Asklemmy @lemmy.ml

1y ago

Those of you who shower barehanded: Do you lather and then use your hand, or just shove the soap wherever it needs to go?

416 comments

who shower barehanded
There is another way...?
- What? What kind of heathen doesn't have a pair of heavy duty work gloves for showering? Am I the only civilized one among us?!
  
  Personally I never get in the shower without my circular saw
  
  My local supermarket sells these "exfoliating gloves" that you wear in the shower and basically just use like a wearable washcloth. They're awesome.
  
  Arc welding is my favorite shower activity. You need ppe
  
  ඞ
- I imagine they mean without a cloth, poof, or loofa. As a kid I would put body wash in my hand, lather, and rub it over my body. But it tended to use up soap quickly so either I had to add more soap part way through or the things I washed last didn’t get washed well. Which is why I switched to a poof.
- you dont wear shower mittens?
  the people on this federation, i fucking swear.
- A "washandje" of course!
  
  Bonus for the Dutch speaking people.
  
  a washandje
  That sounds like something you ask for at an unlicensed massage parlour
  
  I use the korean version of that
- Wash cloths?
  
  I have some stupid questions from someone who rolls barehanded...
  How do you get the soap to lather well when using a wash cloth? I tried it once but it didn't work all that well.
  Are you supposed to use a new washcloth every time you shower? If yes, how many washcloths do you go through a week and how much does this add to your laundry bulk. If no, aren't you kind of grossed out by a used, wet, bacteria filled rag being rubbed all over you?
  I once saw a post from someone not understanding how bare handers could possibly get clean from only using their hands. But...it's not like you use a washcloth when you wash your hands and no one is grossed out by that. Why are people then randomly grossed out when you apply that to showering? The action of soap with mechanical disruption, be it with your bare hands or a washcloth, does well to remove grime and bacteria.
  To the OP, I lather in my hands with a bar of soap and then wash my body with my sudsy hands...going back to the bar of soap and even "washing my hands" often enough when necessary.
  
  First time I heard of that. What is the advantage they have compared to just using your hands, besides the lathering abilities mentioned in one of the replies to this comment which is something I never had a problem with?
- I lather up a washcloth and scrub that way.
  
  That's the way all our great-grandparents did it. But with a bowl of warm water.
  Uses just a fraction of energy & water. With the abundance of cheap energy, affordable piping and heating became affordable for the masses.
- I use soap bar bags... I can't figure out if that qualifies as barehanded or not
- You can also get shower brushes, mostly for dislodging dead skin cells...
- I wash myself with a rag on a stick.

I shove the bar of soap strait up my ass and just express the foam into my hand from there until I'm done.
- Dat special scent from Yankee Candle
- A yes, the Gere technique
- I do this too, but I use the moves I learned during my breakdancing days to spin on my head and evenly distribute a layer of suds all over my body. It's super efficient!

I mean, yeah?? I just put the soap wherever it needs to go??
The soap isn't dirty folks. Half of the time all I'm showering off is sweat and dead skin cells anyways. And if any bugger dares reply to this with some clever comment about taint smears, I'll inform you beforehand I do not speak with bidet-less miscreants.
- I mean... doesn't the soap get washed as you use it to wash yourself?
  
  Exactly
  
  It's soap. It's self cleansing.
- We need to invent a slur for bidet-non-havers
  
  Shit smearers
  
  Paperbacks
  
  You bidetless purveyor of fecal particulate!
- I just set the shower to massage setting and then point the end at my asshole.
  
  At least you understand the need for a bidet even if you're suffering from bidet inaccessibility

...I'm supposed to wear gloves in the shower?
- Wait, are we not all wearing gloves?
  
  I used to wear mittens in the shower but I changed to fingerless gloves around 2014 when it became the new trend. You gotta know how to stay cool despite standing in a hot shower. Go with the flow.
  
  what gloves
- How are you supposed to thoroughly clean your butthole?
  
  My butthole is self cleaning.
  
  Shampoo
  
  With a potato, in my anus...
  
  With a potato, in my anus...

Soap on hands; hands on body.
- I remember watching a black comedian many years ago and his bit started "Why don't white people use washcloths?", and it got me thinking. I started using washcloths and noticed I came away cleaner, soap on a hand doesn't cut the skin oils and dirt like soap and gentle abrasion can. I also noticed, because I'm hairy, that I get lots of ingrown hairs, especially on my legs. Switched to one of those "poofs" and now I vigorously scrub my hairy bits and no ingrown hairs. Exfoliating helps.
  Use a washcloth and don't forget to brush your tongue, you filthy animal.
  
  How can you tell that you "come out cleaner"? I don't exactly have motor oil all over my body or anything when I shower.
  
  Soap bar bags are the superior option, they save you money too
  
  Huh... I'm a huge proponent of brushing your tongue (it doesn't take much, just a brush with a scraper on the back makes a big difference). I've never really tried washcloths, but now I'm going to give them a shot
  On the flip side, my skin is weird. I get hives for literally no reason, I tried one of those plastic poofs and it makes me itch like crazy.
  🤞
  
  The Asian body scrubbers are next level exfoliation. The best part is they dry super fast and are washable. I used to use the poofs but they retained so much dang water and weren't washable.
- Yes, but whose body?

I just rub the shower gel bottle over myself. It's lasting me ages
- Watch out for Big Soap! They don't want the people to know your one weird trick!

I don't shower barehanded. I wear gloves at all times as to not scuff my jorts.
- There are dozens of us!
- Dozens!

The way this question was phrased killed me. lmao

The same way you wash your hands
- Someone out there is rubbing the bar all over each hand and then just rinses. Knowing humans this has to be true for someone.
  
  If there's a betting pool I've got $5 on Florida.

What I do is I take several guns and a baseball bat with me when I shower so that I'm never caught barehanded ever.
- I'm glad I'm not the only one who was wondering what on earth OP was taking about
  
  It's like interdimensional cable but for internet forums. In my version of reality, we get completely naked when taking a shower, not just our hands. We have these kind of lay-down-showers called baths too, but that's a whole other thing. Also, the chemical element with atomic mass 207.2 g.mol ^ -1, which may seem like a useful building material, especially for shower pipes, is actually dangerous to life that is based on the chemical element 12.011 g.mol ^ -1. Figured I should include that in case OP's reality hasn't figured that out yet. In exchange, consider sharing something dangerous your reality has discovered that might not be obvious to us yet.
  
  Maybe op has only used shower gloves and has now seen the light..

Liquid soap, problem solved.
- doesn't everyone use shampoo?? who tf uses a bar of soap for anything else than washing hands??
  
  There is shampoo as soap bars in Europe.
  I use it since it brings better cleaning results. There are also environmental reasons not to pack everything like shampoo into plastic. A soap bar comes with just a bit of paper around.
  
  Bar soap feels much cleaner at the end. Also it doesn't create plastic garbage.
- Me too. I kinda do it in parts. Like arms, torso, legs and fave. Then lastly is use a nail cleaning brush to scrub my butt. I like to think I have the cleanest butt in town.
  
  use a nail cleaning brush to scrub my butt
- I always wondered what it would be like to soak everything in Palmolive...

There's liquid soap, you know. Didn't need to shove anything inside anywhere to stay clean.
- Liquid soap is a removed to rinse properly.
  
  I've never once found that to be the case, and I love those super lathery ones too
  
  It rinses just as any other state form soap, what are you talking about
  
  Astroglide is not a brand of liquid soap
  
  This is a common problem... You need to buy "body wash" from the supermarket or pharmacy. Not the "wash" from the body shop.
- Liquid soap/body wash is a sham. It's just the company selling you less soap by diluting it with water. Bars of soap are more economical.
  I'm old enough to remember when body wash was not the normal and now soap bars seem to be used less than body wash.
- I actually wasn't aware of soap bars before today. I only see those for hands, not the whole body. Reading these comments, I'm not sure if it's more of a generational or cultural difference.

Use beard as soap distribution hub.
- I'd like to see you distributing the soap to the loin area of even beyond the taint.
  By 'I'd like to see' I'm not really soliciting for pictures (moving or not), I'm merely enjoying the mental picture and it's comedic implications.
  
  Raises eyebrow...

Anywhere skin-on-skin contact occurs (butt, balls, armpits), I use a small amount of benzoyl peroxide facewash. It kills the bacteria responsible for BO and for 24-48 hours body odor is impossible.
You apply it, wait 5 minutes and rinse well. If you don't rinse well you can bleach your towel or clothes.
As far as body soap goes, I use a a fragrance free body wash with salicylic acid. Heavy mechanical exfoliation is not necessary when using a chemical exfoliant. Also, loofas are just a bunch of plastic waste.
After the shower, I use a lightweight gel moisturizer with cerimides. I use a thicker moisturizer on my hands and weenis.
That's just the body. I--of course--have a completely seperate routine for my face.
- This guy showers
- You can use an actual luffa if you don't like the plastic. Originally they were just a dried out squash like plant.
  
  Yeah, but the truth is it's not great for your skin.
- Now tell us about your business card.
- What’s your routine for face?
- How do you learn all this? Could you also explain your face routine? I'm taking down notes here.
  
  Watching skincare youtube channels and going to a dermatologist.
  My face care is a lot. I'd encourage you to find your own products and routine, but I'll list mine as an example:
  Daily Mornings:
  Wash face using a gentle face cleanser (usually in shower, after washing /conditioning hair)
  Niacinamide ointment to minimize pores
  face specific moisturizer
  eye creme around eyes
  Mineral sunscreen (re-apply again in middle of day)
  Daily before bedtime:
  Wash face with gentle face cleanser
  Exfoliate face with lactic acid ointment (once per week: sub stronger AHA/BHA peeling solution)
  Every other day, always skipping peel days: Adapalene (retinol) gel for wrinkle reduction
  Niacinamide ointment to minimize pores
  face specific moisturizer
  Everything kinda has a purpose, so if you have questions please ask.
- 3% peroxide shouldn't be applied directly to the skin and its time to kill is 3 minutes.
  
  benzoyl peroxide isn't hydrogen peroxide the same way ethynol alcohol isn't isopropyl alcohol.

I lather everything on my belly and then spread it across my body.
- Not everyone has the advantage of a protruding belly to lather that soap on, you know.
  
  If you have enough hair, I guess it'd be a rather good lather repository.
  
  Worked hard for it!

Have you ever heard of shower gel?
- Like with just your hand? No wash cloth?
  
  Yes. Why would I need a cloth?
  
  Why not?

Those of you who shower barehanded.
Huh?
- Without a cloth or loofah, or whatever.

Barehanded as opposed to what? I just rub the bar of soap all over and Robert's your mother's brother.
- Came here to ask the same question. Like, do you wear gloves in the shower? Or maybe they take a sword with them?
  
  I assume they're talking about using a washcloth or loofah, but I'm not sure as I'm also a committed bare-hander.
  
  There are actually washcloths that are gloves ._.
- "Robert’s your mother’s brother" -- I'm stealing this, thank you

I use a bar of soap that is exclusive to me. I lather somewhere hairy, like my stomach, to build up some suds.Then, I soap everything with the suds and soap.
It wastes a ton of soap compared to a washcloth. And when I'm done I wash the bar off and wash my hands one last time. It's the quickest way I have found to shower. I am usually out in about 15 minutes.
- 15 minutes is a pretty long shower
  
  I legitimately don't know how people shower quicker than that. Like, if I'm in a rush I can, but I know I'm missing areas and not getting as clean as I could be.
  But to be honest I have OCD that mostly manifests as germaphobia/obsessively sanitizing. I'm not good about understanding how normal people clean themselves.
  
  Seriously! A regular shower for me takes around five minutes. With a face shave, it's still less than ten. Wtf else is there to do? Standing there staring at the wall?
  
  Not when you shave your head in the shower. Shit takes time and focus
- Amateur. With the power of the Seifensäckchen, I manage to shower within 2-3 minutes.

I raw dog bar soap all day ery day. I don’t lather it up, just rub it on my body. Wash clothes are a PITA and I honestly don’t see an exfoliating benefit. Loofahs are gross. I prefer dove. Very cost effective and leaves me smelling fresh.
- What's gross about loofahs?
  
  I just imagine that they really enjoy rocking a layer of dead skin.
  
  Do you wash loofahs like you can a washcloth? If no, it just sounds like it could get gross like using an old dirty sponge.

Step out of the water, lather up hands, scrub, then back into the water to rinse. Face, then hair, the upper body then lower body - with a good spray of the undercarriage (shower heads are supposed to be removeable, not stuck to the wall).
It's a pet hate of mine that people often miss the step of rinsing when cleaning. The whole point is that the soap picks up the muck, then rinsing it removes it. This is a particular problem with dishes, where people leave (sometimes very dirty) dishwater on the plate to drip dry, with much of the residue remaining. My dishes fucking sparkle, and that's because I rinse them clean.
In contrast, with showers I think some people lather up in the water, which dilutes and rinses the soap away before it even cleans anything.
- What kind of damned animal doesn't rinse their dishes after washing them with soap?! I refuse to accept there are people out there doing this and if there are: I am not mad, I am just deeply disappointed in you.
  
  I think it's maybe a UK think, with a view to saving energy. Fill up a big washing up bowl in the sink, put soap in that, wipe it with a cloth then put it straight on the rack. Meanwhile I just run the hot tap excessively (turned down to a low flow) and scrub with one of those sponges on a stick with soap dispensing through the handle.
- My dishes fucking sparkle, and that’s because I rinse them clean.
  This is how I can tell you live in an area that doesn't have hard water. Water spots all over my dishes, even though I rinse them... sometimes because I rinse them.
  
  I do actually live in an area with hard water, and don't have a water softener. Even then, I think the heat of the water I use maybe helps - there's only ever a tiny little bit of water left to drip out. I'm not very energy effecient with it, I run the hot tap very hot to rinse.
- At least turn off the water if you’re not in it.
  
  For the 5-10 seconds it takes to lather up? Not really worth it, especially if the water temperature will fluctuate. Also, there's something to be said for the hot steaminess that showers create.
  I'm all for saving energy when it's not being used, but I'm using that hot water. I might not need it, but I enjoy it.
- I've noticed people get a bunch of soap at a sink, cover their hands in suds, quickly wet their hands and walk out. Insanity
- Here here!
  
  There there. ;P

I just put shampoo on my head and t-pose

That soap does what it's told or it gets the hose again.

People who use exfoliating gloves and wash clothes are fine and all but it's not like the majority of the world works in high viscosity grease factories. I roll bare-handed and never stink or feel dirty during a typical day.
- I think logic for it is to exfoliate skin... Not remove grease.
  
  Exfoliation is also bad if done very day. I usually exfoliate once a week

That bar of soap goes wherever it needs to go. I’m mean it’s made out of soap. So it self cleaning as far as I’m concerned.
- Want that an argument between Joey and Chandler in friends? Chandler's position was the same as yours, Joey's retort was "Next time think about the last thing I wash and the first thing you wash."
- Problem with this is then you end up with body hair and pubes all over the bar of soap which is disgusting. I have a family member who does this and it's really unfortunate on the rare occasion I have to share a bathroom with them.
  
  I mean, if you're not a heathen you don't.
- I feel like this is how you get a whipping case of pinkeye xD
  
  That’s why you wash in the right order. Head > arms > torso > legs > pits > crack > let the soap sit for 24 hours to let it “heal” and disinfect its self.
  Go in wrong order and yes, pink eye is the result

I don't care about any of that. What I really want to know is do you wash your legs?
- No, I have people for that
- I'm a proud leg washer. I make sure to personally attend to everything on my bod and that means legs, between the cheeks, and soles of my feet.
- You wash your legs?
  
  🤮
- How can you not? Wear some sort of special shower trousers? The soap just runs right down them, they practically wash themselves.
  
  Just letting the soap run down then doesn't sound like washing to me.
- Yes. Also feet and between toes.
- Do legs even get dirty? They are just... there
  
  I wash my hands throughout the day, but not my legs. I also deal with dirty areas and climb on the floor and I have a tendency to walk into bits of metal that shred my shins.

Lather my hands and hit my crevasses.
- I had forgotten the context of this post and your comment made me very uncomfortable.
  
  https://youtu.be/XFLQBUDa0uw
- /c/nocontext
- Reminds me of an ancidote I heard from a diver. Whenever they went to the bathroom they would just go underwater, and the fish started to learn this. Especially the angelfish because of their slim design...
  
  Diner right from the source! Hope they like corn!

Two words: pube loofah. The mons pubis is a great place to lather up. Then I just scoop up soap with my bare hands and bring it where it needs to be.

Literal !showerthoughts@lemmy.world

To quote Chandler: "Soap is soap! It's self-cleaning!"
- Isn't soap technically self-dirtying since it's supposed to get dirt to cling to it rather than your skin?
  
  No. The point of soap is to reduce the surface tension of water so that grime, oils, and bacteria can't stick around.
  This is why the CDC recommends wetting before applying soap... Because the moment the soap propagates through the water (which happens extremely fast) is the moment microorganisms lose their grip. Applying (wet) soap beforehand reduces its efficacy.
  Anything unsanitary stuck to or in the soap isn't going to be able to stick around once rinsing takes place.
  Also remember The Law of Conservation of Filth: For something to become clean something else must become dirty. The water is what's getting "dirty" because of the soap.
  
  pro tip: use water with the soap

Lather first
Also, a lifehack: if you have body hair, you can lather soap onto your hands and then just move them through your body hair
This allows you to generate tons of soap foam with which you can wash EVERYTHING

It’s soap. It’s a bar. I rub it on my wife then myself and then we rinse it off.
- I, too, like to rub it on this guy's wife.
  
  We all do, but don't mess it up for everyone.

Shove the soap.
- agreed

This thread of comments is disturbing.
- You know, I can understand not needing to scrub if you live somewhere where you don't really sweat or it's not humid enough that dirt just sticks to you because you exist, but that's not me and the thought of someone just wiping themselves with soap makes me feel icky. I need a shower.

Follow-up question: do you wash your feet extra or do you also think that the shower gel water below will fix that?
- Assume nothing, wash everything
  
  I want this on a T-shirt.
- Feet need to be scrubbed, not rinsed.
  When you take a bath you don't just dip yourself for a bit and then get out
- I'm 196cm tall. Do you know how far I need to go down to wash them? I trust trickling down soapy water will fix that.
  
  I hope to never come in close proximity to your feet.
  
  Do you not have knees? I'm the same height and just bend my leg up to scrub my feet.
  Y'all are nasty if you're not scrubbing everything. Soap running down from above isn't going to do much.
  
  Banned
  
  Man, maybe that's it! I am 196cm tall too 🙏
- I’ve got really bad calluses so yeah I usually give them a good rough scrub with a coarse washcloth.
- You fucking bet I scrub my feet. I rock climb and as most climbers do I wear my climbing shoes without socks, which also means they collect a ton of dead skin cells and sweat which makes them smell absolutely vile. I spray them all the time with a multitude of bacteria and fungus killing products, even wash them from time to time, but there's no real solution. I just treat them as biohazard when not climbing. So yes, I make an effort to thoroughly scrub my feet to ensure they don't retain the smell and to try to reduce how many dead cells end up in the shoes.
- Everything that is below my pp i dont touch. Never have in my life. I just dont get that dirty that often.
- If you don't wash your feet then you are not allowed in my house.
  
  i wasnt planning on coming
  
  Are you asking all your guests before?

No one in here uses a loofa?!?
- Loofah all day! I will even take a loofah on trips. Just never feel clean without it.
- I think the question is to those that don't.

I just use my chest hair, I feel like if I use a washcloth I’ll smell moldy without realizing it
- WTF? Why would you smell moldy? Would you not wash the cloth? Do you think people who use wash cloths aren't washing them?
  This thread is a disturbing trip.
  
  Your telling me you use one washcloth per shower? If you don’t how are you letting that dry?
  It’s the same argument as the people who have the washer dryer combos. They smell like mold homie. You don’t smell it. I do.
  
  This thread has made me realize I'm apparently surrounded by nasty motherfuckers.
- Lmao I mean I guess if you never washed it? I've never had that problem with my washcloths

Lather and hands. Unless you live alone shoving the soap leaves hair on it and that's just nasty for everyone else to look at or deal with.
- Dealt with by simply rinsing it afterwards
  
  But then what are you going to use to decorate the shower walls‽ No reason to pull your own hair out!
  The drain hair is for cosplay wigs 👍
  
  You've never had to play a game of chase the pube around the soap bar. It's a phenomenon physics has not yet found a way to explain, but rinsing soap with a pube on it just causes the pube to quantum jump to the other side of the soap bar.

I swipe the bar of soap between my butt cheeks like a credit card...
- Yeah, Near Filth Cleaning (NFC) based placement requires too many 3rd parties.

Lather up by rubbing bar on hairy bits. Use hands to rub everything down with lather.
- The hair is key for a good lather

My shower has different cycles like a self serve car wash. I just move the dial to the appropriate setting and go from there.
I always start with that bubblegum-scented foam brush.
- I think I have the same shower head you do. My favorite cycle is the undercarriage blast for...resaons.

what

Look up the green "Asian body scrub" cloths. They're next level wash cloths that exfoliate, dry fast, and are washable. Bonus, they're super cheap. I swear by them and can't ever go back to other scrubbers.
- Aka "(Korean) Italy towels".

I use a loofah, man you guys are really living up to the male stereotype haha
- Loofah squad unite. It's just easier and more effective.
- I don't use loofahs 'cause my privates and asscrack don't like it...
  
  You don't need to use it there
- Two different dermatologists have told me not to use a loofa; especially on the face.
  
  A loofah is for the body, you could use a washcloth for the face but I don't do that my facial skin is too sensitive. Also you don't need to use a loofah if you're skin is too sensitive, you can just use a nice sponge but honestly even your hands are fine if that works for you. I was honestly just joking a bit haha
- All I can think while reading these comments is "no wonder women are always telling men to properly clean their asses, because they keep running into these 'my hand is fine enough' dudes"

Isn't the soap that touches the body ablated by friction with the skin?
- That's the idea of soap, yes. It's how we get lather.
  
  Right. So, I don't get why it should matter where, exactly, the bar of soap goes.

Nice excuse for softcore

Both, hard to shove soap on your back, easy on your belly

Bar goes where it needs to go

I soap up my hands and then wash every part of my body and reapply soap when needed. I have a scrub washcloth with handles that I occasionally use too.

I am a barehanded soap to shower poof convert. I moved to an area with a lot of heat and I can’t get all the oil off my body without friction. So I barehand soap on head, then load up the poof and then go like hell

The answer is Dr. Bronners, and always towards the heart!

416 comments