I know where stevegonrui is coming from. Americans after WWII seem to have become hygiene-obsessed. Think about it this way: in Italy, I had a roommate and we had a shower with a water heating unit directly over the stall for that shower only. If we each took more than a 10-minute shower (and that's being optimistic), we ran out of hot water for that day. In the US, we have central water heating units, very large ones for the entire house or apartment wing. Even in my apartment with its shared hot water with 15 units, I could shower for 30 minutes and not run out of hot water.
Note also that most Americans still shower in a bathtub and close a shower curtain between them and the rest of the bathroom. They almost never take a bath though, and the shower heads usually don't spray too far since they're fixed. Many Italians don't even have a shower curtain, let alone a tub to stand in when they shower. They have a drain in the middle of the bathroom, and they just cover the TP if they have it (they often don't) and keep their towels out of the way so they don't get wet. This is done despite the fact that Italians often have a hand-held shower head to use to get in al the nooks and crannies.
While American hygiene is borderline obsessive behavior, it's not quite so bad IMO. No, you often don't need to shower every day. But showering, assuming you're not doing it for 15 minutes or more, isn't so wasteful really. And it's not like water is this non-reusable resource. The American infrastructure is generally quite good for this sort of volume and quality needed. It creates very clean water and, from what I understand, things like soap and shampoo used on people are far less toxic to the environment than even things like dishwashing liquid. (Although there is too much chlorine in tap water nowadays methinks.)
Finally, Americans use showering and cleansing more than perfumes and colognes to create an attractive scent. My sister works at a company that produces scents for all sort of products, everything from fine perfumes to baby wipes. They sell the scents to the product manufacturers. Anyway, she says Americans have a totally different idea of what makes an attractive scent than Europeans or Asians. Europeans often like stronger and simpler scents that have a single dominating element, and that are what Americans would consider more pungent. Europeans often try to complement their own scent, make it more pleasing while not letting people catch a whif of it. Americans generally try to kill their body odor completely, as they value the *impression* of good hygiene that way, and they use more complex scents that they associate with smelling "clean" meaning without BO and such. Obviously Americans do use things like musk in their scents and Europeans do use things like flowers in theirs, but how they prefer them to be used is often different. Europeans often see their scents as usually coming from a particular product and the other products' smells stay out of the way. Americans usually (well, women anyway) coordinate a series of scents from their soap, shampoo, cleansers, moisturizers, shaving gel, perfume, etc. Each is lighter in scent but add up. Americans often shower with their scented soaps and shampoos to create the impression of being clean more than they actually need to, and more than they actually "feel" dirty in terms of appearance and touch.
?Though a lot people really do have to wash their hair every day.
PS: Americans use deodorant (and antiperspirant) after each shower typically. it's not that we're skipping that step. Actually, Americans have a stereotype of Europeans skipping deodorant and covering their smell with tons of cologne.
Yea it isn't necessary if you don't mind stinking.
This reminds me my Romanian friend. One day at work, in a small office, his smell was too much for us. So we asked him why Europeans don't shower enough.
He says, [dracula accent]"You Americans are obsessed with cleanliness"[/dracula accent]
We say, "Naw that's bullshit"
He says, [dracula accent]"No you see you are trying to wash the blood of the indians and former slaves off your hands".[/dracula accent]
So were ****ing laughing our asses off and I say, "What about the Jews man you Europeans killed all the Jews".
And he says, [dracula accent]"The Germans are a very clean people"[/dracula accent]
That guy is very funny. Thank god he got married. His wife makes sure he's clean most of the time.
Something to be said about a girl who's hair has a nice slight scent of flours or something nice smelling. I'd prefer that over no smell...or whatever natural smell is...I would smell my hair but it's not long enough.
The only problem with scents is that some people over-do it. There are some freshman who if you are walking behind them in the hallway, you think your going to pass out! Or they put on "a little" lotion or perfume and the entire classroom is filled with that smell!
I go a day or two without showering - EEEEWWW!!! I can smell myself, and I am totally sure others can smell me. It's disgusting and no one should have to put up with that.
I think the person has a lot to do with how much they need to shower. Especially body weight/body fat. I would think diet has something to do with it too.
Oily pizzas + chips (fries) and hamburgers and fat person= smelly
healthy foods + thin person = doesn't start smelling in such short time.
Well you see, I was wondering if the way I differ in showering habits with the others here actually makes any difference. ie. if i really did smell to them
So I asked some of my best friends to give honest answers and trust me they would be honest about it. So apparently I don't.
now that I think about it THAT person who smells that I've encountered has always been big and fat and has his armpits drenched in sweat.
I'd say taking showers depends on the person, especially how much they sweat and if they smell.
That said, being of mixed background and living in semi-tropical Houston, it's almost a requirement to shower at least twice a day.
It gets so humid and stuffy here, that mere minutes outside during will leave you drenched in sweat. And since I run track, showers are even more important to me than those who simply stay inside.
I have noticed though, that while I sweat profusely, it doesn't smell at all.
The stereotype that Europeans don't shower, they just use more cologne, comes from the French. Yep, that's right.
Some centuries back, about 16th - 17th century I think, water was thought to be evil and to cloak your skin. There was a french king (Louis le XIV) who was pretty entangled in that. So they didn't shower or bathed, they just used more cologne to cover their body smells. It wasn't just their king, all 'rich' people used to do that back then.
So here in Europe, if someone smells like he had waaaay to much cologne, we refer to him as someone who 'took a french shower'.
Btw, my knowledge of that isn't what it used to be, maybe Pdoc or someone else can make it clearer.
I read that the English in those same centuries thought bathing caused death...except for bathing in the summertime.
I suppose if it's cold enough, bathing 'could' lead to death...so maybe they weren't far wrong.
I read Shogun too, where it was made pretty clear that the European sailors refused to bathe; whereas the Japanese luxuriated in steaming baths and pristine cleanliness - of bodies, clothes, homes. What a jarring contrast. 'Course they cut off people's heads at the drop of a hat (no pun intended), and boiled people in large cauldrons. So I guess cleanliness isn't necessarily "next to godliness".
I used to show my class a film of colonial America, in which some grooming was shown, including the use of a sassafras twig, frayed at one end, to rub the teeth clean. It imparted a fresh flavor, I guess, as it scraped stuff off the teeth.
As a side note: the film claimed that the colonists ground coffee beans, boiled them, threw away the liquid and chewed the coffee grounds. I'm not entirely sure I believe that, but that's what the film said.
I also remember reading that Queen Elizabeth I, instead of washing her face, continually put make-up on it, so that eventually she had a layer of make-up 1/4 inch thick.
The Elizabethans apparently had rough cloths with which they rubbed their teeth for cleaning.
Everyone says George Washington had wooden teeth, but I read he had ivory teeth. Don't know which is true. Maybe he had both.
I think Steve is right about diet and sweating. I think I have mentioned before that during the Vietnam War (or so I've read), American long-range reconnaissance soldiers (LRRPS), who spent lots of time behind enemy "lines", switched to the same diet that the Viet Cong ate - fish heads and rice. Then, when the Americans would sweat, they couldn't be so easily detected.
On a soldier's normal diet, which consisted of red meat, American sweat would smell of meat fat to the VC. Such sweat smelled rancid to them, and could be detected for long distances on the breeze, ruining recon patrols ability to hide. Eating fish heads and rice was a small price to pay for clean sweat and 'survival'.
I do think people who have meat fats in their diet (i.e. most Americans) would have sweat that didn't smell so fresh; whereas people who eat mostly rice and vegetables would probably have 'sweeter' sweat. I'm sure there are some vegetarians on this board who can verify that. Chunkier people undoubtedly sweat more than thin ones.
I've also mentioned that I read about a lady who worked for Dial Corporation, whose job was to smell people's sweaty armpits. I guess she worked in the deodorant division. And some of us complain about 'our' jobs. hahaha
I take a shower every morning after get up from bed. I always take a shower every day, I like myself clean.
Go out on evening or special occiassion - I take shower twice a day - morning after get up from bed then few hours before go out, take a shower.
I use shampoo to clean my hair every two to three days.
I shaved my face every day. Always. Clean & smooth!
Clothes - I mostly wear these for couple to 3 or so days. But T-shirts under shirts/jumper etc, are fresh. I use clean underwear & socks every day. I refused to wear underwears/socks that are more than a day old.
Funny thing is I stopped use deodorant few years ago, don't know why. Maybe it's because I use shower everyday, felt there's no need to use because I don't find myself smelly. Thankfully!
I have noticed though, that while I sweat profusely, it doesn't smell at all.
Yeah... I've heard that it's not the sweat that actually smells bad, it's the bacteria that feed on your sweat. So if you sweat but you don't have a shirt on, or you are continually sweating because you're exercising, it won't smell that bad. It's when you sweat and then come inside and don't move around much when you give the bacteria a chance to grow, and you smell bad.
That's like how it's not your sweat that can stain clothes yellow under your arms, that's the result of using aluminum-based deodorants. The yellow stain is aluminum oxide, which is produced between the oxygen in the water of your sweat mixing with the aluminum in the deodorant and accelerated by the presence of salt in your sweat.
Of course if you've owned a shirt long enough to get those stains it's time to throw it away and get new clothes. I don't know why my boss, who makes 6 figures, wears some of the oldest bumpiest clothes I've ever seen, with pit stains.
Of course if you've owned a shirt long enough to get those stains it's time to throw it away and get new clothes. I don't know why my boss, who makes 6 figures, wears some of the oldest bumpiest clothes I've ever seen, with pit stains.
Seriously, Americans are too obsessed with showers. A shower every day is simply not necessary to keep one clean, considering that the person has clean clothes, does not engage in physically strenuous activity, and isn't cursed with the horrible hairy/sweaty/fat-and-disgusting allelle (yes, it exists . . . lol)
I take a shower once every two days (ahh . . . sometimes three), and I am clean. I live in a clean house and I sleep in a clean bed, and I usually don't do a lot of physical activity, although when I do I don't usually sweat that much anyway.
Then again, also, I guess, is the dry-climate factor. I live in Denver, and it's not humid at all here, ever. I don't find that sweat or smelling is an issue for many people here. I have been in DC in July, however, and things are much different there. The sweat activity goes into overdrive, and humidity just . . . makes you smell. The constant humidity has a musk that just really cranks up the smelling process. A shower every day is necessary in a very humid place.
Yeah, I would say that humidity is the biggest factor in determining how much one has to shower, assuming they arent cursed with the fat/hairy/smelly allelle. If your enviornment is dry, things are just simply cleaner and not as smelly.
I shower once a day, usually to wake myself up. Along with the shower I use shampoo, conditioner, then on the way out I gel my hair. I scrub and use soap every other day, just because. Same with shaving, I'm a blonde so I really don't need to shave every day, and I'm kinda lazy about it too.
So, do Italian chicks do the same thing as most of the guys over there?
white people stink because of all the dairy products we consume. to most asians, we smell like rotten milk. of course, your diet has a lot more to do with your smell than most poeple think.
Comments
Note also that most Americans still shower in a bathtub and close a shower curtain between them and the rest of the bathroom. They almost never take a bath though, and the shower heads usually don't spray too far since they're fixed. Many Italians don't even have a shower curtain, let alone a tub to stand in when they shower. They have a drain in the middle of the bathroom, and they just cover the TP if they have it (they often don't) and keep their towels out of the way so they don't get wet. This is done despite the fact that Italians often have a hand-held shower head to use to get in al the nooks and crannies.
While American hygiene is borderline obsessive behavior, it's not quite so bad IMO. No, you often don't need to shower every day. But showering, assuming you're not doing it for 15 minutes or more, isn't so wasteful really. And it's not like water is this non-reusable resource. The American infrastructure is generally quite good for this sort of volume and quality needed. It creates very clean water and, from what I understand, things like soap and shampoo used on people are far less toxic to the environment than even things like dishwashing liquid. (Although there is too much chlorine in tap water nowadays methinks.)
Finally, Americans use showering and cleansing more than perfumes and colognes to create an attractive scent. My sister works at a company that produces scents for all sort of products, everything from fine perfumes to baby wipes. They sell the scents to the product manufacturers. Anyway, she says Americans have a totally different idea of what makes an attractive scent than Europeans or Asians. Europeans often like stronger and simpler scents that have a single dominating element, and that are what Americans would consider more pungent. Europeans often try to complement their own scent, make it more pleasing while not letting people catch a whif of it. Americans generally try to kill their body odor completely, as they value the *impression* of good hygiene that way, and they use more complex scents that they associate with smelling "clean" meaning without BO and such. Obviously Americans do use things like musk in their scents and Europeans do use things like flowers in theirs, but how they prefer them to be used is often different. Europeans often see their scents as usually coming from a particular product and the other products' smells stay out of the way. Americans usually (well, women anyway) coordinate a series of scents from their soap, shampoo, cleansers, moisturizers, shaving gel, perfume, etc. Each is lighter in scent but add up. Americans often shower with their scented soaps and shampoos to create the impression of being clean more than they actually need to, and more than they actually "feel" dirty in terms of appearance and touch.
?Though a lot people really do have to wash their hair every day.
PS: Americans use deodorant (and antiperspirant) after each shower typically. it's not that we're skipping that step. Actually, Americans have a stereotype of Europeans skipping deodorant and covering their smell with tons of cologne.
at least i do... it really isn't necessary with the whole shower a day thing i find, but... well...
This reminds me my Romanian friend. One day at work, in a small office, his smell was too much for us. So we asked him why Europeans don't shower enough.
He says, [dracula accent]"You Americans are obsessed with cleanliness"[/dracula accent]
We say, "Naw that's bullshit"
He says, [dracula accent]"No you see you are trying to wash the blood of the indians and former slaves off your hands".[/dracula accent]
So were ****ing laughing our asses off and I say, "What about the Jews man you Europeans killed all the Jews".
And he says, [dracula accent]"The Germans are a very clean people"[/dracula accent]
That guy is very funny. Thank god he got married. His wife makes sure he's clean most of the time.
Originally posted by Defiant
I see why you american people shower so often? you don't use deodorant.
Sorry Defiant, but yes we do.
Probably right at 100% of us.
It's part of the American cleanliness obsession.
The only problem with scents is that some people over-do it. There are some freshman who if you are walking behind them in the hallway, you think your going to pass out! Or they put on "a little" lotion or perfume and the entire classroom is filled with that smell!
Originally posted by Luca
I go a day or two without showering - EEEEWWW!!! I can smell myself, and I am totally sure others can smell me. It's disgusting and no one should have to put up with that.
I think the person has a lot to do with how much they need to shower. Especially body weight/body fat. I would think diet has something to do with it too.
Oily pizzas + chips (fries) and hamburgers and fat person= smelly
healthy foods + thin person = doesn't start smelling in such short time.
So I asked some of my best friends to give honest answers and trust me they would be honest about it. So apparently I don't.
now that I think about it THAT person who smells that I've encountered has always been big and fat and has his armpits drenched in sweat.
That said, being of mixed background and living in semi-tropical Houston, it's almost a requirement to shower at least twice a day.
It gets so humid and stuffy here, that mere minutes outside during will leave you drenched in sweat. And since I run track, showers are even more important to me than those who simply stay inside.
I have noticed though, that while I sweat profusely, it doesn't smell at all.
I generally wear a t-shirt under my real shirt so the t-shirt gets washed after one wear, the real shirt after 3 or 4. Pants last longer.
Underwear and socks, one wear per washing unless I'm really in a garment bind.
It keeps my life simple. No need to think about whether I'm going to shower, wash my clothes. Just do it.
The stereotype that Europeans don't shower, they just use more cologne, comes from the French. Yep, that's right.
Some centuries back, about 16th - 17th century I think, water was thought to be evil and to cloak your skin. There was a french king (Louis le XIV) who was pretty entangled in that. So they didn't shower or bathed, they just used more cologne to cover their body smells. It wasn't just their king, all 'rich' people used to do that back then.
So here in Europe, if someone smells like he had waaaay to much cologne, we refer to him as someone who 'took a french shower'.
Btw, my knowledge of that isn't what it used to be, maybe Pdoc or someone else can make it clearer.
Originally posted by Defiant
It wasn't just their king, all 'rich' people used to do that back then.
I guess I understand the term "filthy, stinking rich" now...
I suppose if it's cold enough, bathing 'could' lead to death...so maybe they weren't far wrong.
I read Shogun too, where it was made pretty clear that the European sailors refused to bathe; whereas the Japanese luxuriated in steaming baths and pristine cleanliness - of bodies, clothes, homes. What a jarring contrast. 'Course they cut off people's heads at the drop of a hat (no pun intended), and boiled people in large cauldrons. So I guess cleanliness isn't necessarily "next to godliness".
I used to show my class a film of colonial America, in which some grooming was shown, including the use of a sassafras twig, frayed at one end, to rub the teeth clean. It imparted a fresh flavor, I guess, as it scraped stuff off the teeth.
As a side note: the film claimed that the colonists ground coffee beans, boiled them, threw away the liquid and chewed the coffee grounds. I'm not entirely sure I believe that, but that's what the film said.
I also remember reading that Queen Elizabeth I, instead of washing her face, continually put make-up on it, so that eventually she had a layer of make-up 1/4 inch thick.
The Elizabethans apparently had rough cloths with which they rubbed their teeth for cleaning.
Everyone says George Washington had wooden teeth, but I read he had ivory teeth. Don't know which is true. Maybe he had both.
I think Steve is right about diet and sweating. I think I have mentioned before that during the Vietnam War (or so I've read), American long-range reconnaissance soldiers (LRRPS), who spent lots of time behind enemy "lines", switched to the same diet that the Viet Cong ate - fish heads and rice. Then, when the Americans would sweat, they couldn't be so easily detected.
On a soldier's normal diet, which consisted of red meat, American sweat would smell of meat fat to the VC. Such sweat smelled rancid to them, and could be detected for long distances on the breeze, ruining recon patrols ability to hide. Eating fish heads and rice was a small price to pay for clean sweat and 'survival'.
I do think people who have meat fats in their diet (i.e. most Americans) would have sweat that didn't smell so fresh; whereas people who eat mostly rice and vegetables would probably have 'sweeter' sweat. I'm sure there are some vegetarians on this board who can verify that. Chunkier people undoubtedly sweat more than thin ones.
I've also mentioned that I read about a lady who worked for Dial Corporation, whose job was to smell people's sweaty armpits. I guess she worked in the deodorant division. And some of us complain about 'our' jobs. hahaha
Go out on evening or special occiassion - I take shower twice a day - morning after get up from bed then few hours before go out, take a shower.
I use shampoo to clean my hair every two to three days.
I shaved my face every day. Always. Clean & smooth!
Clothes - I mostly wear these for couple to 3 or so days. But T-shirts under shirts/jumper etc, are fresh. I use clean underwear & socks every day. I refused to wear underwears/socks that are more than a day old.
Funny thing is I stopped use deodorant few years ago, don't know why. Maybe it's because I use shower everyday, felt there's no need to use because I don't find myself smelly. Thankfully!
....and I am British, European!
Funky
Originally posted by job
I have noticed though, that while I sweat profusely, it doesn't smell at all.
Yeah... I've heard that it's not the sweat that actually smells bad, it's the bacteria that feed on your sweat. So if you sweat but you don't have a shirt on, or you are continually sweating because you're exercising, it won't smell that bad. It's when you sweat and then come inside and don't move around much when you give the bacteria a chance to grow, and you smell bad.
Originally posted by Scott
Of course if you've owned a shirt long enough to get those stains it's time to throw it away and get new clothes. I don't know why my boss, who makes 6 figures, wears some of the oldest bumpiest clothes I've ever seen, with pit stains.
Is this him, by any chance?
Seriously, Americans are too obsessed with showers. A shower every day is simply not necessary to keep one clean, considering that the person has clean clothes, does not engage in physically strenuous activity, and isn't cursed with the horrible hairy/sweaty/fat-and-disgusting allelle (yes, it exists . . . lol)
I take a shower once every two days (ahh . . . sometimes three), and I am clean. I live in a clean house and I sleep in a clean bed, and I usually don't do a lot of physical activity, although when I do I don't usually sweat that much anyway.
Then again, also, I guess, is the dry-climate factor. I live in Denver, and it's not humid at all here, ever. I don't find that sweat or smelling is an issue for many people here. I have been in DC in July, however, and things are much different there. The sweat activity goes into overdrive, and humidity just . . . makes you smell. The constant humidity has a musk that just really cranks up the smelling process. A shower every day is necessary in a very humid place.
Yeah, I would say that humidity is the biggest factor in determining how much one has to shower, assuming they arent cursed with the fat/hairy/smelly allelle. If your enviornment is dry, things are just simply cleaner and not as smelly.
^
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I shower once a day, usually to wake myself up. Along with the shower I use shampoo, conditioner, then on the way out I gel my hair. I scrub and use soap every other day, just because. Same with shaving, I'm a blonde so I really don't need to shave every day, and I'm kinda lazy about it too.
So, do Italian chicks do the same thing as most of the guys over there?