is.gd/6BTjN
I do not bathe every day. So? http://is.gd/6BTjN I don't stink, either. Here, I'll prove it to ya…
Great post!
I wash hair weekly.
But I have to admit I bathe almost daily b/c I’m one of those bath junkies that has to soak in a hot tub of epsom salts and lavender at th eend of the day to become human again. especially in winter – sometimes it’s the only way I can get warm! I do use coconut oil after to retain moisture.
I hardly ever wash my hair more than 1 or 2 times a week (and that’s year round). I absolutely do not take a shower every day, that’s just too much. I save so much water! And to make it even better, I clean the shower during my shower so I don’t waste extra water on cleaning day!
Glad I’m not alone!
Few things:
- What are you talking about that you have a simple post??? It’s AMAZING!!! TRULY!! So well done, concise, clean, and full of valuable info.
- As for the post…are you joking? Although I DO shower everyday, you can see I like to write about semi-gross things. Did you see my post about popping zits? The post actually makes my stomach turn… but the reality is WE ALL DO IT, and I bet 70% of your readers skip bathing more often than not. I just feel like I “smell differently” after having 4 kids. Yuk.
- I SOO admire you for attempting to go all natural and all green. I can honestly say ALTHOUGH I would love to DO IT, I don’t think I could? WHAT A COP OUT, ehh?
Love your blog, sistah! Will continue to follow!
I’ve been reading you for a few weeks (came over from the Mom101 link), and I just wanted to chime in and say that I don’t shower daily either. I shower 2-3 times per week, and wash my hair once a week (I’m one of those folks with thick manes of hair; not only is it a nuisance to wash and dry more often, but I think it takes most of a week for the oils to spread themselves through all that hair).
Actually, come to think of it, I’ve probably dropped to showering 1-2 times per week since moving to natural products. By my early 20s I’d developed a comfortable shower routine, and moving to non-petroleum bath products has been all sorts of uncomfortable. I no longer have a soap bar that lathers well, so I feel like I have to apply more soap to my washcloth after I finish each small quadrant of my (rather large) frame. I slather on these cloying shaving lotions because I can no longer use my (Aveeno! Oatmeal! Sensitive skin formula!) shaving gel. The sacrifice is worth it, but I do miss enjoying my shower time.
I’m with you. I stopped showering every day when I had my first baby 11 years ago. Now I have 3 kids and I don’t have the time to shower every day, and they don’t bathe every day either. This is better for the environment and for our skin/hair. Now I can’t believe I used to wash my hair & blow dry it every day. What a waste of time. Life is too short!
I’m with you, sister! Good post.
Thanks, Peggy! That’s when I stopped showering on a daily basis, too! You are right. Life is too short. I hope I can effectively pass this on to my kids, esp. my little girl!