Who will we tidy up the bathroom for?

A new survey has found that a visit from a partner’s mother is no longer a reason to roll out the red carpet – only 12 per cent of us make the effort to clean and tidy their bathroom when expecting a visit from their mother-in-law and we are more than twice as likely to tidy up for friends.

The survey also found that 30 per cent of men will tidy and scrub the bathroom to impress a potential partner but woman are much less fussed about what a future boyfriend might find in the smallest room.

Relationship expert Jenni Trent Hughes said: “It’s interesting to see that mothers-in-law no longer have the same fear factor that they used to.

“In former decades when you married you tended to become part of your new spouse’s family which meant that their mother became your mother as well.

“Now a woman’s role in society in particular has changed and we are much more independent and in charge of our own lives.

“Another interesting development in society is what we now refer to as ‘framilies’ which is an extended and diverse group of friends which we surround ourselves with, often in place of our real families.

“This has come about for a host of reasons mainly geographical movement. Because of this you will often find that impressing our friends can take precedence over impressing our families.”

When it comes to embarrassing products and features to hide away from visitors, feminine products are at the top of the shame list.

A variety of personal feminine products were listed by the majority of people in the south east (63%) as products they would hide away from visitors and over a third of men across the country (39%) would hide feminine products before the arrival of guests on behalf of their partner. Other features which made it onto the shame list are cleaning products, own label bath or shower products and old magazines.

Jenni added: “For many women the bathroom is an Aladdin’s cave of secrets. Everything from makeup, lotions, potions, to even more personal products - our secrets are there.

“We need them to hand but we certainly don’t want them on display for all to see! And while Modern Man may now be persuaded to pick up ‘feminine items’ for us at the chemist they still don’t want them in full view for all their mates to see.”

Some of the more unusual products found in the bathroom by the British public were a pyramid of used toilet rolls, motorcycle handlebars used as a wall hanging, a sack of potatoes, as well as live snakes, dead frogs and a prosthetic thumb. What people really want to see in a desirable modern bathroom, the survey revealed, is luxury high end products on display (15%) and for women across the country - coordinated towels and bathmats (60%)