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MatchingBlues
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11 Sep 2014, 8:31 pm

...do any of you find it particularly difficult to shower or bathe? If so, how do you deal with that? And how often do you shower or bathe? I do this daily but feel a lot of anxiety beforehand because I don't like the feeling of wetness all over, particularly in my hair. I dry my hair with a blowdryer as soon as I am done with the shower. I also hate the feeling of towels on my skin as I dry myself too, although it's much worse when I'm wet.

What about other things, like combing your hair or putting on lotion?



LokiofSassgard
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11 Sep 2014, 8:57 pm

I do have a hard time getting myself to bathe or shower. I think a lot of deals with my strict routine. I get so into doing something that taking one just seems out of the question. The only time I know it's really needed is if my hair starts getting a bit greasy, and then I KNOW I have to take a shower or bath or else I'll end up with a ripe smell. XD

Other times, I usually try to make an excuse to get myself to take on sooner like... if I'm sweating and don't want to go swimming or if my anxiety is driving my crazy. Also, I never put on lotion, and I hardly ever brush my hair... I let my hair do whatever it wants because it never seems to cooperate with me much at all.

I also think a lot of the reason I don't take a bath or shower often is because I can't STAND how the water clings to my skin. It's like a sensory thing for me, and it drives me nuts.


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Swiper
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11 Sep 2014, 9:07 pm

I have no problem taking a shower. I actually enjoy stimming underneath the shower.

While I love taking showers, I do hate getting rained on. I hate the feeling of rain hitting me face and get my clothes stick to my body. My wife says that I'm worse than a cat when it comes to rain.

I do not care for baths too much. I also have hard time going swimming and I have this phobia about getting my head under water. I lived in Hawaii for six years, but went to the beach and into the water only twice.

I do get quite upset if people spray or sprinkle me with water unexpectantly. It feels so nasty.

Hmm ... nowadays I only like hot showers, but when I was a child I only took cold showers (I hated hot showers).



Last edited by Swiper on 11 Sep 2014, 9:28 pm, edited 4 times in total.

AspE
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11 Sep 2014, 9:15 pm

I turn the heat up first in the bathroom, so I don't get chilled, like 75 degrees. My issue is I just don't want to get out of it!



olympiadis
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11 Sep 2014, 9:21 pm

I hate wind and rain, but I like hot baths.
I can't stand staying wet once I'm out though.



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11 Sep 2014, 10:01 pm

I need help with starting showering each day.


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kaedatiger
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11 Sep 2014, 11:16 pm

I use a baking soda water spray as a tool to prolong showering until I absolutely need it. My avoidance of it is probably because as a kid I was way too cold from the water evaporating. I would stay in there for half an hour just dreading how cold I was going to be when it was over. Being rained on is fine though.



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11 Sep 2014, 11:30 pm

i wash myself pretty often, but i don't wash my hair every time. i absolutely hate the feeling of my thick hair, damp, poofy, frizzy, and very...ugh, wiry after a shower. i hate it, i can't shake the feeling off. i wear a beanie pretty often too.
a little amount of slick is comforting, but not too much!

i use just regular soap, sometimes body wash if it's lying around. i don't lotion. maybe i should, since i have very dry skin.

especially here, during the hot humid summer when i'm sweaty every day the need to shower is magnified. BO galore.
we don't get rain anymore here because of the drought, but i love the sensation. i love it. i miss it, i almost never carried an umbrella, unless it was for someone else. :wink:

until i was about 11 i had to ask mom to turn on the shower for me, i coundn't.


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EzraS
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11 Sep 2014, 11:45 pm

It's difficult to get me in the shower....and then difficult for me to stop rinsing myself over and over. A lot of times my dad has to reach in and turn the water off. I'm not always good at drying myself and am helped with that too. They also comb my hair for me.



LokiofSassgard
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11 Sep 2014, 11:52 pm

Lumi wrote:
I need help with starting showering each day.


I remember when I used to need help with it too. I used to always have my dad start my baths for me because I couldn't figure out the knobs when we had both hot and cold ones. It was really difficult for me to make the water warm enough, but my parents knew how to and they did it for me. Now, we have one of those knobs that can go from icy cold to scalding hot, it's easier for me to get the water the way I want it without having knobs for hot and cold.

Now, the only trouble I have is with the sink. I end up using cold water to wash my hands after well... you know. XD That's because it's hard for me to adjust the water it be warm enough so it doesn't burn me. I hate hot water because it burns my skin and makes me feel all overloaded and such. ><


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guzzle
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12 Sep 2014, 6:12 am

MatchingBlues wrote:
...do any of you find it particularly difficult to shower or bathe? If so, how do you deal with that? And how often do you shower or bathe? I do this daily but feel a lot of anxiety beforehand because I don't like the feeling of wetness all over, particularly in my hair. I dry my hair with a blowdryer as soon as I am done with the shower. I also hate the feeling of towels on my skin as I dry myself too, although it's much worse when I'm wet.

What about other things, like combing your hair or putting on lotion?


I shower when I feel dirty or when I have to be presentable and don't feel clean enough.
As a result I might shower every day in summer but only once a week or less in winter.
I sometimes have s strip wash and only wash the parts of me that in my opinion need it.
My hair is short enough not to warrant combing or brushing ever.
I don't like lotions. They feel as if they suffocate my skin, my face being the exception. On rare occasions I will put some DDML form Clinique on my face and neck but only when the though of wrinkles in old age gets the better of me :P



Angua
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12 Sep 2014, 8:33 am

The noise of the shower stresses me out loads, and I am left alone with a hyperactive mind with not much to relieve it. In the bath the noise isn't so bad as after the bath is run it is mostly quiet. Obsessive thoughts can creep in, so I always have a book. I have also started taking my laptop in for baths so that I can listen to podcasts. This makes it much more manageable. It isn't the same as your problem though...

Have you tried microfibre towels for clothes for drying yourself? They dry skin a lot faster than regualr towels and you don't have to rub. You dab.



eggheadjr
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12 Sep 2014, 10:43 am

I love a nice warm shower.

Keep my hair short so I don't need a hairdryer - they're too noisy.

My wife buys nice soft fluffy towels, so I don't mind how they feel on my skin.


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olympiadis
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13 Sep 2014, 6:32 am

eggheadjr wrote:
I love a nice warm shower.

Keep my hair short so I don't need a hairdryer - they're too noisy.

My wife buys nice soft fluffy towels, so I don't mind how they feel on my skin.


cut my hair off as well.



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13 Sep 2014, 10:09 am

Conundrum: OCD says "shower three times a day, get that dirt and contamination off you". Autism says: "getting wet is unpleasant, and drying my body feels like someone's touching me all over". I usually end up having two quick showers a day, or if I have to wash my (very short for a woman) hair, then one longer shower with much distress at the shampoo.


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FireyInspiration
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13 Sep 2014, 10:46 am

I don't have any problems showering, but I find cold water pretty unpleasant