I stopped taking daily baths a few years ago for a few reasons. Due to the coronavirus, working from home, a partner who showered less than me, and laziness, I gave up a nearly three-decade-old habit. Now, if I don’t exercise, I only shower thrice weekly. 

I also have some friends who only shower once a week in winter because they either have skin problems or don’t like getting their hair wet. But some people disagree with us. 

These people say, ‘ I only have a morning once I bathe. Every day should start with a bath and a cup of tea. I’ll only crawl into bed with a bath after wandering the streets of London.

Those of us who bathe less often are looked upon with suspicion. British TV host Jonathan Ross made headlines last week when he said he only takes a shower once weekly.

 Thus, in 2023, actress America Ferreira surprised her colleagues by telling them that she does not bathe often. These issues have become so severe that even actors like ‘The Rock’ and Jason Momoa have had to admit that they shower a lot. 

Health experts say that frequent hand washing helps prevent the spread of germs, but daily bathing has no significant benefits for the human body.

 They say that daily bathing can harm your health because you dry out the body, which negatively affects your immunity. Yet research shows that more than half of American and British citizens do not bathe daily. 

Is it time to kick the habit? Finding someone who can admit they shower less is a challenging task. In 2015, chemist David Whitlock made headlines for saying that he had not bathed in 12 years. 

The following year, the physician James Hamblin also wrote in an article that he does not bathe at all. In 2020, after the release of his book ‘Clean: The New Science of Skin and the Beauty of Doing Less,’ James Hamblin said, ‘I have a body odor, and my wife used to say. He recognizes me; he likes it. Other people also say that this smell is not so bad. 

Performative Showering:

 A research report was written in 2005 on people’s bathing behavior. We wash our bodies more today than in the past,  writes Dale Southerton, a professor at the University of Bristol and author of the report. He said that ‘this change has come about in the last 100 years, and it has not been planned. 

It all happened by accident. Traditionally, people bathed to keep themselves clean. Bathing used to be associated with curing an ailment, but now it has also been modernized, and large spas have opened where you can enjoy a cup of wine or tea and read a book while you bathe.

 Professor Dale says that in the 1950s, British citizens were given the convenience of running water in the bathroom, and another innovation soon followed. A plastic shower was installed on the taps.

 It’s not a story where people keep doing the same thing repeatedly, and then suddenly everyone says, ‘Let’s stop; it’s not a good idea to take a bath every day,'” says Professor Dale. McCarthy says, ‘This daily shower is part of performative behavior. Why do we bathe every day? This happens because we are afraid that someday someone will wake up and tell us we smell bad. I overcame that fear, and now I am alive.