How Often People in Various Countries Shower

www.theatlantic.com ^ | Feb 17, 2015 | Olga Khazan

[Red Badger]

Amidst the no-shampoo revolution, a look at global hygiene habits

Cleanliness, it turns out, has been one dirty trick. One reason early-20th-century Americans ramped up their weekly baths to daily showers is that marketing companies capitalized on the insecurities of a new class of office drones working in close quarters. As Gizmodo wrote last week, to sell products like "toilet soap" and Listerine to Americans, "the advertising industry had to create pseudoscientific maladies like 'bad breath' and 'body odor.'"

Take, for instance, Gizmodo's description of the philosophy of the Cleanliness Institute, which was founded by the Association of American Soap and Glycerine Producers:

The trade association wanted Americans to wash quite unwittingly after toilet, to wash without thought before eating, to jump into the tub as automatically as one might awake each new day.

And so we did. A Reddit user recently polled 562 people and found that most men said they showered daily. Women's bathing rituals were more diffuse, but about 60 percent preferred to shower three, four, or five times weekly.

Now is the dawn of a new, more pungent era, though. People are snapping up dry shampoo and No-Poo and coating themselves in bacteria. Dr. Sanjay Jain recently told Jezebel that "showers don't need to be too hot, or too long, and you should always pat dry, rather than rub, to avoid irritating your skin." One family went six months without using soap and raved about the results.

But as it turns out, Americans aren't alone when it comes to having overdone it with too-frequent showers and shampoos.

[Red Badger]

Percent Who Shower Once per Day:

===========================================================

Average Showers and Shampoos by Country

[BenLurkin]

Keep me posted. I’m going to jump into the shower.

[jjotto]

Other habits of cleanliness, such as the use of bidets, needs to be considered.

[Responsibility2nd]

Who needs a shower when bathing in the Ganges River is just as good.

Please feel free to scoot the dead cows aside.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

In a sense they are right. Trump improved the job markets and economy in the USA making it more of a magnet to the Poor of Latin America. I know if I was living in an Adobe hovel in one of those crime ridden Central American nations I would be heading North as fast as possible—Heck, even Mexico would be an improvement.

[Salamander]

So I looked up “no-poo” methods and it listed dumping baking soda, vinegar and honey on your head.

Yes.

That is what I want with fanny-length hair.

A sickeningly sweet, gently fizzing mess.

Ugh

[Sans-Culotte]

Imagine living a few centuries ago. I prefer the cleaned up movie version of the past.

[Salamander]

I think you’re on the wrong thread.

:)

[metmom]

The trade association wanted Americans to wash quite unwittingly after toilet, to wash without thought before eating, to jump into the tub as automatically as one might awake each new day.

There's a world of difference between showering every day and washing your hands after using the bathroom or before eating.

[metmom]

That’s about the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.

[Perseverando]

I live in South Carolina so about 5 times a day in the Spring, Fall and Summer. Three times a day during the Winter. /sarc

[DannyTN]

If over 70% of the US shower daily (1st chart). Yet on average the US takes only 4 showers a week (2nd Chart).

Then 70%*7 + 30%*x = 4 showers per week.

Solving for x =
.3x = 4 - .7*7
.3x = 4 - 4.9
.3x = -0.9
x= -0.9/.3 = -3.

The 30% are taking negative 3 showers a week.

[DrGunsforHands]

Those poor deluded souls.

[C210N]

Interesting that US bathing pales in comparison to Mexico bathing.

[Red Badger]

And the enviro-whackjobs think WE are destroying the planet!!!!!!!.......

[Red Badger]

That accounts for San Francisco............

[Kommodor]

I remember watching Johnny Carson one evening, and during the monologue, or maybe it was while interviewing a guest, he mentioned how back in the day, in Nebraska, one didn’t get to bathe every day, and how modern advertising had created the ‘need’ to bathe/shower daily. He followed this up by mentioning to the audience that you didn’t really need to, ya know.

From the audience’s reaction, you’d think that he had advocated cannibalism.

It was hilarious, and yet disturbing at the same time.

[MeganC]

The Hindus dump dead people in their rivers...I’m not posting any links but you can easily find some hideous pictures of their practices on the web.

[DesertRhino]

“the advertising industry had to create pseudoscientific maladies like ‘bad breath’ and ‘body odor.’”

Yeah, because a bus full of people in a foreign country is always a pleasant experience. It was the soap and advertising industry that tricked us into thinking they freakin’ stink.

[jjotto]

Ba Zing Ga!