# Shower curtain - Opened or Closed after use? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 8, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991 "2014-05-08T18:03:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/41 "2014-05-09T04:21:52Z")
Mostly closed. Not all the way because leaving it a bit open allows the air to circulate better to dry the liner. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/42 "2014-05-09T05:34:54Z")
We don’t have a shower curtain in our new bathroom but did in the old, where the shower was over the bath. I would leave the curtain open until it dried and then open it because the bathroom was so tiny, it felt really claustrophobic in there with the shower curtain closed. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/43 "2014-05-09T17:56:45Z")
Wow, y’all have put a lot of thought into this issue. I leave mine open, because - inertia, efficiency, laziness (pick one). I open it when I step out and it needs to be open when I step back in, so it stays that way in between. On further reflection, at 2 extra slides per day (open to closed after exiting shower, closed to open to enter) that’s 730 extra slides per person, per year assuming an average of one shower per day. At approximately 300,000,000 people in the US over age 1 (babies are generally bathed in a sink, so we will exclude them), that is 219 billion extra slides per year. This creates the following adverse effects: 1. extra wear on the support pole, causing overuse of landfills 2. extra wear on the curtain rings, causing both overuse of landfills and plastic particulates in the air for all of us to breathe in 3. contributes to stunted growth and population decrease in environmentally important mildews 4. additional friction, which creates heat and contibutes to global warming Ergo, those who close the shower curtain are resource wasting, nature hating planet fryers. By the way, for those of you who are all prepared to say that one shower per day is a high estimate because you Uncle Phil onlly showers once a decade or you shower with “a friend”, I offer the ultimate counter arugument - teenaged girls. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/44 "2014-05-09T22:11:25Z")
I voted “other.” I generally leave it open just because I’m not consciously thinking about the shower curtain when I step out of the shower. However, if I later happen into the bathroom and notice it, I’ll probably close it, mainly because I prefer how it looks closed. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/45 "2014-05-10T00:59:29Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > closed until dry. then open so that you give the axe murderer fewer hiding places. Ditto ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/46 "2014-05-10T04:44:00Z")
> [@Lydia\_Phalfav](#): > > I leave mine generally open with slight folds so air can get in on each side. I think I see the confusion on this poll. “Open” to me meant the curtain pushed back so the shower is open/visible. “Closed” meant the curtain pulled across so the shower is closed. **Lydia** , do you mean the opposite when you say “open”? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/47 "2014-05-10T05:03:05Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I think I see the confusion on this poll. “Open” to me meant the curtain pushed back so the shower is open/visible. “Closed” meant the curtain pulled across so the shower is closed. **Lydia** , do you mean the opposite when you say “open”? Your interpretation is what I meant. “Open” as in you can walk into the shower with it that way, like a door. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/48 "2014-05-10T11:52:45Z")
I prefer to have it closed, much better when I open it and exclaim “Da - naaaaaaah!” ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/49 "2014-05-10T12:16:19Z")
I don’t have a curtain, I have a clear perspex door, and I leave it closed. Never had a mold problem. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/50 "2014-05-10T13:51:37Z")
Open because there might be a dead woman in there and I don’t want to lock the door behind me until I know there isn’t when I go in there to pee. I read _The Shining_ in seventh grade and it scarred me for life. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/848f3c/32.png) [@The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Holdsworth_Effect)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/51 "2014-05-11T04:10:40Z")
> [@CannyDan](#): > > I referred to the master bath where I shower and re-use my towel. If I have guests, they use the guest bath, which always has clean towels. Only very special guests are allowed to handle my dirty towels or my naughty bits. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/52 "2014-05-11T15:20:06Z")
Open. Our shower tends to not dry out very fast otherwise, so I’m basically trading having a mildewed shower curtain liner for not having the rest of the shower get mildew. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/53 "2014-05-12T23:33:36Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Open because there might be a dead woman in there and I don’t want to lock the door behind me until I know there isn’t when I go in there to pee. > > I read _The Shining_ in seventh grade and it scarred me for life. Heh. My brother and I both slept through the night from the day we were born. Unlike in other families, we slept in our beds and did not have the option of going to see our parents when we were scared. Until I was 12 and saw **The Shining**. I had to have my mom come sleep with me! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991/54 "2014-05-13T01:19:20Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > I close it because if you leave it all scrunched up at one end it traps residual water, making it harder to evaporate and causing a breeding ground for mildew. I go with a modified version of this. If the shower curtain is closed, and touching the wall next to the shower head, stuff will grow on the part that’s up against the wall. So I leave the shower curtain mostly closed, but pulled away from the end with the shower head. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shower-curtain-opened-or-closed-after-use/687991.md?page=2)