Having a shower

I love to have a bath. I’m lucky that mine has in built handles and can get out using them. I hate having a shower, as I hate soapy water falling on my face. I wash my hair over the bath!

Love my shower. I bought one of those massage mats to help clean your feet, but unless you are religious about washing and drying it after every use it can quickly get really "manky". ☹ Mine soon went in bin. We use a non slip mat in shower and try to rinse and leave it to dry each time or that can also get scummy. Worst showers have been on cruises. Really tiny and that curtain wraps right round you. ?

We have walk-in showers in all bathrooms, no baths. But I hate overhead rainforest showers, just don't like that deluge of water above my head so I use the adjustable handset. I also fixed non slip discs in all the showers to avoid accidents.

We don't have a shower. I wash all over every day in the wash basin and have a bath once or twice a week. Only a shallow bath now we're on a water meter. I don't think I smell

I don't think we need to wash and bathe so often when we get older. It dries out the skin and makes us even more wrinkly.
The last bath I had, I managed to climb out, came over giddy and fell, breaking my right thumb. So never again, that was about a year ago.

We had a new bathroom fitted about 10 years ago and I insisted on having a bath in there! The rest of the family said I wouldn't use it, but I insisted I would! I think you can count on one hand the times I've bathed over the years! I love the walk in shower and use it twice a day when the weather is hot and I'm sticky! Can't imagine not having a daily shower now. The bath has to be dusted frequently!

I don't like showers either. So far (71) can still get in and out, though it's a new build bungalow and for some reason, the builder put in very deep baths. They want some feedback as we've been in for two years. I'm going to point out to them that considering nobody who bought these bungalows is under fifty, and some owners nearer eighty, they should perhaps think twice about the design, in relation to age. Having said that, we also have a large walk in shower, but it is very high (all the rooms are above average height- this is to add an element of luxury, apparently) , but this is a devil to clean. As some posters have said, not showering or bathing every day doesn't mean we are going to be dirty. As a child, I was part of a large extended family, none of whom had a bath or shower in their home. I've been thinking back to the large family gatherings, and I honestly don't think that I ever thought anybody was smelly.

Pennies and tuppences, I soooo love that.

I am in a new build, which has one of those eco half baths. The base is slightly higher than the old fashioned ones, so you can't really have a proper soak, where most of your body is under the water. I prefer to have a quick small bath every day before going to work. But at the weekend, I'll have a longer soak with oil ( it helps to keep you from feeling the cold ) and Epsom salts. I wash my hair over the bath, by putting conditioner on the ends of my waist length hair, clip it up, clean face, teeth/ears, then take the shower head out of the holder and dampen my scalp, turn shower off whilst I shampoo/massage the top, then rinse it. Your hair gets lovely and soft and it takes half the time, that it would if you put conditioner on after washing your hair.

I hate showers. I am terrified when I am in one. All due to the film Psycho. I get weak, wobbly and my heart races. Stupid, I know, but I can't help it. Now I am finding it difficult to get out of the bath (81, and two knee replacements) and I am wondering what to do.

This is really interesting to me because I want to get rid of my bath because I struggle to get out safely but I have to convince my DH that I’m not hurting the saleability of our home. I also have to find an answer to how do you wash GC ? Neither of us use the bath, only the shower at the end of it. I found a half bath with a deep bit and a shallow bit but don’t know anyone who uses one. Hard to know which way to go. It’s a small bathroom and the only one so I have to get it right!

I was the youngest. That meant that Dad then Mum, sister, brother all bathed before me. It was a tin bath in the kitchen - guess who had to empty the bath into the sink!

The argument for retaining a bath to aid the saleability of a house is a familiar one, but these days so many people rip out the bathroom and /or kitchen almost as soon as they move in. It can also depend on whether you plan to sell in the foreseeable future and whether its appeal is principally as a house for a young family.
So, an updated bathroom with a walk in shower would IMO be a better bet than a “dated” old person’s bathroom with a bath.
Bottom line, is which would you prefer. A walk- in shower is much more practical as we get older, less chance of a fall getting in or out of the bath, easier if we need help from carers with washing and also uses less water which may be a consideration.
But for this who do prefer a bath, one with well positioned grab rails, a non slip bottom and perhaps a step to make getting and out easier might be helpful.

PS unless the DGCs are babies, they generally love showers!

I kept a bath in one of my bathrooms as teenage GD likes a bath and also younger one likes to put those fizzy bombs in the bath and sit in coloured water.

I hate them too! I don’t know why, I really don’t !

I’m amazed so many people hate a shower, it’s just soap and water, there’s no need to get water on your face if it bothers you just stand to one side or back to the cascade so the water runs down your back or if the head is movable just bring it down to shoulder level so as not to touch your face.
I just don’t get it but each to his own.

I have a stupidly large bathroom which has a bath with a shower & glass panel at one end. DH & I use the bath v occassionly. My brother who lives with us yses the shower daily.but never uses it as a bath. I am thinking of putting the washing machine upstairs in the bathroom and putting a shower in the downstairrs loo/ utility wher w/ is currently..for that time when getting upstairs is tricky ?

Please be careful when you use showers if you are not confident. A mobile fiercely independent lady decided to have a shower at 5 a.m. despite being asked by daughters not to have a shower unless there was someone else in the apartment. She slipped in the shower. The hot water was still running. She could not move. She screamed and yelled for hours but no one heard her. She spent 4 months in Odstock Hospital, returned to Southampton to the local hospital for rehabilitation. She was 99 and looking forward to her hundredth birthday in May. She died in January - a truly wonderful lady and a friend to all. So sad and I do not want to scare anyone but this happened to a dear friend of mine.

Fair enough Bravebeth but how many people slip getting into or out of a bath whether to use the shower or have a bath?
A walk in shower with a non slip floor ( which is usually standard) and a flip down seat is an infinitely safer option.

It is not the water in my face - there is no need for that anyway - it is the fact that I cannot see what the heck I am doing, and finding soap (especially if it slips out of my hand and lands on the deck) is very difficult. It is a chore having a shower. I cannot imagine doing it every day!

A few people have mentioned that although they do shower, wash their hair by standing over the bath/basin.

Why?

Such a dreadfully sad story Bravebeth. But to be fair, slipping when getting into a bath could be infinitely more dangerous - if you knocked yourself out you would almost certainly drown.

Not liking the water spray on your face? I thought shower heads all could be hand held so the jet or spray could be directed to any part of you where you want it.

btw I find that a damp or wet towel (or two)flat on the wet room floor makes the surface a lot less slippery. The towel can of course be thrown after every use into the washing machine at rinse only, dried and reused for the same purpose. I happen to have many bath towels for odd purposes as hand towels are lighter in weight and I use two of those instead of the large ones.

Oh dear - I absolutely love showering - and cannot start the day without one. For feet I have a suction pad brush matt- a couple of drops on it and warm water- and the put feet on and 'massage' the feet one at a time. We have one shower over the bath, and another normally for guests 'Italian' style, so no tray, and a large shower head and a smaller separate one for rinsing hair, etc.

After 2 knee replacements, used the guest one for a while with a special stool, but now can clamber in and out of our bath no problem.