How can I shower more sustainably?

It’s time to turn off the tap on the price our planet pays for wastage while we wash.

There’s nothing quite like it – freshly cleansed skin, wet hair tickling your senses with a crisp, clean fragrance, sitting in a towel on your bed having rinsed the day away with a piping hot shower. 

But wouldn’t you be sitting a little lighter if you knew that your self-care schedule had been kind to the planet, too?

Time that tune

It might sound obvious, but a lot of us don’t realise how significant an impact each minute of me-time in the shower has on our water consumption. We use approximately 2.5 gallons of water every minute that we shower, with power showers longer than 10 minutes being worse for the planet than most baths.

However, you’ve probably not got your watch strapped on in the water (although we've been there), and we can all be forgiven for letting the seconds slip down the plug hole while we're not keeping an eye on the time. We don’t want to make your stress-free time stressful with a triggering alarm (I’m looking at you default iPhone ringtone) but perhaps setting an alarm for eight minutes – the longest time we should really be spending in the shower – which involves birdsong or something calming, might just make you aware of when it’s time to switch off and hop out.

If you’re not keen on the idea of punctuating your personal care routine with a little birdsong, why not create a playlist comprising two songs that you know are about four minutes long each? Then you’ll be able to belt out some bangers in the shower while staying mindful of the time. You can thank us later, but Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’ is a dreamy 4:35 minutes long!

Turn down the temp

Cold showers seem to be a hot topic at the moment, but the icy water wakeup tactic isn’t for everyone. If you don’t fancy diving in at the deep end when it comes to a chilly wash, why not try turning down the temperature just a smidge? Every degree does its bit for preserving energy, so just dip your toe in and hold back on the heat a little – it doesn’t have to be all or nothing when it comes to cold or scalding water!

Get drastic about plastic

We think there’s something trashy about plastic, and your relaxing shower isn’t going to be a luxury experience with a cluttered carpet of bottles lying about. Be honest with yourself, do you even use half of those products? Now we know that it’s tricky to buy every hair health and body buffing product in a cute little perfectly pebble-shaped form (shoutout to our dreamy new Body Pebble scents), but are the brands you’re buying from even recycling the bottles you use? And equally, are you bothering to make use of such schemes in an effort to hit your sustaina-goals? If the answer is no to either of these, then you have an opportunity to instigate real change. Check in with your beauty brands and ensure they offer schemes which allow you to recycle your product packaging, or better still, use packaging-free pebbles!

Tropic Tip

To really reduce your water wastage, try doing your research about the best type of shower head to help you say no to excess H2O and switch it up yourself – it’s easier than it sounds!