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As I think I’ve mentioned before, one of my biggest enviro-sins is bathing. That is, I love long showers, swimming-pool like baths, hot tubs, pools, the ocean, lakes, puddles and running through sprinklers (I think it comes from my Australian roots of being a die-hard swimmer). Point: I love water. And I especially love bath products in that water. But as summer heats up here on the East Coast, I’m feeling my usual remorse that I spend too much time with the shower head (hey! Get your mind out of the gutter!).
And then I came across this really quite funny video about Navy Showers:
And this slightly sexier response:
And it got me thinking about my water- and energy- wasting ways, and then I took some action. If you’re like me ladies (and I pray you’re not, because I’m a hairy beast), you might need to shave your legs every time you shower. It takes me almost five minutes to do both my legs, usually with the water running down my back. So, my version of the “Navy Shower” is now showering as usual, then turning the water off when I shave my legs, and then rinsing off. I did it once already, and it worked out perfectly, plus I didn’t feel as rushed while shaving, thinking about all the water I was wasting. I think next time, I’m going to condition my hair at the same time, and then rinse that off at the end too, so it will give my hair extra moisture. Let me know if you try this chick version of the Navy shower and if it works for you!
I don’t know if I can do this! I hate that whole “water temperature” adjustment period when you turn the water back on. Now I feel all selfish and guilty. So, maybe I will consider giving up one shower per week to compensate. My boyfriend should LOVE that. lol (Or maybe I’ll turn in my crazy neighbor who stands on her lawn all day with a running hose “making the sidewalk wet” for no apparent reason. But that’s another story for another day.)
OOts, I can totally picture that lady watering the sidewalk! too funny! In the summer I take relatively cool showers, (a consequence of only A/C in the room where I work so the rest of the house is pretty warm, even in the evenings so a cool shower saves energy and makes me chill enough to sleep) so I don’t have to worry about much temp. adjustment. Yeah, I was thinking about how I would feel turning off the hot water in the middle of a shower in the winter….maybe I’ll go back to waxing during the cooler seasons!
Oh yes! I am down to one shower a week… and my boyfriend is not too thrilled! I have to admit.. one of my indulgences are bath too
I love lighting some candles and having some soft music and have some nice bath salt.. ultimate bliss. (sigh) I might have to do this trick you are talking about.. that will save up my karma for a nice long bath. Great post!
Wow! I didn’t know there was an actual name for this kind of shower, but I’ve been doing it for years, just because I hate to waste anything. I start with getting wet, then turning off the water. I then wash my very long hair, then rinse and turn the water off again. Then I put conditioner on my hair and let it sit while I lather and scrub from head to toe. I then rinse everything and turn off the water. Total in the shower time is 15 minutes. One of these days I’ll time the actual water on time, but I would guess that it’s only 5 to 7 minutes. And yes, in the winter time it can be a bit cool. But hey, it’s only a few minutes, and actually quite invigorating. Now, if I could just get my son’s to get on the band wagon. If anyone has any ideas in that department, I would be grateful.
My dad enforced this type of bathing while I was growing up (no, he wasn’t in the Navy; he had 3 kids and a huge water bill). I had never heard it called a Navy shower until the last episode of more hip than hippie. Brilliant.
My usual “method” is get soaked, shampoo hair (i have really long hair), rinse, put on conditioner, mud mask for my face, and shave, rinse, scrub the rest of me, final rinse.
As an aside, I have always shaved my legs by one of 2 methods. Standing at the sink, stoppered with a bit of water in it, with one leg at a time up onto the counter OR sitting on the side of the tub with a little water in the bottom to rinse my blade.
All of my boyfriends and female friends have thought this is the most bizarre thing. I guess, given my upbringing, it never occurred to me to do otherwise.
I actually just got a aerator with a “pause button” I never took navy showers because of the heat reason .I like my showers ridiculously how, but the pause button keeps everything just toasty warm.
The aerator is also 1.5 GPM and cost something like $5 a TruValue. Well worth the investment.
Any suggestions for those of us with long hair? It takes a certain amount of water to get it rinsed out! I’ve switched to “leave in” conditioner to save water…only rinse the shampoo out, not conditioner.
And if we all quit shaving our legs we would do 3 important things:
1) save water
2) quit making men think that women are hairless prepubescents
3) save time to think about other ways to save the environment
Really, the hair gets soft if you don’t shave it and since I have an outdoorsy job where I wear boots and heavy pants, much of it just wears off anyway.
And no, I’ve never had a complaint from a boyfriend.
I’ve always thought of this as the European shower (not to be confused with the ultra-stereotypical joke European shower: perfume; trust me when I say this isn’t true – I come from the town that invented Cologne, and though not everyone here bathes often, they sure don’t hide it by overdosing on perfume). Personally, I hate this kind of navy shower (I sometimes think of it as a form of water torture), but only because it’s the only bathing I can do unless I jump in the super-polluted river nearby.
The thing that makes this kind of eco-friendly shower more do-able here, though, is that the bathrooms are fitted for this kind of shower (don’t ask me why). As in:
1. We only have those handheld shower heads, which makes shaving really easy (I sit down and shave, turning on the water whenever I need to rinse off and have the showerhead right there to take away the shaving cream quickly) and which makes the initial cold-water blast easy to avoid (I keep my feet out of the tub and use the first drips of cold water to clean the tub).
2. We have heaters that you turn on/off when you go into/out of a room. It’s great for winter, actually. I turn it on 2-3 minutes before the shower and have a hot steamy room before the water’s running and turn it off as soon as I’m done. Though the lack of constant heat does make for some seriously cold feet on late night bathroom runs in the winter, it’s much nicer than the outdoor compost toilet I used in the States.
3. We have an in-line water heater instead of one of those basement monstrosities that keep water hot all day. It’s a good way to save energy, though I do have to admit it’s the reason my showers never last longer than 5 minutes straight in the winter (I hate that icy splash at the end if I haven’t finished on time).
I don’t mean to imply that the Europeans do everything better or differently, but imagine how much easier that quick shower would be if you just had the right equipment. I still prefer the bath but until I get a bathroom big enough to fit a tub, I’ll have to stick with the super-quickie and lose the rep of being a squeaky-clean American (yes, the German stereotype of Americans is that we’re too sterile for our own well-being, but that’s another posting).
I didn’t know there was an actual name for this type of shower, either. Although, many years at summer camp we were encouraged to only keep the water on for the essentials, and turn it off when it wasn’t necessary since the well didn’t provide enough water for 60 kids and staff to take showers every day all summer.
I don’t notice any change of water temperature if I keep it off for the length of time it takes me to shave my legs. (which, depending on the day, could take me 5-10 minutes – I’ll often scrub my feet while I’m at it). And on the off-chance that it does cool off slightly, I only notice it for half a second. I only shave my legs 2 or 3 times a week in the summer, even though I probably should shave them every day. Sometimes I just couldn’t be bothered.
Me, I dont shave at all. I figured it was too much hassle for nothing. Nobody cares anyway. I think we have to make some major changes if we are to save this planet, and one of them is to stop buying all those products that dont do anyhing but contaminate (in production and transport) and among them a lot of beauty products. But for a start I definitely think shaving legs with water turned OFF is a good thing. Second thing: do we need to shower every day? or every second day? do we need to buy product X? can we turn the tv off for real instead of thru the remonte? Etc etc.
I definitely like to shave my pits and lower legs…the rest I wax, oftentimes myself. In the winter I let it grow in for insulation! But if I had less/lighter hair I would consider not shaving. I know some people think that it’s a bit of a patriarchal thing to shave, but people of both sexes have removed body hair in various combinations for thousands and thousands of years, so I think there may be something deeper than just a male/female control thing going on.
In the winter I shower 3 times or so a week (basically after I work out or go snowboarding…), but in the summer, without A/C for the most part, I have to shower every day before bed, otherwise I’m just too hot! But cold water only…it feels really good and since it’s not heated, it’s easy on the resources (though obv. I’m still using some water). But some people DO need to shower every day…like those people who actually work for a living rather than sitting around all day! I guess it depends on your lifestyle….
I didn’t know this kind of showering had a name since I have showered this way since I can remember. When I need to shave my legs, I too put the conditoner in my hair as well so it can work on my hair on top while I remove the once lower down!
I actually though everybody shower like that. I live in a big hill so in the dry season the water supply is really low, so we had to use little amounts of water.
And because i live in a really warm and humid place i have to shower at least once a day.
We don’t have winter so we don’t use water heaters, but when i go to the US i shower the same way, but while the water is getting warm i shave, comb my hair or scrub my face.