Given that showering and bathing is something we all need to do as human beings to stay clean and healthy, you could be forgiven for thinking that there wouldn’t be too many differences between how people do it from other countries.
Be prepared to be shocked at just how different people from different countries can be when it comes to one of those most basic acts.
Number of Showers and Baths a Week
Let’s jump right in and look at the different attitudes to showering and bathing. In the UK, for example, on average it has been reported that Brits have 3 baths a week and 5 showers, while in places like France and Spain it’s similar numbers, 7 showers a week, and 2 baths a week in both the former and latter.
However, fly over to the other side of the world and you will find that the ratio shifts from more baths than showers in places like India and Japan. Interestingly, India records the most baths a week on average with an impressive total of 7, while in Japan it is more balanced with 5 showers a week and 6 baths a week.
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Type of Bathing Products Used
Another interesting part of bathing and showering where the habits of people from different countries differ is in the products they use to wash while in the shower or bath. Taking the UK again, the citizens there tend to use products that, at least claim to have some kind of moisturizing ingredients or properties.
Special money-saving deals also dictate what they will buy over there, as some people are more likely to invest in particular brands only if they are on ‘2 for 1’ deals or similar. Although, while we are on the subject, at the Cadogan Hotel in the Knightsbridge area of London, you can have a bath in Dom Perignon Champagne for £25,000. In Spain, they like to keep things traditional and new generations are spending on the brands the older generations were loyal to like Moussel shower gel, while in France around 600-grams of soap is all that’s bought a year. Of course, this number does not take into consideration the multitude of cheap blocks of kitchen soap the French have a habit of buying to use when they are showering.
In China, they also rely on tradition, using old methods such as using bath towels to exfoliate after they come out of the bath and using public baths. By far the favorite products in India are Lux and Lifebuoy, both by Hindustan Unilever.
Daily Hair Washing?
It might sound a little odd to people in the UK, Europe, and the USA, where hair washing is not done as regularly as full-body washing, but in Mexico and Japan, this is more commonplace. In Japan at the very least, they believe that any time you use any kind of styling or holding product in your hair, you should wash it, which usually works out every day. Mexico has a similar belief and habit too.
Some Strange Miscellaneous Statistics
To close out this interesting look at the curious world of showering across the globe, we thought we’d highlight some of the stranger facts and figures. Like the fact that quite often Brazilians will shower around 5 times a day. Yes, a single day. It’s even customary and seen as polite for homeowners to offer their guests the use of their shower.
As you’d expect from the US, 1 trillion gallons of water are used every year by people showering, who on average have showers that last 13 minutes. One particular exception to that average was Kevin McCarthy, nicknamed Cat Fish, who, on April 12th, 1985, set the world record for the longest shower, clocking in at 341 hours.
