How to shower

When we had a new shower fitted I fancied a large square fixed shower head but I'm glad I didn't have one as the large detachable head is more useful for rinsing shampoo and washing 'nether regions and essential when cleaning the shower cubicle.

I have a walk in shower and only use tablet soap, which lasts for ages. We put soda crystals down the plug every few weeks to stop scum build up and I use diluted vinegar and washing up liquid to prevent lime scale on glass door. I am not a fan of overhead "dinner plate" showers and always hold detachable shower head to wash as can reach "bits" better and rinse hair. Takes about 3 - 4 mins, bit longer for hair washing.

don't you get soapy suds in your eyes when you rinse it?

I do my hair washing and rinsing with my back to the shower. Tip head back slightly and there's no need for soapy water to go anywhere near eyes. That's why they do you 'backwards' at the hairdressers...

Strikes me, reading this thread, that no-one has mentioned the need to have a decent shower installed. You definitely need one with a good rate of flow in order to get wet all over! So no electric showers; they only mange a halfway decent flow in the summer and a pathetic trickle in the winter. Nothing worse than a winter shower with a warmish trickle on one part of your body and cold air on the rest!

We had power showers (because of bad hot water pressure) before I had a thermal store installed. Now our hot water comes at mains pressure and it's just as good as a power shower. Very wetting...

My view is the same as Callgirl's I find showering very awkward, but can't get out of the bath now.
Those who wash their hair in the shower - don't you get soapy suds in your eyes when you rinse it?
I wash my hair in the bathroom basin, mixer tap.

I have an over bath shower and can't remember the last time I had a bath. DH used to like a soak but even he sticks to showers these days. I'd love a big walk in cubicle but then I wouldn't be able to put my foot on the side of the bath to wash leg/foot
My routine :
Run shower to ideal temp.
Wet body
Blob of shower gel on scrunchy thing and wash.
Wet, and wash hair.
Take shower head down and rinse body and whilst doing so give "nether regions" a jet wash I don't use shower gel in that area.
Put shower head back and rinse hair.

I cannot think how you can have a shower without getting fully wet or clean.

My tip is to open your shampoo/ conditioner bottles before you get wet. Even the flip lids are difficult with wet slippery hands.

The only thing I find a little awkward is cleaning the bottom of my feet - standing on one leg in the shower can be a bit precarious. You can get various kinds of shower mats that work a bit like a doormat - rub your feet on it whilst in the shower and gets rid of dead skin etc.

Definitely an 'ego-Angel' BradfordLass72

Showers are the way to go, no sitting in dirty water etc. A flexible hose not a fixed shower head and make sure you know which is shampoo and which is conditioner. Five minutes should get you clean all over. You will enjoy it I'm sure Watermeadow good luck.

I never lay in dirty water in my bath. I washed all over, then used a hand held showered attachment to rinse. It took ten minutes and got me really clean. A shower takes twenty minutes because it’s so much more awkward. Harder to wash nether regions and feet. Horrible. I hate it.

I probably spend less than 5 mins in the shower. I walk in, do my hair with Olive Oil soap (I have dodgy skin as well as wonky eyes) continue on down, as it were and then take the shower head off its holder and rinse every inch. TMI?

Thought so.

It takes a full 2 litres of cold water to flow through before my shower runs warm/hot and this is collected in a bucket to put into the washing machine - rinsing water from that goes on the garden or for doing floors and pathways.

Am I an ego-Angel or what?

I dont take the towel in the shower, lovebeigecardigans.

Just off to have my shower, and I also use shampoo as a body wash at times.
I think all the possibilities have been covered. If you don’t have a non-slip shower mat to stand on, a face flannel is a very good alternative.

Don't forget the towel, Kitty.
Going off at a tangent - In Brittany once DH left his towel by the tent - I had to go in the men's showers, knock at the door and call out loudly, 'sorry chaps, are you decent?' (in French) Then go in and find out which cubicle he was in and say 'I'll put your towel on the top of this door'. I couldn't let him drip-dry, could I? A bit embarrassing but they all had a good laugh.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

15 minute shower ( single head shower) = 33 gallons of water.
Not only environmentally bad but think of pouring money down the drain ?

15 minutes does sound an awfully long time to be in the shower. If not washing hair, I spend about 3 or 4 minutes in there, and think I come out quite clean really. I also think it must use a vast amount of hot water.

I am using soap now, instead of shower gels but I do find the drain gets much more scummy - yuk!

Oops mycobacterium before someone corrects me!

Gabriella and Urmstongran mention Legionnaires' Disease. There is also a micobacterium which causes a sort of non contagious TB. It can affect people who have slightly damaged lungs (bronchiectasis). This micobacterium can be in soil, compost and water. Keep the bathroom well ventilated and soak the shower head in white vinegar to clean it every so often.

I had this problem, which can cause non-malignant nodules in lungs and had to take three different antibiotics every day for 18 months to stop the nodules from becoming worse. I am not cured but feel very much better and I am trying to be careful without being too neurotic! If anyone wants to know more about this, look up NTM on the British Lung Foundation website.

I remember almost 20 years ago a young Japanese boy came to stay with us and was completely horrified that British people 'lie in their own dirty water and expect to get clean'. He explained that in Japan people have a shower before getting into a bath (apparently bathing is simply for relaxation at the end of the day). I have an en-suite shower room and much prefer showering to bathing (which I only do on holiday when there isn't a shower available).

15 minutes in the shower, shaving legs in the shower? What a waste of water. If you shower every day there is no need to spend ages, perhaps a little bit longer if washing hair. I know people who bathe just once a week and i cant imagine how awful it must be to be in that scummy water.

We had the bathroom changed to a wet room nearly 5 years ago, because I could no longer get in and out of the bath, but I absolutely hate the shower! I agree that the shower doesn`t get me completely wet all over, particularly the "down belowies", and I know that it`s possible to use the shower head by hand, but I struggle to reach it in order to do that. I long to be able to have a bath again, and to feel really clean again.

I put shampoo on my hair and a squirt of shower gel onto the netty puffy thing before getting in. The bottles are kept outside, over the washbasin. Result: you can't confuse the bottles and it's not so cluttered in the shower and is easier to clean.

When the present bottles have been used up, though, I intend to change to bars of soap to reduce plastic waste. Not sure how I'll store them between uses.

If it's a shower cubicle with glass doors/walls, get a squeegee. Rinse down the glass before you get out of the shower then wipe off with the squeegee. It keeps the shower nice and clean and streak free and it's so much easier to do while your in the shower naked!

If you use your shower daily and it is a new system it will be unlikely to harbour legionella as it breeds in stagnant water, eg showers in hotels that may not have been used for a while, air conditioning systems. However, it's a good idea to clean the shower head as Gabriella suggested or put it into a bucket of hot water containing white vinegar (actually hot water and bleach is recommended but you may not want to use bleach).

I wouldn't worry unduly about it as long as it's regularly used and cleaned.