Skip the Shower

(The meme is courtesy of Chronic Illness Cat. If you're not already following this page on Facebook, I highly recommend!)

How true is that? I don't know about you, but showering takes a lot more spoons than I normally have. So I skip the shower. A lot. I really do wish I could shower more, but it usually comes down to showering or eating dinner. I don't have spoons for both.

And I know I'm not alone. Bathing isn't really a priority for the chronically ill. So first, let's take a moment to rationalize, shall we? As I mentioned in my post on dry skin, daily bathing is a big no-no in the winter. It will strip your skin of natural oils and dry it out. Plus, skipping the shower is ecologically sound. A fifteen minute shower uses roughly 105 gallons of water, so by missing a day or two, you're being "green". Because we're doing it to conserve water, right?

Excuses aside, not bathing is just a reality of being chronically ill. Standing up is tiring, bending over hurts, and showering is just too much effort most days. But the products here are good for non-spoonies too. Woke up late? Just hit the gym? Use some of the things here to save some time.

Secret Outlast 48 hour deodorant

I've been using Secret deodorant as long as I can remember, but when I saw this at my last trip to the drugstore I was intrigued. You hear about a lot of products that last 24 hours, and that's nice but I don't shower that much. Forty-eight? Now you're speaking my language. This really does what it says. I put it on after a shower and I really don have to refresh for two days. I find with deodorant it's less about days than the number of times I've put it on. It seems like after the fourth or fifth application, it just gives up. This deodorant really goes the extra mile. It has been well over 48 hours, and I'm still powder fresh!

Gigi Slow Grow

This is a really cool product I had totally forgotten about until I was reorganizing my bathroom cabinet the other week. It slows down hair growth, so you don't have to shave as often. You won't find this in a drugstore, but you'll be able to get it in just about any beauty supply store. I put it on once after my shower, and it makes one week growth look like two or three day growth. Anything that keeps me from shaving as often is good in my book!

Charmin Freshmates Wipes

I looooove these for many reasons. The obvious is you can use them for a quick tidy up in lieu of a shower, just like a baby wipe. The other reason is a little grosser, but let's be real here. Being sick is gross sometimes. I like using these after I go to the bathroom because it helps me feel cleaner in general. And we're not talking about a quick pee here. Just another thing I use to keep the "oooh I'm soooo ggrooosss" feeling away for another day or two so I can skip my shower.

Psssst Dry Shampoo

This is another magic thing. There are a lot of dry shampoos on the market and I recommend this one for two reasons. The first, it was originally designed for the elderly and ill so it's not overly perfumed. The second, it is actually the best. I've tried everything from drugstore to high end, and this one out performs them all as a dry shampoo for removing oil at the scalp, and as a hair styling product (you can use it for texturizing). Spray this at your roots, rub in with your fingers, and it absorbs the oil in your hair, giving you another day of decent hair. Dry shampoo is also a great way to preserve a blow out for a few days. But mostly I use it to avoid bathing.

Ready Bath Wipes

These are the big guns. You have to order them online, because they are technically a medical supply, but you should. These are like baby wipes on steroids. They are made to wash the disabled, the bedridden, etc, and they are great. They are a shower in a wipe. I use these when I know I need to be around people and want to make sure I'm not stinky. They have a light fragrance, but also come in fragrance free. The package even has instructions on the "hot spots" you should hit with the wipe. These will really and truly clean you.

Regardless of all these products, I'm still not going to shower much. These just help me feel a little less disgusting about it. And remember, we're not being gross. We're conserving water. We are doing our part for the environment!