Man expresses his frustration with friends who 'dry shower' instead of actually bathing: 'It is the visible layer of day-grime that stays on the skin'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Jun 29, 2026 10:00 AM EDT

Have you ever 'dry showered' instead of taking an actual shower?

Sometimes you're in a pinch, and you want to feel clean, but you have no way of hopping in the tub. Maybe you're camping, or in a rush, or you just don't feel like it. You wipe yourself down with a washcloth, and you're ready to go. Who hasn't done that? It can make you feel (and smell) a little bit better, but it is far from fixing the issue. It's something to do in a pinch, not a long-term solution. But that's not what the people in this story, which was shared on the hygiene subreddit, thought. They thought they could get away with refusing to take an actual shower. Little did they know, their friend was losing his patience with this kind of behavior. 

Nobody wants to be around someone who isn't taking care of themselves. It makes you worried for them. We might have all had moments when life has overwhelmed us, and we've lost track of some of the basic human stuff. Maybe we let things slip for longer than we meant to. But this is hard to inflict on your friends, and that's not the situation these folks were in. They were proud of their stink, and they wanted to let it fly. The people around them, though, were unsurprisingly not so sympathetic to the cause. You have to show up clean in order to hang out in public in polite company. You can't be reeking to high heaven. 

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  • Cheezburger Image 10642654208
    via Unsplash+ (Yunus Tuğ)

    A man wipes his hands off in front of a truck

  • This "dry shower" trend is just an excuse to be dirty and it is obvious.

    I dont know when it became socially acceptable to just skip the shower and wipe yourself down like a toddler after work. I have noticed this "dry shower" trend picking up big time in my social circle lately and it is driving me insane. Two of my buddies showed up to the bar on Friday after a long shift, bragged about using these new "hyper- absorbent tactical wipes," and I could honestly sense them from across the booth.
    via Xylothane
  • It is not just about the odor. It is the visible layer of day-grime that just stays on the skin. You are basically just smearing the sweat around with some alc ol and cheap fragrance. It doesnt actually clean anything. One of them actually had the nerve to say that "water is for the weekends" now because he is trying to be more efficient with his time in this trash 2026 work pace.
    via Xylothane
  • If you go to a bar or a date after just "wiping down," you are not being efficient, you are just being the person everyone tries to avoid. Your skin looks gray and you have that damp gym bag vibe going on. It is realy gross how people think they can cheat basic hygiene with a packet of wet napkins and some spray. Stop being lazy and just get under the water.
    via Xylothane

  • When everyone else is doing something, should you do it too? It's not easy to call out a friend, but sometimes it's your job to do just that. They won't hear it from anyone else, so it has to be you. That's what the friend in this story was trying to do, and it wasn't quite working out for them. Keep scrolling to read the rest of the story and decide what you think about it. Then let us know your take in the comments below.

  • Commenters wondered what might be going on here.

    Glum-System-7422 What do they do that leaves a layer of grime visible to the n ked eye?
    via Glum-System-7422
  • Cheezburger Image 10642653952
    via Unsplash+ (Yunus Tuğ)

    A man with dirty hands wipes them off with a washcloth

  • _ miichelle "Visible layer of day-grime"? What does a clanker know about day grime?
    via __miichelle
  • Hemenucha Don't you love how everything is "tactical" these days? I saw an ad for a tactical wallet the other day.
    via Hemenucha
  • 3AMZen There will come a time in our lives where children will be shocked and won't believe us about how wasteful we were with clean water We're only two or three generations removed from families sharing bath water and only two or three generations again from that being a luxury
    via 3AMZen
  • Suspicious-Boot3365 I only do this when I showered the night before and I have a 7AM shift at work. Most of those days I take a ho bath, I've put in heatless curls. I wash my face, and with a washcloth I clean the rest of my body. And some time after work, |
    via Suspicious-Boot3365
  • shower. But it's definitely not my go to clean method. Usually before a early shift, I just take a quick shower ans not wash my hair (I do it the night before)
    via Suspicious-Boot3365
  • quietly_Anxious2005 I'm not up to date on all the recent trends so I can't speak as to if this is just that or not. But I do know that these can often times be very useful for people with physical and/or mental disa_ities so I wouldn't throw the idea completely out the window.
    via quietly_Anxious2005
  • Jnhappy_Signature_98 It's better to freshen up with these wipes than to do nothing (for example when camping), but they do not replace the need of an actual shower. They should be told that, but they wouldn't listen
    via Jnhappy_Signature_98
  • ddanielle99 are there any discussions on here that actually talk about hygiene, truly? it seems that 99% of posts belong in r/Vent or r/UnpopularOpinion, or they're just pure rage bait. if you just stop obsessing over what others do with their Inked bodies you will have so much less distress.
    via ddanielle99
  • signpostlake Saw these advertised and figured they were for people who couldn't otherwise shower. Why would anyone who didn't need to choose them over a nice, cool shower in this weather?
    via signpostlake
  • I actually noted down the company name for a family member who struggled being away at an event this weekend with no proper bathing facilities. They had to wash with bottled water. I figured these would be good in addition for next time. The first thing they did when they got home is have a proper shower.
    via signpostlake
  • AtTheEdgeOfDying Cleaning yourself at the sink with a cloth or wipes has been a very normal thing for centuries in a whole bunch of different cultures and situations. For some people that's the only way they can comfortably clean
    via AtTheEdgeOfDying
  • themselves as others have said and like right now in heatwaves it is perfectly normal and good to go wipe of the sweat and clean your armpits with a cloth in between. It absolutely DOES clean you.
    via AtTheEdgeOfDying
  • If you're friends are really not Cleaning themselves. properly with the wipes as you say, there's no way they're properly washing in the shower either lol
    via AtTheEdgeOfDying

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friendship relationship advice best friends friends shower friend hygiene story Reddit discourse dry shower conflict
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