What's the longest you've gone without a shower/bath. Why?
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A little over 3 months is my record. Mental health issues, naturally! 🥳
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A week or two probably, when in the army.
And since wr actually we're responsible for actual foods hygiene, we always got sauna/bathing priority. So never went more than two weeks imo.
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Several weeks. Usually I shower before leaving the house so when I was too depressed and anxious to leave the house I felt no reason to take one. But I don't shower as much as most people in general. Once a week maybe unless I'm sweaty or dirty. I also brush my teeth inconsistently. But I've never had a cavity, fungal infection or anything else hygiene related anywhere on my body. I also don't stink in case you're wondering
I disinfect my pits and use deodorant daily, I always check myself and my clothes and I also ask friends sometimes to be sure. -
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wrote on last edited by [email protected]Probably about 1-2 weeks, unless jumping in a lake during that time counts. We were in the back country deep in Canada
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probably a week
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Yup, same. 2 weeks while backpacking. I did have a washcloth, of course.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]A towel is the most massively useful thing a hiker can have...
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Two weeks while backpacking in New Mexico (unless you count getting rained on every day as a shower)
Same place for me I'm betting, but three weeks on a longer "choose your own adventure" route. We chose to hike most of every day and cover as much ground as possible instead of stopping at the more "comfortable" areas that had facilities.
I forget the exact distance but pretty sure it was over 225 miles.
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wrote on last edited by [email protected]About three weeks, while I was training to be a truck driver.
I'd gotten my CDL through a trucking company's "apprenticeship" program, which was actually a super-predatory mill they ran to compensate for their insane turnover rate.
The final phase of this company's program, after I'd acquired my CDL but before receiving my own truck assignment, had me driving/riding on a "trainer's" truck for 20,000 miles, while the more-experienced trainer showed me all the ins and outs of life on the road. In theory, anyway.
In practice, I'd learned essentially everything there was to know after a couple of days. Enough to get by on my own, at least.
So my trainer suggested we run the truck as a team operation from then on, running long-distance, time-sensitive loads, forcing one of us to drive while the other slept, in order to burn through my training miles faster. The company was tracking training miles by the truck, not by the driver, apparently.
Rather than driving 400-500 miles per day, I was pushing 1000 miles per day, every day, the truck only stopping for fuel and to work with customers. Between pickups and deliveries, my trainer had this annoying habit of only visiting truck stops while I was asleep, and finding random industrial parks and highway shoulders to park on for shift changes. I never had time to take a shower.
I staved off the stink with copious amounts of baby wipes and Febreeze. I also found out later, that my trainer owned the truck we drove, and my wages were not taken out of the revenue for the loads he ran. So I was effectively free labor for him.
I don't work for that company anymore. I'm still in trucking, but I spend weekends at my house. And I try to shower at least every other day on the road.
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Probably pushing 2 months. I was thru hiking the Appalachian Trail and was in full on dirty hippie mode.
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Spent 2 weeks hiking in around the Red River Gorge, Kentucky and Sheltowee Trace back in the late 80's. Only time I got wet was when it rained, or found a creek to take a dip in.
When I got home, even my own Mother would not hug me. She sent me off to the bath where I stayed for over an hour.
Damn fine country there
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About six weeks. I was attached to someone else's unit at NTC in California for a training excersize with them. There were no showers in the field, and the showers pre and post excersize were colder than a witches tit, and open as a gay mans asshole after all night orgy.
And that wasn't the worst part of the whole experience either.
And that wasn't the worst part of the whole experience either.
Hmm, was it the 4 hours of sleep a day, or mopp 4 in 115 degree weather?
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Just 3 days. Finals week in the university.
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6 months, during high school over the winter. Shower was broken (water would only come out perfectly hot or cold, nothing in between) and parents/landlord would not fix it. I kinda just gave up on it. Nothing bad came out of it. Nobody at home or at school ever said anything or even noticed, as far as I could tell. No, they were not just being polite. I watched everyone closely, as much as an experiment of personal curiosity as anything else, and there were no signs of disapproval, nobody had a clue. I suffered no social consequences whatsoever. Wearing a new set of clothes every day alone was sufficient to stay clean.
Can't decide whether I just have one of those Asian genes that make you not smell, or whether Americans as a culture are psychotically brainwashed by soap companies' propaganda to the point where even the idea of "spending more than 1 day away from shower" is worse than death for them. Never used deodorant either (other than to try it out - just makes me feel gross, sticky, and smelly). Imagine how much money those deodorant companies are missing out on me over a lifetime!
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wrote on last edited by [email protected]This thread makes my asshole itchy.
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1 day, I had covid and couldn't move.
You shower every day? Would turn my skin to paper lol
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Two weeks, a few times. Backpacking in the sierra, kayaking in Baja, and climbing trips to j-tree. Except j-tree, trips included swims but no soap. DYK salt water kills most bacteria that cause body odor, some salt rash but no odor kayaking in Baja.
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Do sponge baths count?
I lived in a van for a while, where I mainly used a wash cloth and a bucket. I had several plastic water bottles that I would pack into a backpack, bring into a public bathroom, and refill under the tap. When I got back to the van, one got mixed with no-rinse soap (that I'd gotten at a camping supply store), and 2 or 3 were used for washing my hair. On occasion I did go to the beach and use the free outdoor showers, but that wasn't a viable everyday solution.
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Mount Buffalo National Park, 1982. Four of us left the camping area to watch the sunset. I stopped to take a photo and lost the trail. Went running after the others, slipped and rolled down a cliff, landed upright, but felt both ankles pop and break. (The whole park is Australian bush around granite boulders and cliffs). The others thought I had gone back to camp and didn’t report me missing. Next morning the group packed up and hiked to the next camp site, no one noticed I was missing until that evening, so they looked in the wrong place. I crawled to a creek and fell down the gully, drank snow melt, no one heard me shouting and crying. Eventually they gave me up for dead. Three German tourists found me by accident three weeks later, one went to get help. I got a ride in a helicopter, in hospital for two weeks while they fed me through a drip. The school gave me a payout through their insurance on the condition we didn’t sue them. I’m almost 60 now and my ankles still hurt and grind and pop.
Wholly hell, that's wild, I been through that place a couple times. Rough area in parts!
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6 months, during high school over the winter. Shower was broken (water would only come out perfectly hot or cold, nothing in between) and parents/landlord would not fix it. I kinda just gave up on it. Nothing bad came out of it. Nobody at home or at school ever said anything or even noticed, as far as I could tell. No, they were not just being polite. I watched everyone closely, as much as an experiment of personal curiosity as anything else, and there were no signs of disapproval, nobody had a clue. I suffered no social consequences whatsoever. Wearing a new set of clothes every day alone was sufficient to stay clean.
Can't decide whether I just have one of those Asian genes that make you not smell, or whether Americans as a culture are psychotically brainwashed by soap companies' propaganda to the point where even the idea of "spending more than 1 day away from shower" is worse than death for them. Never used deodorant either (other than to try it out - just makes me feel gross, sticky, and smelly). Imagine how much money those deodorant companies are missing out on me over a lifetime!
What length of hair did you have?
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My nickname in junior school was "stinky" which probably tells you all you need to know. Grew up poor, primary caregiver had mental health issues and financial troubles meant electricity for hot water was not a regular thing..
I don't remember exactly but my mom who actually worked and did her best those days to support us would have made sure I was bathed on the weekends at least. So one week tops.
I'm still paying for the lack of regular teeth cleaning in my youth. Nowadays I'm pretty fastidious about hygiene, and showering regularly!
