So DH thinks a 20 minute shower is perfectly normal

[sprigatito]

I can't understand what he is doing in there for 20 minutes I don't consciously rush, but I'm in and out in about 5. Wash hair, wash body, done.

This is a very unserious post, we aren't falling out over it, but just for shits and giggles...do you think a 20 minute shower is the norm?

Blimey, don’t any of you taking long showers consider what your use of water is doing to the environment? All the hot water being heated, the clean water just going down the drain while you are relaxing?

Totally get you need a longer shower if shaving 🪒 or washing your hair 🧖‍♀️🧖‍♂️🧖 but if you’re not doing those, then a short shower should be the norm.

I turn the shower off while I’m lathering my hair, mostly because the menopause has fecked with my thermostat and I don’t have the tolerance for hot water that I used to have.

I’m not a eco warrior, but people please, 🙏🏻 we have a planet to save. 🌍

If I'm washing my hair and shaving my pits, legs or both then twenty minutes is about right. Body scrubs, face scrubs or any foot care also adds time.

And what exactly are you doing to support that aside from short showers?

We have 2 electric cars
Air source heating, solar panels and batteries
We don’t fly
We grow a lot of our own food and have hens
We compost and recycle

We are doing our bit, I’m buggered if I’m taking away my nice showers whilst other people piss about driving shitheap polluting cars everywhere, heating their homes with gas and flying to Benidorm dressed head to toe in Shein.

I know right, either she's newly married or has lived a very sheltered life, probably both.

Yeah agree it’s a long shower and if he’s running the water the whole time (not switching off for washing, shampooing, shaving) more water/energy efficient to have a bath.

I think about 20 minutes if I'm washing my hair, or 15 minutes if not.

Our DS20 spends a ridiculously long time, but our DD17 often skips it, so it's all balanced out, energy wise I guess!

I'm 30 minutes 😂 I have long hair mind, shampoo, conditioner, wash, shave, I do a rub in cream. I put menthol in the bathroom and that and the steam helps clear my head and mind and I love the feel of the heat on my achy body. Then last 2 minutes I endure it freezing because it's meant to be good for me so I feel I should 😂 I have music on and bat those 2 minutes it's my destress time.

Yet another one of these threads! I probably take 20 minutes however, I ensure thoroughly soaked whilst I soap up pits and bits. Turn off water. Scrub up using nice shower gel, turn off water and do first shampoo and then rinse. Second shampoo, rinse and condition, turn off water. Scrub any remaining areas before final rinse. I would do this even when using other peoples water / energy e.g at the gym / hotels. I actually enjoyed the 'bucket' baths I experienced in third world countries. It certainly makes you appreciate the amount of effort it takes to heat and save water! Ideally, I would save the water I waste before it heats up (and have done in the past) for garden etc. but not feasible.

@Idontlikeyou yes, people absolutely should do more but for whatever reason they can’t/won’t. In part it may be due to a lack of understanding. There’s definitely a lot of people who don’t give a shit because they don’t see how global warming is affecting them. But it’s also about not having money so they can’t install solar panels, or replace their boiler with an air source heating system.

You’re certainly pulling your weight - we do what we can, recycling, hybrid car, rarely fly - once in the last decade, alas no space to grow our own food or keep hens. And no budget for solar panels. Still don’t understand why you think buggering about with overly indulgent long showers is a good use of precious clean water.

I am a millenial. We have planet to save, economy to save, no view of retirement existing, stagnating wages, super housing costs vs salaries, I could go on.

I will have my 2x a week 20 minute shower. Thank you.

Interesting to see, if the shower is in the bath, rather than a separate one, is to put the plug in and see how much water is being used for a 20 minute shower.

(Plus you can then also have boats and things and pretend they are in a storm.)

I timed myself this morning

15 min including conditioning hair.
however, I do not let the water run the whole time.
get wet
switch off water
lather hair/body
rinse off
switch off water
condition & shave
rinse

My first thought but then it turned into a long thread about female showers!

OP...SMH...you know he's giving his willy a good soap up while he's in there, or he's singing a song and swinging his hips hard enough to turn it into a thigh-slapping drum and having the time of his life.

I actually take longer than 20 minutes because I like to zone out, think, sing at the top of my lungs until my kids scream at me to STFU. I also have really long hair I like to take care of and do all the hair masks and exfoliate my skin. I spend hours in the bath. There is no rule as to how long you should spend and we need to stop with all this rigid conformity.

I don’t think 20 minutes is out of the ordinary.

I spend 15 to 20 minutes in the shower every time and I don't shave anything. I just wash carefully and enjoy the peace and steam and lovely smells.

I can easily spend 20 mins in the shower. It’s the perfect way to have some peace. Whack the music up, have a sing along and unwind after a day of work, children, pets and your partner.

That said if I have a morning shower I’m 2-10 minutes depending if I’m washing my hair or not.

Sometimes the bathroom is the only place to get some peace!

20 minutes sounds perfectly reasonable OP.

20 minutes, for me, is way too long for a shower. I’ve got a shower timer and if I take longer than 4 minutes I’m disappointed 😂. Wash hair, rinse, put conditioner on hair, wash body, rinse hair and body, get out. My DH is also a fan of a speedy shower, even with shaving included.

20 minutes is a long time in a shower imo, although I could possibly take that long if I was using hair removal cream on my legs & shaving my armpits. When I wash my hair I rarely bother with conditioner as it tends to make my hair greasy or weight it down so I am usually in & out pretty quickly. We haven’t got a bath but I would definitely take much longer soaking in the tub than grabbing a shower.

Surely everyone knows what men do in the shower?

We once stayed at an air BNB in Cornwall, where for some seemingly valid reason I’ve forgotten, there was a 4 minute timer on the shower! Funnily enough, we (me, dh and a Dsis) managed.

I usually take under 10 minutes, including washing hair.

Probably for energy or water consumption. Either due to the cost, or because they were on an immersion heater and if one person used up all the hot water, the rest of the party would need to wait until more was heated up.

It is rather astonishing in these times when 'everyone' is complaining about how far their money doesn't go any more and falling over themselves to show concern for the environment, how many people think it's perfectly reasonable to have indulgent, overly long showers, often multiple times a day.