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This week I caught up on the latest episode of ABC’s The Bachelor and as usual there is a contestant who the other women begin to hate because the leading man is paying too much attention to her. This season’s bachelor Chris Soules is definitely feeling contestant Britt Nilsson, however, the other women vying for his heart want to know why, especially since Nilsson apparently does not bathe regularly.

And just today, JWOW and Snooki stopped by The Real and confessed their biggest regrets from being on MTV’s Jersey Shore. Snooki admitted she wished she showered and washed her face more, revealing that while producers filmed the show, she never showered and looking back felt she looked like a “dirty little hamster.” Since Naya Rivera claimed on The View a few weeks ago that showering more than once a day is a “white people thing,” many women have come forward (regardless of their race) to admit they don’t bathe every day.

So, I need to ask: Why y’all not bathing?

This news isn’t totally foreign to me. I have had college classmates who adamantly, and sometimes proudly admitted, that they missed a few days without soap touching their bodies. But for the rest of y’all who aren’t running across campuses and testing cancer vaccines, what’s your excuse? While researching this topic, I found some women forego showers because they don’t want their straight hairstyles to get wet or frizzy, while others say showers dry out their skin. There are women who say they are simply too lazy — or too busy to shower, while others say they spend too much money on hygiene cosmetics and must preserve them. No matter the explanation, I find this behavior and the excuses that come with it a bit odd.

Growing up in a Caribbean household meant personal hygiene became a badge of honor. My Guyanese mother would continuously tell me if I didn’t shower and thoroughly wash my vagina I would have no friends and worms would begin to form in my genitals. Once I started to menstruate, my mother (along with my aunts who were nurses and doctors) disclosed every type of bacterial infection — factual and fictional — that could present itself if I didn’t “rinse my skin and wash my patta-cake” regularly. Now, you and I both know these fear tactics are a bit extreme but even when I feel like being a daredevil on the weekends and don’t shower until later on in the day, I feel a bit disgusting and my perspiration makes me silently say to myself, “got damn!” But I digress.

I’m not Sway but I do have the answers for the women who fear taking showers. If you don’t want to mess up your fresh blowout, buy a shower cap from the 99 cent store! Feeling ashy after a shower? Use lotion, shea or cocoa butter; sometimes I use baby oil before I shower for softer skin in the winter. Can’t find time in your schedule? Have a 10-minute shower and it will help relieve you from the daily grind’s stress. Seriously. It doesn’t take that much to freshen your body.

We no longer live in the 17th century and the majority of us live in the first world so there is no limited water supply. You can take as many showers as your water bill permits. And even if you don’t do it for yourself, think about those around you. As a matter of fact, how do the “ride or die” men in these non-bathing women’s lives cope with their girlfriends or wives not bathing on a regular basis? I need answers. Check out Snooki and JWOW’s interview with The Real below and weigh in on the discussion in the comments section. How often do you bathe? If it’s not often…why?

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