The Super Speedy 60 Second Shower Challenge
Been late for work too many a time? Has your water bill been rising recently? Or have you had frequent fallouts with your housemates due to your bathroom hogging habits? Then a shorter shower could be the solution for you. Aside from the obvious benefits to your daily routine, a speedy shower drastically reduces your water wastage, which is currently a whopping 27 gallons of water per average 13-minute shower. That is why we’ve put together the #60SecondShowerChallenge for the courageous and conservation conscious! Use the infographic below to see if you can keep your shower to no longer than a minute and consequently only use 2.1 gallons of water, reducing your water wastage by 92%!
Become a Shower Superhero - How to Shower in 60 Seconds
The maths
Did you know, average showers for men and women last 12.66 minutes and 13.27 minutes? The average shower has a flow rate of 2.1 gallons per minute. So the average 13-minute shower uses roughly 27 gallons of water, which is a lot of water wastage!
The challenge
We set you the #60SecondShowerChallenge. Slash the time, cut the waste. Keep your shower to no longer than 60 seconds and reduce your water usage to just 2.1 gallons.
Why?
Mastering the minute-long shower not only reduces your water wastage and water bill, but helps you avoid the whiffy walk into work when you’ve slept through your alarm.
On your marks - Preparation
Before your heroic hurry, ensure everything is in place. Have a trusty all-in-one shampoo and body wash at the ready, to avoid wasting time with separate products. Don’t forget to also have a towel and mat handy.
Get set - Speedy shower tech to help you
Trusty timer - To make sure you don’t go over the 60 second mark, we recommend finding a trusty waterproof alarm or timer.
60 second sing-a-long
Alternatively play a minute-long song to keep track of your shower time.
Our top shower song suggestions:
- Spirit in Stone Outro – Lifesavas (60 seconds)
- Postcards From Far Away – Coldplay (48 seconds)
- Fertilizer – Frank Ocean (40 seconds)
15 seconds in
Are you a regular Joe or a hardcore hero?
You can opt for either the regular challenge or the hardcore one to kick it up a notch!
Regular:
To start, allow yourself roughly 5 seconds for the shower to heat up before standing under it. Next choose your priority zones.
Hardcore:
Time to get started, turn on the shower and stand under it immediately. There’s no time to wait for it to heat up! Not to mention, the colder the shower, the quicker you’ll want it to be over.
Let’s talk about sweat baby
We have two types of sweat glands:
- Eccrine - Distributed over much of the body, they produce a clear, odourless substance.
- Apocrine - Found only in certain locations of the body and lead to body odour.
The maximum sweat rates of the average adult can be up to 2–4 litres per hour. So choose your priority zones by the highest concentrated areas of sweat glands, just in case you don’t manage to wash everywhere in time.
Priority zones:
- The soles of your feet - The most concentrated area of eccrine sweat glands is on the bottom of our feet which can produce a pint of sweat per day.
- The palms of your hands – These have around 370 eccrine sweat glands per cm2.
- Your forehead - It has around 175 eccrine sweat glands per cm2.
- Armpits - Although only 1% of all perspiration moisture originates from your armpits, this part of the body is so badly ventilated that it needs extra attention. They also have apocrine sweat glands, which produce body odour.
- Groin – Also produces apocrine sweat glands, so beware of body odour.
30 seconds in
Regular:
Time to work up a lather, start with your priority zones, then extend to your whole body and hair.
Navy seal it
Keen to save some more water? An old trick referred to as the navy shower allows for water conservation by turning off the water while you lather.
Hardcore:
When lathering, work from the top down for an extra challenge, starting with your hair and ending with your feet. You’ve got to be quick though, as your feet have the most sweat glands!
45 seconds in
Regular:
By the 45 seconds mark, you should be covered in suds. Now it’s time to rinse the bubbles away. If you’ve somehow managed the impossible and have a few spare seconds, allow yourself a little interval to contemplate life.
Hardcore:
An extra mission, should you choose to accept it, is to attempt the ‘James Bond shower’. This is for the particularly brave, as it involves turning the temperature to cold for the last few masochistic seconds of your shower.
Not only does the cold water wake you up, but it improves circulation, keeps skin and hair healthy and boosts immunity.
60 seconds in
Congratulations! You have mastered the minute-long shower. Water waste reduced by 92%!
Other water saving tips
Still wanting to be an environmental super hero? Here are some other measures you can take to reduce your water wastage!
- Turn off that tap - When cleaning your teeth, turn off the tap, this will help save up to 18 litres of water each time!
- Drips away - Fix a dripping tap. A dripping tap can waste 15 litres of water a day.
- Displacement is the key - Put a cistern displacement device in your toilet’s cistern. This reduces the volume of water used in each flush.
- Flush the habit - ‘If it’s yellow, let it mellow’. An average flush of a traditional toilet uses about 6 litres of water. Selective flushing can significantly reduce your water wastage!
Provide clean water to a village forever – Support the water charity Pump Aid to provide some of the poorest communities in rural Malawi with clean safe water with the most simple technology. Text PUMP to 70500 and give £5 today. Read more about their work here www.pumpaid.org
We hope this helps you whittle down your water wastage and become a conservation conqueror! Enjoy your super speedy shower!