A Ramble About Showers


They say cleanliness is next to Godliness. 

 In so many cultures, bathing has its connections to holiness. Now, I'm not much of a religious person, but I can’t deny the sanctuary of a shower. The hot, steaming water, the floral scented soaps and shampoos; it’s all very ceremonial and comforting. You can really let your mind idle and wander.

I think that’s why we all sing in the shower. (And if you’re not singing in the shower you are denying yourself those fabulous bathroom acoustics!) Your mind is on autopilot, because slathering yourself with shower gel doesn’t require any brain power. Your brain has to entertain itself somehow. That’s where shower thoughts come from!  Don’t you always find that you have your best ideas in the shower? You think of that hilarious thing to tweet, but by the time you’re toweling off, you’ve forgotten what it was. You contemplate the idea of bringing your phone into the shower just so all that potential isn’t wasted, but you decide against it because there’s only so much hot water and you really want to enjoy it. After all it might be the only alone time you get today, you busy bee.

Showers are one of the best ways to avoid responsibilities other than napping or scrolling social medias. If you live with other people and you take a shower, it sends the message that you intend to do important things with your day. Maybe you didn’t wash your hair in there, but damn it if you’re not going to spray on some dry shampoo and get shit done. Or if you’re like me, you shower to force yourself to change out of your two (or three… don’t judge me…) day old pajamas and into some adult clothes. Or just fresher pajamas…

Of course the downside to showering when you live with other people is that you may not get to spend as much time showering. That hot water is precious mana from the gods and you only get so much. And then you have to SHARE. How unfortunate. But no one likes taking cold showers. I'm usually the one that stays in the water until it starts getting cold and my boyfriend gives me the evil eye as he waits a minimum of 30 minutes for some semblance of heat to return so he can take his shower. Oops. What can I say, I really enjoy my alone time in the warm water. The worst part of showering is having to get out.

The natural progression from the subject of showers is baths. I love a good bath. I love turning out the harsh fluorescent lights in my bathroom and lighting some candles for soft, low burning light and reading a book by the firelight. Sometimes I even pull out all the stops and add bubble bath and put on some music. I’ve had baths that lasted at least 3 hours. When you have a bath that long, you have to keep topping up the warm water, because it tends to get cold pretty quickly.

I used to have baths when I was a kid (duh, we all did). Sometimes my sister and I would put on our bathing suits (weird name for a thing you don’t usually wear in a bathtub) and get in the bath together just to smear colored shaving cream all over the shower wall and to make our barbies have a pool party. I remember in the summer when I would get  a sunburn or was suffering from my chronic hives condition, my mom would draw me a bath and put a packet of oatmeal treatment stuff in it and I would sit as she poured cupfuls of the warm milky colored water over me.

These days I only take baths to relax. I never wash myself in a bath. If I take a bath, I'm usually freshly showered. As an adult who has developed a slight germophobia, I can’t handle the thought of sitting in my own dirty bath water, let alone trying to wash my hair in that. Hair doesn’t feel the same when you wash it in a bathtub rather than a shower anyway. At least mine doesn’t; I'm prone to tangles. They’re a bitch to comb out of wet hair and my tender head can’t handle dry brushing.

One day I hope I get one of those ridiculously deep, long bathtubs that you can almost swim laps in. I don’t know why that’s not standard. I just want to soak in the bath with water up to my neck and not have to contort myself to do so, is that too much to ask??? I have a tiny bathtub. It’s one of those bathtub shower combos. And I rent an apartment, so I can’t really replace it with something better unless I just decide to move entirely and keep “deep bathtub” at the top of my criteria for a suitable place to live. It’s just unrealistic. *Sigh*. Someday my bathtub dreams will come true.

In conclusion, (what is this, some kind of English paper?) showers are all that is good and holy and hot water is my friend. Baths are only as good as the bath is deep (does that one even make sense?) unless you're a small child or you're just looking to relax with a good book. This post wasn’t meant to be this long, but sometimes I just start rambling and I can’t stop.

TTFN,

Paige 💜

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