12th January 2024
Wash less
The 20th century was a time of great change in many ways including how we wash ourselves and our clothes. From a weekly bath to a daily shower, from a laundry day once a week to a daily wash and tumble dry. Have we ever been cleaner? But do we need to be that clean? Were we that dirty in past eras?
Over the last year, we have swopped from a daily shower to a weekly one. In between a wash in a basin suffices. At the same time we have taken to washing our clothes less frequently, washing them only when they smell unclean as opposed to when the fragrance of the detergent has faded. We have swopped from washing the duvet cover every week, to flipping it over for a second week’s use.
These changes save both water and energy and we feel no less clean! It probably extends the life of some of our clothes too.
For further thoughts see – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jun/14/why-we-should-shower-less-hygiene-water-preservation?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/showering-daily-is-it-necessary-2019062617193
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230529-the-people-who-dont-wash-their-clothes
The Green Tau 