Prozac? Nope, just take a bath!

June 27, 2011 9:17 AM

Do you feel lonely or isolated in your 21st century life? Have you considered taking a hot bath? How hot baths can help dispel feelings of loneliness...

To read more about the studies

"...Feelings of social warmth or coldness can be induced by experiences of physical warmth or coldness, and vice versa. Here we show that people tend to self-regulate their feelings of social warmth through applications of physical warmth, apparently without explicit awareness of doing so."

posted by Kronur (70 comments total)

That does it. I'm hiring a plumber to fix my broken bathtub drain.
posted by gillyflower at 9:23 AM on June 27, 2011

this story makes me feel sad. I will now go take a hot bath with my plastic yellow duckie to feel better.
posted by Bwithh at 9:24 AM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

My shower has two heads, so I'm about as lonely as Hugh Hefner.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:31 AM on June 27, 2011 [9 favorites]

A traditional Korean day spa recently opened in Dallas and I swear it has done more for my depression/anxiety than meds or CBT. I try to go once a month. Warm baths of varying temperatures, steam room, sauna are about as good as Xanax for me.
posted by punkfloyd at 9:32 AM on June 27, 2011 [3 favorites]

Yet another study funded by John Cusack and the rest of The Hot Tub Industrial Complex. Damn, haven't we had enough of all the suffering and wrinkled skin? Flagged.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 9:34 AM on June 27, 2011 [3 favorites]

I'm a hot bath aficionado.

Sadly my first attempt with rubber ducks ended in dismal failure. Upon placing him in the bathwater for the first time, he promptly fell over and, for all appearances, began to commit ducky suicide. I regret to say that I responded with anger and frustration as I squeezed him and let him ingest water until he sank to the bottom. RIP ducky, RIP.
posted by RolandOfEld at 9:37 AM on June 27, 2011 [4 favorites]

I get the same warm, validated feeling when I shave my arms and put on a long sleeve t-shirt. I say it's for the tattoos, but mm-MM, you haven't lived...

*sliiiiiiiide.

...Oh God- I'm going home to put one on right now.

(*web cam view of empty swivel chair spinning, slowing...)
posted by herbplarfegan at 9:38 AM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

I somewhat agree. I do it more as a means of meditation.
posted by stormpooper at 9:39 AM on June 27, 2011

God, I hate baths. I feel like a bored, resentful, trapped walrus when in a bathtub. Feeling desperately lonely and isolated seems like an attractive alternative. I'm supposed to take Epsom salt baths to help with my chronic fatigue, and that plan has gotten about as far as my buying a $1 carton of salts.
posted by orange swan at 9:42 AM on June 27, 2011 [7 favorites]

The problem that I have with baths is that once you put all 6'2" of me in the bath, there's no room left for water.
posted by octothorpe at 9:47 AM on June 27, 2011 [10 favorites]

Yet another study funded by John Cusack and the rest of The Hot Tub Industrial Complex.

Hey, I know I'd be a lot less lonely if I took a hot bath with John Cusack...


did i say that out loud?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:47 AM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

Taking a warm bath dispels my feelings of loneliness because it induces the bebe in the belleh to go to berserk.

Then there's Toddler Zizzle who'll come in and try to give me his bear, because stuffed bears get dirty too.

And then there's my husband who'll come in to get Toddler Zizzle out after a few minutes so, "Mommy can have some Mommy time."

So, this study feels true to me.

Because I'm never actually alone while taking a bath!
posted by zizzle at 9:47 AM on June 27, 2011

Have you considered taking a hot bath? How hot baths can help dispel feelings of loneliness...

Well, for me, it's mostly the scotch, beer, and smokes. Hmmmm bath.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 9:56 AM on June 27, 2011

A cup of Batherapy in the water, a bottle of beer at the side of the tub, a couple of good magazines at the ready (one more thing you probably don't want to do with a Kindle), and I'm happy. It's finally happened: by age 58 I've lost close to an inch, so I'm only 6 feet tall now. I sympathize with the 6'2" guy up above: I can just barely do it in an old tub.

By the way, public Japanese baths are a little different. You scrub yourself silly, rinse off, and then get into an almost-too-hot-to-stand-it bath. It's nice in December, when you live in a cold dump in Ikebukoro, the student district in Tokyo. It keeps you warm before bedtime.
posted by kozad at 10:07 AM on June 27, 2011

I enjoy soaking in a pool of my own filth, how could I feel lonely doing so?
posted by maxwelton at 10:07 AM on June 27, 2011 [5 favorites]

I was thinking about the joys of hot bathing... then I started noticing the chick in the picture and how much soapy water is trapped in her collarbones and now baths squick me out.
posted by Foam Pants at 10:09 AM on June 27, 2011

The problem that I have with baths is that once you put all 6'2" of me in the bath, there's no room left for water.

Yeah, being tall is a drag in this regard, and it's completely stopped me from taking baths in the last decade (the only tub in my house is way too tiny for that), but I've sworn that one day I'm going to refinish one of the bathrooms and I'm putting in one of those clawfoot monstrosities and I'm going to then spend a week straight in it.
posted by quin at 10:11 AM on June 27, 2011

One of the things I always wanted to build if I ever had the funds available was to build something akin to the 'Bacta Tank' from The Empire Strikes Back.

Just a clear plexiglass cylinder, about 4' in diameter, a large modified fish tank/pool filter, an air pump/rebreather/regulator, and some weights to have balanced buoyancy. And just hang out for a while. All the benefits of a warm bath, coupled with the relaxation of a sensory deprivation tank.

Although I would have to do something about the goofy diaper design in that linked picture. Nothing will disturb the relaxation time than constantly thinking you just look like a guy wearing a diaper underwater.
posted by chambers at 10:22 AM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

My mom raised her children on hot baths being the cure for everything. Now at 36 when I'm sick, sad, lonely, bored I head to the bath. It also must include a book. I don't know what you do in a bath without a book. I've spent hours in a tub with a paperback just reheating and reheating the water. I live in a place with no tub now and I miss it incredibly. Showers don't seem to cure sadness enough.
posted by kanata at 10:22 AM on June 27, 2011 [7 favorites]

Showers are excellent if you want to have a weeping fit.
posted by Peach at 10:31 AM on June 27, 2011 [9 favorites]

A few years back I was on a road trip, and stopped over in the Santa Cruz youth hostel. I'd had a generally bad day on the road, and it was made worse by the bizarre parking rules at the hostel (you had to get a parking pass from the hostel and then drive three blocks away to park in a lot reserved for residents of this particular apartment complex, and there were some other weird regulations I don't remember) and the paucity of available rooms (I ended up on the top bunk of a bed directly under a sloped ceiling, so if I rolled over the wrong way and sat up I'd bump my head). I walked around Santa Cruz a bit to settle in, then thought "screw this" and figured I'd go back to the hostel, have a shower, and just get into bed with a book. I went down the hall to where I'd seen the showers were, but the stalls were all occupied. Then I noticed a second door further down the hall from the showers, and I opened it, figuring there may be more showers there.

And then I stared in absolute wonderment because what was in that far room -- and it was the only thing in that far room -- was an enormous clawfoot bathtub, with brass fittings, and all clean and sparkling and gleaming white. There was even a rubber duckie sitting in the soapdish.

I was so excited I ran down to the front desk just to babble my thanks at having such a glorious-looking tub. The staff at the desk burst out laughing and said, "yeah, a lot of people like the tub...but if you're going to have a bath, you'll need this." And they handed me a bottle of Mr. Bubble, which they'd also gotten expressly for people who wanted to use the tub.

I stayed in there an hour, I came out in love with the whole world and I slept very well.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:32 AM on June 27, 2011 [10 favorites]

I feel better when I take a hot bath with a book, but I think it has more to do with my joints and the joy of undisturbed reading than loneliness. (Undisturbed in this case means my ADD self isn't reaching for my phone.) I get the best quality reading done in the tub these days.
posted by immlass at 10:33 AM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

How hot baths can help dispel feelings of loneliness...

1) Get in large, hot, 2-person jetted tub
2) Do this with at least one other person in the tub
3) If you are doing this correctly, you will need to shower afterwards
4) Rinse and repeat. Literally.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:39 AM on June 27, 2011 [3 favorites]

I like hot baths till I fart in the water. Then it's a rush to get out. Soothes the wrong part of me I guess.
posted by Sweetmag at 10:40 AM on June 27, 2011

Learn to trap your farts in soap bubbles. Carefully store the soap bubbles in a bucket or other large, open container with a lid, then seal the container when you are finished. Not only will you have saved yourself from a bit of unnecessary unpleasantness, but you also now have a sealed container of deadly gas to torment your friends and family with at your leisure. Really, this is the second best thing one can do in a bath.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:47 AM on June 27, 2011

If using hot tub: careful for stuff that causes illness, ie, bacteria.
Will sauna do the same for you?
posted by Postroad at 10:50 AM on June 27, 2011

I was one of those kids that got into trouble no matter where I went. I fell into the fountain when my mother graduated from college. I walked on hot coals. Ran through a hive of yellow-jackets (unsuccessfully). Picked up a motorcycle muffler that had just came off.

When I was a 6 I got bit by a brown recluse. I was super sick and for the first time in my life well behaved. My mother got remarried during this time. I didn't get in trouble at all during the wedding.

My arm swelled up to like twice the normal size. Because I was so sick my mother let me take as many baths as I wanted. While I was in the tub the bite area drained and puss the consistency of Topol toothpaste poured forth.

Every since this time whenever I get sick I retreat to the bathtub. I can spend hours and hours and hours in there. I have even been known to fall asleep in the tub.

If I were the lonely type I am certain the tub would make me less lonely.
posted by cjorgensen at 11:16 AM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

I feel like a bored, resentful, trapped walrus when in a bathtub.

This is exactly how I feel. Also, how are you supposed to wash the bit of you under water when you're in a bath?
posted by Summer at 11:33 AM on June 27, 2011

Fascinating. This reminds me of the study which demonstrated that physically forcing yourself to smile caused an elevation of mood. Clearly our brains are full of feedback loops, and they are surprisingly easy to fool.
posted by Mars Saxman at 11:34 AM on June 27, 2011

Also, how are you supposed to wash the bit of you under water when you're in a bath?

Stand up. Then it's not underwater any more. To rinse off, simply sit down again.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:34 AM on June 27, 2011

...Or, you could do what they do in Japan -- soap up in the shower or via a sponge bath at the sink first, and save the tub part for a very very long theraputic soak.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:35 AM on June 27, 2011

how are you supposed to wash the bit of you under water when you're in a bath?

The preferred method is to use somebody else's hand.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:36 AM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

I completely agree about reading in the tub. I will never buy an e-reader because I do not think it could stand up to my bathroom environment.
posted by Kronur at 11:43 AM on June 27, 2011

In art school, I had my school-supplied studio in a building that had been an old hotel. I had a proper bathroom. The tub was immense. I took baths more often than I painted.
posted by Peach at 11:43 AM on June 27, 2011

Ooh, another story -- in my old apartment, I had the plumbing go out in my shower/bath once (or they were refinishing the tub or something like that). Whatever work had to be done would allow me to use the toilet, but not the shower or bathtub, for about 24-36 hours (fortunately on a weekend).

My super felt bad about that, so he took me aside and said, "tell you what. Apartment D on the second floor is empty; we've just redone it, but no one's moved in yet. Here's the key -- use that tub. Only," he winced, "they don't have power either, so you'll have to wait until daytime or use candles or something."

As soon as he said "candles" I instantly thought about that kind of exotic indulgent thing you see all the time on TV that people never do in real life -- taking a long hot bath in a room lit with nothing but tons of candles. I also realized -- this was a tub that I could take a bath in, and wouldn't necessarily have to clean it when I was done.

I rounded up every candle I owned, mixed up a batch of a salt scrub and about ten other "spa treatment" kind of things, trooped down to 2D and gave myself one hell of an indulgent beauty treatment night. I did wash out the tub a little when I was done, but that was only because I'd been dousing myself in clay and mud and herb wraps and strawberry face masks and...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:53 AM on June 27, 2011 [3 favorites]

I have a smaller claw-foot tub (not quite as long as a normal one) and I thought for sure it would not satisfy my tubbing needs but it's surprisingly spacious. I'm only 5'8" but with knees bent it is quite peaceful, or, I can stretch the feet out on the top rim of the tub for a bit of respite. The stand-alone clawfoot also has the perfect rounded corners to... balance my laptop on. Sure, I may die of electrocution but I'll do it watching my favourite reruns of Cheers, thank you very much.

I'm in the process of building a mini-jungle of plants in my bathroom, too, which is a real mood lifter. It's a white-walled bathroom with a white/black tiled floor. The green really makes the room pop with positive energy. Then there is that other green that Lebowski liked to enjoy in the tub..

Thanks to this thread reminding me I'm now going to have to find a duck and some candles, too, to round out the experience.
posted by mbatch at 12:00 PM on June 27, 2011

Also, how are you supposed to wash the bit of you under water when you're in a bath?

Stand up. Then it's not underwater any more. To rinse off, simply sit down again.

Relaxing!
posted by Summer at 12:12 PM on June 27, 2011

I've been single since 2007. Hot baths and comic books are my best friend.

Seriously, if I were ever to be in another relationship, I'd really miss my hot-bath-and-comic-book time. I mean, sex is great, but is it better than a bath with Nightcrawler?
posted by Pallas Athena at 12:13 PM on June 27, 2011 [3 favorites]

I have always been a bath everyday person. When I first went to college, the biggest disappointment (aside from the dorms not looking like anything they did in movies) of dorm life was the lack of a bathtub.

So one day, a few weeks after the semester had started, after whining about the lack of tub in my life, my RA casually mentions, "I heard there was a tub in Miss Mary Hall."

With those magic words, I started my quest. I grabbed my bathroom stuff, and began the trek across campus. Our campus wasn't huge, but my dorm was on the edge of campus and the mythic tub was on the other side. After I schlepped my stuff all the way there, I found the dorm and found out that the RAs didn't know anything about the tub. I asked some of the girls that lived there, and no dice. Finally, one of the cleaning ladies mentioned they had a tub on the 3rd floor, but that's where they stored all the cleaning supplies.

It was in this little corner closet of a bathroom. The tub was full of mops, buckets, and bottles of cleaner. I was so desperate to take my bath, that I cleaned that bathroom and restacked everything in a way that I could use the tub. Finally, after a good hour, I got my bath. The first bath of college. And there in that dingy little room, I felt like I was at home for the first time in a month.

For the rest of the year, I would trek across campus to my little tub at least once a week. And word spread, "A tub on campus." Girls all over campus started showing up. Some nights there was a wait. Every now and then a poor guy would show up and we would sneak him in because we understood the need for the bath.

Two years ago they remodeled that dorm, and I discovered that they decided against removing the tub because residents all over campus were upset at the loss of the only tub on campus.
posted by teleri025 at 12:14 PM on June 27, 2011 [5 favorites]

sex is great, but is it better than a bath with Nightcrawler?

I don't want to brag, but I've often been told that my sex looks just like a drowned worm.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:24 PM on June 27, 2011

I hate baths 'cause I'm skinny and it hurts to sit on a hard surface.
posted by desjardins at 12:24 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is fascinating. I'm an anxious, twitchy, lonely sort of a person who is also ready and able to represent her nation in Marathon Bathing when it is finally accepted as an Olympic event. On an evening or weekend when I don't have anything else to do, I'm happy to get in the tub and stay there for three or four hours. It takes no small amount of skill. I have tricks for staying hydrated, keeping my head cool, blocking the overflow drain, keeping my feet out of the water to reduce pruning, movie watching on a laptop outside the tub, and in-bath snacking. Pro-tip for readers: the Kindle 3 fits perfectly into a quart size freezer bag.

Any time I'm emotionally not quite right (which is much of the time) or even just not very busy, to the bath I go. A good book, an icy G&T, and hot water is as close to a panacea I know. When one college apartment had a claw-foot marvel, I was in heaven. When another had but a tiny, shallow "butt saucer", it was like I was being punished.

Non-bathers have often said, with something like shock, "How can you stand to stay in there that long?" I'll very much enjoying replying, "For the sake of my mental health, how can I not?"
posted by mostlymartha at 12:25 PM on June 27, 2011 [5 favorites]

I'm surprised everyone is focusing on the bath. It's pretty clear a warm shower (or sauna) does the same thing, and even a long shower will waste much less water than a bath.

I will never buy an e-reader because I do not think it could stand up to my bathroom environment.

E-readers are way better than paper books in the bathroom, especially with hot water. Too much steam for paper.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:40 PM on June 27, 2011

> I will never buy an e-reader because I do not think it could stand up to my bathroom environment.

E-readers are way better than paper books in the bathroom, especially with hot water. Too much steam for paper.

Guys, I think you have the wrong room -- the ereader-vs-paper grudge match is over here.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:45 PM on June 27, 2011

I put my e-reader in a ziplock bag when I take a bath. Works a treat.

Several years ago when I was at my most depressed, I sat in the bath for three hours reading The Bell Jar, listening to This is a Low on repeat, and crying. Since then I've felt great.
posted by elsietheeel at 12:59 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh, elsie, I sure hope things are better.

Showers are so great; you can cry or yell, or just stand there with water hitting your face.

When I put in a bathroom, I had the bathtub insulated, so the water would stay warm longer. long bath, with candles, a glass of wine, maybe some music, definitely a book, is restorative. But did we really need a study to tell us this? Clearly, many of use knew it already.

Getting into a tub in the plumbing showroom, to check out the comfort, is considered hilariously peculiar.
posted by theora55 at 1:34 PM on June 27, 2011

Getting into a tub in the plumbing showroom, to check out the comfort, is considered hilariously peculiar.

I've never been fortunate enough to get to choose my own tub, so this is shocking news. Do they really expect you purchase without a test drive? What if the angle of the back is wrong? If anything, it's a shame you can't fill it up.
posted by mostlymartha at 2:01 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

I swear I am never living in another place without a bathtub again. After this thread I´m considering a hotel room for the night.
posted by Space Kitty at 2:04 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

This thread fills me with glee. I didn't have to take a bath and my bad day feels better. I love all of you bath takers and I'm going to go home now and sit in a tub of the hottest water imaginable.
posted by janelikes at 2:24 PM on June 27, 2011

I dunno, I've never been able to get into baths (literally or figuratively). I'm short but round, so I don't fit very well in a standard tub, plus I find that my mind just buzzes around in circles and I can't relax. My honey wants a big clawfoot tub to soak in, though, so if he ever goes on a long trip without me, I'm going to do that for him.

When I'm sad, I get in the shower and cry; something about that hot water hitting what feels like the open wound of my heart makes my defenses break down. When my ex was making me crazy, I did a lot of sobbing in the shower; when the shower was done, the tears were done, and I was able to go on with life.
posted by WorkingMyWayHome at 2:52 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

On the rare occasions that I do take a bath, I always read Evelyn Waugh's "Decline and Fall". I don't know why, but it fits perfectly.
posted by benito.strauss at 3:19 PM on June 27, 2011

In my hometown there are tons of huge old Victorian houses that are too expensive to heat for a single family home, so many of them have been divided into multiple apartments. A lot of the places are really old and not well kept so they rent cheaply. When I was young and poor I lived in places like this more than once and the biggest saving grace was that there was almost always a huge claw-foot tub. I might have been poor as hell, but I've never felt more luxurious or comfortable than when I was lounging in one of those tubs... legs stretched out, hot water comfortably up to my armpits, comfortably reclined against the sloping back... I miss having a bathtub like that so bad. The bathtub in my apartment is shallow and short and the back has no slope. There is just no way to get comfy. I haven't had a good soak with a book in years.

When I first met my ex we lived in a house with a tub like this, and every day when we got home from work we'd get into the tub together and soak--smoking, drinking beer and talking for an hour or two. It was such a relaxing way to end the day.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:53 PM on June 27, 2011

For me, taking a bath is almost exactly like having Kentucky Fried Chicken:

It's something I do about once a year. I start out thinking it's gonna be a great idea and how much I'm gonna enjoy it as a special treat. The first few moments are like, "This is great! Look at me, how decadent! Five minutes later I feel nauseous, greasy, and vaguely disgusted with myself and I just want to take a shower. Wait for a year until only the original emotions inspiring bath/chicken remain, repeat cycle.
posted by smoke at 5:02 PM on June 27, 2011

As someone who is experiencing a lot of loneliness/social isolation at the moment

[I've been house-bound due to illness for the last 3 months, with the exception of three hospital stays and going to a zillion specialist appointments]

reading this makes me curse the fact that my flat is tub-less. :(

It only has a shower, with an electric water heater so small that you can *either* soap some of your body *or* shampoo your hair before the hot water runs out, but not both.

I miss the bathtub at my previous flat. :(
posted by Sockpuppets 'R' Us at 5:32 PM on June 27, 2011

I am religious about baths. Showers are boringly functional. Baths are sinful, sensual and wonderful. Soaking in a hot tub eases the troubled mind and body like few other physical delights. If you have a glass of something going on as well it's soapy sybaritic heaven.
posted by Decani at 6:07 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

smoking, drinking beer and talking for an hour or two.

We used to do this when we had a tub. I really miss that.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 6:10 PM on June 27, 2011

Bathing seems to be my wife's mission in life. She showers in the morning, all functional and Type A like, but in the evening she can't fall asleep without a scalding hot soak with a book (that will always get a corner dipped in the water).

She says the best gift I've given her was the on-demand water heater that finally let her run enough hot water to fill our double tub.

The only problem is she won't let me join her for a soak. :(
posted by Gregarious introvert at 6:31 PM on June 27, 2011

Showers are boringly functional.

Not if you've got a hand-held, multi-speed shower head.
posted by orange swan at 6:58 PM on June 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

Long hot bath followed immediately by coolish shower.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:39 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

and even a long shower will waste much less water than a bath.

Not actually true in the slightest. If you have a low flow shower head, you can take a ten minute shower for the same amount of water that a bath takes, and that's IF you have a low flow head. Now, I don't know about you, but most people mean a much longer shower than that when they say "a long shower." In fact, my last roommate thought a 20 minute shower was short. If you want to luxuriate in water for longer than 10 minutes, a bath is your water friendly choice.
posted by stoneweaver at 8:24 PM on June 27, 2011

This thread sparked an intense desire deep within me to take a long bath but I was too lazy to clean the tub. I took a shower instead and got a stinging clump of shampoo in my eye that still burns...
posted by janelikes at 8:59 PM on June 27, 2011

"The lonelier we get, the more we substitute the missing social warmth with physical warmth."

This must be why I stay in bed so much. And also take long baths.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 4:14 AM on June 28, 2011

The problem that I have with baths is that once you put all 6'2" of me in the bath, there's no room left for water.

I feel your pain (well, I will do once you're out of the bath and put your damned clothes back on) but try being 6'5 and a touch over 330lbs. Still, at least I'm saving water...
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 5:03 AM on June 28, 2011

Not actually true in the slightest. If you have a low flow shower head, you can take a ten minute shower for the same amount of water that a bath takes, and that's IF you have a low flow head. Now, I don't know about you, but most people mean a much longer shower than that when they say "a long shower." In fact, my last roommate thought a 20 minute shower was short. If you want to luxuriate in water for longer than 10 minutes, a bath is your water friendly choice.

I'm gonna have to disagree right back at you. I didn't do any calculations, but I think my test is better. I plugged the tub and took a shower. After 15 minutes (which is a long shower, in my opinion - 1-3 minutes = quick; 3-7 minutes = average; 7-12 = minutes longish; 12+ minute = long ;), the tub was only half full.

I think it really depends on the size of your bath (e.g. 9 gallons vs. 50) and the flow of your shower. But honestly I would like to know for sure because I do like long showers when I am hungover and I was sure they used less water than a bath, yet I also like baths ... I'll test my tub again and let you know... (9 gallons seems like a child's bath to me...)

Really, the only way to accurately judge is to mark your bathline on your tub, plug the tub, and take a shower. Then you know that X minutes = bath.
posted by mrgrimm at 9:25 AM on June 28, 2011

Not if you've got a hand-held, multi-speed shower head.
posted by orange swan at 2:58 AM on June 28

Yeah, but that's just a girl thing. At least I think it is...
posted by Decani at 10:48 AM on June 28, 2011

Yeah, but that's just a girl thing. At least I think it is...

I suppose I shouldn't admit this in public, but I've used it on a man, and he found it quite enjoyable. I'd give it a shot if I were you.
posted by orange swan at 8:43 AM on June 29, 2011

pics, or it didn't happen
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:17 AM on June 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Nobody's quoted Sylvia Plath yet?
posted by madcaptenor at 7:56 AM on July 14, 2011

(Also, this post is two weeks old? Damn blue pages all look the same.)
posted by madcaptenor at 8:00 AM on July 14, 2011

Your link is borked. I can quote:

"There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them."
posted by mrgrimm at 10:34 AM on July 14, 2011