The Futility of Some Public Showering Requirements

[Pecker Check]

Some comments on personal hygiene in another thread (“For Godsake let them shower…. ) brought this to mind. When a guy at a gym near you showers in his underwear you might consider him strange. But when he takes only the briefest of required showers (in his swim suit t that) before going into a public swimming pool (hot tub or whatever) you can consider him a public health risk. In the past thirty years I’ve had just about every kind of eye surgery possible. And I no longer go NEAR a public pool to avoid the risk of infection. Too many people put on their swim suits, hop into the shower long enough to look a little wet and make no attempt at all to clean their most pungent places. All the perfumes of Arabia, etc., etc.

 

[matt121matt121]

I agree that all pools have the famous sign "MUST SHOWER BEFORE ENTERING POOL" however I have NEVER seen anyone actually enforce it, though I'm not sure of a good way that it could be enforced, other than one pool I went to where you had to walk right through the shower room to get to the pool, there was no way around it, so at least some water would get on you.

One possibility would be some type of automated shower hallway that would automatically come on as you pass through, it wouldn't get people to scrub it would at least get them wet.

Only problem with it would be there would need to be another non-swimmer way to get to the pool area.

Think this use to be part of the reasoning behind the old "swimming nude" or "swimming in speedos" requirements at pools to ensure that patrons were cleaner before entering the water, as with bathing suits on there isn't a real way to get all of the body, though some signs say a "nude" shower is required, this is even harder to enforce when people don't even get nude after a workout to get clean.

 

[D_Cock_Hudson]

well said both of you

 

[houtx48]

we won't swim in your toilet if you don't pee in our pool

 

[SpeedoMike]

during the years I took care of the family swimming pool, we had no showers and everybody wore unhealthy swimsuits. never had so much as a swine flu epidemic or a syphilis infestation. why? I added a gallon of chlorine every day to deal with those nasty things.

Oh, there was no bathroom nearby so I presume the pool served that purpose?!

 

[B_stanmarsh14]

One possibility would be some type of automated shower hallway that would automatically come on as you pass through, it wouldn't get people to scrub it would at least get them wet.

The local pool near me has just this sort of set-up for years, which also included a foot dip of sorts.

Not been to the place for years though, as the rest of the pool section of it's leisure section is a right grotty place in Long Eaton, and the other local government place in Ilkeston, Erewash, Derbyshire was not much better.

Think last public pool I went to was over in Bramcote, Broxtowe, Nottingham

 

[Tattooed Goddess]

I hate to burst your burble, but there are a lot more communicable things on a grocery cart.

 

[B_4inches]

It strikes me that the problem people have with this here often have nothing to do with the reason they publicly cite.

 

[B_willy5904]

I agree it is futile to expect people to shower before they swim. The futility comes from a lack of education. Most people are completely ignorant about the effect of deodorants, hair products, perfumes, and make up have on the chemistry of a pool.

The will walk right past the showers and enter the pool. Moments later I will hear them complaining about the strong chlorine smell of the pool, and that the staff uses too much chlorine. What most people fail to understand is that the strong smell of chlorine does not come from having too much chlorine in the pool. The smell comes from chlorine that has combined with organics, those items previously mentioned that they did not wash off.

In my own pool I use enough chlorine to sanitize, and non-chlorine shock to oxidize the organics, and everyone showers before going into the pool. Oh, and swimming suits are rarely seen on swimmers in my pool. I pride my self on the water quality of my pool.

My family learned our pool etiquette when I lived in Asia. We frequented baths in Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia. Today in the USA we frequent a Korean family sauna & spa on a weekly basis. In these baths the staff enforces nude showering before hitting the tubs, and re-showering after sweating and going back into the tub. But the staff also explains the reasons for these requirements. And the reason boils down to maintaining the water quality of the baths, and the health of their patrons.

Maybe if the local YMCA took more time to educate their patrons, there would be greater compliance with the showering requirements.

 

[Ionto]

In a pool where I swim when I'm in Denmark there is a sign to tell everyone to shower and use soap and be sure to wash yourself with your swim suit off! And everybody does.

That's the spirit!

 

[portlad]

I read an article in the travel section of the NYT where these two guys were driving the road that goes around the coast of Iceland and stopping at each and every hot pool. Each one had a monitor at the showers who enforced the "you must take a cleansing shower" rule. If I remember right, they would be specific about just where you needed to wash a bit more.

 

[Speedos4me]

I read an article in the travel section of the NYT where these two guys were driving the road that goes around the coast of Iceland and stopping at each and every hot pool. Each one had a monitor at the showers who enforced the "you must take a cleansing shower" rule.

Wish it were true but it's not, really. Not with the watchers anyway.
But the locals do shower, properly, nude, before going into any pool, and are very unhappy about visitors who don't conform to that simple hygiene rule.