# Any hints for making cold showers not so cold? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295 "2008-03-13T22:53:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/1 "2008-03-13T22:53:49Z")
I have a gas water heater. Yesterday the gas had to be turned off for some kind of maintenance and the pilot light is now out. I’d rather not relight it myself as it’s in an attic and 1- I don’t have a ladder 2- I’m not 100% convinced I won’t come tumbling down once up there (I recently had some “ceiling issues”) 3- I live alone save for two dogs and even with a ladder I just don’t want to take the risks et al 4- I don’t want to blow up half the neighborhood due to some 1:3000000 oddity The gas company will relight it free of charge but they have to have somebody at home obviously and I don’t know if I can be there tomorrow during their hours, so long story short is I may not have hot water until Monday. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had to take a cold shower and I didn’t like it then (and I was a lot younger). I’ve a low threshold for physical discomfort (my safety words are “ouch”, “stop”, “don’t”, or anything remotely similar) and the water from my pipes is damned near frigid as central Alabama’s having a colder March than usual. I don’t have a stove with which to heat water (which is to say I do but it’s on gas and ain’t got none) though I do have a microwave. So- since I may have to take cold showers until Monday, any suggestions for any way to make them more bearable? Or any good alternatives? (I could wash my hair in the kitchen sink, but the water there is just as cold.) ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/2 "2008-03-13T22:57:49Z")
I’m a bit like you. Cold showers are torture. I have had to endure them, and was told that if you wet the back of your neck first, it helps. I don’t seem to remember it doing much good though. It may work for some, or it may be utter bunkum. Either way, I don’t pretend to present it as a cite-laden General Questions-type solution, but I guess it can’t hurt to try. ---
**Author:** ![Surok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Surok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surok)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/3 "2008-03-13T22:58:50Z")
Don’t take a shower. In a more serious vein - why not just heat a few bowls of water in your microwave, and use them for a strip wash? Or go to a friend’s house and shower there. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/4 "2008-03-13T23:01:00Z")
Jump under the water - well, not literally - you might slip - but steel yourself and get wet quickly, and all over, then step out of the water and soap yourself all over, stepping back in to rinse it off (by which time it might feel warmer, as you’ll have been shivering in the air). ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/5 "2008-03-13T23:19:14Z")
[QUOTE=Surok] Don’t take a shower. In a more serious vein - why not just heat a few bowls of water in your microwave, and use them for a strip wash? Or go to a friend’s house and shower there. [/QUOTE] I think this is actually the best advice. Generally, you get more clean in a shower than with a strip wash, but to be honest, you probably won’t in this one if you’re ducking in and out, and getting out of there as soon as you can. Microwave sounds like the best option. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/6 "2008-03-13T23:26:23Z")
My uncle uses a shower head that can do a fine mist. No matter how hot or cold, it made for a tolerable shower. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/7 "2008-03-13T23:36:24Z")
Or ask a friend or neighbour with a ladder to come round to ensure your safety while you relight the boiler. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/8 "2008-03-13T23:40:10Z")
Go to the Y and ask for a guest pass. Enjoy yourself for a bit, then have your shower. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/9 "2008-03-14T00:27:24Z")
Most gyms (around here, anyway) offer free 1-week trials. Spend a lackluster 20 minutes on the treadmill, then enjoy all the hot shower you want. While you’re at it, pick the nicest gym in town and enjoy the whirlpool and sauna. Downside - saying a firm no to the sales pitch that will follow. If that’s not a possibility in your area, my one suggestion would be to apply shampoo to dry hair before you start your shower. Then just rinse the shampoo out. It’s a little quicker. You might also be able to do this to your whole body with liquid soap. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/10 "2008-03-14T00:36:28Z")
Put a space heater in the bathroom a bit before you shower? Make the room warmer than usual so the cool water is tolerable? Or, you could just boil some water and have a bath? Boil some big pots of water, and pour them into a partially filled tub? ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/11 "2008-03-14T00:41:55Z")
[QUOTE=Zabali\_Clawbane] Boil some big pots of water, and pour them into a partially filled tub? [/QUOTE] In a microwave? I was gonna suggest this as that’s exactly what we did when our power was turned off last year, but we were lucky. We had a turkey fryer handy and propane is relatively cheap. It is really hard to carry those big, giant pots of scalding hot water, though. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/12 "2008-03-14T00:45:34Z")
[QUOTE=Brown Eyed Girl] In a microwave? I was gonna suggest this as that’s exactly what we did when our power was turned off last year, but we were lucky. We had a turkey fryer handy and propane is relatively cheap. It is really hard to carry those big, giant pots of scalding hot water, though. [/QUOTE] I meant on the stove top. Have those hotpad glove things, and be _VERY_ careful pouring! Don’t fill the pot all the way, better to heat four pots, then quick go for more. The bath won’t be toasty, but it’ll be at least tepid which is better than cold. 😉 ETA: It is important to have some water already in the tub when you go to pour the boiling water in. What I did when I had to do this was turn on the faucet, get the hotpads on, carefully tote a pot of water to the tub, pour, refill, replace with each pot. Just make sure to consider how easily you can get that hot pot off the stove and extricated from the other hot pots without spilling. _nod_ ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/13 "2008-03-14T01:16:40Z")
I’m confused. You say the gas water heater would work if you got the pilot relit, but your gas stove (which I assume has its own pilot which has to be easier to get to) won’t? ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/14 "2008-03-14T01:20:02Z")
Ah, I missed the bit where **Sampiro** said his stove was gas. (I was lucky, the stove was electric when I had to heat water on the stovetop for a bath…) Well, use the space heater idea I proposed, I guess, or as another said, warm some water in the mircrowave (BE SURE TO STIR IT BEFORE YOU TOUCH IT!!!) and give yourself a “cat bath”? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/15 "2008-03-14T01:27:37Z")
Do you have gas or not? In one place you say you just need the pilot light on your gas hot water heater lit, and then regarding your stove you say you don’t have any gas at all. Which is it? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/16 "2008-03-14T01:28:42Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] I’m confused. You say the gas water heater would work if you got the pilot relit, but your gas stove (which I assume has its own pilot which has to be easier to get to) won’t? [/QUOTE] :smack: I honestly don’t know what I was thinking. Of course I can relight it (once I figure out where the hell the pilot is.) Unfortunately it’s impractical to fill a bathtub from the stove as the tubs are upstairs/kitchen downstairs. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/17 "2008-03-14T01:33:16Z")
are you somewhere that putting water in black plastic bags and placing in the sun would work? Certainly going to the Y is a better suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/18 "2008-03-14T02:24:07Z")
Run a cold bath and let it warm to room temp and take a bath instead. Or do the same with a space heater warming the room at the same time. Do not under any circumstances put the space heater into the tub while listening to the climax of “White Rabbit”, however. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/19 "2008-03-14T02:37:26Z")
[QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil] Do not under any circumstances put the space heater into the tub while listening to the climax of “White Rabbit”, however. [/QUOTE] What about “Somebody to Love”, or is it Grace Slick in general? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295/20 "2008-03-14T02:40:45Z")
The best way is to microwave a large container of water to hot. Pour it into cold water in the sink and wash up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hints-for-making-cold-showers-not-so-cold/441295.md?page=2)