Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 18 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 23 years, 8 months ago by
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Why is it that white people shower so often in one day? I am a college student, and the females in my dorm shower all day and all night. I feel as though I am not as clean as I should be compared to them. Is there some kind of condition that causes whites to perspire more? Or is it just a ‘white’ thing?
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Name : Monique20346, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 19, City : East Lansing, State : MI, Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class,I have noticed quite the contrary: the white girls I once shared a room with during a class trip never took a shower for that whole weekend. I guess the level of cleanliness depends on the person.
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Name : Ify21375, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 23, City : Miami, State : FL, Country : United States, Occupation : student,I think it’s all about the hair. If they sweat, it gets all oily and sticks to their heads. So they shower to fluff it up. I have met a few, though, who don’t even believe in taking one shower a day. That’s a lot worse.
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Name : Katdog26810, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, City : Houston, State : TX, Country : United States,I’m not clear on whether you’re referring to taking more than one shower a day, or people showering throughout the day. Most white people, and I would assume, people of any race, shower or bathe once a day. A lot of people do it in the morning, but some do it in the evening before bedtime. Bathing any less often, except perhaps in very cold weather, makes me feel grubby and, well, ‘funky.’ There is probably no real health reason, but it is part of American culture. Bathing more than once a day would only be called for if one had been doing something to get especially sweaty or dirty (exercising, hard physical labor, etc.) or if one wanted to be ‘fresh’ for an evening occasion such as a party. Some cultures scoff at Americans for our cleanliness standards, but by our standards they are the ones who are dirty and have an offensive odor.
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Name : Augustine23601, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 40, City : Columbia, State : SC, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,How often do you mean by ‘often’? Most people I know shower once a day.
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Name : Cynthia31744, Gender : F, Race : Asian, Age : 21, City : Somewhere, State : NA, Country : Canada, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,There are many reasons someone would shower more than once a day. They might shower once in the morning before going to class, then shower again in the evening before going out somewhere. It’s possible that the classrooms may have been a little warm, causing them to perspire. They might be overweight, or maybe they worked up a sweat in the gym and were too embarrassed to shower in front of other people. If body odor is their problem, it could be their diet. For example, eating onions will give you a slight body odor. If a person smokes, or hangs around people who smoke, the tobacco smell will get into their clothes, hair and even skin. Plus, there are people with obsessive compulsive disorders, such as compulsive hand washing. On a psychological note, people with feelings of guilt will try to ‘wash away’ their guilt (‘I feel so dirty!’). I really think it has nothing to do with what color their skin is. The fact that you noticed ‘the whites’ showering day and night could be just a coincidence. I’m sure people of other nationalities sometimes shower more than once per day.
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Name : Taz, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 30, City : Windsor, Ontario, State : NA, Country : Canada, Social class : Middle class,Maybe they’re getting sweaty from working out?
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Name : Rick29827, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, City : Springfield, State : OH, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I love to shower two to three times a day – especially on weekends and in the summertime. Showers wake me up in the morning and relax me before I go to bed. It’s more of a therapeutic thing than a cleanliness thing. There’s nothing better after a stressful day than taking a hot shower and using my favorite body shampoo. Also, my hair is very fine, so I like to wash it regularly so I can style it before I go out. Americans can be very spoiled and this is just an example of our wasteful culture.
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Name : Sue27737, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 30, City : Atlanta, State : GA, Country : United States, Occupation : IT, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I have to agree with Ify from Miami and Katdog from Houston. During my stint in the Air Force, I had several White roommates and they were rather nasty. One in particular hardly ever bathed and when she did, it would be in a bathtub with several dirty rings around it from previous use. She also never bothered to remove her make-up at night either, but just added on each morning. I once saw her throw her dirty panties under her bed one night just to dig them out the next morning and put them on again. She asked to borrow some of my clothes to wear on dates and when I awoke the next morning, they would be in a heap on the floor or throw across a chair. She was one nasty chick.
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Name : Elaine25285, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, City : Newport News, State : VA, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College,After I saw where Monique was writing from, I had to respond. I have a friend who attended college in East Lansing for three years before transferring to another college in Mt. Pleasant. She noticed that students in Mt. Pleasant generally would shower every morning as a matter of hygiene and then again later in the day after working out or before a big event. Some students would put off showering until later in the day if they knew they were going to work out, etc. Or they might oversleep. This became a topic of conversation one day, as she noted that the students in East Lansing would just show up to class grungy if they didn’t shower in the morning and not say a word, but the students in Mt. Pleasant would apologize profusely to all around them in class for not having showered. As for myself, I noticed many of the same showering patterns in college, except my campus was a five-minute walk from end to end, so working up a sweat on the way to or from class was pretty impossible.
One other thought: some African-American friends have mentioned to me an aversion to showering more than once a day because of worries of drying out hair or skin. Caucasian hair usually doesn’t dry out from the practice, and if our skin gets dry we only have to worry about our own discomfort – not about being judged harshly for looking ashy.
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Name : Amber31545, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 27, City : Washington, State : DC, Country : United States, Occupation : College administration, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Well, just speaking from my personal experience, I have very fine hair that gets oily very easily inherited from my father. If I don’t wash at least once a day, it gets grimy and slick and just….*ugh*. Maybe your hair doesn’t require such constant cleansing.
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Name : Jessica30641, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 16, City : jackson, State : MS, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,It is a known fact that white people are generally ‘oily’ and black people generally have ‘dry’ skin. That is why most white people wash their hair eveyday (because it gets oily and stringy) on the other hand black people can go 2 weeks without washing thier hair (some brave one’s go a month).
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Name : Jennifer, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 19, City : San Diego, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Full-time student, Education level : 2 Years of College,It’s a matter of personal hygiene. My cousin is not white and sometimes takes three baths a day for more than two hours. Why? I have no idea, but she loves to bathe. What can I say? I do know that some white people tend to have oily hair, and maybe the girls are showering because it’s the easiest means to wash their hair.
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Name : Lisa22760, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, City : Gaithersburg, State : MD, Country : United States,I don’t know where you stay, but my roommate is a white girl, and she hardly ever showers. I have to talk about her just to get her to take a shower.
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Name : CB, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 19, City : East Lansing, State : MI, Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class,As long as I can remember I have showered/bathed at least once a day. My children bathe daily. I have white and black friends, and some shower daily, while others don’t. I feel it is a personal cleanliness thing. I don’t feel ‘right,’ and can’t sleep well, if I don’t shower before going to bed at night.
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Name : T27552, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, City : Springfield, State : IL, Country : United States,
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