This morning at the office, I was chatting with my co-worker Tina about the weather, and I happened to make a comment about how, while I was getting into the shower this morning, I heard a loud noise and then all of a sudden, it was as if the sky had opened up and dumped all its moisture into the valley.
What did Tina get out of this, you ask?
“Wait, what?” she interrupted. “You shower in the morning?”
“Uhhh, yeah. And then?”
“What kind of Japanese are you?! Were you raised that way???”
“Uhhh . . . ”
“Is it because you went to college in Chicago?”
“No, Tina. In Chicago, I just didn’t shower.”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
I didn’t realize that this was a cultural issue. In fact, I was pretty sure that when Tina broached the ethnic aspect, she was totally off-base, so I jokingly suggested that she use our kitchen white board to poll the office on the issue. (The white board is usually “reserved” for polls, puzzles and miscellaneous forms of entertainment. As of yesterday, it had been wiped clean and was waiting for a new idea.) She marched off to do just that. A few minutes later, the board was marked up with several questions:
- Do you shower in the morning or at night?
- If you shower in the morning, were you raised in Hawai‘i?
- If you usually shower in the morning but go to the gym at night, do you still shower only in the morning?
- Why do you shower when you do?
The gym thing: I live 7.6 miles from my gym. My car has air conditioning. By the time I get back from the gym, I’m no longer sweaty, and it’s not like I go to bed as soon as I get home, anyway. The point is, I’m not super gross by the time I go to bed – I’m sure that, if I were, my husband would be more than happy to let me know, just as he is always certain to point out when I have garlic breath.
Anyway. I still thought the whole thing was ridic. But an hour or so later, I asked my office neighbor, Jessica, whether she had voted in the poll. I told her the story behind it. Jess paused, then said that it was, indeed, strange that I would shower in the morning.
“Showering in the morning is kind of a haole thing,” affirmed Jess, who is half Japanese and half Caucasian.
What? First I sound like a haole (according to a total moke on the phone the other week), and now I shower like one? Not that I have anything against having common characteristics with white people, but wow, lau lau.
So anyway (again) . . . what say you? When do you shower, and why? If you’re from Hawai‘i, say so, and I’ll take your input back to the office. Leave your responses in the comments!
8 responses so far ↓
1 Ali // Jun 19, 2010 at 12:27 am
Once in the morning when I also wash my hair and once at night before bed. Morning shower helps wake me up and gets me started. So I don’t stink and offend my coworkers somehow. Night shower to clean off any grime I accumulated during the day before bed. I don’t like to roll around in my own grime. :p
2 Liana // Jun 19, 2010 at 2:29 am
Ok, EUW you don’t shower after the gym??? Haha, j/k (sorta). I agree with Jess that it is kinda a cultural thing. I was definitely raised to shower at night. However, this past year on really crazy nights when I fell asleep and didn’t wake up from my “naps”, showers were sometimes left to the morning. I guess the REASON I shower at night is that I was raised that way, so psychologically I have a harder time sleeping if I’m not clean :P (kinda goes along with, I can’t sleep without brushing my teeth before bed). Oh – and yes, I always shower if I go to the gym. A very infrequent occurrence, although I’ve gone twice in the past week (new record) since I’m not working :’(
3 leesa // Jun 19, 2010 at 5:22 am
Haole makes me think ahole, it’s unrelated but I needed to get it out. I grew up in shower-less houses, we had bathtubs. So, I am accustomed to a leisurely nighttime bath, with the occasional morning hair washing (done by hanging over the side of the tub to stick my head under the faucet.) Today, I have a tub with a shower, and I mostly just shower, and usually at night. The exception being if I wake up and my hair is waging war against me, I’ll jump in and rewash.
I don’t like starting my day with a shower because 1) a shower relaxes me 2) i’d rather sleep an extra 1/2 hour 3) I don’t like to get dressed “damp”. This haole showers at night :)
4 joooo // Jun 19, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Either/both. I grew up in a house where my dad showered as soon as he got home and my mom when she woke up.
The determining factor for me is how tired/lazy I am at night. If it’s too late, I don’t want to sleep with a wet head (I don’t like to dry my hair 100%) but I have problems waking in the morning so… it’s a nightly toss up.
And eiu for not showering after the gym! Haha!
5 Crissy // Jun 19, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Shuddup, Julie, when’s the last time you even WENT to the gym? ;o) Hehehe, j/k!
6 poornima // Jun 19, 2010 at 5:40 pm
i can’t get myself going in the morning without a shower — i roll out of bed and directly into the shower, before coffee (which is on a timer and brewed by the time i get out of the shower). i am not awake without a shower. i always showered in the a.m. growing up before school. obviously, i am not hawaiian. i do shower after getting home from a workout (sometimes to combat muscle soreness more than anything else, and it’s usually more of a rinse-off), but it is generally followed by another shower in the a.m.
7 Scott // Jun 19, 2010 at 6:52 pm
I am definitely a night time shower-er. I can’t really fall asleep when I’m dirty. I just feel too dirty. On the rare occasion that I do go to bed without showering, I usually just sleep on the couch.
I think the only time I shower in the morning is when I’m traveling and even then I’ll just shower twice, once at night and once in the morning.
Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but I think it’s too hot and humid in Hawaii to only shower in the morning. I can understand if you live in colder weather because you don’t sweat as much (although, as a fat, sweaty kid, I sweat all the time) you may not have to shower at night, but I don’t fall in that category.
8 les // Jun 21, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I shower in the eve before I go to sleep. I consider myself local and for a short time lived with my plantation grandmother where the ritual was to stoke the furo before sunset. My haole husband takes a shower in the a.m. I definitely take a shower if I work out but that is usually at the end of the day. Yes, I agree it is prob cultural since even if I work in a/c all day and hardly go outside, I can’t go to sleep “unclean”.
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