UK Festivals: Which Are the Most Unhygienic?!

Summer is here, and for many of us, music festivals are the name of the game as we look to soak up the sunshine! (Or the rain if you’re unlucky!)

However, heading to a music festival normally involves ditching some of your home comforts, and makes hygiene a bit more challenging!

We conducted a survey of 2000 UK adults to find out which festival was the most unhygienic and had the most attendees that ditched the suds for mud.

To understand truly just how grim festival goers can be, our survey also asked how often usual hygiene routines are followed when in a festival setting.

The survey recorded some rather shocking personal hygiene admissions. With festival goers confessing to avoiding showers and oral hygiene and changing clothing items.

How often did you change your underwear?

A staggering one in five festival goers (20%) changed their underwear once or less all weekend. Combine this with no showers and there is going to be some serious festival funk!

Just under a quarter (23%) of Gottwood Festival’s attendees admitted to wearing the same pair of pants for four days. 

Decided against using a Portaloo as it’s too nasty?

One of the more well-known disgusting parts of a festival is their toilets. Whether it be Portaloos, an attempt at a nicer toilet or a glorified hole in the ground – festivals are notoriously known for the state of their toilets. 

The survey revealed that 18% of the UK’s festival goers decided against using a Portaloo simply because it was too grim to use. Glastonbury Festival has been ranked to have the grimmest toilets with 28% ditching the toilets there. Despite being the UK’s largest festival, with an attendance of 200,000 per year, they have not yet managed to combat their toilet troubles.

Had sex?

Brits are no strangers to having sex in unusual places, and a tent in the middle of a festival field is no exception! 18% of survey respondents admitted to having sex at a festival. Beatherder in Lancashire is the raciest festival, with 33% of guests admitting to enjoying more than just the music. Glastonbury’s attendees followed closely, with 30% also enjoying more than just the music. 

As the saying goes – if the tents rocking, don’t come knocking!

Ditched the shower because of the queue?

Brits are well versed in the art of queueing; however, when is a queue too long? It all comes down to how long you're willing to wait to scrub yesterday's festival dirt off you. 

Our survey revealed that just 13% of festival guests found the queues for festival showers too long and decided to ditch them. We Out Here, a festival in Dorset, saw over a third of guests deciding that the queues were simply too long to wait for their shower.

Got covered in mud?

Mud can be one of the more frustrating and unavoidable elements to a festival with British weather switching between blue skies and downpours. For most festival guests, it is most likely anticipated that at some point there will be rain over the weekend which could lead to inevitable mud baths.

Glastonbury was amongst the muddiest festivals with 30% of guests relaying that they were covered in mud. It’s safe to say muddy guests do not mix well with festival showers and portaloos.

How often did you brush your teeth?

Whilst brushing teeth may appear to be a non-negotiable step in someone's routine, some of the survey respondents confessed to skipping the twice a day clean. Instead, festivals such as Houghton saw 19% of people not brushing their teeth at all during the weekend festival.

15% of Glastonbury’s attendees recorded that they either brushed their teeth once the whole weekend or not at all. Interestingly, Gen-Z and boomers are relatively similar in their oral hygiene patterns, with 10% of 18–24-year-olds and 11% of 65+ year olds confessing to not cleaning their teeth.

How often did you shower?

When it came to the frequency of showering, Glastonbury scored poorly with 26% admitting to not showering at all during the weekend festival. Overall, 21% of the survey respondents ditched the suds for mud, not showering at all during their most recent festival.

Boomers, once again, came out on top, with 34% not showering all weekend and 18% showering just once at their last festival. 

How often did you wash your hands?

Survey respondents seem to place hand washing as a higher necessity in comparison to showering and changing underwear. Just 13% responded to washing their hands once or less over the weekend, in comparison to 63% who claim to wash their hands twice or more a day.

How often did you change your socks?

Despite festival season coinciding with Summer, festival goers admitted to not changing their socks as often as you would expect or maybe like to think. 

22% confessed to changing their socks once or less throughout their most recent festival. Similarly, 22% of attendees at Beatherder didn’t change their socks at all during the weekend festival. 

Men were found to change their socks (25%) less frequently than women (19%). 

How often did you wash your face?

16% of Brits washed their face once or less for the duration of a four or five day festival weekend. With the responses on showering, this number is no shock!

Y Not attendees ditched basic hygiene with 38% washing their faces once or less across the four-day festival weekend. 

Confessions

As part of the study, we scoured the net to source first-hand case studies of festival-goers who have avoided their usual hygiene habits for the weekend.

One said: “Honestly I've never showered at a festival... Yes it's grim when you think about it. Not gonna lie, it's kind of fun stewing in your own filth at a festival because you know it's only for 4/5 days.”

Another added: “Learn to accept your filthiness and allow you and the dirt to become one.”

Finally, one festival-goer explained why a lack of hygiene is an issue for them at festivals! 

They said: “I get the desire to just be free, but don't forget that part of the reason we all wash ourselves is because our bodies make smells that aren't fun for other people.”

Conclusion

Whilst personal hygiene standards are likely to slip slightly whilst at a four-day outdoor festival, the responses to the survey uncovered a little more than expected. Despite the Summer season, many festival attendees left basic hygiene at home!

Glastonbury, the largest and arguably most sought-after UK festival hosts some of the least hygienic visitors and itself could work on improving its facilities. 

One thing is clear, the festival goers who are over 65 years old do not prioritise their hygiene as much as Gen-Z and millennial attendees. 

Rosie Maskell, MrQ’s Senior Marketing Executive, said: “Here in the UK we are blessed with some of the best music festivals in the world, covering music from different genres and people from different walks of life, all together to enjoy themselves.

“However, with festival season just around the corner, it seems that some attendees are ready to throw their hygiene habits right out of the window!

“We’d recommend at the very least taking wet wipes and deodorant with you on your next festival visit, and for the sake of your personal health and hygiene, please change your underwear every day!”