# Just! One! Shower! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 28, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002 "2005-08-28T18:54:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/41 "2005-08-30T20:41:50Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Oh my gosh, I am so excited to see someone else agree with me on this. I loathe lawns. Such an incredible waste of time, energy, and resources. And dandelions. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/42 "2005-08-30T21:03:40Z")
I’m going to (a) assume **PinkNailFile** wasn’t being literal and (b) wonder why anyone would want to limit their shower to 5 minutes or less. Shower-time is relax time. Shower-time is no stress time. Shower time is forget the outside world time. 15 (10 if not shaving) very short minutes daily of warm/hot water (regardless of outdoor temp) washing away the aches and pains of advancing years. Pure bliss…usually the highlight of the day. You can now continue with your game of “Name Your Shower-Time” _(‘I can take a shower in 3 minutes’; ‘I can do it in 2’; ‘Take that Shower!’)_ ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/43 "2005-08-30T22:04:40Z")
> [@Spavined Gelding](#): > > And barefoot, too. And without a cell-phone. And I was grateful! Damned kids! When I was kid, we had to get up and walk across the room just to change the channel on the TV! And it was uphill! And snowing! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/44 "2005-08-31T03:53:43Z")
We only had three channels, and one of them was French. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/45 "2005-08-31T04:04:22Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > **Miller** , I did want it clear, I’d been warped by the economies of making my own water. Making your own water? Were you on the spacelab or something? And you _showered_ in it? Ew. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Hello\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Lady)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/46 "2005-08-31T04:16:42Z")
When I want some pampering I have a bath. Or what passes for a bath in our townhouse anyway, about a 3/4 size bath. Otherwise my showers are about 3 mins on a regular day and about 10 mins when I’m washing my hair. Our city has water restrictions on at the moment which limit outdoor use of water (can’t wash car, can only use a watering can up to 15L to water the garden and only on certain days). But I can’t understand why the city council doesn’t try to educate people on how to be waterwise in their homes. Our dams are going to magically fill up just because we stop washing our cars once a week :dubious: We’ve pretty much stopped using our dishwasher (once a week now), have shorter showers, don’t use the bath unless necessary and only do the washing when the machine is full (adjusting the water level down to about 3/4). So forgive me if I don’t feel your pain at not being able to have your 30 minute shower uninterupted every day! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/47 "2005-08-31T23:12:58Z")
**PinkNailFile** , you’re a teenager, correct? Guys, remember how teenagers tend to get dirtier faster than adults do – and also that our skin is constantly producing more? Remember how much fun acne wasn’t? The thing here is that when I take a 15- or 20-minute shower, I’m trying to get some of the oil off of my skin, and I’m also trying to get all of the grime off, too. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/48 "2005-09-01T18:13:31Z")
> [@dwalin](#): > > **PinkNailFile** , you’re a teenager, correct? > > Guys, remember how teenagers tend to get dirtier faster than adults do – and also that our skin is constantly producing more? Remember how much fun acne wasn’t? > > The thing here is that when I take a 15- or 20-minute shower, I’m trying to get some of the oil off of my skin, and I’m also trying to get all of the grime off, too. And someone who is under severe water restriction can also point out that a ‘navy’ shower is a much more efficient use of water. Wet the body, turn off teh water, soal up, turn on the water, rinse off soap. turn off the water, latehr up again, turn the water back on and rinxe off again. Personally as a 43 year old fat broad, I have also got oily skin, had it all my life. Not so much acne, but you could drill my pores for oil. I have found that if you insist on having tons of hot water, you are going to make your skin more oily. Cooler water and gentle treatment is more effective at cleaning your self off. I also use a castile based soap _cough_drbronners_cough_ and it works without a lot of heavy duty abrasive scrubby action. It also seems to rinse off faster and more completely. And by the way, soap is a surficant, you need to let the SOAP do the grime cleaning, not water… ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/49 "2005-09-02T14:01:28Z")
Every time I see the thread title, it prompts me to sing it (in my head) to the tune of _Add It Up_. \*Day after day I will bathe and I will freeze But the day after today I will stop and I will start Why can’t I get just one shower Why can’t I get just one shower Believe me there’d be some things that I wouldn’t miss But I look at your grime and I need a shower \* ---
**Author:** ![PinkNailFile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@PinkNailFile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PinkNailFile)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/50 "2005-09-02T16:02:41Z")
I’m amazed that my first thread got so much of a reaction. To clarify, yes, I am a teenager. It’s not a 30-minute shower a day, more like on occasion when I’m tired. But inevitably it is interrupted. Also, school is coming up, which means that not only do I have to take a shorter shower in order to get to school on time, but crew starts. I will definitely scrub the hell out of my skin when I spend 2 hours even near the Chicago River. If I fall in, well then I get to take as long a shower as I need… that river disgusts me, but it’s where practice is held. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/51 "2005-09-02T22:48:09Z")
I’m going to go ahead and say that a half-hour is a bit much. Understandable on occasion, but that wasn’t the tone of the OP. I’d also like to take a moment to bitch. Whoever designed the dorms here did well for fostering a sense of community or something. However, they were clearly not female, as anyone can tell you that “eight young women + one shower = lots of bitching.” I’d also just like to say that I feel horridly guilty when I shower twice a day, since Santa Fe is not known for its abundance of water. But I need it to wake myself up in the morning, and the idea of working out and then going to dinner all sweaty and disgusting…ew. My cafeteria-mates thank me, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/52 "2005-09-03T20:44:27Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > Making your own water? Were you on the spacelab or something? > > And you _showered_ in it? Ew. Nuclear submarine, more likely. We didn’t assemble it molecule by molecule from the hydrogen and oxygen we brought aboard, either. We distilled it from seawater, then added a few minerals and other ions to make it potable (safe for drinking and other human-contact-related uses, such as laundering and washing). I say “we,” but most of that noble work was carried out by the fine machinist mates in AMR1, who also took charge of making our air. **PinkNailFile** , you know, there _is_ a way for you to get your thirty minute showers, even when you’re on summer vacation. Go back to getting up at 5 a.m. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/53 "2005-09-03T20:48:22Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Go back to getting up at 5 a.m. And wake up the house with all the water in the pipes gushing through the walls? Aw, hell, nah. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/54 "2005-09-03T22:33:32Z")
> [@Sol Grundy](#): > > Making your own water? Were you on the spacelab or something? > > And you showered in it? Ew. Sorry, forgot to respond to your comment. I was on a guided missile cruiser. We made our own water by distilling seawater. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Nuclear submarine, more likely. We didn’t assemble it molecule by molecule from the hydrogen and oxygen we brought aboard, either. We distilled it from seawater, then added a few minerals and other ions to make it potable (safe for drinking and other human-contact-related uses, such as laundering and washing). > > I say “we,” but most of that noble work was carried out by the fine machinist mates in AMR1, who also took charge of making our air. Derned tubers. Y’all think you’re the only real nucs, don’t you? I was a member of the Target Fle- er… **Surface Fleet**. 😛 And we made our water by hand, loving choosing only the best hydrogen and oxygen molecules. \ Actually, our distilling plants were in the Enginerooms, and manned by M-Div personnel. It always surprised people when we told 'em we had to dirty up the water before we could assign it to drinking purposes. The stuff used for the steam plants was too pure to drink safely. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/55 "2005-09-04T01:05:23Z")
Too pure to drink safely? What happens when you drink absoutly pure water? ---
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/56 "2005-09-04T01:13:07Z")
[The Master speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020208.html). ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/57 "2005-09-04T10:00:13Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Nuclear submarine, more likely. We didn’t assemble it molecule by molecule from the hydrogen and oxygen we brought aboard, either. We distilled it from seawater, then added a few minerals and other ions to make it potable (safe for drinking and other human-contact-related uses, such as laundering and washing). Yeah, I was just making a joke about drinking urine. Geez, way to suck all the fun out of it! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/58 "2005-09-04T14:00:11Z")
> [@La Llorona](#): > > [The Master speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020208.html). The master doesnt really cover drinking DI water, which is what slithers out of the distillation unit. I do know that the ID corpsman on subs will give it to sailors complaining of constipation as it _will_ get the mail delivered. mrAru spent 20 years making water, man and boy [or at least the years he was enlisted after he got out of basic and mma school, and sub school…] ---
**Author:** ![PinkNailFile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@PinkNailFile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PinkNailFile)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/59 "2005-09-04T15:11:08Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > \ **PinkNailFile** , you know, there _is_ a way for you to get your thirty minute showers, even when you’re on summer vacation. > > Go back to getting up at 5 a.m. I am. In two days. It makes me sad deep, deep inside. And also very, very, very tired. That level of tiredness that you get when you know you have to sleep for a loooooong time to get enough sleep in the next two days that it can see you through the school year. Me? Sad about school? Noo. Where’d you get such an idea? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002/60 "2005-09-04T15:50:41Z")
> [@Mac Guffin](#): > > Too pure to drink safely? What happens when you drink absoutly pure water? It comes down to osmosis. If you recall your high school chemisty you may recall that two volumes of water seperated by a semi-permeable membrane will try to equalize the dissolved contents in each volume. if one has pure water on one side, and body fluids on the other, you get either a flood of water across the membrane to the side that has the contaminants\*, leaving our poor squids trying to move fecal blocks without any moisture to lubricate 'em, or you have electrolytes being sucked out of the body into the pure water side, leaving the body’s electolyte balance severely messed up. Adding a little bleach to the water solved this potential problem, and ensured that potable water was biologically sterile, too. \*When comparing a pure compound to something else, even if the impurities are needed for the purposes that the pure compound exists in, it’s still an impurity or contaminant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-shower/319002.md?page=4)