How long do you shower for?
 

Maybe I'm weird. In the morning, I don't like to take a long shower. It feels like a waste of time and a waste of water. I'd rather save a longer shower for the evening, when I can really enjoy it. I don't usually shave my legs during my morning shower unless it's Saturday; I'll save that for an evening shower. I don't shave my legs in winter. Even my longest showers usually only clock in at about 10 minutes. I don't like to feel like I'm using up all the hot water, or using more water than I should. Sure, in Oregon we have plenty of water, but I still don't like to be wasteful.

My showers usually take about five minutes, even if I'm washing my hair. According to the USGS, a five minute shower uses 12.5 gallons of water. (You can fill out a water usage questionnaire here: Water Science Questionnaire #3: Water use at home) I'd rather take multiple short showers in a day than 1 long one. I like to take a really hot shower when I'm cold in the winter, and I like to take a cooling shower when I'm hot and sticky in the summer. Obviously, I like to shower after a good workout. To me, just one long shower in the morning wouldn't allow me to do that.

By comparison, my husband takes showers that are at least 15 minutes in length. He says he needs the time in the shower to wake up. Unlike me, he doesn't take multiple showers in a day.

So how long do you shower for? Does thinking about things like water usage impact the length of your shower?

I try to make those things matter, like water usage, etc., but the sumptuous feeling of the hot water and the things that I need to get done in there sometimes take longer than 15 minutes. My hair gets washed first, and it's longer now so it takes a few minutes to lather and rinse. I wash my face while the conditioner is sitting, brush my teeth while I'm washing the rest of me, but it still takes a little time.

At night, I'll take a 5-7 minute shower just to stand there and warm up, but I do wash my face so I don't feel like it's being wasteful. :)

about 3 mins.

5 minutes, every morning. We have a well and septic system. While I am aware of water usage, I'd view showering as borrowing water, rather than using it (it's being pumped from the north side of the house and deposited on the south).

Showering is one of those thing I need to get done. I take time to enjoy my coffee, showering is just a speed bump on my way out the door.

20 minutes, at least. It's my "alone time" (without the masturbatory connotation) and I use it for thinking, reflecting, planning the day, etc., - the sort of thing people do while drinking their coffee, or before going to sleep, because I don't really do either. It's a chance to be totally naked (mentally and literally) and just think, while getting what is essentially a massage in a really hot, steamy, room. Sometimes I even turn off the lights and shower in the dark, like if I have a headache or tired eyes. It's really nice - I'd call it religious if the word weren't so thoroughly ruined by religion.

I know it's a phenomenal waste of water and so there's a little bit of guilt, but I conserve in many other ways. I imagine a bath has a similar effect for some, but I've never really enjoyed baths.. I don't like being totally submerged and soaked in dirt water..

This is definitely my attitude. I'd rather spend my time drinking coffee in the mornings than hang out in the shower.

mine too. Actually i shower just before going to bed. There's something unpleasant about bringing the sweat/dirt of the day into bed. Both myself and my wife shower before bed. The kids also shower before bed, so the time restrictions are fairly evident -i.e. 5 ppl to process between 8 pm and 11 pm. My 21 year old son takes the longest - over half an hour to process. I think he spends a lot of time on himself.

I'm usually pretty quick (5 or less mins). I have short hair now tho, used to take awhile with long.

This is my position too. I easily spend 15 or more minutes. My shower is the closest thing I have right now to a meditation practice.

I sometimes think of this too. But I look at the big picture and realize there's a kind of offset in other areas in my life, namely, my diet. I look at the amount of water I save with each decision I make to not consume meat or dairy. I consume almost no dairy, and I consume maybe 4 to 5 servings of meat per week, though I've been thinking lately that I want to cut down even further.

I also wash all our dishes by hand, which, apparently, uses a quarter the amount of water that a dishwasher uses (5 gallons vs. 20 gallons/load).

Anyway, all said, I don't feel guilty spending an extra 10 minutes in the shower.

I get up at 8:15am and get into work by 8:45am... its a 5 minute walk, so I dont have much time for fucking around in the mornings!

I'd say I spend 5 mins in the shower on average, I dont have enough hair to wash, so just really long enough to clean myself really

I can drink a cup of coffee at work if I wanted, so cant imagine any reason I would waste time I could be sleeping by drinking my own coffee that I have to pay for at home.

Depends on your dishwasher--newer models use considerably less water than older dishwashers. Take my dishwasher. It's a newer Bosch. It uses between 3.6 gallons to 5.9 gallons, depending on how soiled the dishes are, and does not require prerinsing, just scraping. It has an EcoSense function that detects how soiled the dishes are, and adjusts the cycle accordingly.

I think I'll keep using the dishwasher. :)

Washing dishes is another meditative practice I have. :)

---------- Post added at 02:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:50 PM ----------

Yeah, I took a look at the 800 series of Bosch machines. The one unit stated it uses 180kwh/year, which is enough power to run a refrigerator for a month... just sayin'.... ;)

Hooray for cheap hydro!

My showers are usually 10-20 minutes in length. I usually shower once a day, after a workout, and just wash my face + other essentials in the morning or evening at the sink, if my shower is in the middle of the day. I do skip some days, but only if I don't work out. I can't stand not showering after a workout. On the rare days I shower twice, it's a quick rinse after the pool at the gym and then a longer shower at home to deep condition my hair after the chlorine ravaged it.

I'm lucky to live in a state with a public smoking ban, so there aren't often reasons to shower when I get home from being out at bars, etc. Just wash my face to take off my makeup and I'll shower the next day after I get all sweaty working out.

I don't like to shower too often because I prefer not to wash my hair that often - and if I don't wash and condition my hair in the shower, it's dull and tangled until my next shower.

Depends on my schedule and who's paying for the water usage.

These days I have a very early shift so I try to get up as late as possible, allowing myself enough time to have coffee while checking email. I wash my hair in the evenings now so it's dry before bed so I do a quickie shower in the morning, maybe 5 minutes.

When I'm working a later shift, starting work at 8 am or later, I probably spend a good 15 or more minutes in the shower. Like BG, I tend to plan my day best in sauna-like conditions.

Days off are different. If I'm running out in the morning, an in-between shower is in order. I know I have a lot to accomplish so can't really chill. However, if I have a "date" or am going somewhere for the evening, give me a good 20 minutes. ;)

I take one shower a day, in the mornings. Weekdays and Saturday mornings before synagogue, I spend around 10 minutes in there. Get clean, wake up, breathe some steam.

Sunday mornings I take a good long shower. 25 minutes, easy. I love a long hot shower. I do some deep breathing in there, some vocal warmups, and sing a little. Great for relaxing, great for the lungs, great for refreshment.

I used to take short showers. Lately it doesn't seem like I'm capable. Every morning I swear I'll make it quick, but I still end up being in there for 20 minutes.

I think the longer hair has a lot to do with it -- it just seems like it's hard to wash it properly with any kind of haste. Perhaps I need more practice.

When I lived in Toronto, I would spend more time in the shower... it was a way to get warm.

Living in the tropics, I have a very short showers. I turn the water off while I lather up. Water is a scarce commodity here and I don't like wasting it.

I don't always shower before bed but if I've had a particularly sweaty day I do.

Long warm showers make me feel refreshened, and if I don't have to leave the house all day, I don't necessarily take a whole shower every day. I think I stay at least 15 or 20 minutes, unless I'm sometimes in a hurry to change clothes.

I nowadays work at evenings, so my showering time is in the afternoons. I like to shower just before dressing up for work, I usually wear other clothes at home.

Getting a shower early in the morning would sometimes be a problem at winter, because we heat the boiler with wood and when the boiler's been heated in the evening, the water temperature in the morning will not be warm enough, because it also has to warm up the whole house and the boiler is just not sufficient enough for this task. You will have to put a new fire, so you would have to wake up early to do that. I'm not an early morning person like this. If I have to wake up early and leave the house, then I would like to do things in this order: wake up in the shower, then dress, eat and leave.

My husband's been searching the net for sun panels to install on the roof. This is mainly for summer, when the house is warm enough without heating, but we still need to burn wood for the hot water.

Wow I didn't know that a dishwasher used about 20 gallons compared to the 5 it would take to wash the dishes. Does anybody have any idea what the average shower uses compared to bath? In terms of gallons I mean. I usually do about a 10 min shower (well 15 if I'm shaving my legs) but I try not to ever just stand there idly.

10-15 minutes. Like has been said before, it's my 'alone' time without the kids or cats demanding attention. I love the feeling of being fully clean and do some of my best thinking in there.

One of my high school English teachers was really into words and claimed to keep a fully laminated dictionary in his shower in case he wanted to look something up.

Usually about 15 to 20 minutes, down from 30 after I cut my hair. If I really need to rush I can manage in 5-10, but I prefer to take my time.
Are you off the grid or is this common in your area?

This is rural area, many small land owners with their own piece of forest, so we get our own wood for free, not without work though. Few houses around here have their boilers to use with oil as well, couple use wood chip heating systems, and our boiler can be switched to heat on electricity, but that is only used when we're away from home - it would become costly.

Obsessive compulsive and tourettes in florida... I take a long hot shower in the evenings before bed both because I just spend a lot of time scrubbing and to loosen up the muscles.

would love to see pictures of your neighbourhood.

I've never understood the argument that it takes a little extra time to wash long hair. When my hair was to my waist it took just as long to wash as when it was cropped short. I guess since I grew up with long hair I just became accustomed to its hassle.
I tend to spend considerably more time in the warm, steamy bathroom after my shower. My showers range from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. (Yes, 30 seconds includes my hair). Where I really take my time is with applying lotion and drying my hair, which is best enjoyed in a steamy room.

I used to enjoy setting my stop watch to perfect the speed of my morning routine. I don't bother with the stopwatch anymore, but once you've perfected the 30 second shower, anything longer is torture.

I don't know that I can get it down to 30 seconds--I need to let my face wash sit on my face for at least 30 seconds, or it feels like a waste to just wash the glycolic acid in it down the drain. I would also say the longer shower isn't torture for me; it just begins to feel wasteful after I've done the things I need to do in the shower.

Out of curiosity, I've been timing myself. I take about 2 to 3 minutes to shower and a good portion of that is with the water off while I am lathering.

I take 15-30 minutes easily. I have to make a conscious effort to take less than than 20 minutes in the shower I tend to become very relaxed in the shower and lose myself in thought. I can take it in less than a minute or two if I'm in a hurry though.

45 minutes, most of it spent just standing there in the hot water listening to talk radio. This is why I live in America.

Mmm, it all depends on how dirty Candy is.

I'm about 5 minutes in the shower and it seems that a lot of that time is spent trying to pickup the soap.

My wife will drain the tank ...

You have *got* to 'splain how you accomplish this. In a pinch, I can see maybe 4 minutes, but soap and rinse the entire body and wash and condition your hair? Teach me!! There are mornings when I barely have time to breathe.

I take about 10 minutes, 15 if I have to shave my face.

I feel dirty if I don't get a thorough lather. You people who take a 5 minute shower, I hate to break it to you, but I'm cleaner. :)

It might be overkill but I can't help it. I wash each arm pit for at least 1 minute each, my private area for 1 minute each, and my hair for probably 3-5 minutes (and my hair is 1-2 inches long). I can FEEL the difference in my body and hair if I don't get a good lather going. There is leftover deodorant in my armpits if I don't scrub and lather good enough (which causes rashes) and my hair is greasy as hell if I don't get to to a certain lather point.

This amazing lather point also requires a certain amount of rinsing. I can't stand getting out and there still being soap on me (anywhere). I may actually rinse my body for longer than I wash now that I think about it. It takes me a good 3 minutes to get the shampoo out of my hair and like I said, I just have a standard man haircut of an inch or so.

Keep in mind that I CAN get the shower time down to 5 minutes but that requires me showering so hard and fast that I'm tired when I get out. Who the fuck wants to start your day getting out of the shower tired??????

"Cleaner" is subjective. To me, being clean is not smelling and not being greasy. I don't like to be overclean; it means my skin feels dry and I have to put on more lotion than usual. I prefer to keep my natural oils on my body in balance. Five minutes in the shower is more than enough time to achieve the level of cleanliness I desire.

I have been reading about people who don't use soap at all. They only wash with water. I've been thinking of trying it.

I use a soap-free body wash, and only soap up my pits, really. Everything else just gets a rinse. I also use a soap-free face wash.

I normally only use soap for my "pits & bits."

The people I have been reading about don't use any shampoo or soap (or cleansers). They only use water.

They do use soap on their hands after the toilet and before preparing food. And they do use toothpaste, etc. Apparently, their hair has never been better and their skin, never softer. It takes about two to three weeks of feeling a tad greasy before your body adjusts to the lack of cleansers but it does adjust.

Soap should not be used too much in your "bits". :)

There are people who "dry-wash" the hair. I think this was not unusual decades ago, when they used flour.

I googled a bit and someone gave advice to use talcum powder: smooth it on your hair, not on scalp, then brush it away. Should work well for greasy hair.