I know from searching previous posts that the advice is not to get too stressed about washing and that nobody ever died from being dirty, but we are having real problems with Mum, who has vascular dementia and Alzheimers. She hasn't washed for 10 weeks. I tried today to get her to wash, but nothing I tried worked and she ended up very distressed (and so did I) She is very smelly and her hair is awful. It is very distressing to see her this way and I know that it is more of a problem for us and that she doesn't care, but it is so hard to witness and increasingly difficult and unpleasant for my Dad to live with. She has had a bowel problem this week and REALLY needs to wash, but she won't and won't accept help. Social services say they can only help her wash if she will let them and she won't. We don't know what to do. I am worried that her lack of hygiene will make her ill.