If I’ve been wearing long pants, I don’t generally wash my legs. I give them a quick swipe with a soapy washcloth, but I don’t pay super-close attention to getting every square inch unless I’ve been wearing shorts or otherwise exposed them to dirt or germs or have been swimming or something. Every shower I wash my face, pits, torso, crotch, and feet.
I’ve never really given the topic a lot of thought - lol - but I guess I soap my hands and rub them over my legs to evaluate whether I need to shave. Getting clean is more of an added bonus?
I soap up my arms pits, my décolletage, my under boob, my private parts, and usually get to the upper thigh. I use face wash on my face. Every few days I use a pretty scented body wash and wash my whole arms and legs. Or a body scrub.
If I have insect repellent or sunscreen or I’m super sticky, I’ll wash everything but most of the time that’s not the case.
Post by amberlyrose on May 14, 2019 22:29:26 GMT -5
I wash my legs every time I shower now that I live in California. When I was in Colorado, I usually only focused on the sweaty areas and just swiped other areas if it needed it. The dryness of my skin was not worth it and I break out with 99% of regular moisturizers. I don't really have an issue with it now, so I wash away!
I dont wash my legs or feet. Neither smell, so I just dont care. I wash the parts that get smelly mostly because of that Adam Ruins Everything episode.
Your feet don’t smell? 👀
Um...no. Rarely, I guess. If they do, I wash my feet.
I watched an episode of Adam Ruins Everything recently where he had a dermatologist on who asserted that we really only needed to wash armpits and groin, and maybe feet, with soap. She said it was unnecessary to wash the rest of your body with more than water unless it was visibly dirty.
I side-eyed the heck out of that and continue to soap up my whole body. But I also dont have dry or sensitive skin - I can see how that may make you want to use soap sparingly.
I mean, the dermatologist is probably right ... soap is so drying and if you shower everyday, and don’t live in a hot or humid climate, then you’re probably okay to skip the soap some days. Also, we come in contact with germs all. the. time but all our obsession with germs (antibacterial everything!!) has done is make germs that are getting stronger at a faster rate than we can develop antibiotics to treat them.
Sort of relatedly, this thread is reminding me that my H has since switched to some organic, all-natural soap that costs $10/bar and even I thought that was over the top. We all have our things, I guess.
This came up on You’re the Worst and I seriously think of it every time in the shower. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t, but I am a nutter when it comes to showering.
On a regular day, I wash my pits and privates with soap. I stopped regularly washing with soap a decade ago and my skin has been so much better. If I use soap, the skin on my body gets dry and flaky and my face gets super oily, flaky and I get acne and painful rashes. In fact, the skin on the side of my boobs is always flaking off, probably because of soaping my pits.
I do wash more thoroughly after exercise, swimming, using bug spray, etc.
Unless it's summer when I'm most likely to be exposed to dirt by wearing a skirt or shorts, my legs get washed as a bonus from checking if they need shaved.
Usually I wash my my entire upper body and as low down as my upper thighs. I wash my feet. Then I shave my legs so I use that as the soap for my legs. If I am not shaving then I just let the soap from my upper thighs run down and clean the rest of my legs. I guess that makes me a heathen.
If I am really sweaty or dirty I will fully wash my legs.
It never even occurred to me to not wash my entire body in the shower. I also just asked my 11 y/o son and he said that he washes his legs but not his feet. Who knew!
I never considered not fully washing as an option. We live in NC and in the spring/summer/fall, we get sweaty walking from the house to the car. For the people who don't actually wash their legs, would being sweaty be enough of a cause to wash them?
I thought that excessive scrubbing was part of the thing where we're destroying our bodies' natural flora? I'm not going to go as far as not washing, but I'm not going to worry about scraping down the non-dirty bits.
This feels like the shaving/waxing debate. I don't care if you do it or not, but don't tell people they're gross for not when there's not much evidence that it's helpful and some evidence that it's harmful.
Also think about the global implications of "all humans should." Not every culture is our culture.
Post by karinothing on May 15, 2019 10:29:22 GMT -5
I am not sure why people think someone not scrubbing their legs that are likely covered in pants as they sit in an office all day is somehow gross. BUT people can go a week without washing their hair and this is fine. NOTE I do not think that not washing your hair is gross. I understand that hair may look better not washed or that it may be better for hair to not be washed so much BUT your hair is still getting dirty.
I am not sure why people think someone not scrubbing their legs that are likely covered in pants as they sit in an office all day is somehow gross. BUT people can go a week without washing their hair and this is fine. NOTE I do not think that not washing your hair is gross. I understand that hair may look better not washed or that it may be better for hair to not be washed so much BUT your hair is still getting dirty.
We haven't discussed hair, but we could? FTR, I don't care what people do, I was just curious. I'll still be taratru's friend.
This feels like the shaving/waxing debate. I don't care if you do it or not, but don't tell people they're gross for not when there's not much evidence that it's helpful and some evidence that it's harmful.
Also think about the global implications of "all humans should." Not every culture is our culture.
To be clear, I didn't mean for it to sound like I think everyone should wash them every day. But to never wash them? No. And I'm aware of and certainly want to be respectful of cultural differences, but again, to *never* wash them seems unusual and unsanitary.
I'm interested in your claim of leg washing being harmful, though. And of course I wouldn't recommend it for someone to whom it really is harmful. But I'm googling for info about that and not finding anything. Do you have a link?
I am not sure why people think someone not scrubbing their legs that are likely covered in pants as they sit in an office all day is somehow gross. BUT people can go a week without washing their hair and this is fine. NOTE I do not think that not washing your hair is gross. I understand that hair may look better not washed or that it may be better for hair to not be washed so much BUT your hair is still getting dirty.
We haven't discussed hair, but we could? FTR, I don't care what people do, I was just curious. I'll still be taratru 's friend.
I am not sure why people think someone not scrubbing their legs that are likely covered in pants as they sit in an office all day is somehow gross. BUT people can go a week without washing their hair and this is fine. NOTE I do not think that not washing your hair is gross. I understand that hair may look better not washed or that it may be better for hair to not be washed so much BUT your hair is still getting dirty.
We haven't discussed hair, but we could? FTR, I don't care what people do, I was just curious. I'll still be taratru's friend.
I've been around taratru after she ran several miles and hadn't showered or slept in 24 hours, and she was not stinkier than any of the rest of us. LOL.
Count me in with the dirty crowd. (As if nobody could guess that). I wash my legs if they are dirty, but if it's just a standard winter shower - no sunscreen or bug spray or straight up mud on my legs, no I don't soap them. I do my feet, but I DO have stink feet.
The reactions in this thread are cracking me up. FTR, I'm a clean person. I'm well groomed and I smell pretty good most of the time. But I suppose it's a good thing that no one is getting too close to my filthy disgusting legs?
The reactions in this thread are cracking me up. FTR, I'm a clean person. I'm well groomed and I smell pretty good most of the time. But I suppose it's a good thing that no one is getting too close to my filthy disgusting legs?
I feel like most people are vastly over estimating how dirty one gets sitting in an office job all day wearing pants in our largely sedentary lifestyles
Post by downtoearth on May 15, 2019 12:32:50 GMT -5
I taught my kids to use soap everyday, but I have a skin thing and can't use soap everyday on my skin. So I rinse them and rub my legs down with each shower, but I only use soap like every other day or every third day on my legs/torso/arms or if I was doing something like trail running/biking/gardening where I know I am dirty.
I'll add myself to the dirty leg club. I used to wash everything every day and then I developed very dry skin due to hormone changes. Now I only wash my arms and legs with soap if I'm sweaty and/or use sunscreen or bug spray. I stopped washing my face with cleanser in the shower regularly a few years ago since I shower in the morning and my skin thanks me for it. It just became so dry and my acne was actually flaring up because of over cleansing.
This feels like the shaving/waxing debate. I don't care if you do it or not, but don't tell people they're gross for not when there's not much evidence that it's helpful and some evidence that it's harmful.
Also think about the global implications of "all humans should." Not every culture is our culture.
To be clear, I didn't mean for it to sound like I think everyone should wash them every day. But to never wash them? No. And I'm aware of and certainly want to be respectful of cultural differences, but again, to *never* wash them seems unusual and unsanitary.
I'm interested in your claim of leg washing being harmful, though. And of course I wouldn't recommend it for someone to whom it really is harmful. But I'm googling for info about that and not finding anything. Do you have a link?
I mean, there are places in this world that still don’t have indoor plumbing. Your earlier post about “how every human should” sounded pretty tone deaf.