A. Freezing cold - What the hell is wrong with you? Will you put on a hairshirt when you get out of there?
B. Cold - Either it’s sweltering out or you’re me and oneironaut’s been wearing those boots again
B. Lukewarm - Me, I’d prefer the cold. Why not let a cat lick you all over?
C. Perfectly balanced in a zen-like serenity between hot and cold - you are the Messiah
D. Hot and steamy - Either it’s chilly out, you have company, or you’re pretending you do
F. Boiling hot - So hot you need a safeword and a friend standing by with bandages
Thinking about it just now, I can be rather funny. For baths, I like the water as hot as I can stand it, but for showers, I prefer it cold. Not freezing, mind, I do mix in some hot water, but a temperature somewhere in the low 70s (Fahrenheit, obviously). And I tend to inch it colder and colder while I’m in there.
Somewhere between D and F for most of it - then cranked down to between A and B for the last minute or so. At one point or another I got the idea that this would keep me from getting sick. It seems to work okay.
How do you do it? Can you actually achieve it, or does it require constant adjustment? I find that the perfect temp a moment ago is a little too cold right now…
Morning showers: I’m generally the messiah, apparently, because I’m not awake enough to really notice the temperature. For the last five seconds or so, I just turn off the hot water, because that actually wakes me up.
Post-workout showers: Start lukewarm, to let myself cool down and stop sweating so much. Then as hot as I can stand.
When taking a bath, the water temperature should only blister the skin slightly.
When taking a shower, the water temperature should produce enough steam to raise the humidity in the house to slightly less than 99% - used to have the water hotter, but those micro storms in the kitchen wrecked havoc on the appliances.
If my hot water heater ever dies, just call me stinky until Home Depot comes and installs a new one. Next time I might opt for that 50,000 gallon tank model.
I turn the hot tap all the way up, and add just enough cold to make the water pressure go from “pounding power shower” to " needle-like jets boring into my skin".
That way I take about 5 minutes and feel really clean. Nothing worse than a drip-drip lukewarm shower.
F. I wake up each morning (or evening, or whatever) with very low body temperature. Then I’m expected to get out of the shower dripping wet, which will freeze me again? Forget it. I can handle the cold the rest of the day, but I need that kickstart in the morning.
