Having a shower - challenge?

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I shower most every day because I like to go to bed clean but that doesn't mean its that easy for me. I most dislike the transition from dry to wet but I have found a way to make it less traumatic. I am fortunate to have a hand held shower so I aim it at the drain to turn it on and then when the water is warm I start at my feet and work up. That gets my face wet last and by then its not such a deal. Hand held shower heads are not that expensive or very hard to install....

I said definitely no and this is primarily due to my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, (OCD). I have been known to shower as many as three times and wash my hands more than a dozen times in a single day. This is an average to above-average routine for someone with OCD but I have known people with OCD to wash many more times than that. Like Autism, OCD is also a spectrum with varying degrees of intensity.

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*** High Functioning Autism - Asperger's Syndrome ***

ADHD, OCD, and PTSD.

Keep calm and stim away.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a supersonic shower that required no water, soap or any such thing? You could just pass through it like a doorway and *poof!* all squeaky clean from head to toe in just the space of a second or two. It would save vast amounts of clean water too, which is not an infinite resource.

Some people luxuriate in the sensations of a bath or shower. I am not one of them. I do it because I have to and even then it's a challenge. If I could have the clean without the shower I would be all over that. It would be great for the psoriasis too. Soap and water wreak utter havoc on psoriatic flares but one has to balance that pain with not feeling too icky, which is unpleasant in its own right.

I don't have water issues, but unfortunately, my knees are now shot, so I can no longer take baths, and have a tub/shower chair in the tub, so I can sit and sponge bath using a large metal bowl, and then only have to stand for a short time while showering off the suds. Fortunately my bathroom is wide enough so that my relatives were able to build a large step running along the outside of the tub, so that I can climb into it, now that my knees are so bad. That, and the bath chair, and the sponge bathe bowl, have all been a big help, but it's still hard for me to get in the tub, so I don't sponge bath and shower often. I do use wet wipes several times a day, tho, so that helps some, and I don't go out much, and will sponge bathe and shower before doing so.

I found a post in which a person (now 30 years old) wrote that he takes a shower maybe about 10 times a year! viewtopic.php?t=184360#p4263368 So I am not the only person who has a shower very rarely...

I may "hate" showers due to temperature issues. I may avoid it. I may think that I have just NVLD, not autism, but my shower problems may be quite crippling.

Unaware of HFA until this year, I thought of all kinds of excuses for why I didn't like showers (and teeth brushing) from depression, to it's a waste of time, to the house was freezing cold and it hurt to shiver!

Now I understand I'm extra sensitive to the temperatures and sensations, sounds, taste, texture. I dislike greasy hair - so dry powder spray shampoo (sephora) is a must some weeks. But, then it's gritty and harder to wash out.

I shower/wash hair 1-2x per week plus a sponge bath but 2-3 times per week if weather is hot or I was exercising.
To make it easier, I keep the towels near the tub, put a space heater on during the winter, have a bath rug, use an installed hand wand from a seated position in the bath to wash my hair when I'm done using the bath water.

I find starting with the full body experience and warmth of the bath is more appealing. Then, I'm more open to getting my head wet and finally my face. I'll read on my phone or watch netflix or cable/dvr on my phone or computer if I want to relax longer.

I even buy bath bombs and salts to make the time seem more like a treat. I know it's weird to have to trick yourself into doing something other people naturally do or even enjoy. I have flash backs of once as a kid, running outside to catch the bus after a shower in the winter and my wet hair turning frozen in the cold. Poor planning! I almost never shower in the morning but get cold at night when I go to sleep with damp hair (I don't like blow drying even though I have a quietish dryer).

Now results in the pool are:
- definitely yes: 10
- rather yes: 6
- rather no: 7
- definitely no: 17

I have no sensory issues associated with brushing teeth. I also have no issues associated with transition from wet to dry. The temperature is the main problem. I did not wash my head since about 37 days and did not get a shower since above 33 days (more than a month). It is bad that it is so. I am close to the record from the autumn 2014, when I did not bathe for about five weeks.

I"m crippled and I have to walk very carefully on the tiled bathroom floor and maybe fall and hurt myself real bad .

Stepping in and out of the shower which has a huge step)threshold is a challenge also .

Showering is not an issue for me. I shower pretty much every other day (;

I voted definitely no, but upon thinking further would probably change my vote in that I love showers but stepping into or being hit by cold water is nearly excruciating.

Showers drown out the ringing in my ears from having tinnitus so I get temporary respite from the noise in a shower.

I don't have any problems taking a shower except I was suggested by my doc to do it every other day due to skin eczema & showers drying out my skin. I decided to do it every other day & I forget to do it alot. It also doesn't help that we have to go to the laundromat to do our laundry & that's a pain when you cant drive even thou it's close so we get low on towels &/or cloths a lot.

I am very sensitive to hot water. I can’t go into hot tubs. It feels like lava on my skin. I have a problem with showering in the sense that I don’t like showers. I like baths. But it has been years since I’ve lived some where with a bathtub. My last four apartments only had a shower. I wash my hair every three days per recommendation of my hairdresser (I have very curly hair.) and I don’t often shower inbetween unless it’s really hot outside and I need to take a cool shower, or it’s very cold so I need to take a warm one.

Results for now:
definitely yes - 12
rather yes - 9
rather no - 12
definitely no - 19
40% - definitely yes or rather yes
60% - definitely no or rather no

I don't like feeling of cold after the warm shower. Bathing looks more pleasant for me than showers but I do not bathe due to contact of water with unclean body areas. I did not get the shower for five weeks (and did not wash my head since few more days). I do not want to boast of it, but I inform about this fact.

I was without the shower for 41 days - from 12.08.2018 to 22.09.2018.
My last shower from now was 14 days earlier - 22.09.2018.
I rather do not feel the need of getting showers. Maybe due to physical discomfort associated with them.