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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

In Search of Shorter Showers

The length of my showers has always bothered me (and probably my parents and sister and roommates and...). I have always taken really, really long showers, but I am never standing idly in the water. I am busy the entire time. Get in, get wet, shampoo, rinse, condition, shave, rinse, soap, rinse, wash face, rinse. Thus far I have been unsuccessful in reducing the time. So I'm throwing it out to you all. I would love to spend less time in the shower and use less water and electricity. Any suggestions, ideas, thoughts?

I've been alternating between a bar soap and bath wash with the poof. The bar soap is much quicker, but it leaves a weird sticky residue and makes my skin dry. I feel much cleaner with the poof. I don't know if all bar soaps would have the same effect, or if it's just mine (which is locally made and otherwise wonderful). I'd like to eliminate the purchasing of the body wash because of its plastic bottle.

I usually skip showering once a week. I don't think I smell, but I end up feeling pretty scuzzy by the end of the day. I know I'd get used to it if I did it regularly, but in the summer I'd still have to shave daily. (Curse the genetics that blessed me with fast-growing hair.)

So what's your secret to shorter showers?

14 comments:

Unknown said...

I am not technical by no means when it comes to plumbing but just bear with me. There is a certain type of shower nozzel that you can get that will allow you to basicaly turn off the water. But the water stays the temp you want it. Allowing you to stop the water flow when you are sudsing up or shaving. I hope that helps.

Deb said...

I usually shave outside of the shower and then rinse off in the shower. That shower nozzel that the PP is talking about sounds interesting.

Jenny F. Scientist said...

If comfortable and convenient, one can shave over the sink, with the water mostly off; it does save a lot of shower time. Our sink makes this impossible, though.

I think maybe the bar soap... is just yours. I found some great recipes for body wash online- I feel inspired to make my own now! I've recently been trying baking soda/ vinegar instead of shampoo, for plastic-bottle reasons. So far it's a bit strange.

BerryBird said...

I wonder if a different "flavor" of soap from the same vendor would do the trick. It is a soap not specifically designed for body washing, correct? I believe I am using the same variety as a hand soap in my bathroom.

DancingFish said...

Can you lather up the poof with the soap? My husband loves the exfoliating poof but hates body wash.
Shampoo/conditioner in one might cut time and decrease a plastic bottle. Or a leave in spray conditioer would cut shower time.
Would it use less water to wash your face in the sink after the shower?

Coffeypot said...

How 'bout I come over and help you. You can wash and rinse and condition while I was everything else. You can be done in half the time. Think of all the water you will save. I'll keep my eyes closed, too.

Coffeypot said...

sorry... that should have been 'while I wasH everything else.'

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

LOL! John's rude but very funny--as long as he's far away.

I like that shower head idea.

I can do everything pretty fast if I want to, but I don't always want to. I need to work on that too.

I have a pinched nerve in my neck that makes using the computer painful so will be doing less of it (I hope) for a while. Sorry to be falling behind--also I'll be on the road soon. Hope the pinched nerve improves--it hurts.

Smellyann said...

I find having shorter hair helps. LOL And I have slow-growing hair, sorry. I can go about every 2 weeks w/o shaving my legs. You could do it military style and turn off the water while you're washing.

Melissa said...

Here's what I do: get in, get wet, turn water off. Soap up, turn water back on, rinse off, and turn water off, shampoo hair, water back on, rinse hair, wash face, and then shave turning water off periodically throughout until I get goose bumps then turn it back on til I warm up again. It requires a bit more thought but I figure it's good to be mindful of how long I'm in there!

a/k/a Nadine said...

See, I knew I was asking the right people!

Momma Val said...

Have a child. No just kidding. Actually you can buy the Saver Shower at Ace (I would make sure it is actually the Saver Shower deluxe model or the water reduction shower heads really suck). That reduces water output and is excellent at giving a good output and good pressure. Then there is a switch on it called the lather switch or something like that. This way you can switch the water off when you are lathering or shaving. If you get chilled easily, close your bathroom vent in the summer so as not to let the AC chill you with the water off. I agree with dancingfish about the shampoo/conditioner in one. That just occurred to me the other day. Perhaps you could do a partial shower on not so bad days or weekends. Just get in rinse well and "wash" the stinky parts with soap and water. Skip the shaving every other day. Maybe you need to get a manual timer or stop watch and see if you can perfect your shower technique. Good luck! Keep us posted!

swissmiss said...

I also shave outside the shower. We have a tub so I can sit on the edge of the tub and shave, then shower. I recently cut my hair and yes, that cuts on the conditioner rinse time tremendously.

BTW, the EU recommends TWO MINUTE showers which, geez, I'm green too but TWO MINUTES? Seriously, dudes. (Good thing Switzerland's not a member, haha)

a/k/a Nadine said...

Two minutes?! There'd be no point in me getting in the shower for only two minutes. I wouldn't have time to get anything done!