You need to shower when you are dirty, duh.  But this article – How Often Do You Really Need to Shower? – announces what I’ve known for years: you do NOT need to shower every day, unless you get actually dirty or stinky-sweaty from work or other activities.

When I worked in an office, I would shower and shave with my long beard trimmer every day before work. That’s just how it’s done, I suppose.

But since leaving that world behind in a past life, I have discovered I do not need to shower daily.  I do shower and shave every other day, and that is sufficient, unless I’ve been outside mowing the lawn or getting sweaty. I reacently bought a shaving kit from Manscaped Grooming and love it.

Each morning I rinse my face in HOT water (to open the pores and release dirt and oils), then rinse with c-c-cold water (to close the pores).   I wash my hands throughout the day as needed.   And after using the toilet, I always wash after wiping, because toilet tissue simply does not get everything.

Don’t believe me?  Test it yourself.  When you’ve wiped and wiped and feel you’ve done the job, wet a white wash cloth (or t-shirt, just for testing purposes) in warm water and wipe again.  Rinse it out and keep at it until your cloth remains really clean.  Don’t worry, it only takes a couple washes to get really clean back there, but once you’ve seen what t.p. leaves behind, you will not want to skip this step in the future — especially if you are dating OR sharing a home with someone. And a white wash cloth can be readily rinsed and hung to dry until laundry day.

Then towel dry and be on your way, confident you are really clean.   Some people use commercial wet wipes to finish up their toilet visit, but I am content with my stack of white wash cloths reserved for this purpose.

Keeping the hands and face and “personals” clean accounts for most of what people do in the shower.  So just do the parts that need it as they need it, and save the shower for the all-over body-cleaning less frequently.