Not showering in ~3 days — any negative consequences?

October 30, 2024 4:22 PM

Lately, I've noticed that I don't take a shower in ~3 days, only if I don't have any social plans. I work from home full-time, and most of the time, stay at home all day, sometimes going out to quickly grab food to go. Other than that, no social interactions. Is this okay in the long run? I don't want to develop a permanent bad BO, for example.

The reason I do this is because I want to save water, and honestly, I can't smell anything bad on myself. I have a bidet and use baby wipes after using the toilet, and I don't really sweat, AFAIK.

However, I'm a bit worried that continually not showering for several days would develop a permanent bad odor in my apartment/furniture and/or on me. I know I can't smell myself, so it's possible I don't smell anything, but someone else would and think, ewwww.

Obviously, if I have social plans or needed to go out for some reason (appointment, etc), I would shower beforehand. I just want to save water when I can, and showering everyday (according to some sources) can dry your skin up and remove built-in skin moisture. I tend to change my bedsheets every 2 weeks, so not sure if that makes a difference? (built-up dirt, etc) I rarely have visitors (especially now that I live further away from the city).

Wanted your input and see what works for you guys, or if there's anything I'm missing.

posted by dubious_dude to Health & Fitness (43 answers total)

no. my husband & I have fallen out of the habit of daily showers. for him, it really helped with his dry skin. for me, I work from home and I'm lazy. neither of us have ever noticed the other one being stinky. if you do really intense exercise of course you will want to shower, but for daily life, I think showering/shampooing every day is over rated and maybe not even that healthy for your skin.
posted by supermedusa at 4:27 PM on October 30 [9 favorites]

I hate showering and think that every other day is good but going more than that you do risk getting funk in your furniture. I think a quick shower where you don’t wash your hair and just do pits and crotch can be done really quickly with minimal water waste.
posted by knobknosher at 4:27 PM on October 30 [2 favorites]

Also perhaps TMI and you don’t have to respond to this but I think people who have a penis and are not circumcised should at least be taking care of that every other day at a minimum. Doesn’t even need to be soap but a rinse under the foreskin with cool water will avoid funky buildup
posted by knobknosher at 4:30 PM on October 30 [6 favorites]

As long as nothing is itchy or raw you're fine.
posted by mhoye at 4:35 PM on October 30 [3 favorites]

Four months ago I changed from being an every other day in the morning shower-er to being an every night before bed shower-er and I smell worse now. My hair gets greasy faster and I stink faster.

But, changing to a nightly shower has solved a lot of other problems in my life (getting assessed for OCD is on my to-do list) so I'm going to continue to do it.
posted by phunniemee at 4:47 PM on October 30 [2 favorites]

This is not a problem. If anything, you'll start to smell less quickly as your body adjusts. Nothing permanent will change in your body.
posted by ssg at 4:50 PM on October 30 [3 favorites]

I never shower. I bathe.

Pretty much every night. Read in the tub.

Harder though to wash my hair. Skip that too often.

Haven't noticed smell. But, I also wear the same sweatshirts/sweatpants for many days in a row, which sometimes seems to be a problem.
posted by Windopaene at 5:01 PM on October 30

In my opinion, and I am probably grubbier than most, it's fine. That said, the thing I talk to myself about occasionally is that showering and attending to personal hygiene are one of the ways I check in with myself "Self, am I sure I am not depressed?" so it is worth having that conversation with yourself from time to time. Keep an eye on your skin, keep an eye on your nails (my fingernails are the first part of me that looks dirty) and be mindful that a lot of hygiene stuff is socially and culturally constructed to some degree but that being clean around others, at least in the US, is seen as a matter of etiquette as much as anything else.
posted by jessamyn at 5:06 PM on October 30 [24 favorites]

No, I have executive function struggles where sometimes twice a week is a stretch (in mild weather, even I can't ignore myself in 90-degree humid weather) and my primary advice is just change your underwear every day and change clothes or at least rotate and air your lounging clothes every day or two.

Clothing can trap funk, some fabrics are worse than others, but if you're not working out or having stress/fever sweat (both of which can have extra chemicals in the sweat that is extra funky) it's not a big deal.

I will say if you tend to sit around au naturel, consider keeping a throw or cover on your primary sitting furniture, just so you can wash it easily.

I have a compromise with myself in which I have a big stack of cheap washcloths, and I'll at least wipe down the critical areas, and especially in cool weather I think that's pretty sufficient.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:25 PM on October 30 [6 favorites]

Years ago my dermatologist told me showering every day was not a good thing. When I was working I showered every other day. Now that I'm retired and not in close quarters with others any more, I usually shower every third day.

I think we might notice if our clothing starts to get funky more easily than if we do, and that's also something other people might notice. I take a whiff of my clothes before I put them on, and anything that smells the slightest bit off gets tossed in the laundry pile.
posted by Dolley at 5:28 PM on October 30 [6 favorites]

+1 to you'll be totally fine. But since you’re using baby wipes anyway, grab another one once a day and wipe your pits and anything else you feel could use it.
posted by cgg at 5:30 PM on October 30 [1 favorite]

This is completely fine. You will not develop “permanent BO”. What might happen is that the microbiome of your body changes and adjusts a bit over time. If you are extremely sensitive to changes in routine you might develop a small yeast infection (which can happen anywhere on your skin) or bacterial irritation, or you might be mildly allergic to allergens in your space and notice those symptoms more in the last day before you shower. Anything that happens because of a slight decrease in your shower rhythms will not be permanent and can be treated with simple OTC topicals or a visit to the doctor if those don’t work after a week or so of treatment for something prescription strength. Or you might decide to shower more often during summer months and less often in the winter, or maybe the reverse of that due to heating vs air conditioning.

If you keep your soft furnishings tidy and air out your home regularly there won’t be a permanent smell on them. The worst I’ve encountered with this was my teenage brother’s horrible mattress, and that could have been avoided with a good mattress protector and changing his sheets as often as you do, and ultimately was just teenage boy stink; not something I think you ought to be concerned about. Anything else can be cleaned easily enough with a plain steam cleaner if you want to get hardcore. Change the clothes closest to your skin every day, but you can also air out your outer layers so they are worn but completely dry and relatively fresh and wear those again a couple times, which will also save you doing laundry as often.

Modern hygiene standards are wildly out of proportion with human history. You would be surprised to know how long a lot of people manage to go without a full body wash and present completely fine and live their lives normally. You might find you prefer to wash some parts of yourself every day - an old hippie I know swears by washing his feet, pits, and face every morning and night - or that actually showers relax you and thus are worth the water bill. Don’t be afraid to experiment and find what works for your specific body and activities.
posted by Mizu at 5:36 PM on October 30 [4 favorites]

Quite eponysterical.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 5:39 PM on October 30 [8 favorites]

I personally shower most days, but one doctor says that's too often, and he didn't shower or use much soap for 5 years, so I think you're fine.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:09 PM on October 30 [1 favorite]

I shower on Monday and Thursday. I wash my hair in the sink Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. My hair gets icky fairly fast (Saturday is usually OK, Sunday not so much). I've never had any complaints.
posted by lhauser at 7:59 PM on October 30

My wife was a daily showerer before the pandemic, when we both worked in offices. Now we both work at home and she showers...maybe twice a week? And I don't notice a difference, nor does she. She showers more frequently when she's active, but in a typical week for her, which sounds like the ones you describe, she has no ill effects from infrequent showering, and neither of us notice any increased odors or skin issues or anything. It'll be fine.
posted by pdb at 8:08 PM on October 30

I shower 5 days a week, after gardening and exercise. I'm pretty sure I need the shower after that.

I wash my hair twice a week. It loses all of its "poofiness" and become quite matted if I put it off too long. (Wash my hair too often, and I become "the man with the thistledown hair.")
posted by SPrintF at 8:08 PM on October 30 [1 favorite]

Once a day, once every other day, pure extravagance. But hey, it moves product.
posted by ginger.beef at 9:01 PM on October 30 [1 favorite]

There's really no need to shower that often for a lot of people, IMO. It depends so heavily on the person and climate that applying a universal rule is a bit silly, I think.

For example, two days in hot and humid fall Tokyo will make me more smelly, more dirty, and my hair more of a mess than two weeks without showering does in California.

Apply your own intuition; when you feel gross, when your hair stops behaving, and so on -- that's a good time to shower. You don't have to force yourself to shower every day or every other day if you don't need to. And just the same, it's okay to do cleaning-related hygiene short of a shower, too -- dry shampoo on your hair, a foot bath, wiping yourself down, washing your face, and so on -- as feels necessary.
posted by etealuear_crushue at 9:39 PM on October 30 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: Bathing is overrated.
posted by LarryC at 9:57 PM on October 30 [7 favorites]

I would say: you should try this if you have a friend or family member you can trust to both notice and tell you if you look or smell bad. If you care about those things, of course.

Reason I say so is that I was trying a non-daily-showering thing in my youth and I really told myself it was gonna work and nobody would notice. In retrospect it just means there's like a year of pictures of me where I just always look greasy and dirty. My body never did the thing where it got less oily over time. I kinda regret it, I was at a new job and they probably thought I was slovenly.

I think I assumed my partner at the time would tell me if I looked bad but I can say from many more years' experience of him: he is not the kind of person who would notice. But I am the kind of person who would, and it bothers me that I stepped out every day looking unwashed.
posted by potrzebie at 10:55 PM on October 30 [9 favorites]

I mean, my face literally eats away at itself if I go that long without showering, even if I wash my face in between, but presumably if your face felt like it was suffering chemical burns by day three, you would have noticed by now.

My father, on the other hand, showered once a week for as long as I can remember with no noticeable ill effects.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:38 AM on October 31 [1 favorite]

Agreed with posts above that say why not try it and see how you feel?

There's no RULE that you have to shower every day. Certainly I don't, especially if I've not done any exercise - and I've not had any complaints. In my experience with others, the big issue with BO tends to stem from clothes rather than bodies. If your clothes get sweaty and remain unwashed, that can cause stink. Then, if your clothes have synthetic components, the stink can build up, even if you wash them. On that matter, I don't wash my clothes (e.g. trousers, shirts) every time I wear them, but I do air them out and am careful about hanging them up etc. I don't wear underwear for more than one day though. I think this might be quite cultural too - my American relatives and friends tend to be much more meticulous about every day showers and clothes washing than people I know here in the UK. Finally, when I shower, I'm very much team 'wash in the evening before bed' so that i'm not getting into bed dirty!

Caveat - I live in a cool climate (Scotland) and when I've been in hot places, I need to wash every day because I get sweaty.
posted by sedimentary_deer at 2:40 AM on October 31 [1 favorite]

Your clothing, upholstered furniture, and bedding will absorb more skin oil, which eventually oxidizes and gets a smell. Depending on the person, that smell reminds me of: a thrift shop, a bag of crayons, pencil shavings, a locker room, or sour milk. Every other day is fine for many people, but three days is pushing it!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:50 AM on October 31 [9 favorites]

I would say: you should try this if you have a friend or family member you can trust to both notice and tell you if you look or smell bad. If you care about those things, of course.

This. We get used to our own smell and nasty smells very quickly. That's how people can work in rendering plants and next to mayonaise factories, near feed lots etc.

Also it's considered extremely rude to comment on the smell of other people, especially strangers. So you only read about how terrible others smell on social media.

Your own nose is not a good judge of how you smell. I'm sure 3 days is fine, but make sure to get a 2nd opinion from outside your household if you go longer than that and care about the opinions of others.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:31 AM on October 31 [3 favorites]

I tend to change my bedsheets every 2 weeks

I say you should be changing your sheets every week.
posted by rhonzo at 8:07 AM on October 31 [6 favorites]

Changing sheets once every two weeks is not enough.
Showering every three days without washing at least the pits and underwear area with water and soap once or twice a day and applying deodorant would make an average adult pretty stinky / unpleasant to stand next to, in my opinion.
I'd rather err on the side of washing slightly too often than slightly too little. It doesn't have to be a long shower though. Sponge baths work too.
posted by M. at 8:07 AM on October 31 [2 favorites]

I'll speak as someone wit h the clinical experience of coming into the homes of people too ill, too old, too socially isolated to take good care of themselves. Yes, you can make your home smell of yourself by extending the time between baths, but only if you're not subsequently taking time to mitigate the impact on your home. Be diligent to ensure that as your bathing frequency decreases that your laundry frequency increases. Wash your bed bedclothes, bed sheets and pillowcases more often, as they'll be absorbing the brunt of the force. Extend your scrutiny of what can be washed: couch cushions, throw blankets, slip covers for furniture? Are there covers you can put in place anywhere your head/hair and other oily bits routinely contact (like antimacassars)? That's an often overlooked source of this kind of thing, but it's plain to see when you see, for example, a sofa that has a visible neck/head print from scalp oils. Can you sweep and vacuum more often to catch the shed stuff? And so on.

I don't think there are many hygiene considerations that are relevant for you to worry about. I will say, though, that there's a difference between "washing with soap" and "washing with water." The latter is a helpful extender between instances of the former, and still uses less water. There are occaional medically-relevant reasons to encourage even a "hot spot" wash wih soap more frequently than a head-to-toe wash with soap (you would probably already be aware of these if they were potential issues for you). As an example, you may want to be a bit more diligent in observing for signs of, say, malassezia infection which might be marginally more common when there's more surface sebum available for malassezia to get established. This is probably only a very remote consideration for you.

I'm a very, very oily person and am envious of you for being able to consider this. In winter I'll occasioanlly try to add in more 2 day periods when I use less soap, but it really does require that I'm mostly inactive in those days in order for it to feel feasible.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 8:20 AM on October 31 [10 favorites]

Big B big O horrible scary BO is totally an invention of the advertising industry for the purpose of selling soap. People have just been deliberately and maliciously conditioned to find the smell of an armpit objectionable via a relentless barrage of propaganda. Which is idiotic, because if you're healthy there's nothing offensive about how you smell and if you're not, cleaning out your pits won't fix it.

Personally I would be happier if the horrified reaction that's become customary on smelling another human were instead to happen on catching a whiff of "deodorant", because the smell of other human beings does not cause my eyes to redden or my sinuses to swell shut.

Wash yourself, your clothing and your bedding as and when you feel the need. Anybody who looks down their nose at you as a result can fuck off.

I know I can't smell myself

You totally can, and I recommend making a regular practice of doing so deliberately and with intent, while standing in poses that both feel good and allow the warmth of your body to convect your assorted scents to your nostrils.
posted by flabdablet at 8:34 AM on October 31 [2 favorites]

Wash yourself, your clothing and your bedding as and when you feel the need. Anybody who looks down their nose at you as a result can fuck off.

Hmmm, on the one hand sure, if the people in your life are looking down at you for your choices that's probably a good reason to cut them out. Your friends should care about you.

But part of caring about a person is telling them the truth about things, and if folks in your life routinely mention a stink problem (or other awkward but socially relevant aspects of your life), that's feedback to consider. We owe it to the people we care about to be honest and kind, e.g. people avoid spending time with you because you smell, your sexist outbursts toward your wife make me uncomfortable, etc.

The most likely result of being stinky is that people will just avoid spending time with you, because it's an awkward topic. Does a person need to bathe every day? Probably not. But acting like people only find body odor distasteful because capitalism made them stupid is an obnoxious take, and telling someone everyone else in their life is wrong is deeply unhelpful advice to give to a person who has obviously been struggling for years to find confidence in their social footing.
posted by phunniemee at 8:51 AM on October 31 [13 favorites]

Are you changing your bottom layers (underwear, shirt, and socks) everyday? That’ll help with this approach. You could also add in a washcloth cleaning (with soap!) to armpits, feet, and genitals on non-shower days. Also if you wash your face, it’ll help keep your hair from getting greasy.

Can I ask why you use a bidet and baby wipes? If you’re trying to be less wasteful, I say skip the wipes.

Also, listen, it’s good for our minds and bodies to have some movement in our daily lives. Are you getting out for a walk everyday? That’s enough to make us sweat some, which isn’t bad, but might mean more regular cleaning is a good idea.
posted by bluedaisy at 9:57 AM on October 31 [3 favorites]

Nthing the advice that if you wash your body less, the stuff that touches your body is going to have to absorb more ‘grime’ in the widest sense. So it will require more care and attention. You pick what is easier to keep clean - your body or your stuff. Body oil buildup would typically take more/stronger detergent and higher temperatures to remove during laundry. That’s fine for some materials, can be problematic for others.

Also nthing that part of this is social convention. A person that washes daily but does not use deodorant smells very different from a person that doesn’t wash, irrespective of whether that person also uses deodorant. I might well notice the former but not actively avoid them. I would try to avoid the latter. And everyone has different sensibilities around what smells they want to be surrounded by. If you don’t entertain at home, you can probably avoid social consequences by washing and putting on clean clothes before you go out to interact with the world.

Is there a chance that difficult to clean soft furnishings/fabric on sofas/chairs will get more grimy in direct contact with your skin and hair if you wash yourself less and may get a bit whiffy over time, sure.

Will any of that cause a permanent problem? No, you can wash your body and wash or replace soft furnishings of fabric covered furniture if it comes to that.
posted by koahiatamadl at 10:20 AM on October 31 [1 favorite]

Physiologically, it's ... fine. You do you.

But as a marker for isolation, it may well be indicating a problem.

You're a fairly social person, and I think you need a reason to shower more often than 3 days.
posted by Dashy at 10:26 AM on October 31 [4 favorites]

Yes, there are negative consequences to not showering in 3 days as some folks have mentioned above: your clothes, sheets, any furniture you use daily will then absorb all the body oils, etc. And then you might have a problem with your house smelling. I'm very sensitive to scents and believe me, some people notice when someone does not bathe. You may not be "stinky" but your natural scent will be stronger. This scent turns me off unless it's a partner or my child who I'm used to. So, if you want to clean your sheets, clothes, fabrics and pillows more often, sure, but believe me, if you're not washing your self, you need to do double duty washing everything else. Sounds like it's easier if you just washed more than 3 days at a time.
posted by mxjudyliza at 10:28 AM on October 31 [2 favorites]

>BO is totally an invention of the advertising industry for the purpose of selling soap.

Respectfully, no. You may have a less sensitive nose than other people. But those smells can be extremely strong and extremely unpleasant!

Strong BO makes me actually want to vomit. I sat beside a man who had strong man-musk recently on a flight and I honestly thought I might faint. Every single inhalation was an assault. When the plane hit turbulence and my stomach got queasy the added smell of this man genuinely brought me close to puking. I honestly would have preferred him to poke my arm repeatedly with a pencil than poke my brain with every inhalation of his rank BO. He was a pleasant and tidy looking person, too, with a fresh and ironed shirt - he just did not have the same armpit standards as many other people have!

I can walk into a living room and tell by the smell if someone sleeps there a lot or skips a lot of showers, because the sofa will smell like their body grease and that smell permeates the room. Towels, bedding, and clothing hold that scent too - and fabrics that have absorbed a lot of sebum and old sweat will HOLD THAT SMELL and it doesn't wash out, even with hot water, extra detergent, oxyclean, etc.

BO is real, and skin grease is real. They get absorbed into fabric. Sweat and sebum have scents. And they contain protein which attracts bacteria, and fat which oxidizes and goes rancid, and that bacteria and rancid grease have scents too.

And you can't fully smell yourself or the people you live with. I know this because on returning from a trip, I can smell my family and my own clothing / bedding scents much more strongly for a few hours.

Many people smell very strong indeed. It's really an unfair use of common space for people to be spotty about bathing before going out. And being unwashed at home definitely gives the home fabrics an unpleasant greasy smell.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 10:34 AM on October 31 [12 favorites]

acting like people only find body odor distasteful because capitalism made them stupid is an obnoxious take

Body odor is widely believed to be distasteful when detectable at all over the assorted highly obnoxious commercial stinks that are sold to distract from it. People with a strong commitment to this belief would rather flood the entirety of every indoor space they move through with a foul and invasive blast of volatile organic compounds than risk having their own personal scent perceptible at a range of over twelve inches.

This sad state of affairs is demonstrably a consequence of commercial propaganda. It has nothing to do with stupidity. Propaganda works on everybody, and the idea that it only works on stupid people is a big part of why it works on everybody.

You may have a less sensitive nose than other people.

Respectfully, no I don't. I routinely notice smells that others in my presence do not.

Every single inhalation was an assault.

That's exactly how I experience being around people who insist on perfuming themselves. Axe body spray is the absolute worst, but just about everything Rexona makes runs a close second.

One of the upsides of the pandemic, for me, was discovering the extent to which an N95 mask reduces the intensity of such assaults. I was surprised by that, because I wouldn't have thought that the molecules involved were big enough to be impeded by that kind of filter, but the effect was undeniable. Next time I have to travel on a plane I will definitely be taking a supply of those.
posted by flabdablet at 11:01 AM on October 31 [5 favorites]

Definitely agree that daily showering is not required for your average desk worker especially if you work from home. Since you live solo and shower before you go out to meet people this is kind of up to your personal preference.

However I don't know if I have a more sensitive sense of smell than average, produce relatively stronger smells myself, or both but for me personally, showering every other day is ideal if the weather is cool and every two days is as long as I can tolerate. In hot weather, especially if it's also very humid, getting at least a daily rinse in the shower is a must.

While you can do a lot with a bidet + wipes + maybe adding spot cleanup with a washcloth and basin, you are still accumulating skin oils, sweat, and build-up of any scented personal care products on your clothes and around your home and that will cause smells. Yes, some of those smells can be unpleasant and no, that is not just capitalism and the deodorant industrial complex talking. Sheesh.

You may want to take extra care to air out your home regularly, change your sleep/loungewear more often, avoid clothing in synthetics that are prone to holding BO (polyester especially can reek even if you do wash daily), and change your bed linens weekly instead of bi-weekly.
posted by 4rtemis at 12:51 PM on October 31 [3 favorites]

There is no right answer to this. Depends on your activity level, natural odour / sebum levels, and climate. I usually shower every other day, by day three I don't smell (or my family would object) but am beginning to feel uncomfortable / dirty.
posted by sid at 2:06 PM on October 31

You may have a less sensitive nose than other people

I live with a super-smeller. So what I'll say is that there is a wide, wide range of sensitivity to smells. Some people absolutely can smell if you haven't showered in two days, and it will bother them and they will be sad about it. They may not say anything, but they will be sad. Others will not. I can't smell the things my family member can smell, for example, so I probably wouldn't be able to smell a problem if you didn't shower. Others are in the middle - they can smell you if you've eaten certain foods, but not others, by the scent of your sweat.

So because I live with someone like that, I shower at least once and sometimes twice a day, out of consideration for them. But if I wasn't, I could probably skip a day - but no more, because I sweat a lot. But my partner could probably go multiple days, because they sweat very little. This is all very variable.
posted by corb at 3:53 PM on October 31

Dude, I spent the year of pandemic onset alone and I only showered weekly, because why bother. As long as you use deodorant and don't do anything that sweaty/messy, you're probably fine.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:24 PM on October 31

On days I don't shower, I use body wipes on the necessary parts (I'm a ciswoman). I like the ones that are aimed at hikers more than the ones that are "sport" wipes, but I doubt there's that much of a difference.

I do think the important things, as other people have covered, are to change your under layers and put on fresh clothes after you "wash" up -- so no wearing the same thing for 24 hours straight, for instance. Clean clothes can do a lot of work.

I'm generally a "shower at night" person but some nights, I just wash the parts that need it and then shower the next morning. That may work for you.

I tend to agree that three days between showers can sometimes be too much, but you know your body. Still, if you go two nights without showering, maybe shower on the morning of the third day. But every other day for the most part is just fine.
posted by edencosmic at 4:56 PM on October 31

Also, if it's about saving water, maybe try out the Navy shower concept. I personally find it a hassle but it may work for you.
posted by edencosmic at 4:57 PM on October 31

For what it's worth, I can only manage to shower every 7 days (severe physical exhaustion) and my skin is mostly fine with it and I haven't noticed any smell on my clothes or my sheets (and I'm a super-smeller).
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:12 PM on October 31 [1 favorite]