Never mind bath v shower, how about not washing at all?

I'd love to be a horse and roll in dust

Horses are very smelly, Alexa

I remember the weekly bath but we did top and tail every day. And the not very frequently changed underwear. I don't think we smelled too bad. I can only recall one child at primary school who really smelled bad.

Of course, it's companies that want to sell their products that have led the obsession with hyper cleanliness. Lots of businesses, and jobs, would be lost if we reverted to 1950s standards...

I've never been able to drive, so have used public transport for years and years, but I'm always amazed by the amount of smelly people that others encounter (always on buses, it seems)
It has been very, very rare that I've ever met a real stinker.

I remember the weekly bath as well. Clean underwear afterwards. There were certainly no wipes, intimate sprays or other non essentials. Soap and water and maybe some bath salts if you were lucky. They were very gritty.

I think we all grew up a lot dirtier baths once a week. That was confirmed to me when I was in Australia in the early '80s and became acquainted with the "clean as a pommie's bath towel" comment the natives liked to throw in the direction of Brits. No excuse now with the proliferation of power showers.

I've stumbled across some rank smelling individuals in shops of late, their odour preceding them. I suppose we all smelt that bad once

We bathed once a week, and my mum was the most fastidious person ever, throughout her life.
So I'm very sure we never ponged.
Again, we have shelves upon shelves available - clean? Not enough anymore; germ free, hygienic, antibacterial, you name it, we 'fight it' (with the help of Johnson and Johnson et al)

When I was young and at boarding school, we bathed once a week, we had a roll of clean clothes on our bed every Friday and that too had to last a week. I cannot remember any of us having an odour problem, although I can remember the rank smell of some people on public transport.

I couldn't cope with not washing. It's like a ritual every morning as I either shower or stripwash but to go without either would drive me insane.
It's whatever you're used to doing I suppose, or not doing.

It makes sense to me.
These people are washing specific areas if they smell, and no more.
I can't see anything wrong with that, our bodies are very good at self regulation.

According to medical and societal studies across continents, we wash far too frequently - bodies, hair, clothes, to the exclusion of our own skin regulatory processes, the self cleaning properties of wool, degradation of other clothing materials and harm to the environment.

I read that article with interest. I have already begun by washing my hair this AM with hot water only. Last night I cleaned my face with olive oil. I used soap only on armpits.

I'd love to be a horse and roll in dust but that not possible unless there were attendants to roll me and help me to stand up afterwards.

Goodness me, I couldn't do that. I won't be joining either.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/aug/05/i-dont-smell-meet-the-people-who-have-stopped-washing?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other