showering: before or after work

Nurses General Nursing

Published

this might be a weird topic but I am curious. when do you all shower when you're working? and if you shower before work, do you shower again when you get off, then again before you go to work?

I'm also in Texas. I run approximately five miles per day, either outdoors or at the gym, for my daily cardio exercise.

Although I think two showers a day is a tad bit excessive, I definitely take a bath or shower within an hour of my workouts. Also, if my 'hot spots' are becoming swampy due to a super humid day, I will lather them up via the good ole PTA wash.

Lol. "Swampy" hot spots. :D

Maybe I just sweat a lot, or my job is just too physical. At the endo facility, we have no chairs. We are on our feet 9 hours a day, with a very stressful, fast pace most of the day. Lately, they've not replaced our aides, so the RNs are washing down the beds after each patient, making them again, then pushing the heavy stretchers back to pre-op. We might have 55 cases in one day with only 3 nurses. I usually end up sweating a good deal. I hate going to bed with stale sweat on me. On those days, it's a two shower day. But I know that some people just don't sweat much.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I hardly ever sweat. It sounds great, but actually makes tolerating heat very uncomfortable for me. I guess I have always been that way. I can use Mitchum deodorant and it's good for at least 2 days.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I took a shower yesterday after a late afternoon bike ride in the heat.

Got up this morning and did the 60 second twirl in the shower before I head out to work. Soaped up everything that matters. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I took a shower yesterday after a late afternoon bike ride in the heat.

Got up this morning and did the 60 second twirl in the shower before I head out to work. Soaped up everything that matters. :)

It takes me more that 60 seconds of hot water on my face to wake up enough to get ready for work. Which I'll do shortly. After my 2nd cup of coffee!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
"Daily washing is not necessary for most people," dermatologist Dr. Tsippora Shainhouse says. "It washes off natural oils, and leaves skin dry and at risk for irritation."

She recommends showering every other day. "This will help to rinse off dead skin cells and grease, as well as superficial bacteria and yeasts, which can lead to body odor, acne-type flares, and rashes in some people," she adds.

You only need to shower more frequently if you work a physically strenuous job, or exercise for an hour every day.

America's Hygiene Obsession Is Expensive & Dangerous - Thrillist

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Both!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'd love to be able to change at work but we don't have a proper locker room or anywhere in the bathroom to put stuff. Not putting my bag on the C Diff/MRSA floor and taking it home if I won't wear my shoes in the house.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Yeah, you guys really don't want us daily exercisers to take the every other day shower option! I'm really just doing you all a favor. :D

I have no problems with dry skin at all. Though I could see how daily shampoos might dry out one's hair. I don't wash my hair on the days I work if I have washed it the prior day, only on my off days when it gets soaking wet under my bike helmet.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU-my whole life!!.

I shower all the time. Before, after my work outs, after a crazy shift. Oh, and I put lotion during the winter months. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Peds float pool RN. Always shower before work. Its 5:45 AM and dark - I need it to wake up - and tame the crazy curly-hair bed head. Days I work in the NICU (unless it is a rare isolation babe) - no shower after work. Days I'm in general peds and especially PICU I always shower after work. I'm pregnant now and much more compulsive about it than I was - pre-preggo if I didn't have isolation kids I wouldn't always shower but now I'm cray-cray.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

After a long night at work, cleaning up incontinent pt's, suctioning & doing trach care, caring for pt's in isolation rooms, or dealing with pt's coughing up all over you. I feel as if I have all those hospital germs all over me, so after the shift is over I have to shower as soon as I get home.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

For sure I shower after, I have a separate hamper for my scrubs that I keep outside as well as my shoes. I also spray my shoes down.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment