A random question for the interwebs.
When do you shower?
John recently came across a BBC article about the best time of day to shower. (According to experts, the “healthier” time appears to be the morning.)
In university, I was a morning shower person. My alarm went off at 7:00 am, I listened to the news to wake up, was in for a hot shower by 7:20, got dressed, had breakfast, and was out the door for my 8:30 class feeling squeaky clean and ready to conquer the world.
Now, I mostly shower in the evenings. There’s something about washing off the day that feels like a reset. That said, I’ve recently been experimenting with bringing back the morning shower and…I think I like it? It helps clear out the cobwebs and feels like a good foundation for the day (if nothing else, I’m clean)!
And, in the winter, I’m tempted to start taking two short showers a day. One in the morning to wake up, and a second in the evening to help with temperature regulation as I head to bed.
On a related note I think it was Kate (?) who mentioned she always dries off with a towel inside the shower stall. I dry off outside the shower, but when I stop to think about the situation, it kinda makes more sense to do it inside and keep all the water isolated to the tub area…
Like any good blogger, I’m genuinely curious to see where everyone lands on the great Shower Timing Debate!
Your turn.
- Are you team Morning Shower or team Night Shower?
- Do you notice a difference in your energy, focus, or mood depending on when you shower?
- Do you towel off inside or outside?
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I can’t sleep well if l don’t shower before bed, plus l don’t like to get into bed without a clean body. So l’m Team Night Shower. When l take a shower before bed it relaxes me and l can fall asleep more quickly. I tend to towel off partially in the shower before getting out, then finish drying on the bath mat.
I am not a morning person, so l like having extra time to drink coffee and wake up before getting ready for the day. And being clean already means l just have to wash my face and do makeup instead of a full shower.
I also love how I feel after a bedtime shower!
I think the key for my current season of life WILL be two short showers a day, maybe just one longer one when I need to wash my hair? My sleep hasn’t been ideal lately and I want to lean into the showering before bed to help prep my body for sleep.
I remember hearing someone once say, “My collar is white so I shower in the morning”. That makes sense, because in general, folks who do dirty work shower in the evening. I prefer morning because I usually exercise first thing.
Twice a day sounds right for you because of your body temperature idiosyncracies.
Great photo—is that yours, or one of those non-copyrighted interwebs types?
This is FASCINATING. And makes so much sense! Yes, so many manual labour jobs would basically require a night-time shower.
It’s a non-copyrighted interwebs one; I am just realizing I didn’t put in the link to the Unsplash website where I got it. That is my go-to for any “stock” photo!
Morning when I can get it! Sometimes afternoon or evening if I have to ( due to teens hogging the bathrooms or morning craziness). I often will skip a shower on days I can’t get one in the morning. In the summer, I might take a short shower at night to rinse off and cool down.
I think having a shower energizes me and makes me feel ready for the day. If I don’t shower, it means the morning was chaotic so I’m already off-kilter.
I dry off a bit in the shower stall – don’t want to drip everywhere and have the bathmat soaked.
I only have one teen but YES, she loves to hog the bathroom in the morning 😉
LOL, so there has to be experts telling us even when to shower! I do it after the gym or other kind of exercises, or in the morning. When we were in Italy in 37C heat it was insane – some days I showered three times. After my morning walk, in the early evening to cool down, and before bed to cool down. I’ve found that showering just before I go to bed has a nice calming effect but I also normally feel I can’t be bothered doing it unless I really need to cool down.
Oh my goodness, I would MELT INTO A PUDDLE in 37C on vacation. We had something similar when we were in Portugal and I was a sweaty mess. It was amazing and totally worth it (and we made sure to have accommodations with AC), but I had to shower before bed every night because I was so icky after being in heat.
After my workouts, which can be anytime between 10am and 4pm. I’m in and out of the shower fairly quickly, to avoid washing away too much of the skin’s natural oils. The only time it drags out is when I have to wash my hair… that’s always a hassle!
I grumble every time I have to deal with my hair! Such a faff.
In the morning, unless I’ve planned a workout, then I’ll shower later. I like having a shower, warm up achy muscles, start the day clean.
Most of the family members have training or workouts in the evening so they shower later. That works for me as we only have the one bathroom!
With one bathroom it’s important to have people divide and conquer the different times! Glad you’ve sorted it out and the timing works for everyone.
I grew up showering in the morning; my mom’s bathroom had the bathtub and she made it clear once we were teens that that was HER bathroom and she would prefer we not use her bathtub. So I prefer to shower in the morning, it wakes me up and I can take care of any bedhead situtations. On days I bicycle to class, I am lucky enough to have a locker room with showers there, so I can do that after my ride. I do take a bath in the evening, though, a very hot bath, which helps me wind down and is great for boosting the immune system.
I towel off in the bathtub, and I wish I could train the kids to do this, as it does cut down on how soggy the bathmat gets. I suspect my youngest does not towel off at all, but shakes dry like a puppy and gets into his clothes still damp *shudder*.
I grew up with parents that bathed (and still do) every. single. night. I would say they bathe at night 360 nights at year, maybe some years 365.
Haha. Yes, our kids idea of drying off leaves a lot to be desired.
I’m a morning showerer, unless I get really sweaty from a workout later in the day. I do not like going to bed with wet hair so would prefer to shower earlier in the day. I don’t love showering, I will say. I like to be clean but don’t love the process if that makes sense? I partially dry off in the shower and then dry the rest of my body off out. That is especially the case during the winter when it’s chilly in our bathroom!
I love taking showers but I hate that I have long hair that has to be dealt with. I think if I was a man with short hair, didn’t shave legs, etc, I would only feel love for showers. But I either have to put my hair up in a shower cap or get out to a solid 25+ minute stretch of time devoted to getting my hair dry and it makes me grumpy!
I’m really curious to read the comments! I have terrible bed head so I was always took morning showers, even as a kid (it was that bad!). But since I had my daughter, I really like the end of the day feeling of “washing the day off”. I’ve also noticed that it helps with my allergies when I go to bed with clean hair (mostly if I was cleaning/in dust or outside in pollen). But I really miss the morning showers! And there is no denying, my hair looks way better with a morning shower!
I think I really need to lean into to taking two showers a day at this stage in life. It’s cold outside, my allergies have been HORRIBLE, and my temperature regulation is not ideal! Even if they’re short.
My hair always is a mess in the morning but it takes so long to deal with wet hair, so I usually shower to wash my hair in the late afternoon so I have time to let it air dry a bit and so I don’t go to bed with wet hair.
Morning shower for sure! I don’t feel ready to take on the day until I have showered, put on makeup, etc. But it’s usually mid-morning these days, like 9-10 depending. I work out, walk Rex, have breakfast and then shower. In the summer it’s a little later even, more like 10-11 because I garden. I often shower twice in summer, I like a rinse-off before bed when I have sunscreen and sweatiness going on.
I HATE going to bed with sunscreen still on my skin. Ick. Yes, showers at the end of the day for sure all summer.
I love that you shower mid-morning. That feels like an excellent reset in your day (which is half over by then since you get up so early)!!
Night shower here, after my evening workout or walk. I will even shower after being out late at night because I’m a weirdo who wants to be clean after using public restrooms! LOL! And I always dry off in the shower because I can’t stand being cold. The towel gets wrapped around me before exiting and getting dressed. I definitely find that the hot water relaxes me.
Showers relax me like nothing else! Especially in the winter when I tend to be freezing all the time. Sometimes I need 5-10 minutes under scalding water to get warm to my core and it feels oh-so-good!
Ha, i’m with Catrina- I shower after my workout, and am in and out very quickly unless I (sigh) have to wash my hair, which really drags the stupid shower out. Yes, I don’t like showering! Weirdly, I do like baths- but I rarely take them. I just don’t have time in a normal day. But if I go to a hotel and there’s a nice bathtub, I LOVE a luxurious bath.
I usually shower at night. In West Afeica, everyone showers at night. You’d be all sweaty from the hot day, so it was good to get cleaned and cooled off before bed.
That makes so much sense!
Isn’t having long hair so very annoying most of the time?? Argh. It makes me grumpy. Harumph.
I loathe taking a bath. LOATHE it.
I basically always shower in the morning! It helps me wake up. Particularly when the kids were babies, I used to prioritize a morning shower if at all possible because it made me feel more awake when I wasn’t sleeping.
I don’t shower in the morning much these days but I want to bring it back. It was part of my routine that I think really helped boost my energy. I took a shower this morning and it felt GREAT! (Thank goodness for shower caps so I didn’t have to deal with wet hair.)
In a perfect world I would only shower at night, but since we live in this world, I actually shower both in the morning and at night. Lemme ‘splain.
I work out on the morning, which leaves me absolutely dripping with sweat. Therefore anytime that I work out, I NEED to shower and wash my hair afterwards. I also have dry eye syndrome, and one of the things that really helps is to put a special goopy eye lotion on my eyelids and to get into a hot steamy shower right before bed. It doesn’t work as well in the morning. I can’t see a way out of the 2x showers…I can’t skip the post workout shower, and I can’t skip the before bed shower. I try to keep them short.
I towel off outside the shower because I have to get out of the shower to reach my towel and there’s more room to maneuver outside of the shower stall.
I think you know how I feel about sweat so YES to showering after a sweaty workout! And that makes lots of sense about the dry eyes, too. I can see the steam working well. Sounds like you have this well thought out. Keep on keeping on 😉
I’ve always showered in the mornings, probably because I get crazy bedhead and even more so on damp hair, so it’s easier to take care of it all in the mornings. That said, on weekends if I’m not going anywhere in the morning, my “morning” shower might come after noon. I will shower a second time if I had on sunscreen, went to the beach, or just got extra sweaty during the day.
I put on a hair towel and then grab the body towel from the shower, but step onto the bathmat to fully dry off. Otherwise, I will invariably bang my elbow in to the wall.
I HATE the smell and feel of sunscreen on my body. Ugh. So yes, to showering after lots of sunscreen.
Team Evening shower, to wash off the day’s activities/grime and relax in jammies on the couch before bed.
BUT I have been known to *also* take morning showers, especially if I wake up with a migraine.
AND if I’ve done something particularly grimy, I’ll take a midday shower as needed … I’ve got to clean the chicken box today, because someone decided to lay a jelly egg (inside membrane but no outer shell) and step in it. SO that needs to be removed, and then I will go straight to the shower
Oh eeks; that sounds VERY unpleasant! I’d never heard of a jelly egg before. Happy cleaning…and praise the good Lord for showers!
Most days I do both a morning shower and an evening shower. From 7th grade until my late 20s I also washed my hair in the shower every morning. However, I am not a morning person, so no I usually wash my hair every other day in the evening which accounts a big chunk of the evening showers. And if I do anything where I am sweaty then I want a shower that evening too. I’m pretty sure I need the morning shower to feel awake in the morning.
I wrap up in a towel while still in the shower, but I don’t really try to dry off until I step out. Plus, I wear the towel back to the bedroom to get dressed. I haven’t really used my bathroom since the dorms in college, in fact a few weeks ago I finally put the bathrobe in the donation bag.
I am going to experiment with going back to morning showers AND tack on a quick evening shower. Will report back.
These random questions are always so fun!
Back in the day, when I had a job outside the house, it was always Morning Shower.
Now, my days are flexible and I often visit the gym in the middle of the day, then run errands, cook dinner, maybe walk? So 99% of the time, I shower at night, then go right into my PJs! I love going to bed squeaky clean.
Since our shower is the size of a small car (not bragging—it’s a bit drafty), I dry off IN the shower!
Our main bathroom is currently not usable for showering (have to get something fixed) and so we are downstairs in the coffin-like shower stall and I LOVE it. I find our bigger one (definitely not “small car”) so drafty!
I’m definitely a before bed shower person. It seems like a good way to put the day to rest. Plus… I work some early shifts and would never have time in the morning 🙂
Love the idea of putting the day to rest that way. The imagery of washing away the physical and metaphorical grime of the day is uplifting!
“Faff” – there it is again! 🙂
It’s such a delight to write and say! I got it from Great British Baking Show and now say it all the time.
I’m a morning shower person. When it’s cold out and I leave for my run or walker later in the day, then I shower mid afternoon. That’s what I did yesterday. I prefer workout first thing and then a shower. Then I feel ready to start my day. I like to grab my towel and dry off in the shower, because the bathroom is chilly. We use a bar of Dove soap and I wash my hair twice a week. Monday and Friday. That way it usually looks good for the weekend.
My mom has always washed her hair once a week (on Satutday!) It’s a whole routine. And now I’m realizing why she had things like this scheduled in! It really does make life easier if you have set days for set things.
I LOVE bar soap!
Morning, but since I’m often playing pickleball and sweating a lot first thing, it’s almost a waste of being clean. And I often take a quick bath before bed to warm up – lavender epsom salts – mmmm
I am NOT a fan of baths, but I can see them being a good wind-down ritual at night. A lot less steamy than a shower and a really all-encompassing warmth. Epsom salts would take it to a whole new level!
Generally, I prefer to shower in the morning. And I dry off IN the shower.
I almost never towel off in the shower, but I need to rethink this strategy!
That makes total sense to me; I typically shower in the evening and I do a lot of outdoor manual farm-type labor. My hubby, on the other hand tends to shower in the morning –he’s an engineer so definitely white collar, unless it’s a weekend and he’s been working outside all day in which case he’ll take a shower at night.
It makes sense if you’re working outside with your hands, getting sweaty/dirty an evening shower would be the way to go!
We grew up being friends with some dairy farmers and they had a separate bathroom off the entryway they could go to for washing off after coming back from the farm. That seemed so smart to me as a kid and I always loved going into that bathroom. It smelled like the barn!
You’re out here asking the important questions, Elisabeth! I grew up showering in the morning but in the past few years, I’ve converted to later-in-the-day showers. Usually that’s because I want to exercise first, and I still cannot get around to exercising first thing. One of these days! I also dry off outside the shower. I feel like I would accidentally touch the shower walls with my towel and I don’t like that idea.
Haha! Very important research happening here 😉
I’m chuckling imaging you trying desperately to NOT touch the shower walls with your towel!
I’ve always showered in the evenings. I hate going to bed with “the day’s dirt” on me! Plus it gets rid of any allergens that stuff up my nose at night. I towel off in the stall, but we have a nice big stall. If it were a smaller one, I’d get out.
I struggle with allergies, so I think it makes extra sense for me to shower at night (when they’re worst)…or, maybe better yet, twice a day!
This post reminds me of dinner with Birchie and San, when I started to ask them a question and wondered if it was OK to ask, and Birchie said, “I challenge you to find a question we will not answer”* Meaning, we are bloggers, this is what we do.
If I lived somewhere with enough water, I would totally shower twice a day. Once to wake up, once to wind down. My MIL does, she grew up in the rainforest and doesn’t care about drought. As is, I generally shower in the late morning (I work from home) or early afternoon, because my hair looks better when I blow dry it, and I’m not going to do that before bed (why?). Showering at night is so relaxing though. Maybe I should switch it up and just say to hell with it on how my hair looks. I’ve given up on makeup most days, why not just go all in.
If you had asked about bath vs. shower, I would have said “taking a bath feels like stewing in filth”. Sorry to bath lovers, I said what I said.
* Not exactly her wording, despite my quotation marks. But the feeling was the same.
I have very strong feelings about baths (DISGUSTING, I feel so gross), so we very much see eye-to-eye.
I have LOVED spending time in person with other bloggers and asking all sorts of interesting questions of each other. Poor Birchie was at the receiving end of many of those questions, but it made for a fascinating and wonderful time together!
I’m an evening shower person. I like how it relaxes me and frankly with being home with three little kids it feels a bit futile to shower in the morning haha!
It’s a nice, relaxing habit that signals the end of the day and all the many responsibilities.
I made fun of my parents for their predictability (and evening bath or shower 360+ nights/year), but now I’m starting to see the wisdom of it all!
I shower at night only– hate the idea of getting into a clean bed with a dirty-from -the-day body.
This does NOT surprise me. Plus, it would keep sheets cleaner for longer <3
I’m a morning shower gal – I just feel like my hair already feels greasy the next day if I shower at night. My hair is very problematic!
I’ve never thought of toweling off IN the shower. That’s why I have the mat outside the tub!
Oh my goodness, Elisabeth — that is so impressive that you remember that little tidbit about my toweling habits! I don’t even remember sharing that — maybe it was on a pet peeves post because I can’t abide stepping on a bathmat that is already soaked from the person before me dripping all over it (cough cough, my darling husband). I have a very specific method that involves bending over so my wet hair doesn’t drip on me, toweling off my body from the top down, then wrapping my hair up in the same towel as a turban, and stepping out onto the mat to dry my feet. My mom taught me to do it this way as a kid and I agree with Ernie — it’s much warmer in the shower with the door still closed. I have tried to get Nick to do this but he is much taller with a bigger “wingspan” than me and it just doesn’t work for him since he bumps into the wet shower walls/door.
I typically shower in the morning if it is a work day or I have somewhere to be outside the house; if it’s a day off, I wait until after I work out, or sometimes just skip it and do a wipedown of the “pits and bits” 😉
I have an uncanny ability to remember the tiniest (most useless in the majority of cases) of details people mention in passing 😉
Pits and bits – haha! Yup. The important parts get done and there is a lot less fuss.
I am 100% a morning shower girl for two reasons a) I work out in the morning and must shower (because I am a sweaty person) and b) my hair would look terrible if I washed it at night and slept on it (the issue with fine hair). I also really like to start the day “fresh” 🙂
I also always towel off IN THE SHOWER because I start shivering as soon as I turn off the water and barely want to open the shower door to grab my towel LOL
I do get cold getting out of the shower, but it feels so confined to towel in there. I need to try to hone my technique because now that you point out it’s much warmer that way, I think I need to re-think my strategy for towelling off!