Deathly Hallows, Chapter 29: The Lost Diadem

[oneandthetruth]

Neville hugs the Trio and rather high-handedly tells Aberforth reinforcements are coming, and they should be sent along through the portrait hole, too. It’s no wonder Aberforth’s quarters look so shabby, with all those people running through them day and night.

As Neville and the Trio walk through the tunnel into Hogwarts, they update each other on

Comments

[for_diddled]

"Tell me again why Snape gets ridiculed for having greasy hair? Surely that should be common, especially among teenagers, if wizards don’t bathe often."

Actually the reason people get greasy hair if they stop bathing is that by shampooing their hair normally they wash off all the natural oils, and your scalp overcompensates and produces too much. If you stop shampooing the scalp will stop producing so many oils and your hair will go back to normal. (Apparently -- I've never tried it, because it's supposed to take three to six months for this to happen, and in the meantime you'll be all greasy and horrible. In a world where people don't bathe often, though, their hair should be fine -- and indeed people from non-Western countries where they don't shampoo themselves regularly don't generally have noticeably greasy hair.)

Also, even if spells like Scourgify would be unsafe for use on humans, there would seem no reason why they couldn't just Vanish the dirt on their bodies. So maybe showers in the wizarding world are there primarily for the nice relaxing feeling you get from having a warm shower, rather than for reasons of hygiene.