Hygiene issues...what exactly is the problem?

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I wish I had time to take a bath or shower before each meal and before going to sleep at night.

I cannot sleep "dirty" - I gotta be clean between the sheets

A few years ago, I read about some family in Kuwait who had a houseboy who had never had a bath in his entire life. The family finally got him to take a bath and he quickly learned to love it. According to the article, it got to the point that whenever they needed him for something, they knew where to find him -- in the bathtub.

I agree with bumble. We don't shower everyday at our house. We shower when we are dirty and need to bathe. I have very long hair and don't wash it more than once or twice a week at most, because it screws up the natural oils in my hair. UNLESS I have been outside sweating, have dirt in my hair, etc. We have very dry skin in our house and honestly a twice weekly shower is enough for us. In summer, more often than that if we sweat a lot.

my hair hangs in greasy coarse strands unless I wash it every day.

Yeah, see, that's the difference. I think personal hygiene really is personal. If I secreted large amounts of sebum on a daily basis I would feel terrifically gross and shower daily. I am very sensitive to scents, and can't tolerate if my hair smells unwashed or if my body smells bad. Can't tolerate it on my kid, either. He is greasier than I am due to the age he's at, and I have to encourage him to shower regularly because he still doesn't get the point or care much about the idea. I still don't think he needs to shower daily, though. Twice weekly is generally enough for us.

I can't either. I love my bed, and spend money on my bedding and am very particular about what kind of bedding I have and how clean it is. Getting into my bed dirty feels gross, and when I have had to do it based on fatigue or similar I end up cleaning all my bedding the next day because it's been fouled by my grossness.

I like clean sheets and all--but I don't think about my "bedding" too often.

My wife really is into "bedding." She has to make the bed "just so." Sometimes, I can't help laughing at her "analness" when it comes to her bed.

Ominous, you are fortunate to seem not to be too much of a secretor of gross stuff

I am fortunate. Gosh though when I was a teen my feet stunk to high heaven no matter what I did. It was often quite embarrassing as I could smell my feet permeating their stench even through my boots when I was sitting in class. Stupid teenage hormones can be infuriating. Trying to help my young lad deal with the impending grossness of teen hormones having a field day.

Nowadays, every once in a while I get b.o. but only under the left armpit. How weird is that.

^^^
are you left-handed?

I am a bed snob. I am poor so that means I save up for one set of nice things and wash them regularly. I have a linen comforter cover, a bamboo comforter (we say doona here), and will only sleep on pure cotton sheets with a thread count of over 250.

My sister is coming to visit for the first time ever (we haven't seen each other in over thirteen years) and I had to buy some sheets for the mattress she will be using when she is here. I felt really bad that all I could afford was 225 thread count. I hope she's not a bed snob like me.

Nope. And it only happens about twice a year. I do get a sour smell when I haven't bathed regularly, but it's not the traditional oniony b.o. we tend to get as humans, which I used to get when I was younger. I sure hate that smell and plenty of people reek of it in public here. It makes me want to hurl, so for all of you who do shower regularly I applaud you for making the world a nicer smelling place.

what was that fairy tale about the princess who could discern a pea under the mattress? is 250 versus 225 thread count a night-and-day thing for you? and the smelly people here tend to smell like a bus [at least the old diesel buses]

I used to be content with a mattress on the floor.

I didn't know about "shams," "duvets," and such until I met my wife.

She was shocked that I didn't know those terms.

It's irritating having so many elements to making a bed!

Ominous, as for one side smelling worse than the other, I can only guess that is a biological function of each brain hemisphere working on the opposite side of the body, ever wonder what there is about the right hemisphere in your case?