# how do YOU shower? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 3, 2007, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934 "2007-09-03T20:11:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934/41 "2007-09-04T04:00:36Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] I fail to see how…I mean, if it takes me two minutes to brush my teeth, why would it take less if I do it in the shower? And it also wastes more water. Two minutes of the shower running is more water than two minutes in the sink. [/QUOTE] I think you’ve missed the point. Sure, washing your teeth in the shower wastes more water if you’ve having a shower specifically to just wash your teeth. But look at it this way - Those two minutes you’re brushing your teeth at the sink in the bathroom is on top of the time you’ve already spent in the shower. If you brush your teeth in the shower, whilst you’re getting the rest of your self wet (or whilst you’re conditioning your hair or what have you) then you’re not using separate time or water in just brushing your teeth. And it’s multitasking - if you’ve got a couple of “dead” minutes in the shower, which I do when I’m waiting for the conditioner, then it does save a couple of minutes, and I’m using that water anyway but not using more “toothbrushing” water on top so it is saving (an admittedly minute) amount of water. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934/42 "2007-09-04T17:27:39Z")
Female here, I face away from the shower head. 1. Turn on shower, set temp, get in. 2. Soap hair, using one of my oh-so-yummy smelling shampoo bars. 3. Rinse out soap. 4. Pour on my final rinse (1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 6 drops of lavender essential oil, 4 cups warm water) and clip my hair up out of the way. 5. Soap up the rest of me. Rinse. Wash face. 6. Let my hair down, turn the water to cool (if it’s not there already - it usually is, I think I need a new dip tube or something in the water heater) and do another quick hair rinse. If I’m just taking a shower and not washing my hair or shaving my legs, I can be done in 5 minutes. Add another 5 for the hair, and another 5 for the shaving. My shower usually starts running out of hot water at about 10 minutes. So I can wash my hair or shave, I can’t do both. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934/43 "2007-09-04T17:55:42Z")
Female, face away from shower (cause I wear contacts and don’t want 'em to come out): Set temp Shave Wash face/body Wash hair Rinse hair Stand under warm water if time permits Dry off ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934/44 "2007-09-04T17:59:38Z")
Male, face away from shower head. Stare blankly at the wall with toothbrush in mouth while back is getting wet. Brush teeth Stare blankly at assorted bottles of haircare products, trying to remember if I’ve washed hair yet Lather up hair Wash body Rinse Stare blankly at conditioner, wondering if I should be using that stuff or not Sometimes shave Wash pits again, because stinky pits are gross. Rinse again because I forgot if I have already, and just in case I used some of that conditioner. Stand around, staring blankly at the wall until I realize I’m done. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934/45 "2007-09-04T19:15:51Z")
Female, away from the shower head. Get in with bunch of young, tanned, nubile friends… Okay, okay. Get the water hot enough, climb in, wash body (I wash my face in front of the mirror), shampoo / conditioner hair and rinse, shave, soak in the hot water, climb out, find bath towel or bathrobe and draw something in the mist on the mirror. Takes about twenty minutes, all told. ---
**Author:** ![beanpod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9adbd/32.png) [@beanpod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beanpod)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934/46 "2007-09-04T19:50:03Z")
Female, face toward the shower head, far enough back that the water hits me around the bottom of my ribs. Unless I’m washing my hair or rinsing. My process: 1. turn on the water and fix the temperature 2. step in 3. wet from the neck down, facing shower head 4. turn around, wet hair, later with shampoo, rinse 5. apply conditioner 6. turn around and face water 7. soap up from neck down 8. soap up face/ears with girly facial soap 9. rinse everything 10. turn off water, wring out hair (stuff is like a sponge…), get out and dry also, usually: 11) remember that I wanted to wear shorts/skirt/sleeveless shirt 12) curse 13) quickly turn water on and get back in while it’s cold 14) quickly shave 15) cut myself 16) curse, turn off water, get out and dry off It looks very involved now that I write it out, but I usually have the same routine and take about 5-10 minutes from turning on the water to drying off. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934/47 "2007-09-04T20:05:27Z")
Get in shower (facing away) and allow hair to get wet Shampoo Put in conditioner Shave legs, if necessary Use bodywash Rinse off bodywash and conditioner Dry hair _then_ wash my face I hate getting water spayed in my face, so I have no interest washing my face in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934/48 "2007-09-04T20:47:44Z")
[QUOTE=olivesmarch4th] ETA: per **yams!!** comment, you were INSANE to give up your tentacles. I’d give my right arm to have it replaced with a tentacle. /weird [/QUOTE] We men always retain at least one tentacle, although its prehensile properties are limited. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934/49 "2007-09-04T20:53:58Z")
[QUOTE=Belrix] We men always retain at least one tentacle, although its prehensile properties are limited. [/QUOTE] Heh, ran out of time on the edit: To answer the OP: Step in, face water. Wash hair (no conditioner, my hair is only 1/8th of an inch long) Rinse Wash body with liquid shower soap and my mesh sponge thing Rinse 3 minutes if I hurry, 10 if I bask in the hot water, as I’m wont to do… I always face the water except to went and wash & rinse my back parts. I think it’s because I’m tall and even the tallest shower heads are usually just spraying my chest. FWIW, I only just rinse my face with water. Since I started avoiding putting soap on my face, my adult acne has pretty much gone away. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934/50 "2007-09-04T21:12:55Z")
Male. Get in, set temp, face away from shower head. Shampoo and rinse hair. Wash body, working down from neck to feet. Turn off water. Take 15-20 seconds to wipe down most of my body with the washcloth. (This gets most of the water off my body, and keeps the towel much drier throughout the drying phase.) Dry off with towel. Exit shower as I dry my feet off. I brush my teeth, wash my face, and shave at the sink, where I can see what I’m doing and use less water. (I’ve got no ‘dead time’ in the shower, thanks.) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934/51 "2007-09-04T21:20:46Z")
Male, AM shower Stand in warm water for several minutes Decide that another day of living will be bearable Wash Hair Rinse Hair Wash body Rinse body [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-shower/417934.md?page=2)