Hygiene issues...what exactly is the problem?

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My hygiene standards are very poor...well, because I am poor!

When I was living with my brother's family, trying to even get a shower (I was the last one) before the water went cold, was basically a 'non event'.

Now I am homeless, I envy the two times a week that I actually could get a freezing shower!

Last week (when I had access to water), I shaved off all my long hair and became bald so I could at least keep my scalp clean. There's no room for vanity in the hygiene stakes.

Problem is, I perspire a hell of a lot and I stink to high heaven! I can have a hot shower even, put on 24hr clinical anti-perspirant and still sweat and stink like a pig (I need an operation that I cannot afford).

Not only that, I have a problem with incontinence and urgency...when I feel the need to go, I've usually gone by that stage, so I need to wear undergarments constantly...problem is, they are very, very expensive.

I used to brush my teeth until they all just started falling out anyway despite that, so I just don't bother anymore.

I don't really care what I look like or how others perceive me (asking me to live in my own stench and bodily emissions for any more than a few days is asking a bit too much though)...

These are my reasons and I guess others who have autism may have similar reasons.

I love bathing and feel icky if I don't but I would say that I have inconsistent hygeine issues. For example, I hate brushing my teeth and get by with one brush a day. I hate it so much that I have to do it standing up in the shower as bending over makes me gag.

I love taking showers. I do it every other day to save water, and time. I don't sweat very much and (according to my friends) have no odor. Showering more would be wasteful.

I do agree if one doesn't feel dirty it's not too important to wash frequently. Kids before puberty don't sweat much and showering twice a week is enough. People with dry skin and hair probably can go with every 3 days as well. Senior people who don't move very much probably only need once a week. I suppose if one is mostly at home by themselves then nobody would notice their smells. In that case, showering before you need to go out is probably good enough. It's about not offending other people's noses. (Smell is my biggest sensory issue, therefore I definitely don't mind people taking showers.)

I was pretty terrible at personal hygiene in my pre-teens. I was starting to have some awareness of choosing my appearance based on my preferences, so I would get a cool haircut I liked, and then it wouldn't look anything like I imagined because I wouldn't wash my hair for a week, and wouldn't do anything beyond letting it air-dry when I did. I had to be begged to shower. I don't think it was any sensory issue that caused it, it was just taking the step of forcing myself to start a different process.

In my teens, that all turned around and I developed really precise personal hygiene routines that I felt like I had to do even if there wasn't a reason, like washing my hair every day, then blow-drying and straightening it the same way (if I had to do something in the evening, I would repeat this even if I had already done it in the morning), and shaving my legs every day even though I rarely showed them and my skin was always irritated. Fortunately I don't do these routines anymore, but I have other ones that aren't harmful now. It is kind of a pain in the ass to get ready for bed or get out of bed knowing that I have to do all these personal hygiene things, but it's not a problem. It's better than not being able to keep track of them.

I enjoy showering, but since I quit my job seven months ago and I became an apathetic, sedentary parasite (whatever, I have savings and I am still helping with the bills), I have not showered as often. Usually, I spend two or three days without a shower, but my record was six days, I believe. Since I do not change my clothes or brush my teeth until I shower (yes, I am disgusting), I use that as a measure for when I need a bath (i.e. I will bath when I wake up with my mouth tasting like a sewer or when the stench of my clothes disgusts even me). Sometimes (rarely, thanks to my apathy) I get out of my house and sweat a lot, but then I stay in front of a fan until I dry and there is no need for a bath.

Also, there is a cyclical nature to my unhygienic behavior, because I used to be nearly as disgusting when I was 15. Then, I went through a time when I was so obsessively clean that even my used socks and underpants from an entire day of work would still smell of washing powder and my teeth were whiter than Lord Voldemort's skin.

In other words, I expect to become more germ-free than the surface of the Sun in a few months, when my OCD cleanliness comes back with a vengeance. I have no idea why I am like this.

^^^
slow-cycling bipolar/unipolar? in any case I admire your language facility

^^^
when I was your age I did those things also, but the difference is I have had enough time on the therapist's couch for the both of us.

no pills I ever took required me to awaken at 0-dark-thirty just to take them. to deal with dysthymia, was on norpramin. to deal with some of the other frontal lobe issues when norpramin lost its effectiveness two years later, was put on bona-fide stimulants such as methylphenidate [delayed release] and atomoxetine. the former made me more alert but also more cross, while the latter calmed me down yet made me more alert, a win-win its only side effect is that if one has GERD issues it will make them worse. deal with the GERD before taking it. IMHO ask your doc about Strattera, the non-harsh non-amphetamine stimulant. it helped both my inattentive subtype ADHD as well as a lot of my AS issues.