11 ms·

Next up. Stop taking showers people!

by ndndjdjdn 2y ago

master-lincoln 2y ago
How is this a fair comparison? There are health benefits to hygiene, there are none from make-up
- wruza 2y ago
  Yeah, looks don’t get you anywhere in this world as a woman. /s …We may talk all day how bad and unfair that is, but none of that changes the reality for an average person out there.
  - Mountain_Skies 2y ago
    What it really does is create an arms race within women, where those who opt out, with a few exceptions, are at a disadvantage to those who continue on and escalate. As a group, it would be a quality-of-life improvement for most, if they as a group ended the arms race but since there's no way for the group to enforce that, the arms race continues, with social media and technique videos advancing the front even further. For some the cost of participating in war becomes more expensive than the downsides, so they opt out and simply live with the disadvantage.
- hgomersall 2y ago
  I'm not sure there are any established health benefits of showering routinely. Cleaning in response to contamination, sure, but every day with lots of soap etc I'm more sceptical of.
- genrilz 2y ago
  This is actually probably more fair of a comparison then you'd think. Daily showers are bad for health your health[0], but I absolutely do them because my body produces a lot of oil and odor. This is a cosmetic reason similar to make-up. [0]: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/showering-daily-is-it-necessary-2019062617193 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/showering-daily-is-it-ne...
  - master-lincoln 2y ago
    You said daily, nobody prior did. Once a month is probably more beneficial than not at all...
    - genrilz 2y ago
      I feel like we might have been reading the original arguments in different ways, so let me summarize how I see this thread: I interpreted ndndjdjdn's comment as sarcasm. (due to the use of the phrase "next up") That is, I think he was saying that if you take sadcherry's logic to its limit, then people wouldn't shower or would shower less. sadcherry's logic is that people shouldn't wear make-up because it cosmetic is not beneficial to health. Thus I think ndndjdjdn was talking about the fact that people use showers for cosmetic reasons, and believes sadcherry probably doesn't actually want people to shower less, and so should probably rethink his views about make-up. You then posted your comment, saying that the health benefits of showers justify them even if they do have cosmetic benefits. I then comment, saying that I shower in a way that is bad for my health because of cosmetic reasons. I wanted to imply that a lot of people shower like this, and therefor the fact that moderate showers might have some health benefits is irrelevant, because the way many/most people shower is actually unhealthy. I probably should have been more explicit about the fact that I thought many/most other people shower in unhealthy ways. As an aside, I don't actually know of any concrete benefits to health besides making sure open wounds don't get infected. I tried to search the web for other benefits, and the only additional ones I got are exfoliation (which is cosmetic) and relaxation. (but relaxing things aren't generally classified as "healthy") With that in mind, I tend to believe the health benefits of showers are probably pretty over-hyped, (though not non-existent) and more like a cultural fiction to keep people showering than true knowledge. I'd be interested to hear if you have a different take.
      - master-lincoln 2y ago
        I agree on this, I previously didn't interpret the showering as a cosmetic action, but see that this line of thought would make sense now. To your aside of health benefits of showers: I also tried to research this, but other than getting rid of contamination (hazardous elements e.g. during construction or demolishing, or just dirt on wounds) I couldn't find any serious claim that washing the skin is beneficial for health (outside of making sure hands are clean before touching food or mucous membranes), I just assumed there should be one. I take my confident stance on this back...
sadcherry 2y ago
Guys who equate stopping to spend 30+ minutes a day painting your face with stopping to shower are part of the problem. It's exactly those unnatural expectations of looks that are put on women, starting at a really young age, that are the issue here. Not boys, just girls. It skews expectations and boom, everybody feels like they have to do it. It's very sad. I'm not saying don't shower, don't cut or even brush your hair, etc. All fine. But the full-on makeup you see walking through a random city in the morning, geez, what are we doing to ourselves. And what are the guys doing? Nothing close to it, but spend a lot of time justifying it.
jujube3 2y ago
Sir, this is Hacker News. Nobody here takes showers.

Next up. Stop taking showers people!

master-lincoln 2y ago

How is this a fair comparison? There are health benefits to hygiene, there are none from make-up

wruza 2y ago
Yeah, looks don’t get you anywhere in this world as a woman. /s …We may talk all day how bad and unfair that is, but none of that changes the reality for an average person out there.
- Mountain_Skies 2y ago
  What it really does is create an arms race within women, where those who opt out, with a few exceptions, are at a disadvantage to those who continue on and escalate. As a group, it would be a quality-of-life improvement for most, if they as a group ended the arms race but since there's no way for the group to enforce that, the arms race continues, with social media and technique videos advancing the front even further. For some the cost of participating in war becomes more expensive than the downsides, so they opt out and simply live with the disadvantage.
hgomersall 2y ago
I'm not sure there are any established health benefits of showering routinely. Cleaning in response to contamination, sure, but every day with lots of soap etc I'm more sceptical of.
genrilz 2y ago
This is actually probably more fair of a comparison then you'd think. Daily showers are bad for health your health[0], but I absolutely do them because my body produces a lot of oil and odor. This is a cosmetic reason similar to make-up. [0]: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/showering-daily-is-it-necessary-2019062617193 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/showering-daily-is-it-ne...
- master-lincoln 2y ago
  You said daily, nobody prior did. Once a month is probably more beneficial than not at all...
  - genrilz 2y ago
    I feel like we might have been reading the original arguments in different ways, so let me summarize how I see this thread: I interpreted ndndjdjdn's comment as sarcasm. (due to the use of the phrase "next up") That is, I think he was saying that if you take sadcherry's logic to its limit, then people wouldn't shower or would shower less. sadcherry's logic is that people shouldn't wear make-up because it cosmetic is not beneficial to health. Thus I think ndndjdjdn was talking about the fact that people use showers for cosmetic reasons, and believes sadcherry probably doesn't actually want people to shower less, and so should probably rethink his views about make-up. You then posted your comment, saying that the health benefits of showers justify them even if they do have cosmetic benefits. I then comment, saying that I shower in a way that is bad for my health because of cosmetic reasons. I wanted to imply that a lot of people shower like this, and therefor the fact that moderate showers might have some health benefits is irrelevant, because the way many/most people shower is actually unhealthy. I probably should have been more explicit about the fact that I thought many/most other people shower in unhealthy ways. As an aside, I don't actually know of any concrete benefits to health besides making sure open wounds don't get infected. I tried to search the web for other benefits, and the only additional ones I got are exfoliation (which is cosmetic) and relaxation. (but relaxing things aren't generally classified as "healthy") With that in mind, I tend to believe the health benefits of showers are probably pretty over-hyped, (though not non-existent) and more like a cultural fiction to keep people showering than true knowledge. I'd be interested to hear if you have a different take.
    - master-lincoln 2y ago
      I agree on this, I previously didn't interpret the showering as a cosmetic action, but see that this line of thought would make sense now. To your aside of health benefits of showers: I also tried to research this, but other than getting rid of contamination (hazardous elements e.g. during construction or demolishing, or just dirt on wounds) I couldn't find any serious claim that washing the skin is beneficial for health (outside of making sure hands are clean before touching food or mucous membranes), I just assumed there should be one. I take my confident stance on this back...

sadcherry 2y ago

Guys who equate stopping to spend 30+ minutes a day painting your face with stopping to shower are part of the problem. It's exactly those unnatural expectations of looks that are put on women, starting at a really young age, that are the issue here. Not boys, just girls. It skews expectations and boom, everybody feels like they have to do it. It's very sad. I'm not saying don't shower, don't cut or even brush your hair, etc. All fine. But the full-on makeup you see walking through a random city in the morning, geez, what are we doing to ourselves. And what are the guys doing? Nothing close to it, but spend a lot of time justifying it.

jujube3 2y ago

Sir, this is Hacker News. Nobody here takes showers.