To ask if DH's shower routine is as mad as I think?

[Everyoneafter3]

My dh is slightly obsessive about being 'green'. We recycle, compost, walk short journeys etc.

However, his greatest obsession concerns the wasting of water. To that end, when he showers, he will turn off the water while he's lathering up. He says it saves water. I say any savings are negated by the fact the shower will have to warm up again and the boiler will have to do this twice.

WIBU to suggest this is bonkers?

Why turn off to lather up. Takes seconds to lather

I do this ..... but not by choice .... usually when I'm trying to rinse soap out my hair the F-ing thing goes off and the low pressure light comes on!! Cue shouting about who's running what elsewhere whilst I'm in the shower. If someone's flushed the loo then there's a good 2/3 minute wait before you can carry on ..... & you have to wait for it to get warm again!!!

Just be quicker. I'm sure it'd be more cost effective and economical to just be quick!!

We have a hot water tank, so I always turn the water off to apply shampoo, conditioner, or shower gel.

I imagine it would actually waste water with a combi boiler though, with having to wait for it to run warm again.

Insane...LTB

I do this sometimes, but it's only for like a minute so the water is still hot.

OMG I was really shocked when I read this post and all the comments. I do exactly the same thing and turn of the water when I am lathering or combing conditioner through. Not only that but I only half the water half flow when I am showering. My children do the same. My husband pays no attention and spends way too long in there with it on power shower. Drives me nuts. No need to waste what is ostensibly drinking water.

Yes, always in my ridiculously powerful shower. Less so when using less powerful showers or those which have dodgy temperature controls.

My husband (and his family) do this.

I have luxurious 10 minute showers with hot water all the way and no don't turn it off... However I do wee in the shower in the morning as it all goes one way... And I also brush my teeth in the shower and out depending on my mood.

My mum washes her hair over the bath with shower head and has reasonable not long showers, her DH (stepdad) has lengthy showers but he's very hairy so more hair to wash?

We both have water meters but save water, I rinse milk cartons, tins etc in water used by washing up but I also wash bigger items in Eco dishwasher on Eco wash. My mum rarely uses her dishwasher this way despite me saying it saves water.

Ha ha ha ha this has cracked me up! Ridiculous!!

I do this at the pool showers which are button controlled.

Lovingit81

Oh dear...on a cold day I run the shower for a few minutes to warm the bathroom up. Ours would definitely come back on cold. We have an aga heating the water up, so plenty of hot water. We also have our own bore hole so no water bills. But if we were in a drought I wouldn't waste water.

Fairly common here. Not mad at all, very responsible thing to do. Why have a shower run masses of litres of clean water straight into the drain while you lather?

its weird if hes trying to save 5 cents but grill him if he goes and buys a 6 dollar venti

A lot of those things are sorted at the Recycling centre by machines and people. If no one washed their recycling it becomes at worst a health hazard, at best unpleasant for those sorting. If you have a garden you could collect rain water for rinsing recyclables.

Not mad - I do that. Just as I don't leave tap running whilst brushing teeth but also how can you lather up if the water's running over you?

We have a water meter, our bill in the summer was ridiculous so we decided to take some small steps to reduce our usage including turning off the shower while layering up... we received our bill this week, £120 for 6 months! That's less than half of what our last bill was so your dh will most definitely be saving water by doing this.

We all do this.
Jump in, shower on for a quick wetting and then shower off.
Lather up with a loofah/ rough cloth, lather hair and then rinse off. I squeeze conditioner into my lathery hand to apply as I'm rinsing. Plug is in to soak feet.

My DH lived in Africa for a while and can wash in a basin of water. He catches the first wetting water in a bucket he stands in and then uses that water to rinse after lathering.

I think it's criminal to waste drinking grade water.

We catch our grey water to water the garden plants.

I brush my teeth with half a cup of water. Only run the tap for a few seconds. Dip brush in, toothpaste on, brush away.
Use half water in cup to rinse mouth and half for the brush.

There's no need to be wasteful.

What planet will your grandkids' children live on?
We're depleting the groundwater at a rate that isn't being replaced.

Was expecting something much stranger than this. I can't say it's something I do in the UK (bad person, too cold) but ive seen stickers in hotel showers when on holiday in long haul destinations asking that guests do this. Some have been pretty nice hotels.

I don't see why it matters as long as he isn't forcing everyone to do it too...

AlmostAJillSandwich

Our shower is the same, I've discovered you can get warm water back much more quickly by repeatedly turning the control from 80-100% temp. It seems to co-operate far quicker this way.

I only switch off for occasional leg shaving but don't shower for more than 2-3 minutes or maybe 5-6 if washing hair.

Oh dear. I'm very sorry, but all you people that do this - I think you are only compensating for the gallons and gallons of water that DD uses very morning . The times I've caught her running the shower for ages before she gets in, and then shouting at her to get back out after half an hour.

I am very very sorry.

Do people really brush their teeth with running water? Now that I find silly and wasteful, why!

Do you never get tempted to turn off the stopcock and tell her she's used up all the water in the tap Tiger-Who-Came-To-Tea style?