Don't Pick Up the Soap
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- Things Are Slow But Will Pick Up (09/09/2009)
The Properlys tackle the tough questions, like thank you notes, free food, and generally jerky behaviour. Up next? Using your host's soap. In the shower.
Dear Mr & Mrs Properly
This weekend, when visiting my brother-in-law's family, it occurred to me I might be falling short. I try to be a good guest: I bring a gift, I offer to help in the kitchen, I bring everything I'l need - and then I use their shower gel. Is that OK?
Clean, but Confused
Mrs Properly
I have been guilty of this one in the past. When it's a bar of soap in the shower and someone I know well, I don't give it a second thought. But when only shower gel is on offer, I always make sure I use the least expensive option on offer. On my last visit to a friend's house, the choice was easy: Molton Brown or Dove. I may have preferred England's favourite posh soap, but I went with the 3p-per-wash option instead.
I have one very good friend who has visited many times over the years, and always uses my nicest things. The last time she was here I said, "Oh, you smell good!" She replied with, "Why thank you - it's your lotion!" I used it so infrequently that I didn't even recognise the scent. Did I feel animosity toward her? Not exactly, but I haven't forgotten it either.
When I was growing up, my mom travelled with a bar of soap in a plastic travel case. While I'm sure Boots still sells such things, these days, a travel size bottle with shower gel is the way around this one. You can even re-use a particularly user-friendly bottle of, say, Bliss body wash that you picked up last time you were at the W in New York. Only that would raise the question: Is it proper to take the in-room toiletries with you? To that the answer is no, but we do it anyway.
Mr Properly
There is one rule above all others: Anything that has been on somebody else's skin is a no-go. Would you want somebody else to use your razor, your toothbrush, or your roll-on deodorant? Certainly not, which means that these things, even if on display in your host's bathroom, should stay on display and not go in your face, your mouth, your armpit, or anywhere elsewhere.
For everything else, like shower gel, the easiest option (as always) is to use common sense: Would you want somebody to use that product when they were over at your house? 'Do onto others' applies to moisturiser the same way it does to most other things.
This weekend, when visiting my brother-in-law's family, it occurred to me I might be falling short. I try to be a good guest: I bring a gift, I offer to help in the kitchen, I bring everything I'l need - and then I use their shower gel. Is that OK?
Clean, but Confused
Mrs Properly
I have been guilty of this one in the past. When it's a bar of soap in the shower and someone I know well, I don't give it a second thought. But when only shower gel is on offer, I always make sure I use the least expensive option on offer. On my last visit to a friend's house, the choice was easy: Molton Brown or Dove. I may have preferred England's favourite posh soap, but I went with the 3p-per-wash option instead.
I have one very good friend who has visited many times over the years, and always uses my nicest things. The last time she was here I said, "Oh, you smell good!" She replied with, "Why thank you - it's your lotion!" I used it so infrequently that I didn't even recognise the scent. Did I feel animosity toward her? Not exactly, but I haven't forgotten it either.
When I was growing up, my mom travelled with a bar of soap in a plastic travel case. While I'm sure Boots still sells such things, these days, a travel size bottle with shower gel is the way around this one. You can even re-use a particularly user-friendly bottle of, say, Bliss body wash that you picked up last time you were at the W in New York. Only that would raise the question: Is it proper to take the in-room toiletries with you? To that the answer is no, but we do it anyway.
Mr Properly
There is one rule above all others: Anything that has been on somebody else's skin is a no-go. Would you want somebody else to use your razor, your toothbrush, or your roll-on deodorant? Certainly not, which means that these things, even if on display in your host's bathroom, should stay on display and not go in your face, your mouth, your armpit, or anywhere elsewhere.
For everything else, like shower gel, the easiest option (as always) is to use common sense: Would you want somebody to use that product when they were over at your house? 'Do onto others' applies to moisturiser the same way it does to most other things.
