Many shower curtains are made of non-waterproof fabric, so the liner provide the waterproofing part.
My Mom has had some that were quite fancy and a liner prevented soak trough and water spots on the part that shows. Also she let the outer panel hang on the outside or the tub and the liner on the inside. It looked better that way.
Now that’s the stupidest thing I ever heard. What’s the point of a shower curtain if it’s not waterproof?
My mom always admonished me to keep the curtain inside the tub and that’s how I’m going to continue to live my life, god dammit.
The one I’m going to get is vinyl, which I assume is waterproof, right? So there’s no need to allow BB&B to scam me out of $15 of my hard-earned money for this liner business.
To look pretty. Vinyl doesn’t look pretty.
You must be one of those people who knows the difference between a blanket and a duvet.
I have a cloth shower curtain and a vinyl shower curtain liner. It looks nice.
Also, I can replace the shower curtain liner when it gets all scummy for $5 rather than buying a whole new shower curtain.
I have both a liner and a curtain in both of my bathrooms. The liner is clear vinyl (for better lighting in the shower) and the curtains are decorative to match the scheme in the bathrooms. I love it because the liners have to be replaced periodically and they’re cheap. I can throw the curtain in the laundry and keep the bathroom looking nice and stylish.
FilmGeek, you can be even more frugal and wash that shower curtain liner instead of replacing it. Use hot water in the machine and throw in a couple of dirty towels with it.
My outer shower curtain was made from a twin-size bedsheet, so it requires a liner for waterproofing.
Better yet, get one with metal grommets on it… then you can wash it repeatedly and use it until the curtain itself splits.
I have 9 years and counting on mine, although it’s starting to get kind of stiff and will probably crack the next time I wash it.
Fifteen bucks for a shower curtain liner? I get mine at the dollar store.
hehehe. A friend gave me a “bed kit” as a gift. It had sheets, pillowcases, a comforter, etc. The etc part puzzled me. I called my gf and asked, “what is a sham and a dust ruffle?”. She told me those are things people like me can toss. Good advice!
Sounds like a Regency-era insult. “You, sirrah, are a sham and a dust ruffle”.
(Actually, a sham is a sort of decorative pillow and a dust ruffle is a fabric “skirt” that hangs from the lower edge of the mattress to the floor. So you can hide the dust under the bed, presumably.)
By the way, if you don’t want a PVC vinyl shower curtain liner (mmm, new-car smell!), you can also buy nylon or polyester ones, although they’re not as cheap or ubiquitous.
That means pistols at dawn, miscreant!
No kidding. Pet birds are very sensitive to airborne chemicals (canaries in coal mines, and all that), so we had to return our reeking vinyl stinker and go find a nylon one. Perhaps the vinyl would have stopped offgassing, or whatever it was doing, with the passage of time, but we have to be vigilant to protect our feathered family members.
Incidentally, friedo, one pratical reason to have frilly pretty stuff in the bathroom is it makes girls much more likely to go in there…sometimes, if you’re lucky, to “freshen up”. 
Sailboat
I have a clear, plastic shower liner; I think it was about $10. It gets thrown in the washer periodically when it gets grubby.
I skipped the whole shower curtain thing. This was cheaper and easier. It’s not like I get hordes of strangers trouping through while I’m showering. And the bathtub gets cleaned on a fairly regular basis, so I’m not really afraid that someone might see it.
Actually I rather like the way it looks. Most shower curtains are just annoying to look at, IMO.
Buncha savages in this thread.
A sham is a decorative pillowcase, not pillow. It usually has an extra strip of fabric or ruffly lace that sticks out from the pillow when it’s lying on your bed. Like these.
A duvet is a cover that you stick your comforter inside. It’s essentially two big sheets of fabric sewn together on three sides. The fourth is open, or held closed by buttons. You can stick a non-washable down comforter inside, and then strip off the duvet for machine washing when it needs it. A blanket’s just a blanket.
And a shower curtain liner, in my case, keeps my water inside my shower and not all over the floor. The rod is hung too high, you see, and I couldn’t find a curtain long enough to meet my tub. A did, however, find a liner long enough. Go figure. I don’t wash it, exactly, but I do spray it down with a 20% bleach solution each week. Kills the mildew without wrestling with hooks to take the stupid thing down.
No, that’s a duvet cover, heathen. I think duvet and comforter are interchangeable words; they seem to call it “duvet” all the time across the pond.
Have you noticed that except for Sailboat and Cub Mistress and me, this funny little thread has garnered an ungodly number of posters with thousands and thousands of posts under their dust ruffles?
Oh, by the way, redtail23, sure you clean your bathtub. Sure.
Is that surprising? Lots of Dopers have accumulated lots of posts, particularly those of us who’ve been around for several years.
Holy crispy crap! I was going to say “well, you two and me” and then I looked up and I have more than three thousand posts! What on earth was I talking about?!
Mostly I’ve seen them in guest bathrooms, not the standard bathrooms. But if you have a rich house, why have a shabby bathroom?