Should you shower before swimming in a public pool?

[Nutty_Death]

What's your opinion on this and what country do you live in?

I entered a public pool in England this morning with 20ish people in it and the showers were bone dry.

I think it's social etiquette to wash your body before entering a pool, so others don't have to swim through your ball sweat.

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

There are many people on this forum who are afraid of a beach. I'm worried that swimming pool talk might be a bit too much for their delicate sensibilities

To your question, yes you should at least rinse and I believe most public pools encourage this by way of signs. We have our own pool but I don't make the kids shower first because I am an awful hypocrit

e: I live in New Zealand.

 

[Brazo]

Yes you should because it removes the fats and bacteria from your skin that then don’t end up in the pool.

That’s what chlorine is for you say? See below!

As a rule brits rarely shower before entry to a pool but it’s a much more accepted practice in other parts of the world who as a consequence have to add less chlorine to their pool water!

 

[EdwardTeach]

Yes, definitely yes.

I hate it when I swim near someone who has failed to do this but had used the "French shower" method (ironic given the circumstances) and had sprayed on a lot of deodorant or perfume. They can be a couple of lanes away and the smell will still diffuse through the water, utterly rank.

 

[Dis86]

Most definitely yes.

 

[dave28]

before and after actually, and dont pee in the pool lol

 

[dlockers]

I do unless I want to give the other patrons a Nutty Death.

 

[NickK]

What's your opinion on this and what country do you live in?

I entered a public pool in England this morning with 20ish people in it and the showers were bone dry.

I think it's social etiquette to wash your body before entering a pool, so others don't have to swim through your ball sweat.

Our swimming pool states you should have a shower before entering the pool. Yet oddly that seems below a large portion of swimmers.. (or maybe they're illiterate)

I like the Japanese/finnish attention to shower fully before then swim/sauna/hot tub etc. It's not there to act like a bath. For saunas it's there to clean the last remaining 1% or less (ie pores etc) but most of that occurs when you do the cold plunge/ice bucket drop.

I remember someone saying the more a pool smells of chlorine the more **** and personal muck that's in it and has reacted with the chemicals causing the chlorine to be released.

 

[Dis86]

I remember someone saying the more a pool smells of chlorine the more **** and personal muck that's in it and has reacted with the chemicals causing the chlorine to be released.

That's not too far away from the truth. You're not smelling chlorine but rather chloramine. This is produced by the reaction between chlorine in the water and the contaminants. The more you smell, the more contamination has been present. Mostly urea from sweat/body oils and urine.

 

[NickK]

is this the human equivalent of washing your car before you take it for an mot?

i donont do either.

Only difference is that only you have to drive it. I think a better analogy is - would you accept a rental car with manure spread over it, old fast food crap in the inside and a crusty butt mark on the drivers seat?

 

[Begbie]

Yes, definitely yes.

I hate it when I swim near someone who has failed to do this but had used the "French shower" method (ironic given the circumstances) and had sprayed on a lot of deodorant or perfume. They can be a couple of lanes away and the smell will still diffuse through the water, utterly rank.

Why people need to overly spray themselves is mental. Go for a walk in the outdoors, oh yeah lovely whiff of your cheap perfume for the next 2 hours - thanks. Do people really need to spray themselves like mad for the gym,hiking, cycling, swimming etc. I don't get it. It's probably my biggest annoyance.

 

[Maundie]

Surely this is what everyone should do, if it's a public pool then you'd end up in a real skin and sweat broth, I did a scuba diving practice session in the hotel pool in Egypt and what was swishing about on the bottom of the pool was vile.

 

[bayo000]

Definitely, though I can think of couple of occasions when I didn't but that was due to showers being dirty.

If nothing else having a quick shower to cool down makes the entry into pool more tolerable.

 

[Feek]

I haven't been in a swimming pool in years but my memory of the shower is a curtain of water that everyone has to run through before they go in the pool. I don't think I ever saw anyone stand there with soap/shower gel and properly clean themselves off first.

 

[Lopéz]

Yes you should, though growing up in the UK I've never actually witnessed anyone do this - just a chlorinated water "foot bath" to walk through from the changing rooms.

 

[builder22]

Not been to a pool or gym for maybe 20 years but I'm pretty amazed with this idea of spraying yourself with deodorant/perfume etc before going for a swim or working out...I can't think of much worse than being out of breath and inhaling perfumes etc!

 

[Nutty_Death]

Not been to a pool or gym for maybe 20 years but I'm pretty amazed with this idea of spraying yourself with deodorant/perfume etc before going for a swim or working out...I can't think of much worse than being out of breath and inhaling perfumes etc!

On my 7am swim I could taste perfume swimming next to someone.
I can understand that you might have had it on throughout the day but at 7am it likely was applied immediately prior to swimming.

 

[R.P.L]

Yeah I do, but TBH if you're swimming in a public pool then you need to accept that you're going to come into contact with a lot of other people's bodily fluids whether they showered or not.

 

[rhobbyh]

on the whole the english wouldnt dream of showering prior to entering the pool, peps from mainland europe appear far more polite

 

[DXP55]

Yuk ! - I haven't been to a swimming pool for 40 year and I think I will wait another 40 years.