So I’ve been wearing a silicone fitness tracker for like three years straight. I take it off to charge for an hour every few days, but other than that, it is basically part of my arm. I shower with it. I work out in it. I thought it was clean because, you know, soap and water hits it every morning in the shower.

Today I actually took a close look at the underside of the strap and the area around the heart rate sensor. its honestly horrifying.

There was this thick, greyish-white layer of... gunk. It wasn't just dirt. It was like a concentrated paste of dead skin, old sweat, and whatever soap residue survived the rinse. When I scraped a bit off with my fingernail to see what it was, the smell was ABSOLUTELY rancid. It smelled like a locker room that hasn't been aired out since the nineties.

The worst part is that I’ve been walking around feeling "fresh" and professional while having a colony of fermented bacteria strapped to my wrist. I’ve been shaking hands and living my life while carrying a secret biohazard ring.

I should of been scrubbing the back of this thing with an old toothbrush every single week. its not enough to just let the shower water run over it. You have to actually get in there and scrape away the "human cheese" that builds up in the crevices. I feel like a total slob now. why is this even a thing?

I started noticing around March that people's scalps are really starting to stink. It's only been amplified since the start of summer. What's going on with this?

Are we washing our hair wrong? Is our shampoo worse? I don't remember scalps ever being so stinky that I could smell them as I was passing a person by. What are we doing wrong?

Edit: Ya'll, I am not going around sniffing people's scalps. Sometimes, I am just sitting down in class and I can smell someone sitting near me. Other times, I can just pass somebody in the street and I smell it. The point is that people's scalps are smelling so bad that I can smell dirty scalp just casually walking by them!

Idk how it came up in convo but we were talking about going to the bathroom in public and she said she covered the toilet before going. I asked what she meant. She said she put toilet paper on the seat. I said you don't put your bare ass on the seat? She got disgusted. I never covered it I just sit on the seat. Now if there is pee or pubes on it Iwipe it off first obviously, but other than that I just sit down. Is it bad?

Im in my 20s and Ive always wondered what most girls actually do. Ive heard some people only use toilet paper, some always rinse with water, and others do both. I feel like everyone grows up with different habits, so now Im curious what is most common. Does one way make you feel cleaner or more comfortable during the day? Im not looking to judge anyone, just wondering what works best for you. Maybe Ill learn a better routine from the replies.

Hey yall. Keeping my under carriage as clean as possible is a high priority to me. If at all possible, I avoid pooping unless I am at home and able to shower afterwards. Sometimes there's no getting around having to use a public/workplace bathroom, and wet wipes are a thing, but it just bothers the hell out of me to have to do that.

Ok maybe I'm the weird one. I never considered not washing my bras after every wear until I heard that it's a common practice. I just hate the feeling of getting out of the shower and putting on a piece of clothing that I've already worn without washing it first. I wash (almost) everything -- jeans, bras, everything else -- after each use. The only things I don't necessarily wash after every wear are things that need to be dry cleaned.

Anyone else??

Apparently this is best practice to avoid irritation, which is partly why I only shave my armpits when i'm planning to wear sleeveless tops and do it in a day I'll stay home. But I'm sure some people shave their armpits daily, so how does that work?

Also by the next day there is a bit of stubble so if you follow this rule you'll really never be able to go out with perfectly hairless smooth armpits unless you're okay with stinking or genuinely don't need deodorant.

I try to wash when I can, but rinse for sure. What but you?

I live in a fairly small space and try to be deliberate about how often I run laundry. I live alone, so running a half-empty washer every couple of days just to wash one or two bath towels feels like a waste of water and energy.

Because of that, my usual routine is to use a bath towel for about four or five days before tossing it in the hamper. I hang it up on a wide wooden towel rack in a well-ventilated room immediately after drying off, so it dries completely within an hour or two without holding onto any dampness.

A family member stayed over at my place recently, and during their visit, they noticed my towel routine and were pretty surprised by it. They told me they grab a fresh towel every two days max, and some people in their household even use a new towel every single shower. That blew my mind a bit. My logic has always been that if you are only using the towel to dry off a completely clean body right after washing yourself, and the towel gets fully dry between uses without smelling musty, it stays clean for several days.

Where do you draw the line between being practical with laundry and keeping things hygienic with towels?

I am curious if four or five days is actually considered gross by most people, or if the "new towel every 1–2 days" crowd is just overdoing it. What is your actual rule for swapping them out?

I was raised on using toilet paper to wipe after 💩. But recently, ever since I started college, I’ve been using flushable wipes. I know they are not actually flushable, but using paper towels to wipe is so ineffective leaves tissue residue that I can not clean out until the end of the day (when I can actually go shower). Flushable wipes have typically given me the best results, but with the risk of clogging, I’m scared it will build up over time. I know people say to use bidets, but college apartments do not have those and the portable bidet that I bought is also not that effective. What else should I do to ensure I’m not walking around with 💩 all day.

EDIT: I mistakenly used the words paper towels and toilet paper, maiming bc English isn’t my first language and we practically call everything “tissue”.

RAWWWWW!!! I AM THE HULK!!!! IN CELEBRATION FOR THE NEW SPIDERMAN I WANTED TO KNOW WHAT SKIN CARE I COULD DO AS THE THE GREAT GREEN FEIND! HAHAHAHA RAWWWWWWWWWW!!! HULK GET ASHY KNEES FROM GETTING ANGRY!!!!!! WHEN YOURE GREEN YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!!

So I was thinking of a time that I soaped up and accidentally didn’t rinse off my booty

Which then got me thinking, I should ask here what part of the body would be or was the worst that you could forget or have forgotten to rinse off when bathing?

This is really tmi, but is it normal for my discharge to be yellow? it varies often sometimes it’s white sometimes it’s light yellow, and now a medium yellow. Nothing seems off, no foul smell just normal smell, but I see people saying if it’s a darker yellow that’s an indicator of an sti … I did also just get off of my period so maybe that has something to do with it???

I'm going to spare the details, including genders, because I asked a question about hygiene before and people jumped to conclusions and were attacking me for what they assumed was MY poor hygiene. No one gave me any helpful answers and the comments were riddled with rude unhelpful comments. I am not going into details, so please don't assume ANYTHING.

I know youre all going to wonder why I'm dating someone with less than par hygiene, but please don't. My partner is lovely in every way. They do rhe dishes, keep a clean house, even borrowed me their only car for a month when mine broke down. Sexual relationship is good and we have fantastic communication. We never argue, we only discuss and reason topics with each other without raising our voices. I am very happy in this relationship other than the hygiene.

I have hinted many times about hygiene areas that I would like to see improvement on, and even modeled these behaviours to my partner, but often they don't continue unless I constantly remind. I don't like feeling like I'm parenting an adult.

My partner is reasonable but easily ashamed. Is there a nice way to bring this up without hurting feelings too much? Any terms or sentences I should avoid? Any help here is greatly appreciated, thanks.

Tired? Shower. Bored? Shower. Overwhelmed? Shower. Just got home? Shower. Going out? Shower. Relieved? Shower. Stressed? Shower. Waking up? Shower. Going to bed? Shower. Back from work/school? Shower. Sad? Shower. Sick? Shower. Then rest.

I love a shower. Its my favourite thing to do for self care. I hope i get to design my perfect shower one day. One with curved dark stone walls, dim lights, eucalyptus branches, and no one to share it with.

I’m super big on hygiene and always wanting to smell fresh, but I feel like standard scents fade after an hour or two. On top of that, my skin is pretty sensitive, so I have to be careful with heavily fragranced products or anything harsh.

What are your go to habits, gentler routines, or layering tricks for long lasting freshness that won't irritate sensitive skin? Would love to hear what works for you!

I shower in the evening because I usually workout in the afternoon. Should I only be applying deodorant and body powder after my shower, or should I reapply in the morning? I can’t afford to shower twice a day lol.

My wife never cleans the toilet or her long hair all over the bathroom, every time I use the toilet, I clean and sanitize it. I use it after her and I got poop stains all over the bowl ! Drives me crazy, I want my own bathroom

I was talking with some friends today, and somehow we ended up arguing about reusable water bottles. I refill mine all day, but I only wash it every few days because it's "just water."

They all looked at me like I was disgusting and said they wash theirs every day.

Now I'm wondering if I've been doing this wrong the whole time. How often do you actually wash your water bottle, and is every day really necessary?

Hi everyone!

I'm a backend software developer looking to build software that solves a real problem for people in this community.

Instead of guessing what people need, I'd rather hear directly from the people who deal with these challenges every day.

What's one repetitive, frustrating, or time-consuming part of your work that you think could realistically be improved with software?

If you're willing, it would really help if you could include:

• What is the task?
• How often do you do it?
• How do you currently handle it? (Paper, Excel, WhatsApp, another app, etc.)
• What's the most frustrating part?
• Have you tried any existing software? If so, what was missing?
• If a tool solved this well, would you actually use it? If not, why?

If I notice the same problem being mentioned by a lot of people, I'll build an MVP around it and share an early version with this community first so you can try it and give feedback before it's released more broadly.

Thanks in advance! My goal is to learn from the people who actually do the work and build something genuinely useful—not just another app looking for users.

i’m not sure if this is the right sub for this, but my cleaner comes to my house once a week and she’s a smoker.

i’ve never actually seen her smoking, but whenever she cleans the living room, she closes the hallway door and then i can smell cigarette smoke. she opens the windows, which are huge, so the air circulates and the smell doesn’t really linger.

i don’t mind it that much, but it does bother me a little, especially because she does it secretly.

i don’t smoke cigarettes, but i do smoke weed, and as the owner of the house, i choose to use a carbon filter that doesn’t leave any smell. so i feel weird about her deciding on her own to smoke inside, you know?

i feel like she should ask me whether it’s okay or not. other people who have worked in my house always went outside to smoke on the patio.

I'm curious to see what everyone's daily hygiene routine looks like. What do you do every morning and before bed? Do you have any must have products, habits, or tips that help you stay fresh and healthy? Whether your routine is simple or detailed, I'd love to hear what works for you and maybe pick up a few ideas.

A guy touching their member at a urinal or outside vs a women touching a toilet, door, stall, everything…
Do any women see this point? Do any women think guys don’t need to wash after they pee? Do they not see the point that a guy peeing is actually clean and washing is just respectful act? Curious eg when teaching sons. I think it is way less important for a guy .

It’s not next to our ass, we don’t wipe, we don’t touch flushers or lids or doors or anything. A modern urinal is remarkably clean. Do you think men need to wash if they pee outside?