2017-10-02

So Much for Hygiene Freaks like Me

I am what may be called a "hygiene freak". I spend an inordinate amount of time in the shower prior to work and have been known to bathe several times on particularly scroungy days ... of which I have a few scattered across the year.

There is something about being fresh and presentable which appeals to me personally, though I typically refrain from criticizing the personal habits of others. It's just after a couple of bad experiences in France while in the Navy has left me a tad on the critical side when it comes to a few matters presented in the public forum over time.

  Vivienne Westwood and Andreas Kronthaler Paris Fashion Week AFP Photo Patrick Kovarik
Okay. In an attempt to be somewhat delicate with this particular subject, my eye was caught by a yahoo thingie on fashion — which is not my forte by the way ... with a fashion designer commenting on her 'youthful' appearance and apparently French surroundings. It simply was too much to resist given my history.

Seventy-Six year old British Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood claimed that her secret for 'eternal youth' is not bathing more than once weekly.

"Don't wash too much."

Decidedly younger husband Andreas Kronthaler who is 25 years younger says his elderly sugar momma bathes once weekly and attributes this to her 'radiant appearance' claiming he only washes once monthly ... allegedly joking. It has been my observation that a few Brits and some of the French are notorious for being hygenically challenged.

In particular a raven haired woman working the Russian Orthodox Church located in Nice back in the mid 1970s who had the marked aroma somewhat reminiscent of limburger cheese gone bad.

perfume gag  
Perhaps they simply "rubbed off" upon her.

So while I recognize that this person is likely not a 'field hand' chopping cotton or cutting okra all day this notion of not bathing daily is somewhat disconcerting to me at multiple levels ... but to each their own.

While I agree that over bathing can dry out the skin removing sebacious oils essential for maintaining turgor and health of the layers thereof ...

it is my experience that utilizing adequately gentle soap products can permit one to maintain a high degree of hygenic maintenance which includes the one to two showers I pursue daily.

I personally feel that I will never "wash too much." Likewise, just because I'm in an area where bathing may be totally optional I am unlikely to "do as the locals do".