I take my son to the pool so I don’t have to give him a bath — haters say it’s gross
Mama’s in hot water.
Splish-splashing around in a public pool on a warm day sounds refreshing. Heck, a handful of anxious NYC swimmers have even taken a head start on the summertime fun.
However, it’s no substitute for bathing.
And one mommy’s anti-showering hack is rubba-dub-dubbing folks the wrong way.
“Happy ‘the pool counts as a bath’ season to all who participate,” cheered Neely Gracey, 34, a run coach and married mother of two from Colorado, in the closed caption of an eye-popping Instagram post.
“Please tell me I’m not the only mom who is celebrating,” she added in the kooky clip’s caption, hoping a fraction of her more than 8.3 million viewers would cop to skipping a tub after taking a dip.
But rather than supporting Gracey’s stance, cyber naysayers threw cold water on her not-so-hot take.
“Noooo wayyy man,” spat a sickened spectator. “Pool day means it is DEFINITELY a tubby night for my kiddos. So gross, chemicals, sunscreen, sweat, pee, salt, etc.”
“I never want to shower harder than after a long day at the pool or the beach,” barked a separate hater.
“Oh, that’s nasty,” added another, whose sentiments were echoed by an equally perturbed troll who wrote: “This might be worse than the people who only bathe their kids once a week.”
Pool professionals, too, weighed in, saying, “As a swimming instructor, wash your body and hair after swimming.
“It damages your skin and hair cells worse than anything,” the insider warned. “So dry and itchy!.”
The water wiz is right.
Researchers from Clarins, a premium cosmetics company, recently advised against washing up in harsh chemicals, such as chlorine, due to their damaging effects on the dermis.
“[It] can strip away natural oils from the skin, potentially promoting premature aging,” wrote study authors. “Washing your skin with chlorinated water may disrupt the natural skin flora, leading to skin conditions like acne.
“Prolonged exposure to this chemical can also result in skin irritations and itching.”
The flood of facts aside, several moms actually sided with Gracey’s swimming pool stunt.
“It counts for me as a mom!” exclaimed an anti-bath advocate. “I run. I hop in the pool. I’m disinfected. It’s been my motto for 21+ years now, since I had my first.”
“I’m all over pool counts as bath season,” another mother proudly confessed.
“In fact,” she continued, “my kids get more showers at sleep away camp than they usually do at home!”
