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asklemmy·Asklemmybylol_idk

How do you wash your back?

Inb4 I don't

I'm not asking if you do it, I'm asking people how you do it

Edit: sorry I forgot I posted this and came back to a bunch of answers. I have a torn something in my shoulder that no MRI has been able to find for 20 years so I can't just reach it. I myself use a long cloth, but I don't really like it so I was curious what other people did.

Also, I don't wash my back every shower, but I do get pretty sweaty sometimes and feel like I just have to

View original on lemmy.ml
lemmy.world

Reach as far as I can, use trickle-down soapenomics to take care of the rest.

89

Same - I can reach all parts. If I couldn’t, I’d grab a something on a stick.

16
Sibboreply
sopuli.xyz

Same here. Guess OP is not that flexible.

10
sh.itjust.works

I dunno. I used to be flexible as hell, but was also too damn broad across the shoulders to get everywhere. That was even before I started lifting seriously; lifting just made the area I couldn't reach bigger.

Somewhere around 16 I hit a spurt and suddenly couldn't reach a zone between my shoulder blades. It was maybe hand sized. In my twenties, it was about an inch or two bigger, but I could still do all the stretches fully before lifting, and that included shoulder stretches where I could end up almost flat with my arms behind me.

Nowadays, I'm just old and stiff, and can't scrub anything right on my back.

5

I strained my left arm and its cannot reach quite as far as my right now and even then im pretty sure I was more flexible in my youth. At one point I was able to grip my hands just barely diagnoly on my back but I knew some folks that could like grip their wrists behind their back. I have long arms to so its definately a lack of flexibility.

1
lemmy.ca

I don’t. The mind-controlling alien parasite attached to my spine doesn’t let me when I try reaching for it…

17

You gotta take your time getting them used to it, a little splash here and there and then build up untill you can be in the shower for a good amount of time, mine loves it now.

6

I got one of these things

Works pretty good and you can put some force down and really get that back nice and clean.

16
iAmTheTotreply
sh.itjust.works

Might be a regional thing. Where I'm from, that is indeed a loofah. Synthetic, yes, but still called a loofah.

14

I bet that the number of people that think this is biodegradable because it's a loofah is > 0

7
CaptDustreply
sh.itjust.works

I can't explain the marketing, they call all these things loofahs. Just a normal sponge at the end of mine lol. Mostly just get something on a stick and enjoy the same smug cleanliness.

4

Get a fairly stiff brush, it feels really good, like scratching an itch that you couldn't reach :)

3
lemmy.zip

A belt-like loofa that you hold on both ends and pull from side to side.

13

Yeah. First I ball it up and scrub the perimeter before unfurling it and scrubbing back and forth at different angles.

1

Long ago I planted a colony of sentient microbes there, and bade them subdue the area and keep it free of vermin. They have tamed the wilderness and established a sophisticated, well ordered civilization. Although recently I have been feeling a lot warmer.

10
lemm.ee

Bend the arm the ouchholyfuckalmostreach way. Scrub. Then bend the arm the owfuckalmostjesuschrist way. Scrub again. Easy!

9

Maybe come over the shoulder from the top right th- ohpffftfortheloveofgodsoapinthemouth pfft pffffft.... PFFFFFFFFT. Done

1

I'll be honest... Not very well. Pretty much squeeze my loofa at the top of my back so the suds run down, then rinse. No backne or any other issues though

9
lemmy.world

I’m surprised how few answers actually include actually practical and helpful tools such as a bathing brush with a good long grip to reach just about everywhere. Is this a cultural thing? I swear I’ve seen them in British tv series at the very least, so I know for sure these are a common thing at least in the Nordics and the UK.

But I mean it’s the best. Really gets the old dead skin cells and other stuff off, and the blood flowing. The bristles are a bit rough, but that just makes it that much more pleasurable, you really feel it!

Edit:

These things, surely they are mostly everywhere?

8

My wife has one, I don't like to use it, it's too aggressive for me.

I can reach my back with my arms. To get the spot right between my shoulders I have to reach up and come down from the top with one arm, while using my other hand to grab my elbow and pull it to push my hand low enough to get it more effectively.

4

Right hand goes high, left hand goes low, then you criss cross apple sauce

8

Lather up my partners front and get them to slide up and down on my back. Then it’s my turn!

7

Big ol' brush.

I also have long scrubby things. Don't know what they're made of, but I think nylon. Basically really long washcloths with a rough texture and strings to hold onto while scrubbing. But the brush does a better job, so I usually only use the cloth ones when I'm away from home because they pack easier.

That's assuming I can't con my wife into getting soaked just to stand there scrubbing me down for a half hour while I continually say "yah, right there, a little harder. Now to the left, oh yeah, that's great, a little more. Now up some, fucking perfect, you're awesome. Now down a little again" and so on until she throws the scrubber at me.

6
sh.itjust.works

I have a small hammer I use, to lightly chip away at the wall tiles to provide both exfoliation, a back scratcher, and acupuncture all in one.

6

I mean, I assume the water running down my body when I shower is good enough? Can't imagine my back of all places getting so dirty that I need to scrub it.

5

Like the rest of my body, I use a loofah. I have enough mobility to get to my entire back from one arm.

5

I try to reach from different directions:

  • upper left (using my left hand)
  • upper right (using my right hand)
  • lower left (using my left hand)
  • and lower right (using my right hand).

For the regions I missed, I have a soapy mesh/loofah thing held by some kind of rope on both ends and with both hands, I use it to reach the unreachable areas:

  • left hand upper and right hand lower, loofah going diagonally (like this: \)
  • right hand upper and left hand lower, loofah going diagonally (like this: /)
  • both hands lower, loofah going horizontal (like this: )

I suppose that should be enough, but I only do that once a week. For the rest of the week, I just reach as far as I can and let the soapy water do what it can.

4
Enzyreply
lemm.ee

Keep yer feet on the ground

3

I always wash my back very happily and with a good amount of water.

3

With a shower just get what I can and hope the spray and soap gets whats left good enough. Sometimes will use a wash rag and I can just barely grasp the corners and get it a bit but not sure its much more vigorous than the spray. With a bath I place the luffa between my back and the back of the tub and move around. That actually should get it pretty good.

2

Soap the washcloth, hold opposite corners diagonally for what I can't reach, occasionally use a brush for extra measure.

2

I got long arms and an exfoliating luffa. I just wash every part. There's no part of my back that I can't reach.

2

My joints are over flexible, so i can reach everything just fine.

1

I put liquid soap in the palm of my left hand. Turn one the water and put my right hand under, then let water roll off into my left hand. Turn off the water. Wash hands without wasting water. Turn it on to rinse.

There's a guy at my office who would let the water run for the entire five minutes that he brushed his teeth after lunch. I got so sick of it that I printed a sign and taped it to the wall. It said not to waste water and to turn it off while brushing. I haven't seen him doing it since, but I also haven't seen him at all since. I hope he saw it before someone took it down.

Edit: misread the title.

1