I remember my first two-minute shower. I was at camp. We had to pump quarters into the showers in order to keep the water going. It was an excellent conservation technique, but my twelve-year-old self was terrified. The older girls who had gone before me told me about how the water had shut off and soap had run in their eyes. They detailed the drama of trying to find their quarters and then the slot to insert them as their eyes streamed with soapy tears. So I went in, set my quarters in the soap dish and desperately tried to wash off that day's dirt in my allotted time. To be honest, I don't remember if I was successful, or if I got soap in my eyes, or even if I had trouble finding my quarters. Either it was so traumatic I blocked it out, or I managed to take my shower and it was no big deal.
I do not take a two-minute shower every day, or ever, but I have developed a few techniques to save water in the shower. Hopefully these tricks will help you find water conservation nirvana.
1. Condition and shampoo every other day. Most shampoos strip hair of the natural oils it produces. Over time your hair produces oils more frequently in order to replace the oils it "knows" will be regularly removed. This means you have to wash your hair more often to keep it from becoming too oily. There is even a movement away from shampoo entirely, called the "No 'Poo" movement. It's pretty interesting. I was skeptical about it at first, but I've slowly started removing shampoo from my regiment and the days that I don't use shampoo I get more compliments on my hair then the days that I do.
2. Try alternatives to shaving. If you are fond of your razor, turn off the shower and fill a cup with warm water to dip your razor in. This will let you save water while continuing to use a razor. For those of you who are brave enough to face hot wax, go for it. Perhaps for the most adventurous an epilator is a good investment. It's a tool that has little, electric tweezers. The first use is painful, the second time less so and the third time it barely tickles. The best part is it can be used wet or dry, so little or no water consumption is required.
3. For the most pious water savers: Navy showers. Step 1: Turn on the shower and get in. Step 2: Once wet, turn the shower off. Step 3: Shampoo and soap. Step 4: Turn shower on and rinse. Step 5: Turn water off. If you use conditioner, repeat steps 3 and 4 with conditioner instead. Step 6: Great success! According to The Huffington Post, Navy showers can reduce shower water consumption by ninety-five percent. Go team.
4. Don't shower when you are too sleepy. I know, this is a strange piece of advice, but I have a friend - who will remain nameless - who falls back asleep in the shower while standing up. This is an impressive feat, but I don't doubt that after a long night of work and only a few hours of sleep, I too could close my eyes and drift off upon stepping into a warm shower.
By no means do I think every day every person should shower for two minutes or less, but cutting shower time is a step towards water conservation. Older showerheads have an average flow rate of over four gallons per minute. This means that cutting a ten-minute shower down to five minutes saves twenty gallons of water, which seems well worth any shower-time sacrifice.
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Danielle Jenkins is a senior majoring in English and environmental studies. She can be reached at danielle.jenkins@tufts.edu.
