On Taking Showers: Inspired by the latest (re)post

Surio · Post by **Surio** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 3:21 pm

Hi all,

Just noticed the latest (re)posts on the blog, on the topic of cold showers/Navy showers. It just made me realise how differently things are done in different places.
I could go on to confidently say that in India, Navy showers are the "typical way of showering" in households that do come fitted with showerheads and in working condition.

1. Turn shower on. Wet body and hair.

2. Turn it off. Soap yourself

3. Turn shower on. Rinse well.

4. Be done!

Most modern homes have the shower installed, but the preferred way to shower for most Indians (no, I am not generalising here) is the Indian "bathing out of a bucket" method. This topic, I've noticed is a source of hilarity among travel blogs writers and expat blogs and beaten to death regularly.
It is quite simple. Fill medium to large bucket with (hot/cold) water. Bucket is typically 10-12 litres capacity (not gallons, please note!). Said bucket is typically purchased along with a bathing mug (Search for images in Yahoo/Google and you will see how they look). Now, instead of standing under the running shower, use hand to scoop water from bucket and repeat steps above.
This method uses on average, 1-1.5 buckets of water (your mileage will vary, but will not exceed 2 bucketloads - guaranteed!). So that's approximately 15 litres of water(*) for getting yourself clean -- office dweebs or otherwise

.
(*) 15 litres = 3.29953736 Imperial gallons - thusly spake google calculator
Some links on this:

http://www.gadling.com/2007/05/26/how-t ... -of-water/

http://www.whiteindianhousewife.com/200 ... in-mumbai/ => Comments of this article is where all the bathing in bucket action is.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2001/j ... mily.india => travelogue with bucket bathing experience thrown in
I think Net engine searches on "Indian method of bathing out of a bucket" should get you whole lot of "experiences" on this topic.

Best,

Surio.

---

investnoob · Post by **investnoob** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 4:41 pm

Surio, I used that method when I didn't have hot water for a year in university. My family got behind on the bills, and we needed a large payment to get the gas turned back on (had electric heating, and that had not been cut off).
I tried taking a normal shower, at first. However, it was just too cold. So I asked myself "uh, what did people do before heated showers?" After asking the question, coming up with answer was not difficult. When the summer came, I was so used to cold water that I just took showers.
My friends did make fun of me, though! "HA HA, you take a bath out of a bucket?" I guess it never occurred to them that probably billions of people do this every day!
I can't see myself ever having to go back to those days (cold shower/bathing days not bathing out of a bucket days - which is not bad at all when using hot water), barring a catastrophe.
But it goes to show just how much we take for granted. I don't think the world would stop spinning if I suddenly didn't have hot water. But, many people do.

Surio · Post by **Surio** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 7:37 pm

Hello innoo(*),

(and a big) Welcome to the island... (Imagine/Read it with the same accent and tone that the baddie (Shik Ken) uses in "Enter the dragon", while greeting the heroes in the party - it will sound swell!)
(*) Sorry, I've shortened investnoob to innoo, but I hate calling anyone noob/n00b! Sounds so very,... NOT OK!
Famous platitude:

It is not the good times but the tough times that reveal the "true" us; how very "true", isn't it? (pun there)

Glad you tided OK from the personal hard time you went through, and super glad that you're part of the "cult"

!
I've lived abroad for a long time and had to use showers and a bath tub... but it definitely feels strange to "waste so much of water" for a mundane, functional activity.

Having said that, even in this day, for many many Indians, bathing experience is basically "walking upto and beholding a large river/tributary with lots of water flowing through"; therefore the immediate mental imagery of bathing is almost always that of "wallowing (please forgive that term!) in an abundant resource" - so I can confidently state that it is no "scarcity mindset" that makes us go for the buckets.

You wrote:

I can't see myself ever having to go back to those days (cold shower/bathing days not bathing out of a bucket days - which is not bad at all when using hot water), barring a catastrophe.

I can understand that you're coming from a point of view of having used a shower for so long in your memory of time, that not using one feels strange... But think about this, before we "graduate to shower", our parents actually did wash us by standing us in a (bath)tub and scooping water over us... So I contend, it shouldn't feel so odd to do that again. I know from your comment that you used the bucket when you were "deprived" (I wish to convey the sense of that word here), but I precisely did NOT want to convey THAT IMAGE when I wrote this.

Most people that do "shower with the bucket in India" are actually "upper middle class" (God I hate using that term). In other words, they are yuppie software engineers, middle management dweebs working for multi-national firms, bankers that live in bungalows with two cars, cook, gardner, live-in man-servant, you get it... the works! Yes there are many that work in those places and shower like the West, but I request everyone NOT to take away an image of deprivation and desperation from bathing in a bucket.
I hope that did not come as a rant *wipes froth from mouth*.
Otherwise, sincere thanks for taking the time to share your POV.
Best,

Surio.

---

AlexOliver · Post by **AlexOliver** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 9:58 pm

I think your calculator's off. 2 liters = 1 gallon.

AlexK · Post by **AlexK** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 11:49 pm

4 liters = 1 gallon

Surio · Post by **Surio** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 4:44 am

@AlexK/@AlexOliver:

Thank you for pointing this out, but may I say that:

1. My purpose was to convey "perceived gains", and not "precise gains".

2. I could have chosen to leave it at litres as that is the prevalent unit today.

but left the footnote for the benefit of US/UK readers as a courtesy.

Hate to be pedantic, but

3. It is not mine. Those numbers were Google calculator's.

4. Please also note that it says Imperial gallons(*)

And google gave that as first result.

(*) 1 gal=4.5 lit. Most Commonwealth countries use this unit.
Lastly, here's Wikipedia to clarify on the different "gallons" that exist today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallon
HTH,

Surio.

---

investnoob · Post by **investnoob** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:38 pm

Hey Surio. I agree I don't think bathing out of a bucket is deprivation. It is just a different way of bathing. It's not bad, when using warm/hot water. Just different. From what I understand it is pretty common. Like you said, I just happen to prefer showers because that is what I am used to.
what I meant to convey was that doing it with cold water, again, is something I would not enjoy! Bathing with hot water is one of life's little luxuries that I would like to continue indulging in, barring some sort of income crisis or catastrophe.

B · Post by B » Thu Dec 30, 2010 6:29 pm

Having just read the Wikipedia article on "Gallon", I will make an effort to remove that word from my vocabulary. It borders on useless. Fucking ridiculous.

Surio · Post by **Surio** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:07 pm

@innoo,

Thank you for clarifying.... Indeed, I too used to think of hot water bathing as one of life's little pleasures, but more recently(*), I have developed the same POV as Jacob had pointed in that showers post... do we externalise our ability to be comfortable by these acts??

(*) maybe because I am travelling more in the last few months, and creature comforts aren't so forthcoming in those travels.... and yes, these grapes are sour

Indeed a similar thread on mattresses also debates this very same point. so, we may be onto something here.

I haven't read Jacob's blog "cover-to-cover" so to speak, so the new (re)post was truly 'new' to me

. But I am glad the cultists have a "hive mind" after all.
@B - LOL.... and that outburst had to come from an American, I presume?(*). BTW, many, many years ago, I remembered reading in Readers Digest (Drama in Real Life, since you ask) about a major air disaster where an aeroplane ran out of fuel because of a imperial/gallon/metric fuel conversion error !!!

(*) a la "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

The plane ran out of fuel in mid-air (damn!) and the poor pilots literally "glided" the juggernaut to crash land in some place.... It was practically impossible to physically manoeuvre the damn jet without hydraulics on the ailerons - which had shut down thanks to no fuel of course! a hair-raising read for me, wonder how it was for them in reality!
I have always had the heebie-jeebies for the US-metric conversions since that story... And with the power of Internet searching, I've uncovered yet another wikipedia article for people to read! Lo and behold that Reader's digest crash is here!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

Memo to self: You must really consider giving a small donation to those fellows for all the ready links they give you

Best,

Surio.

---

livingfree · Post by **livingfree** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 5:12 pm

Surio,

Good Post! I've got to admit that a nice warm shower is one of my very few pleasures. Having said that, I just spent a week in a small RV with a very small shower and ended up using the bucket shower method as it was much more appealing than trying to negotiate the small shower with water spraying everywhere.

sky · Post by **sky** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 7:22 pm

The difficulty with the bucket method is that you have to find a private place where it is OK to let water drip on the floor.

M · Post by M » Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:04 am

@Surio - that's incredible. Most people consider me extreme because I have a 0.7 GPM showerhead. Yet in India it's normal to be even more extreme than I am. We Americans are incredibly wasteful...
@B - lol. Oh how I wish I could remove gallons from my vocabulary as well...

Surio · Post by **Surio** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 12:16 pm

@Folks,

Thanks for all your comments. I appreciate that this thread triggered so many different memories and stories in different people.
@all,

I Agree that

"Hot shower <==> life's little pleasure"
has entered everybody's collective consciousness (Even roadside dwellers here heat their bath water

). That's the point Jacob makes when he talks about "challenging the perceived values" about taking cold showers. I am going through that phase now (cold bucket baths).
And contrary to what one may think, it isn't so easy even if one lives in India. The hypothalamus is in charge and it automatically keeps its hot/cold perception levels tuned based on the surrounding environment. So, India = low cold bearing threshold

rachels · Post by **rachels** » Tue May 03, 2011 5:37 am

I spent this winter cruising on a 25' sailboat. We had a solar shower, but once we got to the Florida Keys, there was no place to get naked on deck in the crowded anchorage. Our bathing routine consisted of going for a swim at the public beach and then washing already wet hair in the handicapped stall of the bathrooms (it had its own sink and free soap.) A wet bandana could be used for other key areas. The floor was already always wet from drippy swimmers, so I don't think we irritated anyone. We both keep our hair cut short for quick washing. I also experimented with rubbing sand all over myself (to the amusement of other people on the beach) to help get off the dead skin and oil before rinsing.
Outside of the Keys where it still got down below freezing, it was pretty brutal. I tried taking wash cloth baths with hot water from the galley, but you really need to be able to pour water over yourself to get the soap and grime off. Using talc helped me feel a little better, but I think it just builds up if you can't wash and rinse thoroughly. I also tried using witch hazel as an astringent, but to no avail. Maybe we are especially greasy.
I'm not sure if there are any other boat dwellers or van dwellers, but does anyone else have a strategy for cleaning themselves without a private, designated shower space. We were often in towns too small to have a YMCA or a gym to be a member of.

mikeBOS · Post by **mikeBOS** » Tue May 03, 2011 6:56 am

@rachels Couldn't you rig up some kind of simple curtain for the deck of the boat?
When I lived in a tent for a year I had a gym membership for my showers.

george · Post by **george** » Tue May 03, 2011 8:59 am

I used to have navy showers. Now for an indeterminate time we have very limited, or at times no sewerage. (we have had several earthquakes) Theres a portaloo down the street and we use chemical loos which we also empty down the street. I did go through a period of having a cold wash out of an ice cream container and throwing it on the garden, so now a warm wash out of a basin feels like a luxury. It's ok to put up with the loss of sewerage for weeks or even months, but when you have no idea when it will end, it does get tedious. I'm not yet at my limit. I always thought I couldn't imagine living in an area where sewerage is free flowing, we did go through a time when it was flowing on to the street. So our chemical loo etc is very much appreciated. I think having a hot shower is a waste if you're not consciously enjoying the water. Then its time to switch off the water/shower etc.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Tue May 03, 2011 2:19 pm

@ Surio,
Thanks for mentioning the hypothalamus response. I never realized that it acts as the body's thermostat. Seems that people in cold climates have an increased thyroid hormone level, which increases metabolic rate, which makes you feel warmer. I've been taking cold showers since January, but I live in coastal Alabama, which explains why a cold shower always feels like a cold shower. Although, I think the initial shock is the only hard part to get used to.

Maus · Post by **Maus** » Tue May 03, 2011 9:23 pm

I've switched to the low-flow showerhead and turned the gas-heated water heater down, but I confess that a daily ten-minute shower is one of my least renounceable guilty pleasures.
I am reminded of summers as a friar. The Dominicans had a retreat house in central Oregon on the McKenzie River. The showers were rigged to a boiler that drew water from the river, and they were like a fire hydrant of glorious 105 F hydro-massage. Now that I am more enlightened about climate change, I probably couldn't enjoy the experience as much as I did. But I bear witness that a low-flow showerhead pales in comparison.

Freedom_2018 · Post by **Freedom_2018** » Tue May 03, 2011 9:51 pm

I grew up bathing from a bucket so did my whole family (grew up in India...military doctor family..."middle class"). Didn't know we were doing our bit to conserve water...always thought it would be nice to have a shower and a bath tub

Anyways, I think the bucket bathing is very functional, quick and efficient. The shower is more of a luxury. Hence when forced to take short or cold showers, it is bound to feel somewhat a sacrifice (although one gets used to it)...however if you get used to bathing from a bucket..there is nothing to sacrifice!
Oh and 1 Imperial Gallon = 1.2 US Gallons

Freedom_2018 · Post by **Freedom_2018** » Tue May 03, 2011 9:59 pm

This is an interesting site that shows how much bathing, showering, drying your hair etc. contribute to your monthly electricity bill. Based on $0.10120/kWh.
http://www.csgnetwork.com/elecenergycalcs.html
What I don't see in the calculations is for the difference between ambient temperature and the shower temperature. Also no adjustment for the mechanism of heating water..i.e. if you have a big water boiler/heater..it is likely much more water is being heated than is actually needed for the shower...