My company is expanding the IT department, and they're tearing out the shower I have used for 11 years! Now what? I've never paid attention to any of the discussions about how to clean up without a shower, but I'll need to do something if I want to keep commuting. My commute is 18 miles each way.

So, what's the latest and best thinking about cleaning up without a shower?

Let them know that you use that shower to clean up after a long ride into work....then wait for 2 months when they put it back in after smelling you? JK

pack

change of cloths/handy wipes/deoderant/hand towl/soap hit the sink when you get in.

That sucks. Did you have any say when this decision was made?

I had this happen about a year ago when the company I work for was remodeling the bathrooms. They were going to get rid of the only showers in the mens and womens rooms at one end of the building but I protested along with a few others who use them on a semi regular basis so they decided to keep them.

I'd polish up the resume personally.

I'd start looking for another job.

In a decade of commuting in almost perpetually high temperatures and humidity, I think I've showered at work once (when my shower at home wasn't working). I find a good solid spray of deodorant does as much as a shower would (and I sweat a lot). In the six months of summer I'll usually carry some wipes as well.

My friend, it's doable.

In over 10 years of commuting 30 miles round-trip (Like Chris, in hot humidity,) I've never showered at work. Just make sure your and your clothes are as clean as a whistle before you leave in the morning, carry deodorant for pits and crotch, change on arrival and departure (3 sets of clothes,) apply deodorant (and optionally baby wipes) liberally before each change.

This is truely sad news. I've never had a shower at work, but I can't imagine not having one after getting used to having one. I use an adapted "sponge bath" sink technique. I carry a washcloth in a zip lock bag and a small towel. You are just washing off sweat, not scrubbing off grime. It works, but there isn't the therapeutic effect of a long hot shower. And it sucks in winter.

A little rubbing alcohol will cut the stink. I've heard that baby wipes will too.

What is your alternative? If they have small individual bathrooms you can just arrive a little early and shut yourself in and give yourself a complete sponge bath. If its a more standard multi-use restroom then it will be a little harder.

Strong shots of cologne won't do. It has to be pretty overwhelming to cover the smell of sweat. I've had co-workers wear perfume that was so strong that it gave me headaches and I had to take it up with their supervisors. Fortunately there was compromise. We had that person cut back by half, my headaches went down and she could still use her perfume.

I've found that the main stink comes from not being clean in the first place. Now there is a huge debate (not here really) on anti-bacterial soap and if it actually does anything or not. Well I started using anti-bacterial body wash stuff about a month ago and it's just about completely cut the stink I would create.

Your best bet is to test some of the theories about post commute showering and see if any of them work and go from there.

Shower before work. Then... paper towels + sink if it's a private bathroom, otherwise "wipes". Wipes are great on overnight hikes, too, BTW, but I we have a private bathroom at work so I do the birdbath thing w/ paper towels most days.

Protesting didn't accomplish much because hardly anyone even knew there WAS a shower. I was the only one who used it. I like my job and have an ocean view from my desk, so I don't think I'll quit over a shower.

Thanks, guys for the encouragement! After reading your posts, I'm already starting to feel better about the whole no-shower thing. Luckily, there IS a private bathroom with a locking door that I can use.

I commute 26 miles one-way from the park-n-ride. I shower in the morning at home before leaving for work and use citrus "Wet Ones" wipes to clean up at the office after the ride in. Mostly I'm just wiping off any road dust. Put on more deodorant, clean office clothes and off to the desk. Sometimes I think I'm cleaner than some of my car-driving co-workers who have a tendency to spill their Starbucks on them while driving in the heavy stop-n-go traffic. HAHA!

This thread makes realize how lucky I am at my work place to have a personal issue bike locker, showers, clean towel service and a locker room with locker so I don't need to carry all my stuff back and forth everyday. All this and only 2 or 3 people out of 600 pedal a bike to work most days, where the weather is pretty nice for riding almost every day. It's no lie that most people in southern ca are addicted to their cars.

Sweat does not stink. Bacteria produce the offense associated with body odors.

Why do your feet stink? Because you don't wash your shoes. Deodorant uses alcohols to kill growing bacteria. Use it on pits, find a gentle one for the crotch (I recommend a lotion with Cetyl Alcohol.) It works (there's a reason pits and crotch are favorite places for them to grow.)

Anything you sweat into that you don't wash everyday will stink. Keall them all. (The pits and crotch have fatty secretions that bacteria love to cause odor with.)

https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/swe...y-odor/DS00305

62 miles round trip. No showers. And with my busy life I end up showering the night before (not as optimal as right before leaving in the morning). I keep most of my cleaning supplies at work. I use a combo of baby wipes and Mint scented rubbing alcohol. and a mostly shaved head.

I also don't get the opportunity to ride in everyday, but at that distance i'm not necessarily complaining.

-D

37 miles round trip and I use the wipes. The biggest thing is to make sure you have cooled off before you change into your work clothes. I had to do a quick change due to a flat on the way to work on Thursday and I felt sticky all day long. Normally I sit on a chair with a fan blowing on me for a few mintues after I get in and then wipe down and get changed. Make sure you shower before leaving the house and your set.

Some people I know keep a small bottle of calone in the their desk just incase but I don't. Good luck and keep your ocean veiw.

I'm surprised by the advice to shower before the commute. Do you guys also take the time to dry your hair, or do you go out on cold mornings with wet hair? Don't you then have to spend even more time with paper towels or wipes when you get to work?

Showering before I left home would put me on the road later with more traffic, so I think I'll start by trying the spongebath at work - it seems like the best use of time, at least right now. I may change my mind after I actually try it. I have very short hair (what's left of it), so I can sponge that, too!

I've not used a hair dryer on my hair for over 10 years. If you're in good health, wet hair is no big deal. My hair is mid-back length and I've been ill just one time since I began bike commuting. If I'm bathed when I leave the house, I stay clean because my biking sweat doesn't smell the way my "daily stress" sweat does. When all the sweat has evaporated, I smell the same as when I got out of the shower. Strange but true.

I've rarely had the option of showering at work. Only at places where you got so dirty you had to shower after work. I just made it a habit to get to work 1/2 hour early to cool down, dry out, and change into office or work cloths.

Human stink comes from poor hygiene, not physocial activity. I shower, shave, deoderize in the morning before I bike just as if I were driving. And I put on clean bike clothes just as I would put on clean street clothes if I were driving.

I ride 14 miles to work. Change. Work. Change back. Ride home. I don't use wipes, febreeze, lysol or anything else on myself at work. I may towel off if I'm really sweaty, but usually not.

At the end of the day, I never smell any worse than if I had driven my car.

I've never had a shower at any of the jobs I've commuted to (shortest commute 8.5 miles, longest commute 14.5 miles).
I pack a wash cloth and hand towel and clean up at the sink. Then apply deodorant, talc or corn starch, etc and I'm good to go.
Oh yea, and put some clothes on before leaving the mens room.

I'm not quite in agreement with that. I can be totally clean and smelling nice and if we get one client who slashes open their wrists in the clinic, I'm pretty rank smelling for the rest of the day. Stress sweat is the only time I wished I had a shower at work.

This sounds like the simplest solution by far, even though it would put me on the road later with more traffic. I'll probably try it one day this week and let Mrs. JavaMan be the judge of how I smell at the end of the day.