TMI

[desh]

OK, yeah, I'm actually curious. And it's been way too long since my last poll.

[Poll #1462446]
(If you take baths often enough that they affect the average, please feel free to count them as well.)

I read once that the average is 8 for men, 9 for women. I think most of my friends are around 4-5. Full disclosure: I'm at 6. Poll prompted in part by this advice column question and answer.

EDIT: Most interesting thing about these results so far, assuming I'm correct on my friends' gender identities, is that 35% of the men (5/14) shower over once a week, but only 5% (1/20) of the women do. And the rest of the data also skew way higher for men (mean of 7.1 vs. 5.1, with a std dev of 1.9 for each group). Clearly what I heard previously about the average being higher for women is way off among my friends.

Comments

[desh]

I'd be basically the same way as you describe in your second paragraph, except that my hair gets really gross after about 36 hours. Even if I'm not sweating or anything. No idea why.

[smarriveurr.livejournal.com]

I can usually go two days without washing my hair, and it's only kind of icky by the time I do. If there's a lot of sweating involved, that speeds up the process, but generally I only wash my hair every other day, even if I'm showering daily - just too much of a pain in the ass to wash and condition and try to dry it, at this length.

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

Even if you're not sweating, your hair follicles (or the skin around them or something) secrete oil as part of their natural functioning. My hair also gets sad if I don't wash it daily. This is why I'm glad I shower on Shabbat and yom tovim, because 48-72 hours without a shower would not be fun.