This is a judgement-free zone, please be nice 🙃
This thread is full of “oh shit, these Americans need help…!” revelations, I’m sure.
9 months.
I was hiding inside another human being.
Did she ever find out? Or were you really sneaky?
What a fun round of hide and seek right? Good times! 😁
11 days.
Texas ice storm in 2021 froze the pipes from the well. We had stored water in jugs and the bathtubs in anticipation of the storm, but it was for drinking, cooking, and flushing the toilet.
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.
winter wreacks havoc on the skin, since its also dry, people will overdue the shower, and it dries out the skin even more.
5 days.
During my winter break in junior year, I was staying at a farmer’s house. It didn’t have heating, and the temperature outside stayed around -10°C the entire vacation — it was freezing! Taking a shower was extremely inconvenient. Since I wasn’t very active during the day and hardly sweated at all, I ended up going five whole days without a bath. As a southerner who’s used to showering regularly, I couldn’t stand the greasy, uncomfortable feeling anymore. So when I found out there was a public bathhouse not too far from where I was staying, I practically ran over there and treated myself to a long, hot, relaxing bath — even soaked in one! It felt absolutely amazing.
Three weeks, over a very hot summer. Our office manager had the only key to the thermostat for the whole office, and refused to put the air conditioning on. I stopped bathing in protest. At this time I also commuted by bike (17 kms each way) daily and absolutely stunk. I’m still amazed he took three whole weeks to cave…
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
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
Get a bidet, and it makes it easier to put a day or two between showers.
My nickname in junior school was “stinky” which probably tells you all you need to know. Grew up poor, primary caregiver had mental health issues and financial troubles meant electricity for hot water was not a regular thing…
I don’t remember exactly but my mom who actually worked and did her best those days to support us would have made sure I was bathed on the weekends at least. So one week tops.
I’m still paying for the lack of regular teeth cleaning in my youth. Nowadays I’m pretty fastidious about hygiene, and showering regularly!
4 days, music festival.
6 months, during high school over the winter. Shower was broken (water would only come out perfectly hot or cold, nothing in between) and parents/landlord would not fix it. I kinda just gave up on it. Nothing bad came out of it. Nobody at home or at school ever said anything or even noticed, as far as I could tell. No, they were not just being polite. I watched everyone closely, as much as an experiment of personal curiosity as anything else, and there were no signs of disapproval, nobody had a clue. I suffered no social consequences whatsoever. Wearing a new set of clothes every day alone was sufficient to stay clean.
Can’t decide whether I just have one of those Asian genes that make you not smell, or whether Americans as a culture are psychotically brainwashed by soap companies’ propaganda to the point where even the idea of “spending more than 1 day away from shower” is worse than death for them. Never used deodorant either (other than to try it out - just makes me feel gross, sticky, and smelly). Imagine how much money those deodorant companies are missing out on me over a lifetime!
If I go 6 hours after a shower without deodorant, my armpits usually have started smelling. It ain’t just big soap, it’s genetics or something.
What length of hair did you have?
Good question to ask! I had short hair then, which is why it worked. Have long hair now and could not get away with it again - start feeling too greasy after a week, and I like my hair silky with conditioner.
Not very long as an adult, handful of days, maybe 4 or 5 when very sick.
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.
I feel like swimming significantly amplifies the grossness? I guess it depends on the water
Three and a half weeks, 25 days. More than forty years ago I was lost in the wilderness on a school camp. Broke both ankles and couldn’t walk.
We need more details! Who found you? What did you eat?
Couldn’t eat anything. Story below.
Wow, thanks for sharing that story. What were nights like? Were you able to sleep? Did any animal interact with you?
The nights were cold. It was the end of winter, there was snow further up the mountain, but not where I was. I dug down into leaves so I was half buried most of the time. I talked and sang to magpies, there were other animals around. I think I slept a lot of the time, they said I was feverish and in some kind of shock from the broken ankles. Later on I thought it had only been a few days.
What did you drink? I can imagine someone surviving without eating for 3 weeks but no water? Impossible
Go on… (Sorry just hoping for more info)
Mount Buffalo National Park, 1982. Four of us left the camping area to watch the sunset. I stopped to take a photo and lost the trail. Went running after the others, slipped and rolled down a cliff, landed upright, but felt both ankles pop and break. (The whole park is Australian bush around granite boulders and cliffs). The others thought I had gone back to camp and didn’t report me missing. Next morning the group packed up and hiked to the next camp site, no one noticed I was missing until that evening, so they looked in the wrong place. I crawled to a creek and fell down the gully, drank snow melt, no one heard me shouting and crying. Eventually they gave me up for dead. Three German tourists found me by accident three weeks later, one went to get help. I got a ride in a helicopter, in hospital for two weeks while they fed me through a drip. The school gave me a payout through their insurance on the condition we didn’t sue them. I’m almost 60 now and my ankles still hurt and grind and pop.
Oh man, that’s insane story! I can’t imagine how hard had you been through in these three weeks surviving alone in the snowy wild.
Holy fuck that is a wild story. I’d watch the film adaptation.
Wholly hell, that’s wild, I been through that place a couple times. Rough area in parts!
This is an insane story. I cant imagine the pain you went through. Im so glad the Germans found you.
More crazy he was left for dead. You think they put together a huge search party first.
Slap my balls and call me Sally, that’s a heck of a story you got there. I hope it has served you well in many a bar night.
Thanks for responding, sorry you went through that, can only imagine the mental impact it had to have. Hope all is well these days.
It was long ago and far away. I’m fine now, thank you.
What a story. You weren’t able to move for three weeks ?
What did you eat and drink?
Drank water. Couldn’t eat, moving hurt too much and made me faint.
This deserves more interest than it got.
Assuming it is true of course.
than it got
You commented only after an hour lol.
Cant drop that kinda teaser and not give the rest of the story!
