William Wallace

Alina Green wrote:Dump and splash:  bucket of water, pot to ladle it over your body, standing amidst the plants.

What is that...shower?

What that is ....... Efficiency
And not the average citizen

This is such an intersting topic, but I think that the average permie is an outlier on topics like this.  What I mean is that we are more likely to conserve water compared to an average person.  Generally american water use is more than people in other countries, but maybe thats just my incorrect bias.

Those navy showers are quite efficient, but not as comfy in the winter.  When discussing shower times, I am a bit skeptical if someone is thoroughly scrubbed in a 4 minute shower.  Generally scrubbed in 4 minutes I could see.  I just do not see speed running the shower to be very effective cleansing.

I really dislike all of the shower versus bath calculations, because they compare a full tub versus a five minute shower. Even a ten minute shower is less than most people take, and left us be honest that the average american woman would use much more time than ten minutes to shower, shampoo, and shave.  

But, let us use the ten minute low flow shower (same as 5 minutes shower with regular nozzle) versus a full bath.  It is already my contention that this is an inefficient bath technique being compared against a very efficient shower technique, but this other website estimates that about 19 minute shower is about equal to a full bath tub.  This is lowered to ten minutes with a normal shower head that is not low flow.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/how-long-does-a-shower-have-to-be-to-use-the-same-amount-of-water-as-a-bath

I think a twenty minute shower is about normal for a deep clean.  We arent talking about a quick suds and rinse, but one that would compare to a lengthy bath. To me, the average bath matches the average shower, but a bath with minimizing techniques easily is more efficient than a mininizing technique for a shower. A shower is wasteful, and I think there is a campaign to make you think that a shower is the most efficient.

Want to be efficient? Take a shower with the bath drain plugged and use the water.  This is also a valid way to determine how mi h water you use during your shower, just remember that a truthful measurement would come from a deep clean, not a shower rinse.

Nina Surya wrote:
since I always find bath water cools down too fast.

The solution to this is to slowly trickle hot water in.  You also dont fill the bath, because then a little hot water does next to nothing.  I get in the bath when its a few inches of water, and I have water trickling in almost constantly.  

This works well for me, but your method may vary.

Some mention not bathing in their own funk, but one could always wash in an inch or two of water, empty the dirty soapy water, and refill.  I think that baths are much more efficient than showers.

In a shower you get the benefit of water for a second.  In a bath, you can scoop the water over your body numerous times.  I only think people imagine that showers are more efficient.

You know, you asked about washing yourself, and I have found three products that really work well for me. I cycle between them.

Miracle silver bar soap with colloidal silver works very well.  So does Lyme body wash with mandelic acid, even though they don't make sandalwood variant the toasted coconut is nice. My third is a dr bronners liquid, with the peppermint being favorite and baby unscented next.

As I was mentioning a weird grime on my body, these three help me with that.  If someone is dealing with body odor or grime issues would suggest trying the Lume bodywash. I was much more insecure about several issues before I found things that worked for me.  

Perhaps you can see how much this has effected me, by how much I started ranting about baths.  I wasn't even realizing what I was doing or why, but I see it now.

It is likely many others live with the same stress that I had.

Saunas have always been enjoyable, but in the last two years I have perfected my sauna process.  Well, it would be even better if I had an ice bath to pair it with, but I have the sauna part down.

Listening to Hubernan podcast, I dove into learning sauna for recovery to help me with Brazilian Jiu jitsu recovery.  Since my BJJ gym was expensive, I went as often as I could.  One or two sessions a week can be tough on the body, and I was going twice a day like ten sessions a week.  At one point, I was too light at 118 pounds, because I was trying to eat vegan to figure out this weird digestion or infection thing. At that low of weight, I was taking a beating and needed something to work.

Sauna was it for me, but I am an extended sauna length guy, and I think I had the process for it.  The first part is a sauna hat, I think they are Ukrainian.  I bought several on Amazon for ten bucks, bell shaped felt hats, and I was very happy with how well it worked.

I had seen a guy using one at the sauna, and was intrigued.  My experience is that this helps protect your head from overheating.  For me, this was important as I wanted to push my heat exposure time longer so thY it would help my body muscles recover. The second part to this kit is a frozen water bottle that was not filled totally and squeezed to take up the empty space.  This bottle fit perfectly on the back of my neck under the sauna hat.  The bottle cap would be toward the crown of my head, and the base of the bottle between my shoulder blades.  Having this frozen bottle on my upper spine allowed me to push my sauna times much longer.

I definitely would consult your physician for lengthy saunas if you have any medical issues or susceptibilities. It goes without saying that I was drinking as much water as I could, but listening to my body became a very efficient timer for how long to stay in.  I haven't gone to that gym for six or eight months, but I am starting up BJJ again next week, and am likely to need the sauna to help with recovery again.

I am a huge fan of sauna.

Big time bath fan here, although I use to be more of a shower guy.  This changed several years ago while trying to figure out this strange illness.  

There is some sort of overgrowth or infection in my body, and I have found taking baths with baking soda to be quite helpful.  I am fascinated at the amount of grime that comes off with baking soda in the water.

My baths are taken a bit different, as I think normal baths are recipe for disappointment.  If you fill the water up, it is bound to get cold after too long.  

My solution is to do baths with less water.  Since my bath faucet is backwards hot and cold switched, the hottest water comes out slowly.  This is perfect for efficient baths. I start by filling up with decently hot water a few inches.  Then I get in and turn the water to low so that it trickles in super hot, which just about warms the water up the amount that it cools down. If it gets too hot, I can just turn it off for a little.

Since I don't have much water, I am using small bowls to dump water over my head.  I put at least a quarter of a small box of baking soda in the bath, and it helps pull this grime off my body.  The grime gets loose and becomes slimy crescents underneath my fingernails that i scrape off into the water.

I cannot emphasize the amount of filth that comes off my body just from baking soda. I mentioned a quarter of a box, but often I put nearly an entire box of baking soda in, with a tablespoon or two of borax and sometimes Epsom salts. Occasionally I will put a tiny bit of washing soda as well, which you get from baking the baking soda.

Trickling in the hot water allows me to stay in for extended periods of time, which seems to help my mystery condition.  I have always thought the grime could be candida or possibly precursor to Alzheimer's.  I am a bit young for that, at 45, but something odd is going on.  

Have you ever tried bathing with baking soda?

Doing another load of laundry in my tub, my normal prices is to hang dry outside. In the winter, this becomes less available.

Using a canister to dry clothes gives me six hours of drying heat for two bucks and some change.  That is the cost of one load in a dryer.

This reminded me that it can help me save money.

Here's an off beat recommendation for work gloves to have around for freezing cold wet work

Japanese waterproof insulated fisherman gloves were recommended to me many years ago for hiking in cold, and I have enjoyed them much.  

They have just enough dexterity and grit for grip that I feel comfortable in them.  My choice was the insulated version, but there are non insulated versions.

I got mine a little larger (10/xl) so that I could wear other gloves inside.  

Even though I haven't used them continuously, they still hold up, flexible, just as brand new now 6 years later.

I just realize how this style of gloves could be useful to get work done in bad conditions.

https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Waterproof-Breathable-Technology-Insulation/dp/B015WU52MI/

Well there exists a genetic mutation on two lines of men which defies science.  There is much unknown about this mutation and it's purpose.