What's that smell?

At the end of the day, it’s your mental and physical condition that should decide whether you need a shower or not. But, don’t stress yourself about this issue and don’t give others a hard time if they don’t take long bubble baths every single day. I mean, what are deodorants for! Given that our climate is a hot and humid one, and add to that the fact that Dhaka is one of the most polluted cities, you would think that those who can, would be taking multiple showers every day just to stay clean. A decade ago, you'd be forgiven for making that assumption. Do not be fooled by all those splashy soap ads. Daily showers/baths are slowly on the decline. We recently conducted a survey of around 50 people of both sexes and aged between 15-40 to understand why, despite the grime and the heat, they opt out of the daily showers. Here's what we found.The lethargyLife in this busy city means a lot of commitments in and outside of the house. When ranking the items on the to-do list according to priority, baths and showers tend to get slotted lower than many other tasks. 31% of the candidates in the survey said they are too lazy to go through the process every single day. Preferring anonymity, a candidate said, “I try to put a two days gap in between two shower sessions if I can help it. Tiring days outside make me lazy at home.”The season decidesAlmost 25% candidates said their showering habits were based on the season, making this reason stand second in the list. A 27 year old lady said, “I take regular showers in the rainy season because germs spread more effectively those days, almost always in the sunny seasons, but very rarely in winter season as it’s cold.” Indeed, our body and mind listens to the voice of environment around us; it’s hard to fight.Where’s the time?Here’s our third most common reason for not taking regular shower. Around 16% responses were based on how the fast paced modern life keeps gets in the way of people’s personal hygiene. Again preferring anonymity, a high school girl said, “I shower every alternate day as I have school and so may classes to attend afterwards. My days are too full.” In fact, some people, especially the male candidates, confessed that they deliberately miss out shower sometimes to save time for other daily tasks. Most girls believe that getting ready for going out becomes more time consuming after shower as they have to use towel to dry themselves, blow-dry their hair and moisturize.Clean enoughThis is ranked fourth in the list of reasons in order of popularity. 13% candidates opted for this option. Candidates in this category only take baths when they feel ‘a certain degree of dirty’. It could be two days or two weeks but they won’t take shower until their family members complain about them smelling like a dead horse. A 21 year old said, “I only take showers after a gym session or on extremely hot days when I sweat very profusely.”It’s a phobiaOnly two percent candidates said that taking shower can be very dangerous. “Being on a slippery floor with metal taps around can cause many accidents,” said a 15 year old boy, “I myself fell down once and hurt my thigh badly in my tub.” We request all our readers to take this matter seriously and not experiment their dancing skills in their bath tubs. Singing skills, on the other hand, may be explored.Ablutophobia (from Latin ablutere 'to wash off") is the persistent, abnormal and unwarranted fear of bathing, washing, or cleaning. This phobia is a situational specific phobia. Ablutophobia tends to be more common in children and females than in malesThe neat freaksOnly 13% of the candidates claimed to adhere to the tradition of showering regularly. Sharmin, a 19 year old, said, “It is a force of habit since childhood and no circumstances can drive me to skip a shower.”There are two different takes on why some people take frequent showers. First, some people feel mentally calm and comfortable after some time under the running water. Second, according to Gurl.com, regular showering is most probably motivated by “societal pressure to be clean” instead of actually needing a shower. If you fall under this category, good for you. However, keep your showers short (think about all the water you are wasting while people die of drought) and use minimal products while you are at it. Here’s what the dermatology experts have to say.How often is too oftenThere is no hard and fast rule about the number of showers to take every week. According to Professor Stephen Shumack, principal of St. George Dermatology University, you should only shower when you need it. This “need” depends on gender, climate, lifestyle, age and year old habits. Dr. Richard Gallo, dermatology chief at University of California, said that useful bacteria in skin cells makes our skin immune to the harmful bacteria; showering too often with soap can dry our skin of this bacteria. Here’s good news for those who feel guilty about not taking regular shower. Dr. Casey Carlos of Michigan said, “People don’t realise that skin does a pretty good job of cleaning itself.”