Beauty, Health and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara

There was a time in our house when it was a mission to get the brats to shower. Even after an intense training session. Despite having a decent sized main bathroom, they would all share our tiny ensuite shower which has decent pressure.

The shower over the bath was always poor pressure and the only one using the bath was the dog. The last one I had was when I was trying to bring on labour and in fact it caused my water to break.

Cleanliness got altogether more enticing when we pulled out the bath and installed a lush rainshower head which a proper power shower.

Now they’re fighting who gets into the shower first every evening.

Since Covid and working from home, I’ve switched to showering in the evenings as I generally do my walk in the mornings – unless I have a meeting then I’ll change that around.

I’ve one sister that cannot function until she has a shower and washes her hair every day.

A new survey of 1,000 adults in in Ireland found that only half of them showered daily.

Just one in three have a strict shower routine while 70% scrub only the important parts of their body, letting the hot water clean their arms and legs.

This study conducted by the brand Dove found in fact that young adults lead the pack in daily showering, with over half making it a non-negotiable part of their routine and scrub every inch of their bodies in every shower.

Irish women are significantly more likely to shower in the evening, preferring to scrub away the day’s grime before getting into bed. Two-thirds of them said they use their shower time to unwind and clear their minds.

Roughly the same percentage of men said they use whatever products are already in their shower belonging to roommates, partners or family – unsurprisingly women said they preferred to use their own products and were particular what they bought.

One trend that was a new one to me is the ’Everything Shower’, which is an extended shower which includes exfoliation, shaving, applying a hair mask or oil, a scalp scrub – all in addition to your regular shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.

The Everything Shower is a regular thing for 52% of women and 78% of young adults. It was an unknown phenomenon to 48% of men.

In our house the two women can be heard showering because of the music blaring over the speaker – we make up the 31% of women surveyed who said they enjoy listening to music in the shower.