# When did showers become popular in the US (instead of baths)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2024, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135 "2024-03-21T10:23:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/21 "2024-03-22T02:04:07Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The modern shower did not become available until the 1960s with the introduction of electric showers. > [@gnoitall](#): > > Nothing refreshes like a gentle cascade of warm electrons. An electron-based shower sounds like something Asimov would’ve thought up for one of his overcrowded future megacities. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/22 "2024-03-22T05:57:45Z")
Electric showers occasionally lead to electrocution. > ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/23 "2024-03-22T06:47:27Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > If you are just bathing at home and have to slowly/laboriously/expensively heat pots of water, how often are you going to fill up an entire tub full of water, versus calling it quits after soaping up and rinsing off, skipping the final soak? In poorer households in the UK, it wasn’t uncommon for the old tin bath in front of the fire to be used for a weekly bath with the individual members of the family using the same water, topping up with a kettleful of hot water occasionally. The rest of the time it’d be a spit and a lick basin wash. Or using public bathhouses, which were a thing until well into the 20th century. Even into the 1970s there were government grants to pay for installing a separate bathroom in older houses. ---
**Author:** ![ColdBrew50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@ColdBrew50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdBrew50)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/24 "2024-03-22T08:45:05Z")
This is related, but a possible risk of veering OT. So we have showers…some technical explanations, mixed in with maybe some kind of Protestant Work Ethic. And the good old bath…especially nice when you get to be the first one in! But I never hear too much about the so-called “French bath” (or sometimes “hoor’s bath!”)…yes, I’m fairly confident most people are familiar with the practice. I find 9/10ths of the time it’s just fine…on par with a brisk shower. Is it some American thing that demands the use of gallons and gallons of water, presumably every day (which is weird IMHO and considered eccentric by many Western or industrialized nations) when far fewer natural resources can be deployed to accomplish the same thing, as far as I can tell? (Unless one washes one’s hair daily or some such, which I find to be questionable, but live and let live). ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/25 "2024-03-22T09:53:39Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > In poorer households in the UK, it wasn’t uncommon for the old tin bath in front of the fire to be used for a weekly bath May I widen the subject to include not just when, but how often showering (and bathing) became common? In England, 1965 ish–it was common for my schoolfriends to talk about their “bath night”. (for example: they might say that they can’t watch a television programme because it is scheduled on their bath night.) My school was a “public”–i.e a private school… so these were well-off, upper middle class families.\* My house had old-fashioned bathrooms-- with the old-fashioned flush system ( a handle on a long chain that went up to the cistern near the ceiling), but it had a normal shower --a showerhead over the bathtub. As an American born kid, I had never heard of the concept of a “bath night”. How long did the custom persist in England? . . \*(to help define “well-off”: the school exists today as a larger institution, and its website says annual tuition costs 18,000 pounds. I assume that price includes a free shower after Phys. Ed. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/26 "2024-03-22T11:51:19Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > In poorer households in the UK, it wasn’t uncommon for the old tin bath in front of the fire to be used for a weekly bath with the individual members of the family using the same water, topping up with a kettleful of hot water occasionally. That was my dad’s experience growing up in rural Canada. The family would get baths in order from youngest to oldest (on the principle that the smallest family members got the water less dirty after use). ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/27 "2024-03-22T12:31:30Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > As an American born kid, I had never heard of the concept of a “bath night”. How long did the custom persist in England? I’m not sure that was a custom exactly. I’m American and the only thing that seems even a tiny bit odd about “bath night” is the idea that it was pre-scheduled for a set night each week. I grew up in a family that had six people sharing one bathroom - there was no such thing as taking a bath or shower in the morning. And I knew people who lived in the sort of old-fashioned NYC apartments that still had the bathtub in the kitchen so at a certain point they would arrange to bathe when the other occupants were not home. In those situations it might be easier to have somewhat of a schedule - for example, I bathe on Wednesday because that’s my parents’ bowling night but I might bathe on Tuesday this week because they’re at bingo. Or there’s six kids and we go to sleep at 8 pm so only one bath fits between dinner and bedtime. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/28 "2024-03-22T12:32:58Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > In England, 1965 ish–it was common for my schoolfriends to talk about their “bath night”. (for example: they might say that they can’t watch a television programme because it is scheduled on their bath night.) There used to be an advertising slogan for a shampoo: “[Friday night is Amami night](https://interwarlondon.com/2021/01/27/4/)”. Not necessarily tied to a bath or a shower, but there’s an implication that it’s all about getting ready to go out on Saturday, perhaps. More recently, as we’ve slowly updated our domestic plumbing, and younger people in particular may have been influenced by the Australian soap operas (where the standby way to get a character out of a room is for them to say they’re off for a shower - or am I being flippant?), more frequent showering is more popular, as is converting bathrooms to “wet rooms” with overall tiling and only a (powerful) shower. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/29 "2024-03-22T20:07:56Z")
> [@ColdBrew50](#): > > Is it some American thing that demands the use of gallons and gallons of water, presumably every day (which is weird IMHO and considered eccentric by many Western or industrialized nations) Are you saying other Western industrial nations view almost daily showers or baths to be weird? Brazilians apparently shower twice a day, and I know my German friends shower or bath usually daily. > **[Showering Habits Around the World](https://rainstickshower.com/blogs/our-stories/showering-habits-around-the-world)** > > We know that cultures around the world are vastly different in their heritage, mannerisms, and dialects, but have we ever stopped to think about how differently we do something as simple as showering? We’ve listed some countries that are showering's... According to [Harvard Health](https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/showering-daily-is-it-necessary-2019062617193), 66% of Americans shower daily. There is no ideal frequency for showering however, with global warming changes some people have begun showering for less time. Research done by [Kantar World Panel](https://www.dailyinfographic.com/world-shower-habits) shows that the average number of showers per week is 7 with the average duration being 9.1 mins. ## United Kingdom According to Research done by [Kantar World Panel](https://www.dailyinfographic.com/world-shower-habits), 83% of people in the UK shower an average of 9.6 minutes. They shower up to 6 times per week and prefer to do so in the morning. > **[Showering Habits Around the World](https://rainstickshower.com/blogs/our-stories/showering-habits-around-the-world)** > > We know that cultures around the world are vastly different in their heritage, mannerisms, and dialects, but have we ever stopped to think about how differently we do something as simple as showering? We’ve listed some countries that are showering's... _Hygiene is very important to Brazilian culture. According to Research done by [Kantar World Panel](https://www.dailyinfographic.com/world-shower-habits), the average Brazilian showers 14 times per week. 90% of Brazilians also prefer to shower over taking a bath._ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/30 "2024-03-22T21:56:36Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > So do Brits consider American showers, which do typically rely on a largish tank style water heater, to be old fashioned? I wouldn’t say I regard them as old fashioned. If I regard them as anything in particular, I’d say they might be an affluence thing. Many households in the UK don’t have (or historically, haven’t had) the sort of plumbing arrangement that would support a tank fed shower without a relatively expensive upgrade to deal with the needed volume of hot water and/or the pressure of hot and cold supplies. Mixer showers are/were a thing here, but at the point when instantaneous electric showers were getting acceptably good, mixer showers were typically temperamental - ie there would be a knob with about 300 degrees of rotation to control the mix, but a tiny, impossibly small and unstable zone in which the water would be comfortably warm rather than freezing or scalding - electric showers typically had a smaller flow, but were cheap, easy to fit into older settings and somewhat more controllable, so we went down that road. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/31 "2024-03-23T08:35:26Z")
Just in case anyone is confused, that type of electric shower is not at all similar to the instantaneous electric showers popular in the UK. Ours are like this: [https://www.screwfix.com/p/triton-t70gsi-white-10-5kw-electric-shower/9233P](https://www.screwfix.com/p/triton-t70gsi-white-10-5kw-electric-shower/9233P)? Whilst I wouldn’t ever say it would be absolutely impossible for someone to be harmed by an electric shower of the type that is common here, it would require some sort of interference or modification in the fitting, because unlike the ones in your linked article, ours have safety features such as double insulation and earthing etc and the water is heated inside an enclosed boiler so there is never any contact between the water and the live conductors. The suicide shower type units are unsafe in normal operation. It’s normal for water to be flowing directly over live conductors and you’re just supposed to know not to touch them when you take a shower. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/32 "2024-03-23T09:36:07Z")
When I grew up in the '80s bath night until you were around 12-13 was usually Saturday night for church and sunday night because of school … and maybe the night before a special event like dr appointments or family visits or something like that it wasn’t until jr high that I took a bath every night… although I should have taken it in the morning before school but I was a lazy ass and didn’t want to get up any earlier than I had to Although in farming communities the adults follow the same routine ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2024, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/33 "2024-03-24T13:17:20Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The suicide shower type units are unsafe in normal operation. It’s normal for water to be flowing directly over live conductors and you’re just supposed to know not to touch them when you take a shower. I have heard of people getting some current from just the stream of water… > [@ColdBrew50](#): > > But I never hear too much about the so-called “French bath” (or sometimes “hoor’s bath!”)…yes, I’m fairly confident most people are familiar with the practice. I find 9/10ths of the time it’s just fine…on par with a brisk shower. I have stayed in hotel rooms in France where there was no bath or shower. There was a basin, though. It was not some kind of love hotel, just not five stars (therefore cheaper). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/34 "2024-03-24T15:54:33Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I have heard of people getting some current from just the stream of water… Yeah, the water is passing over a bare resistive heating element. If there is a path to ground via the water and/or your body, some of the current will take that path. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/35 "2024-03-26T13:42:42Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > > [@ColdBrew50](#): > > > > But I never hear too much about the so-called “French bath” (or sometimes “hoor’s bath!”)…yes, I’m fairly confident most people are familiar with the practice. I find 9/10ths of the time it’s just fine…on par with a brisk shower. > > I have stayed in hotel rooms in France where there was no bath or shower. There was a basin, though. It was not some kind of love hotel, just not five stars (therefore cheaper). I think he’s referring to what I’ve always called a “sponge bath”. Where you use a sponge (or, more often, a washcloth) with some soap and the kind of sink you might wash your hands or fill a cup of water in, to repeatedly wet the washcloth. Many years ago i stayed in a cheap hotel in Paris that only had facilities for a sponge bath, plus a bidet, in the room. I dunno if that’s a French thing. I think of it as a cheap thing. Sometimes, when i didn’t have access to a shower, i have taken a sponge bath in a public restroom. Like getting off a long international flight and feeling gross enough that i want to wash even before i get to my hotel. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/36 "2024-03-26T13:48:51Z")
I wonder if running hot water preceded the popularity of showers. Because I admit to being spoiled but I really can’t deal with a cold shower (except in the hottest part of the summer), especially not in the winter when the rest of the house is already cold and the water is too (roughly fifty-something Fahrenheit). ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/37 "2024-03-26T13:54:15Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I think he’s referring to what I’ve always called a “sponge bath”. I think it might be slightly different - “sponge bath” or “bed bath” usually means to bathe the whole body using a sponge ,washcloth or pre-moistened wipes. “French bath” or “whore’s bath” basically means pits and privates. ---
**Author:** ![a6ka97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@a6ka97](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a6ka97)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/38 "2024-03-26T15:38:18Z")
One of my rental houses, small 2 bedroom ranch, was built in the late 1950s. Tub only, no shower, with a small window centered above the side of the tub. Luckily we found some spare metal siding in the rafters of the garage and filled in the window and installed a tub/shower combination. Other houses from that era I have looked at have the same setup but some will have a free standing metal frame shower in the basement. Maybe advances in water heaters and the ability to hold/regulate water temperature for the duration of the shower helped the popularity? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/39 "2024-03-26T16:22:25Z")
That’s what I was wondering. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135/40 "2024-03-26T22:17:33Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > I think he’s referring to what I’ve always called a “sponge bath”. > > I think it might be slightly different - “sponge bath” or “bed bath” usually means to bathe the whole body using a sponge ,washcloth or pre-moistened wipes. “French bath” or “whore’s bath” basically means pits and privates. I mean, if you are already in a cheap hotel room where you have to resort to a sponge bath, why not wash your arms and legs and hair and the rest, besides pits and privates, while you are at it? That’s what I always did. Though, I _have_ taken a “whore’s bath” under other circumstances where I was sweaty and did not have the time or opportunity to get cleaned up properly, like @puzzlegal relates. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-showers-become-popular-in-the-us-instead-of-baths/999135.md?page=3)