Bath or Shower?

I once had a house with no bath, so would plug the drain hole and fill the footwell with enough water to allow my young kids a sort of bath – it was maybe only a couple of square tiles deep, but was just enough. We had no mains water either, the water being trucked up to the house in tankers if not enough rainwater was caught from the roof, a clever design that I wonder why hasn’t been adopted elsewhere. Water was always a precious commodity.

So - baths against showers? Both get you clean, both use water. I always thought a shower was better - using less water, taking less energy to heat, and you didn’t sit in your own ‘dirt’ as it was immediately washed away. A bath uses up to 80 litres of water, and according to Harvard University, the average eight-minute shower uses 9.4 litres of water per minute - roughly 75 litres of water. And you can lessen this by turning off the water between soaping and rinsing – so you could be saving the planet after all by taking a shower.

Bathtime

Baths are great for relaxing your muscles, stimulating your nervous system, and gently exfoliating skin. Sitting in your own dirt is nonsense as dirt tends to settle away from skin and most people aren't actually that grubby unless you have a really dirty job, so the amount of actual grime in your bath is small. And by soaking, you're actually soaking off all your dead skin cells.

Luxuriating in a long, hot bath also has medicinal benefits. Longstanding cultural traditions surrounding bath-time will give you a hint—the Japanese tradition of bathing, or onsen, for instance, as well as Roman bathhouses. They say taking a bath will give you a wonderful combination of isolation, quiet, and comfort - being submerged in warm water supposedly reminding us of being in the womb (and who couldn’t resist a rubber ducky and some bubbles either, while soaking).

Showertime

While trying to cut down showering time is possible, it's not always easy—especially when you're shampooing and conditioning your hair, shaving, etc, and aside from helping the planet, showering can also benefit your immune system by keeping disease-fighting bacteria living on your skin rather than off it, allowing preservation of more microorganisms and the skin's natural oils. Microbes on the skin potentially stop harmful pathogens from entering the body and reduce the possibility of skin conditions.

So, how often should you shower then? They say taking a shower every day isn't necessary. (What?). Experts recommend showering every other day, and anywhere from 2 to 3 times a week is greatly beneficial to your skin. They say daily showering may be bad for your skin because it can remove those essential oils and dry you out, which can lead to eczema, skin inflammations – and perhaps make your skin red and itchy.

Showering washes away dead skin cells, dirt, debris, and sweat, the same as a bath would. The amount you should shower really depends on your environment and your daily activities, such as working out in the gym or gardening all day. Showering also depends on your natural tendencies toward sweating, oiliness, and body odour.

Can You Shower Too Much?

Removing healthy bacteria and oil from your skin could result in cracked skin, allowing bad bacteria an entry point, which might exacerbate eczema, or trigger allergic reactions, acne, or skin infections. Even your hair can get dried out by stripping it of natural oils, and could make your hair greasy, or on the opposite end of the spectrum, creating a dry scalp and dandruff.

What If You Don't Shower Enough?

When your skin is unwashed, infections can happen, such as staph or ringworm, and apparently you can even develop a cold from bad bacteria since you're not washing away germs that cause illness. And the mixture of sweat, bacteria and dirt on the skin can definitely make you smelly and could result in acne, blackheads, and clogged pores.

I admit, given the chance, I’m a big bath person, preferably one that’s so deep I start to float to the surface!

Marilyn writes regularly for The Portugal News, and has lived in the Algarve for some years. A dog-lover, she has lived in Ireland, UK, Bermuda and the Isle of Man. 

Marilyn Sheridan