Ask Lemmy

About three weeks, while I was training to be a truck driver.

I'd gotten my CDL through a trucking company's "apprenticeship" program, which was actually a super-predatory mill they ran to compensate for their insane turnover rate.

The final phase of this company's program, after I'd acquired my CDL but before receiving my own truck assignment, had me driving/riding on a "trainer's" truck for 20,000 miles, while the more-experienced trainer showed me all the ins and outs of life on the road. In theory, anyway.

In practice, I'd learned essentially everything there was to know after a couple of days. Enough to get by on my own, at least.

So my trainer suggested we run the truck as a team operation from then on, running long-distance, time-sensitive loads, forcing one of us to drive while the other slept, in order to burn through my training miles faster. The company was tracking training miles by the truck, not by the driver, apparently.

Rather than driving 400-500 miles per day, I was pushing 1000 miles per day, every day, the truck only stopping for fuel and to work with customers. Between pickups and deliveries, my trainer had this annoying habit of only visiting truck stops while I was asleep, and finding random industrial parks and highway shoulders to park on for shift changes. I never had time to take a shower.

I staved off the stink with copious amounts of baby wipes and Febreeze. I also found out later, that my trainer owned the truck we drove, and my wages were not taken out of the revenue for the loads he ran. So I was effectively free labor for him.

I don't work for that company anymore. I'm still in trucking, but I spend weekends at my house. And I try to shower at least every other day on the road.

A week is my usual. I know, I know, but my mental health is a lot worse than my body odour.

Do sponge baths count?

I lived in a van for a while, where I mainly used a wash cloth and a bucket. I had several plastic water bottles that I would pack into a backpack, bring into a public bathroom, and refill under the tap. When I got back to the van, one got mixed with no-rinse soap (that I'd gotten at a camping supply store), and 2 or 3 were used for washing my hair. On occasion I did go to the beach and use the free outdoor showers, but that wasn't a viable everyday solution.

A bit over a month? This was in the winter and I didn't feel unclean/like I needed it so I just kinda forgot.

This thread was way more interesting to read than I expected!

I am boring, probably 6, 7 days at max

a month,I was in the woods. there were no baths

Like 4 days, but I was LARPing and I was a sweaty, stinky mess from running around the entire time.

Several weeks. Usually I shower before leaving the house so when I was too depressed and anxious to leave the house I felt no reason to take one. But I don't shower as much as most people in general. Once a week maybe unless I'm sweaty or dirty. I also brush my teeth inconsistently. But I've never had a cavity, fungal infection or anything else hygiene related anywhere on my body. I also don't stink in case you're wondering 😅 I disinfect my pits and use deodorant daily, I always check myself and my clothes and I also ask friends sometimes to be sure.

Probably about 1-2 weeks, unless jumping in a lake during that time counts. We were in the back country deep in Canada :)

Probably pushing 2 months. I was thru hiking the Appalachian Trail and was in full on dirty hippie mode.

Probably a week as a kid, when camping. But I'd swim every day which kinda caps the grossness to an extent.

Also before puberty I'd go days between baths.

Not really went without: when our bathroom was being repaired for a whole week, we went to the local swimming pool and used the showers there. Then went for a swim, so was actually quite nice.

4 days: family and work

4 days, music festival.

Like a week? It was at girls camp and I was doing “PTA baths” pits, tits and ass but the water in the showers were ICE COLD, like it was literally the same temp as the glacier lake our camp was at that we were not allowed to swim in for more than ten minutes at a time so we wouldn’t die. Putting my head under that water to rinse my hair was physically painful. There was a huge camp wide hike that me and a few other girls managed to skip out on and we all took hot showers, there was like maybe a dozen of us, and it was glorious. Then like, hours later, everyone comes back and the next morning during announcements they were bitching “some girls stayed back and used all the hot water so the leaders (adults) didn’t have any” like bitch what? We NEVER have hot water, we have painfully cold water, and it had hours to reheat before they even got back, suck it up and stop hogging all the hot water for yourselves! I didn’t feel bad and still don’t twenty years later

First thing that comes to mind is spending a week camping on the shores of Lake Mead many years ago. Didn't shower for a week, though one could argue that being scoured by lake water when you either go flying off an inner-tube or make a mistake while water skiing, does a fine job of taking the dirt off.

Couple months. Severe depression does that to me and all health care just stops. It's bad.

Two weeks, a few times. Backpacking in the sierra, kayaking in Baja, and climbing trips to j-tree. Except j-tree, trips included swims but no soap. DYK salt water kills most bacteria that cause body odor, some salt rash but no odor kayaking in Baja.

5 days. was so sick i couldnt even play video games. all i had was mr. beat videos to help me. i stunk like fucking shit on the 5th day but was finally well enough to actually get up and move around. best shower of my life

A week at max, high altitude and chilly wind can be daunting.

1 day, I had covid and couldn't move.

probably a week

Weeks. Washing myself routinely everywhere though. Having a genetical chronic skin illness where being wet sometimes makes your skin itch to the point of wanting to tear it off.

I don't know, never counted the days. It was a particularly cold winter with barely any social obligations, by the time I decided I needed a good shower my skin was covered in a waxy substance. I think it was about two weeks, most certainly less than three.

A week or two probably, when in the army.

And since wr actually we're responsible for actual foods hygiene, we always got sauna/bathing priority. So never went more than two weeks imo.

Just 3 days. Finals week in the university.

Not very long as an adult, handful of days, maybe 4 or 5 when very sick.

Get a bidet, and it makes it easier to put a day or two between showers.