Jake Gyllenhaal, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Dax Shepherd, and the non-bathing debacle is something I can’t identify or get down with. I am Team Bathe a Lot, have always been, and will always be — especially in a pandemic.
I’m all for live and let live, but I’ve got to say the thought of adults not bathing daily is a hard pass for me
I’m more of a "Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson three times a day" bather, depending on how I exert myself on any given day, but definitely at least once a day.
I get it, babies do nothing and go nowhere, and a bath every other day is perfectly acceptable, unless they have a major blowout all up their back, in which case, I don’t care if it’s bath day or not, baby gets a bath. But anyone else who goes out into the world, plays a sport, or is past the age of prepubescence definitely needs to clean themselves daily if they're going to be in society with other people with noses that smell. Cleanliness is a courtesy to others. It is respect for yourself and those around you. Bodies are our temples and all that good stuff.
I'm aware of the arguments against bathing every day
According to Harvard Health, showering daily is not necessary and can even have negative effects on your skin like dry/itchy skin, allowing bacteria in dry cracked skin, antibacterial soaps washing away normal bacteria and, yes, can have negative effects on your immune system because of washing away natural microorganisms that stimulate the immune system.
But all of that aside, we live in a world with other people, and no one wants to be known as the “stinky kid,” whether you’re 4 or 84-years-old and that’s exactly what will happen. Hey, I didn’t make the rules, and I won’t call you stinky, but I won’t be eager to talk to you at a party either because I can’t control my face.
A cold shower is a great way to wake up in the morning, a warm shower is perfect for washing away the blood, sweat, and tears after a hard workout, and a nice hot bath is just the relaxing end to the day that we all need — especially in this “new normal.”
Maybe my beliefs about bathing are colored by societal expectations that we honor the social contract and not offend others by the way we smell. Or maybe growing up playing sports, working out daily, being outside all hours of the day, and then having a husband and children who participate in sports has made me uber-aware of the way we smell and present ourselves to the public. Maybe I just like smelling clean.
Either way, cleanliness is my jam for so many reasons
Honestly, no one would know if you showered or not if you don’t smell and don’t tell anyone. Why is it normal to announce to the world whether we showered or not? Have we all lost our minds during this pandemic and decided we need to get public approval of every hygiene choice we make? Let’s keep showering private, and if we want to be proud about our personal hygiene choices, how about we start announcing how often we wash our hands and for how long? I mean, if we’re announcing personal stats, how about the ones that really matter this year?
Meanwhile, yes, I personally could not imagine a day without a shower, and in our house, everyone showers daily because we need to and it seems like a common sense thing to do during a worldwide pandemic. If you don’t, that's your business, just don’t tell me about it. Shower and let shower. Vive la resistance. Also, jumping in the swimming pool is absolutely not the same as an actual bath, and don’t even try to tell me it is, because, nope.
