Do I smell?

I don't think my mum would have allowed smells on us kids.
She was ridiculously fussy.

The production of clean drinkable water is an expensive business. I tend to shower quickly as and when necessary, usually every other day but sometimes three days. I’m mindful of water use and do turn the tap on and off even when cleaning my teeth. Shameful to just let it run away while you’re soaping your body or brushing your teeth.
I agree with other posters regarding drying away natural oils with over washing and the use of harsh products.
While living in France for last three years only had a shower, really missed a bath. Arrived back in the UK insisted on having a bath installed only to find I can get in but can’t get out again!

I hate showers and have a bath most days (strip wash other days) . I only wash my hair twice a week as I believe it's bad for the hair to have natural oils removed too often , and this only makes the scalp produce more oil. My hair is never greasy. I do not use too much water in the bath and believe I use no more than people use in the average shower (judging from the length of time i hear the shower running)
If im on holidsy and tgeres only a shower i use the method described above of wetting, switching off, soapi then rinsing. But I never feel properly clean after just a shower!

We haven’t had a bath in our house for the 15 years, haven’t missed it one bit, we replaced it with a shower which I use 2 or 3 times a week. We also have a bidet a very important piece of bathroom kit. I really don’t understand why they are not more popular in UK? Yes as a child nightly stand up strip wash in the kitchen, hands & face & neck! Followed by anything below the waist that needed washing, in the morning before school with weekly bath shared with the rest of the family, children first & my Dad always last after the bath was topped up with hot water from the geyser. I can remember sitting behind a boy at school who’s neck was always dirty, I couldn’t take my eyes off of it! How did he get away with it?

Strip wash twice a day. Shower and wash hair once or twice a week and a long bath once a week. Pretty sure I don’t smell!

My mum used to inspect our necks, and woe betide us if it was grubby!

I shower every day and wash my hair. I remember working with a woman who stank of sweat. It was embarrassing as anyone coming into the office wouldn't know who it was. I was only 17 so I couldn't say anything to an older woman.

I happened to be reading Good Housekeeping at the doctors this morning. An excerpt from their 1920 issue read "Cleaning hair". Blonde hair should be cleaned every two weeks and dark hair every three weeks. People must have been really dirty, but everyone was in the same boat.

At the moment we can't bathe or shower (don't ask) so I wash my "pennies and tuppences" which is what a friend called them, and underarms at least twice a day, in cold water .That's where most smells come from. Also feet.
Hair once a week.
Clean undies also important.

Thinking about it again, in the old days all water had to be heated on the fire.

Always wash 'The three 'F's' (face, fanny and feet)

I like what I am told is an “army” shower, turning the water off after drenching myself, lathering up without the water running and then rinsing off with it turned on again. Shower or bath alternate days with bidet and basin wash on the alternate days. Very concerned about “old lady smell” whatever that is. Don’t detect it on my friends, but I don’t have an acute sense of smell! Wouldn’t like to think I had it!

When I was working in North Africa it occurred to me that having a shower before I went to work, another when I came home sweaty from the journey, and then another before I went to bed, after an evening out, was a bit excessive. It then occurred to me that it as a real waste of both time and water as the clean freshness only lasted whilst I was in my air conditioned flat and was replaced by sweatiness within minutes of going out. But when I considered not bothering with all these showers that seemed like a slippery slope to nowhere!

When I was teaching in a tiny country village in the early seventies, some of the children were sewn into their thick vests (liberty bodices) in the Winter. Their faces were clean but their necks were reall grimy! In spring or warmer weather their vests came off and they had a proper wash.
Also, if they got nits, their parents just shaved all the underneath hair off like Blackadder’s.
Got used to the smell after a while!

I know where you're coming from OP. We had exactly the same arrangements when I was a child.
These days I shower once or twice a week, doing my hair just the once unless it looks awful. I have a wash at the bathroom sink every morning. I also have clean clothes (bra, pants, socks, vest and tee shirt) every morning. I believe that I'm clean enough, after all I don't work down a coal mine. In very hot weather I also wash each night and/or before an evening out.
If I smelled I have a very forthright sister who would jolly well tell me.

"When I was teaching in a tiny country village in the early seventies, some of the children were sewn into their thick vests (liberty bodices) in the Winter"
Same here, gillyknits I was in Trimdon Colliery.

I use 2cu metres water per month (av) and, by far the costliest part of the bill is the waste water fixed charge.
Between 5-28 Feb I used 1 cu metre of water (unusually low) and the fresh water cost was £1.29 and waste water disposal 79p. Fixed charge for the ww disposal was £4.28. In total the bill was £7.68. My DD is £12. For some reason TW has seen fit to up my DD to £17 from 1st April but, as they're not taking any calls about bills due to 'the weather', I sent an email asking for an explanation.
I am a conservative user.
Actually, I bought a great shower head last week from Wowcher for £7.99 which has ceramic beads to soften the water and 3 great spray options. I might buy another...

MissA
???

Short shower in the evenings to wash off the day’s dirt and keep my bed clothes cleaner. Hair wash 2-3 times a week.
I use less water for a short shower than if I have to wait for the hot water to reach the bathroom sink. I suppose I could strip wash at the kitchen sink like we used to on the farm when we were little.

It seems rather wrong to me that I can use so much water without thinking about it when there are so many poor people in Africa and Asia who don’t have adequate supplies of clean drinking water.

My mother used to describe us as thinking we could “spent money like water out of a tap” implying that we’d had a free and endless supply of it - it certainly seemed so at there time!

More food for thought.

Evidently there are certain people who just don't smell at all, however slack their hygiene. I wish I was one of them. Quick shower first thing, ditto last thing as don't like to get into bed wearing the day's 'dirt' and also like to wash off deodorant as otherwise it is under my arms for about 23 hours and 50 minutes; that seems a not very good idea. I find it so much quicker to shower than wash the vital areas- flannels always seem a bit unhealthy and festering!

Its only stale sweat that smells, and a daily wash ensures it doesn't get stale.

Thank you MissAdventure, most reassuring ?

London is one of the cities cited worldwide in danger of having a catastrophic water shortage in the next 10years. Actually has a lower rainfall rate than Johannesburg. So, yes, wasteful water usage is a serious problem in the south east of England.
I wash my hair only once a week as it’s dry and thick. Never gets greasy. In fact it looks better a few days after a wash.

That was us six kids Greydusyer...bathnight was Sunday..and we had to boil a kettle of water and take it upstairs to bathroom every night/morning...but it was a big kettle so we all could get our wash out of it. No hot running water during the week for us(most wasteful). Then on Wednesday a strip down wash at kitchen sink.Hair washed once a week with bath.Didnt think it odd....all our friends were the same, some went without the midweek strip down though.My mum seemed to always have her hands in water either washing clothes ( no washing machine) or us six kids..... or the dog!!! All of us still alive and kicking ranging from me youngest at 67 to my eldest sister at 80. Nine the worse for any of it!!!

Like everyone else Sunday was bath night and hair wash ready for school the next day. I don't remember what happened the rest of the week! I shower and wash my hair every other morning and have a strip wash on the opposite day. I couldn't turn the water off then back on after lathering though - it takes ages to run hot and it's cold enough in there! I occasionally have a bath if I'm that way inclined but it has to be hot with a lot of water so not a good option.