Experiment #3: morning shower revolution

Shower headOf all my habits, taking a nice shower in the morning is for me the most taken from granted, automatic, repetitive one.

I get out of bed, kiss good morning to the World and jump in the shower.
I turn on the hot water and I start with the hair – little shampoo and lots of foam, then I enjoy soaping and rinsing all over my body.
I then dry myself out first sweeping the water away with my hands,  then with my “Guantanamo orange” bathrobe or any hotel towel I can reach with my hands.

Always the same, no matter where I am.

Why am I telling this?? Because I found there are different ways to achieve the same result: getting clean and ready for the day.
And those differences are what I’m exploring this month.

Who never heard about the benefits of cold showers?
From improving blood circulation to increase testosterone, ranging from a younger skin to a more energetic day.
Google gave me interesting pages full of good reasons to turn the water tap on full blue, hold your breath and vigorously rub your body first thing in the morning.
Problem is that nobody likes the idea to have a cold shower in January.

More recently I got interested in water and energy conservation and I’m excited to review my habits to… save the World 🙂
On one side, the experiment #2 “be a weekday vegetarian” made me aware of the issues related to water consumption for meat production.
On the other side my travelling has thought me that water has not to be take for granted.

My more recent example are my business trips to Tel Aviv, Israel, that is suffering from a long lasting water shortage, this year worsened by an unusual (but very pleasant for me) high temperature… 23 C (73 F) at Christmas!

Going back in time, during the kite surfing vacation in Dakhla, Marocco, absolutely in the middle of nothing, a rotten-eggs smelling water was the only lucky option available.

Lodging in a nice hotel or being a tourist should not entitle us to don’t consider the local water problems!

I found that there’s a much more water saving way of showering than the one described before: navy shower.

This procedure is as simple as obvious:
1. open water and get body wet
2. close water and soap/shampoo
3.  open water and rinse

Funny enough, this is how I used to shower when I was a kid (thanks mamma!), but sometime growing up I decided that keeping the water running all the time was more pleasant.

Anyway, I decided to put both things together, cold showers and water consumption, add some of my moderation (but nothing “weekday cold showers” haha) and create the experiment #3: morning shower revolution.

The concept is a variation of the navy shower as following:
1. open warm water and get body wet
2. close water
3. wash the hair with shampoo
4. soap the body
5. open moderately warm water and start rinsing
5b. lower temperature gradually during the process, until is “comfortably freezing” 🙂

Doing this, I should be able to finish showering using a fraction of the water amount, being able to see my reflection in the mirror instead of a Milano-like fog, and get the advantages of the cold showers.

I started today and I can’t wait tomorrow morning, for how crazy as it may sound….now is time to experiment, I’ll post end of January the results!

UPDATE 21st Feb 2011

This experiment was the best success so far – I’m totally hooked now to this “navy + cold” shower ritual….
It gives me a different kick in starting the day.
Since I started, I really look forward to shower when I wake up. I know I use much less water, and I use less warmer water.
After some weeks I can see that I don’t need hot water anymore. I can pretty much start with warm water (~28C) and immediately start lowering the temperature.
The last ~30 seconds are with cold water, and is no more a “oh-shit” moment… it’s just a fresh energy kick, and when I’m out of the shower I feel OK even if the house is still cold.

Result: FULLY APPROVED!!!

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Di Daniele

Hi, I’m Daniele! A human being from planet earth. I founded WP-OK.it and I like dancing Salsa, running, and living a location independent lifestyle.

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