Korean Job Discussion Forums

[twg]

I've started back at the gym recently with a couple of other flabby coworkers, and for some reason they absolutely refuse to shower there when done, waiting until they get home. That's their choice, I guess.

But this lead me to wonder: Anyone else like this? Also, who uses the soap provided in the showers at their gym? And if you don't, what sort of personal grooming products do you bring with you?

[thebum]

[caniff]

When I went to a "regular" gym, I also waited until I got home to shower. But that was because I lived a block away.

Now I go to a free outdoor gym on top of a big hill in Ilsan. I think I would be arrested if I showered at the drinking fountain, so I also take care of that at my house.

So, anyone else? What about free soap provided in the showers?

[mashuu]

Yeah, there's only bars of soap at my gym. I use the stuff, but try not to think about it too much. There're usually a few hairs clinging to the bar, so I'm always sure to rinse it off first.

This reminds me of an episode of Friends, though. Is soap inherently clean? Does it have the power to destroy whatever germs that nasty adjosshi who just came from the an-ma left on the bar?

[safeblad]

I shower at the gym even though I live close - honestly I dont know if i would if there were a lot of waygoogin at the gym, stupid I know....

[seoulsucker]

[rawiri]

I sweat like a rapist so theres no option but to shower at the gym really.

[mashuu]

I know this sounds all "we do it this way back home, so why don't they?", but I've never seen a bar of soap in an American or Japanese gym. Perhaps this is just an attempt to avoid the 'don't drop the soap'jokes on the gyms' part, but it seems gay panic actually serves a purpose here. Now with the insanely over-priced nature of Korean gyms, would it really be all that difficult for them to ditch the nasty and seemingly un-hygenic bars in favor of a little gel? Would they be breaking the bank doing this or would it cut into their next vibrating belt machine purchase?

[TDR]

To answer your "Can soap get dirty?" question I call on Cecil Adams of StraightDope fame. Although he seems to be talking particularly about washing clothes I would say it applies equally to face/body soap:


Can soap ever get dirty?

02-Dec-1977

Dear Cecil:

What are the ingredients in soap that make it clean? Does soap ever get dirty? What will soap not clean? --John S., Chicago

Cecil replies:

You wanted the facts here, John, and that's what you're going to get. The active ingredient in soap is a sodium fatty acid salt, produced by the action of a hot caustic alkali solution on a natural fat or oil (most often, vegetable oil or tallow). This compound has two vital components--a water insoluble (hydrophobic) part, consisting of a fatty acid or a long-chain carbon group, and a water soluble (hydrophilic) part, generally an alkali metal. The hydrophobic part attaches to the fabric or dirt, the hydrophilic part snuggles up to the water. The result is that you force an electrically polar wedge of soap and water between the fabric and the dirt. The slime is then removed by mechanical action--"scrubbing," to put it in layman's terms.

By this time it should be obvious that soap always gets dirty--if it didn't, it wouldn't work. The whole idea of soap is that grease and dirt feel a more powerful attraction toward it than they do toward your clothes. But protein stains--blood, milk, egg, etc.--are inherently immune to soap's charm. Insoluble in water, the complex protein molecules adhere too tightly to the fabric to let the soap get a foothold. Enzymes--compounds whose only role in life is to break down protein molecules--must be added to the detergent to make it effective.

--CECIL ADAMS

from http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_398.html


And if soap is always dirty then I'm siding with the Friends quotes from mashuu and seoulsucker. Consider the thread highjacked but to stay somewhat on topic I shower at the gym, use their soap and towels and only bring clean clothes for afterwards. And I scrub the crap out of that soap so as to remove the attached hairs and any invisible grime.

[crazy_arcade]

[laogaiguk]

If the gym is really close, I shower at home. Sick of getting athlete's foot from them (well, only once, and yes I was wearing sandals). If I live far or have to take any form of vehicle home, I shower there.

[Wrench]

I run back from the gym and it would be pretty futile to take a shower in the gym plus it would be to cold.

[bixlerscott]

Oh, old itchy cracked bleedling between the toes athletes foot. How do you get rid of that itching between the darned toes. I have soaped and soaped between the toes 2 or 3 times a day and it just gets me again and again. Uh, they do not seem to sell that Tolfanate spray stuff here in Korea that kept it at bay in before for me. But for years, I have tried to get of it and nothing works to put it bay permanently, its a disease I think. You can spray and soap all you please, and it returns, always. I asked for something to help and all I was offered was a skin softening cream for women. Oh boy...Rub between dem' toes at bed time boy...Once again without tolanate spray to put it bay for the time being, you rub between dem' der toes and break skin finally, scrub feet in the sink with soap and water, and then fall asleep in your bed. even after using soap and water for 10 minutes. it's back the next day, always.. Oh boy, what do the Koreans do about this athletes foot problem? Who knows.... I bet it's a 10,000 year old problem never really solved...

[blynch]

[Guri Guy]

I shower at my new gym. It has gel and no bars of soap. I have been going there for just over a week and no one has spit or blown snot rockets in the shower yet either. Will wonders never cease.