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"Yeah, that's got to be depression or a minor mental thing."
"It screams depression"
"It should also be noted that heroin users do not enjoy the feel of water on their skin."
'Sounds like some version of "I hate myself, nobody loves me, my life's meaningless, and BTW, F-you world!"'
What a bunch of armchair psychologists. Honestly, OP is probably exaggerating slightly (maybe she bathes every 3 days), and that sounds like a lot of people I know who are moderately "hippies" (not "hipster", which is a meaningless word). Serious question: does she live in West Philadelphia? Berkeley?
No, she doesn't wear black all the time. She wears jeans and tops like most girls her age.
After reading people's posts, I'm thinking that this is probably laziness and a stage that some young people go through. My niece is not a go-getter by any means. Maybe she doesn't feel like she needs to bathe since she rarely exercises or works up a sweat.
I'm not around my family other than holidays, but this topic came up several times and we have been baffled by this behavior. I know we can't truly understand what drives other people's behavior, but it's interesting to get other people's objective opinions.
One poster mentioned that many people have skin problems because they wash too much with harsh chemicals. I don't disagree with you, but I think going 5 days without a bath or shower is too long.
When I was growing up in the 50s, the normal regimen was that you had a bath once per week. My bath night was Friday and that was that. People were not considered dirty because they bathed once per week. Today I take 2-3 showers per week and that is plenty in my estimation.
We bathed once per week as children in the 50's and early 60's but we also wore natural fibers and were in a northern state.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Billy_J
I was addressing my comment to the OP, not you!
OP?
FYI - Might want to google "color psychology".
But, isn't "black" a fade now? It is the classic color and many people simply look good in that color so choose it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hallouise
"Yeah, that's got to be depression or a minor mental thing."
"It screams depression"
"It should also be noted that heroin users do not enjoy the feel of water on their skin."
'Sounds like some version of "I hate myself, nobody loves me, my life's meaningless, and BTW, F-you world!"'
What a bunch of armchair psychologists. Honestly, OP is probably exaggerating slightly (maybe she bathes every 3 days), and that sounds like a lot of people I know who are moderately "hippies" (not "hipster", which is a meaningless word). Serious question: does she live in West Philadelphia? Berkeley?
Bottom line is that she stinks! There are some people who will wear garments, put them back on the hanger and wear again and again. Also, wearing ineffective antiperspirant can leave an odor that is VERY difficult to remove especially on synthetic materials.
It could be a bad habit that just developed out of the laziness. If I can skip one day................
Even if this was my own child, if I told them that they stink and they did nothing, they would not be welcome until they fixed the problem!
People showered in the 50s on a daily basis, before my time but they showered. The 50s weren't the Middle Ages....LOL.
When I was growing up, my family home did not have a shower until the mid 70s. We had one bath tub. We also had a vanity sink. So I remember washing my hair every few days in the sink when I was a pre-teen/teen. My parents finally did an upgrade l when I was in about 8th grade, installing a shower stall down in the spidery basement. This was an old house, originally built around 1900. To this day, I do not like baths. I don't think either of my bathtubs has been used for a bath for a human in 10+ years. The dog gets a bath every so often. And the cat had one once.....
I did not know a single family in my neighbourhood that had a freakin shower. So, we didn't shower EVER period. We did wash daily but that is not a shower or a bath. Feet, face and bum and the rest once a week. You know, a lot of people today have a lot of skin problems. I think one of the causes is Too much washing, too much soap and other harsh chemicals. These things strip the natural oils from your skin and no chemical crap you rub back in is even close to as good.
I've been hearing about this for awhile now. Minimal shampooing or (dry shampooing) is popular as well. I take a shower with Kirk's Castile soap in the evening. In the morning I get under the water for a couple minutes only, just to wake up. My skin isn't as dry now.
I remember being a teenager (late 70's) and I hated the water for about 2 years LOL
People showered in the 50s on a daily basis, before my time but they showered. The 50s weren't the Middle Ages....LOL.
Sounds like you're talking about when you were a little kid. Not much has changed on that front regarding young kids, however starting with puberty you need to wash more than once or twice a week.
Sounds the like the OP's niece could be suffering from depression. The second poster who commented brought up some good points.
A no --- a lot of people did not have showers and yes we took a bath once a week usually. Also, if you lived on the farm, a lot of people did not have bathrooms and took a bath in a metal tub once a week and used out houses. Their was a lot of fighting over the one bathroom our house had for 15 years. I am speaking from experience and not before my time.
When I was growing up in the 50s, the normal regimen was that you had a bath once per week. My bath night was Friday and that was that. People were not considered dirty because they bathed once per week. Today I take 2-3 showers per week and that is plenty in my estimation.
I do the same. As an adult, my skin has gotten dryer and bathing everyday makes things worse. If my vagina, armpits, and underboob are sweaty/smelly, I'll just use some cleaning wipes for those areas, and put more deodorant.
I have a younger relative who does not bathe nor wears deoderant. His sense of smell was destroyed when he was in high school. He helped his dad, a janitor, with chemicals. That was his only job. He seems clueless as to how other people may be reacting negatively and harshly to him all the time. I figure that might be a vicious cycle and drive him into further depression and such. The uncleanliness of the household at those relatives is what forever made me unwilling to visit them. They used to live in a mobile home, with cats running around, clothes piled up until laundry day, and sometimes they would wear the same clothes for days and really smell bad. They were evicted from that mobile home, partly for being messy.
When you smell bad a normal person will be abrasive toward you. And rightly so. But the clueless pigpens take it a different way and think it's just hate per se, and think the whole world hates them.
The clean smelling relatives and I tried for years to change them. Step 1: wear clean clothes daily. Step 2: Shower daily whether or not you need to when you are potentially going to be around people those days. Step 3: Wear deoderant daily. I was allergic to roll-ons and would get sores when I was younger, but found the alternatives worked well without a problem. So if my relative is allergic to roll-ons switch to dry.
I said all that about 20 years ago. They are adults and can make their own decisions.
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