The average person has a shower duration of 7 minutes. Shower timer duration is 4 minutes; saving 3 minutes shower time or 45 litres (QLD Government 2008).
Most dermatologists say that your shower should last between five and 10 minutes to cleanse and hydrate your skin, but no longer than 15 minutes to avoid drying it out. You can still benefit from the shower length you prefer, whether long and luxurious, quick and efficient or somewhere in the middle.
The average shower lasts about eight minutes. Since the average showerhead has a water flow of 2.1 gallons per minute, each shower uses more than 16 gallons of water! Across the United States, we use more than one trillion gallons of water each year just for showering. Never fear!
The average showerhead uses 12 litres of water per minute, with power showers using around 15 litres. Given that the average shower taken is around 10 minutes long, that's up to 150 litres of water every time you shower!
Some consider 4.0 litres a minute the absolute minimum for a good shower in winter. A 'good' shower by traditional UK standards is 6 litres a minute.
If your flow rate is less than 10 litres per minute, you may have what is considered low water pressure. Anywhere between 10 and 15 litres per minute is acceptable but can be improved. A flow above 15 litres per minute is considered good.
Showering daily is not necessarily "unhealthy," but you may not need to. For many people, a full-body shower every other day or even every third day is enough. That said, just because you don't shower daily does not mean you want to skip out on personal care.
A quick daily rinse is not the same as a marathon hour-long shower or soak in the tub. The more time you spend in the water, the worse the effects can be on your hair and skin. Shoot for 3 to 5 minutes and concentrate on the important body parts: armpits, groin, and face.
The best amount of time to spend in the shower is about ten to fifteen minutes. That's plenty of time to get everything you need to do done. And about that hot water - super hot water can be very drying to the skin, probably because it strips even more of the skin's natural oils away.
Here's how long a normal shower should take
“When it comes to the duration of a shower, it is generally recommended that individuals limit their showers to 10 to 15 minutes,” she says. “This is because prolonged exposure to water can strip the skin of its natural oils and lead to dryness and irritation.”
Washing the skin too often and for prolonged periods of time can remove the natural oils and affect the natural bacteria that grows there to support your immune system," adds Dr Rekha Tailor of Health & Aesthetics. Ultimately, follow the experts' advice and aim for a shower of around 10 minutes.
“You shouldn't shower for more than 5 to 10 minutes,” says Dr. Farris. “Shorter is better.” Long showers strip your skin of moisture, too.
According to the researchers at Yale University, people who take a long-hot shower or bath may do so to subconsciously ward off feelings of loneliness or social isolation.
Dubbed the “everything shower”, it involves doing all the things you would usually do over the course of, say, a week, in a single sitting. You need to block out two hours, then pick up your body brush, cleanser, face mask, hair mask, razor, loofah, lip scrub, teeth-whitening strips, everything.
Dermatologists recommend keeping showers relatively short (around 5-15 minutes) so you don't dry out your skin. However, if you're washing and conditioning your hair, shaving your legs, or just trying to relax and unwind, it might take a bit longer. Take as long as you need to get everything done!
Dermatologists recommend keeping your showers between 5 and 10 minutes. This time period gives you enough time to properly clean your body without overdoing it. If you have certain skin conditions, staying in the shower too long could have negative effects.
You will smell
Perhaps the most immediate (and obvious) consequence of skipping a few too many showers is the odor. But it's not just sweat that makes you stink.
When counting people who shower every day, Mexicans and Australians led significantly, followed by Americans and the French. Brits, Russians, Swedes and Germans averaged less, with Chinese coming in the least frequent.
The shower
A water-efficient showerhead uses approximately 9 litres per minute. An older style showerhead uses approximately 19 litres per minute - that's 10 litres more!
An approximate calculation shows that we use between 8 and 15 litres of water per minute when showering. So,on average, for a five minute shower, we would use about 57.5 litres.
The average bath uses about 80 litres of water. Over the course of four minutes a normal shower head produces about 36 litres.