You guys seriously need to bathe at least once a day

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I do shower once a day. I can't always say the same about my teeth though.

You gotta brush your teeth for those special moments!

I shower twice a day at least.
I hate brushing my teeth, but some things you've just got to do whether you like it or not.
I have tried berry flavor toothpaste, as i don't like mint, but it was still pretty terriable.

I brush my teeth twice a day, and shave every day except at the weekend.

I shower every other day.

That tends to keep the whiff away.

I shower every other day. That's good enough.

We're going for basics here.

Besides I've brushed once a day for 20 years and I have 10 beautiful teeth to show for it

I shower daily because I must. I loath the feeling of the harsh water streams on my skin, but I loath stinky people more, and I don't like being a hypocrite.

To make a generalization such as that is unfair and not right at all. It's like saying that all French women don't shave and all southern people wed their cousins--- generalizations like these propogate urban legends and other falsehoods and don't help at all. If someone doesn't bathe, then someone needs to either clean up or stay home, but you can't lump everyone in the same category as that someone.
I need to bathe every day, since the feeling of the oil in my hair and stuff drives me crazy. I also don't want the germs I pick up from work to stay on me.

What skahthic said; there's also an interesting study out there that states that bathing doesn't reduce your risk of acquiring a viral infection, rather it’s hand washing and avoiding the touching of your eyes, mouth and/or nose (food too) with your hands prior to washing them, this is what avoids contamination; obviously wound infection is a completely different matter....

Personally, humanities’ natural body odour bothers me little compared to that chocking and noxious death mist people spray on themselves in excess…Daniel cannot breathe, Daniel gets an instant headache!

I never get close enough to anyone anyway for me to smell them or them me; except for the previously mentioned choke mist that blankets and permeates the air....

Are you done whacking that straw man yet? Now please go and read what I actually posted before you accuse me of saying that all or most aspies don't bathe.

What straw man? You implied that Aspies don't care for their outward appearance without implicating NT people into the equation who may not care for their appearance anymore than said Aspies; got the stats from both sides? Only including one side is a generalisation.

All you said is that some “Aspies” don’t shower to your arbitrary standards and this somehow “harms” people; conversely, there are plenty of NT people that don’t conform to my standards (or yours), but I don’t give a damn if they soak themselves in fragrant alcohol and they give me a migraine if I’m anywhere near them.

Having a shower doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t smell (you’ll probably need to baste yourself in chemicals); nor cleaning your teeth doesn’t guarantee “fresh” smelling breath (the common sinus infection for example).

Sometimes I skip a day or 2 of taking a shower.

I have often found that actually addressing counter-arguments is a good way to lose a debate online because it makes me look like I am going on the defensive, but I will foolishly do so now because I believe in honest discussion and I feel that you deserve a real answer rather than the kind of offensive move that would let me score "points" in my favor.

This will get rather longer than I'd like, but please understand it is my way of showing that I take your objections seriously and feel that they deserve a full and thorough treatment. I'm kind of analytical and obsessive that way.

If you will read Skahthic's post I think you will find that he is attacking a position I do not hold. He seems to think that I made a generalization that all or most Aspies don't bathe. This is the straw man I refer to. I said nothing of the kind. Anyone who wishes to satisfy himself as to what I did or did not say may read my first post on the subject, and the second, which addresses precisely the same objection.



Yes I do think it is more common for us to violate social norms, including those regarding outward appearance and hygiene, and that it is ok to break some of those rules, as I do myself, but that bathing is not one of the rules that it is "ok" to break.

It's interesting that you think I said that ASers care less about our appearance than NTs. Did I really say that? Or did you assume that someone who makes the supposed error of wearing white after labor day cares less about his appearance? I think that on the contrary it is possible to be very self aware of ones appearance while playing by different rules.

Now you are also apparently demanding that I produce statistics to prove that ASers are more likely to violate certain social norms re: appearance and hygiene than are NTs. That's like asking me to produce statistics proving that elephants have trunks. It's obvious, unneccessary and basically a cheap debate tactic. I don't feel like playing that game with you.




You say that NTs also have an offensive odor at times due to wearing excessive cologne. Well of course. I don't quite see the point of bringing this up, but if you mean to say that this makes it ok for anyone else to go around with an offensive odor because they don't bathe, I suppose I disagree with you about that.

You also say that showering and brushing do not necessarily guarantee a pleasing aroma. Well of course not. But not showering eventually guarantees a foul odor, even if you are one of those rare people who can skip a day or two without anyone noticing it will eventually catch up to you.

thanks to anyone who actually read this far

If I 1) don't do anything strenuous, 2) don't plan on leaving my apartment, and 3) don't foresee having people over, then why should I give a damn if I didn't shower that day? I'm not talking going weeks without showering, but if I miss a day here and there, and nobody else has to deal with it, why should I care? Better yet, why should you?

That being said, at times I just have to shower. I think I'm going to go with that gut feeling over the silly societal "bathe daily" BS. Some days I'll shower two or three times. Others, I'll go a day or two without. Usually by day three I just "have" to shower.

Social Walker,

Your thread title itself was quite inflammatory and generalized; without stating which guys need to bathe..., that’s unfair to expect people not to generalise when you don’t supply enough information to deduce your full meaning within the OP, i.e., not everyone can track down information revealed later when they’re hung on the OP. (Remember, this is an ASD forum and I'm sure you know of the problems we have with focusing on multiple things).

I knew what you meant, hence: why I need to know if NT are any less careful of their appearance to your subjective standards; I mean, ASD people don’t have trunks just as NT people don’t; it’s impossible to tell if someone is ASD from their outward appearance just by viewing them in public. If you cannot supply peer reviewed information that is tangible and pertinent to the subject I cannot assume that ASD and NT people are any less “hygienic”. I assume that you believe that ASD individuals care for there appearance less when placed to your subjective standards because you are only addressing ASD individuals, why not state that that NT individuals need to bathe to your standards too? A lot of ASD individuals who posted here said they care about bathing....

It’s a little unfair to speak about a certain group of people compared to another without including them in your “study”.

Why don’t you see the point in what I said about what annoys me compared to your standards? It’s exactly what you did…unless you’re speaking for everyone, but how can you possibly do that when you supply no evidence other than equating ASD individuals to elephants; it's not a cheap debate tactic to require information that you invariably know that I don't have at hand.

If I don't bathe regularly I WILL stink like a skunk, but I don't let it get there. I just personally need to bathe daily because I can feel the oils on me. I also work in a correctional facility where we seem to have a higher incidence of droplet/airborne diseases as well as contact diseases, so the dirt/germs/funk/mold is in the air and gets on more places than just my hands. So I still believe that I am removing the germs on me that may cause harm by washing all of me as opposed to my hands only. Maybe I'm a bit hung up on it, but I can't help it. It's just what I do every day and it's hard to change my habits without throwing everything else off.