Thursday, November 9, 2006

squeaky clean

I'm one of those people who have to take a shower everyday. I know not everyone does this and I just don't see how they can stand it. If I don't shower everyday I feel dirty, my hair is in shambles, and I'm just not motivated. And taking a "PTA" type shower doesn't do it for me either. It's got to be a full-fledged shower with a nice hair washing and the like. I've found that the sooner I do it after getting up, the better I feel during the day. I'm just all around more motivated. Where do you stand?

28 comments:

Violet said...

What is a PTA shower?

I also have to shower everyday, but sometimes I'll skip a day of washing my hair. It just takes too long to dry and fix and a pony tail is sometimes just so much easier.

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

Violet—A PTA shower stands for "pits, tits, and ass". The kind of shower you take while camping, where you just wash up a bit with a washcloth.

Jen said...

I hope when people stand for their shower, they stand in the shower. But, I could be wrong... ;)

Seriously, I hate getting soaking wet first thing in the morning. It is a most unpleasant idea for me. This is the main reason why I either refuse to teach a.m. water aerobics classes or refuse to teach them in the pool at that time.

I like a long, relaxing soak in a tub at the end of the day, after I've done all of the getting dirty I'm going to do. I don't see much sense in getting clean first thing in the morning when I'm going to get sweaty about 3 times afterward, what with walking the dogs, teaching a class or two, laying out, doing my own personal workout, yard work, house repairs, etc... I say wash it all off at the end of the day when you're done putting it on.

My hair takes a severe beating from my career choice so in order not to completely kill it I only wash it every other day. Stylist friends have said dirty hair styles better, anyway.

I know what you mean though. If I don't change out of my pjs as soon as I wake up I feel dirtier and pudgier by the minute!

The husband, however, needs a solid 20 minute shower first thing every morning. He claims he sweats in his sleep and gets dirty, but I haven't seen that happen yet. I also don't see how men can spend 20 minutes in the shower when all they wash is themselves and their hair. He takes longer showers than I do- even if I am shaving, etc...

What I don't get is him going to bed dirty. Some people shower to start their day and again at the end of the day so they go to bed clean. I can't imagine getting into a clean bed with the day's body soil on you...

Jen said...

I had no idea about the PTA shower, either. We always camped at parks with shower facilities and did the full shower every night. Or went swimming.

egan said...

I tend to take one every day of the week, but skip a weekend day. It's really not that big of a deal to me. If I'm going to work in the garden, why take a shower beforehand?

Taking them before work is important as it wakes you up before work and tends to get rid of grogginess.

Anonymous said...

I hate to admit this but sometimes if I'm just working from home with no meetings scheduled I'll skip a shower. On those days I seldom even get dressed till later in the day. It's usually just a boxers and t-shirt kinda day. Or I may just stay naked, wrapped up in my orange blankie, with white legs showing!

Anonymous said...

I can't believe people skip showers! That is unacceptable. I take one every morning. Not because it wakes me up, but to wash the sleep off me. Seriously. We sweat when we sleep. We all have a different scent when we're sleeping. I need to wash that pheremone off me every day. If necessary, I'll take two a day. Even if I'm sick, or have the day off work, I've got to shower before 9 AM.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and not to be a bigot or make a racial slur, but I'd never heard of the PTA shower. In high school, I heard it referred to as a "Mexican Shower." You just put on deodorant and cologne.

Did I mention I love Mexican people and think that they are very clean and are not the inventors of the "Mexican shower."

It was probably those smelly Luxembourgians.

Jen said...

TF's comment is funny 'cause someone once told me that perfume is only used by people who have to disguise their smellyness- and there was this lady who used to walk into my aerobics class every day positively choking the rest of us with her perfume.

Why put it on before a sweaty workout?

I know normal people sweat in their sleep, or feverish people do, but as the light sleeper and often wakeful person in my household, I can attest that DH has never sweated in his sleep- he's too quick to kick all of the covers off of both of us for that...

DutchBitch said...

every day? Every Day? EVERY DAY?!!!

You are sick in the mind, woman!

;-)

Blogarita said...

I'm with Jenius on this one. Well not literally with her in the tub or anything, but I'm definitely a long steamy bath at the end of the day sort of person. I feel cold a lot of the time (even when it's warm outside or in the house) and if I take a shower, especially in the morning, I wind up feeling cold all day.

As far as I'm concerned, showers are for after I've been working in the garden or yard and have mud or grass to wash off...

Spouse Guy prefers showers, but also at the end of the day after he's done getting all grimy at work.

I also agree with Egan and Chuck. If I'm just staying home lounging around and not doing anything more physical than reading or watching movies, I occasionally will skip a day. But those lazy days don't seem to happen very often.

Anonymous said...

I have to have a shower in the morning. I just feel too gross and by mid morning my hair looks like I dipped in in a pot of grease. It's def a daily thing for me.

PTA. BWAHAHAHA!

Barry Wallace said...

I sit at a desk all day, so there's nothing to get me particularly dirty. I'm too tall to fit in a bathtub (guys don't take baths anyway, or so my son says), plus I usually stay up till I get sleepy, then fall into bed.

I don't notice anything amiss when I get in bed. I don't feel dirty or sweaty or anything. I can't stand wearing anything on my upper torso or feet, though, even when it's cold, and if we didn't have kids I wouldn't wear anything down below either. Never felt "dirty".

I do take a shower every morning, and wash my hair. If I didn't, what's left of it would stick up every which way and I would be mocked endlessly during the day.

egan said...

I'm with Barry on this. Guys don't take baths that often and sitting in an office all day hardly has me breaking a sweat.

Think Frustrated - you're an odd one... and I mean that in the best possible way.

Jen said...

Blogarita- AHAHAHAHAHA!

But you definitely captured my thoughts on the subject in far fewer words. I need a bath to unwind at night, keep me warmer than a shower does and I do not something to wake me up in the a.m. Showers are for washing off mud and grass, or for hairwashing days.

I'm definitely with you, Egan and Chuck when it comes to skipping days where I don't do anything physical.

I totally get what Barry said and I admit if I haven't done anything much physical I'll go to bed "dirty". Mostly I posted about that because my grandma made a crack one time when I spent the night at her house and opted not to bathe since it was Friday night and she exclaimed, rather stunned and sputtering "well...go to bed dirty, then!" It's an inside joke. It made me laugh so hard at the time that I adopted the phrase.

Bob said...

I shower every day. Unless I'm sick.

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

Jen—That's part of the reason I tried to get my workout in early in the morning, before the shower. If I had already showered and then worked out, I would totally take a second shower.

Jen—PTA is something my Mom says.

Egan—To get rid of the grogginess is exactly right.

Chuck—I think it's different for guys. I don't know why, but they seem to be able to skip a day if needed once in awhile.

TF—Sounds like I struck a nerve on this one.

TF—"Mexican Shower" is way different than a "PTA Shower"—there is no cologne involved in the the pta.

Jen—I've got the extra sensitive sense of smell these days and it amazes me how many people seem to bathe in their perfume/cologne.

Dutchy—So, how often do you bathe then?

Blogarita—I don't do baths, just showers. Baths just aren't relaxing to me anymore.

MadE—I'm with ya on the hair issue. Even the ponytail does it no justice if gone unwashed.

Barry—I'd probably mock you too.

Egan—Are baths not manly then?

Jen—As a kid on a Friday night, you probably were dirty before bed. That sounds like a Grandma phrase.

Fab—That's what I wanted to know.

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

Nobody—Sick=Bed=Sleep=Extra Dirty the Next Day

Fantastagirl said...

I shower everday, sometimes twice a day - depends on the day. This is a non-negtionable issue.

Jen said...

There's a cologne my mom can't stand anymore because she broke a bottle of it all over the bathroom when she was pregnant with one of us...

I didn't get dirty as a kid. My sisters were the ones always getting photographed after swimming in the mud puddles...Friday night was the start of the weekend so it was "bath optional" night. Who wanted to spend time bathing when we could stay up watching more t.v., instead?

Lynda said...

I shower every single day with the exceptions of some Saturdays or Sundays. And that is only if we are staying home all weekend. This weekend, we are going to a friend's house, so there will be showering.

I need the shower:

A) so my hair doesn't look like a Kooz ball.

B) to wake up.

C) because I don't like to stew in my own dirt (aka take a bath)

Now, if I do wash my hair the night before, and it looks ok in the morning, then I might not shower.

And my hair does not style dirty. I have tried. It looks terrible. Plus, my scalp gets all greasy, so the bottom looks fine, but the top looks like I put too my goop in my hair.

This is probably more of an answer than what you were looking for.

Anonymous said...

Erm...I don't shower everyday. The only person I know that does is my control freak of a housemate who is morphing into Monica from friends more and more everyday. I wash my hair every couple of days because it is so thick it takes at least an hour to dry and straighten.

We call PTA a "Scouse wash" (a scouser is someone from Liverpool)

Jen- I think the French invented perfume because they didn't wash. That's what I've heard anyway.

I'm going to get so much abuse for this aren't I? I just prefer the extra half an hour in bed!

egan said...

Hey, ask your readers the bath question. I think for the most part men don't take baths unless it's advised by their spouse, significant other, doctor, or body. We're a showering breed, but I don't know how all men feel on that topic. I'm just speaking from the guys I know. Yep.

Mel said...

I cant wake up in the mornings without my shower.

cerberus70 said...

I just got back from hunting for the weekend. The place we go is very rustic with limited bathing potential. In short, I went from Friday morning until Sunday night without bathing. Man that shower an hour ago felt good. Normaly the first thing I do is get in the shower. But when you are hunting with the guys, you have to do manly things, drink beer, kill stuff, and smell really manly!

Anonymous said...

I, personally, love bubble baths with pink bubbles and calgon (take me away...)

In reality, men would have a bathroom set up this way:

Shower Stall
Urinal
Crapper
Sink

Notice how there's not a bath there. I'd just rather have the shower stall. In fact, I'll bet, for most men out there, you can just get rid of the urinal because lots of fellas just pee in the shower. Embarassing, but true (and a good way to combat athlete's foot).

Cupcake Blonde said...

I am the same way. If something happens where I do not have time to take a shower or I have to go out without cleaning up I feel disgusting all day and usually end up taking a shower as soon as I get home. My hair con not survive more than one day without being washed. If it isn't I have to wear a hat...

Naynayfazz said...

I was just about to ask what a PTA shower was and then, well you said it. That is gross. I am all for a shower every day. I don't always wash my hair, that can wait a day. But the PTA, yeah well that is important.