Many of us are guilty of indulging in that long shower.  We use the shower to wake-up in the morning, or to relax after a long day.  Some of us brush our teeth in the shower, shave, sing, contemplate...But it is time that we rethink how we use the shower.  The average shower in the U.S. is 8 minutes long using 16 gallons of water per shower.  The average person takes 6 showers a week at eight minutes totaling 4800 gallons of water per year.  This translates to roughly 1.5 trillion gallons of water used for showering in the U.S. per year-- or enough water to fill up Lake Erie.


So you compost, recycle, bring your reusable bags to the grocery store, carry around your SIGG bottle...but you still  take those long showers.  Consider this next time you leave the water running. 5.3 billion people- 2/3 of the world's population- will suffer from water shortages by 2025.  Is it all connected- absolutely!


So if you feel inspired to reduce your shower (even by one minute to start) because all our small actions make big actions collectively.  These are the steps to take a three minute shower:



1. I am sure that I have all the things I need; shampoo, conditioner, soap, towel. Now I do not find myself  running to the downstairs bathroom or searching through the bathroom cabinet for the bar of soap with the water running.


2.  I undress so I am ready to jump in the moment the water is warm.


3.  I place my collapsible water bucket under the running water to collect the water as it warms up. The Ripple Products bucket is great because it does not take a lot of space and it is lightweight but any bucket would work.


4. I turn the water on.


5.  As soon as the water heats up I step into the shower put my star shower timer on for 3 minutes.


6.  The sequence of showering matters when your goal is to be efficient.  For me because I condition my hair, I shampoo first.


7.  Next I condition my hair as it is leave in conditioner.  At this point I have about a minute and a half left on the clock. 


8.  While my hair is being conditioned I lather my body.


9.  Than I rinse my hair and body.


After the shower I feel clean, refreshed, and glad to know that in my small way I am contributing to more drinkable water for the earth's population.