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Shower
A shower is a process of bathing by application of sprayed water upon the
body; the term also refers the component of a typical modern bathroom that
provides such a function. It offers an effective method of personal hygiene
through a spraying of the body with hot or cold water as desired, often in
combination with soap, shampoo or shower gel. It is also a more efficient
use of water and the power necessary to heat it than taking a bath. By
definition, a half bathroom does not include a shower; a full bath may
include a full shower.
History
The hygiene regimen in the form of a shower goes back to the time of the
Greeks, as evidenced by extant vases and murals.[1] It would take some time
until the general spread of showering occurred. During the Scottish
Enlightenment Lord Monboddo showered every morning with cold water on his
front porch to emulate the Greeks and profess his belief in the practise as
healthful;[1] his habit, while eccentric, was well publicised with the
intelligentsia of that era. Another step toward the spread of showering was
when the Prussian military installed showering rooms in their barracks in
1879.
Cultural significance
Showering in the Western World is mostly part of a daily routine, but is
also practiced for wellness and relaxation. Showering has today largely
replaced bathing. Many households today do not own a bathtub any more, but
rather a shower in its place.
Showering procedure
Showering results in a few phases, in which the skin, and sometimes the
hair, are wet with water. Then the cleansing products are applied, allowed
to work, and subsequently rinsed out. If necessary, soaping and rinsing is
re-performed.
Too frequent showering with cleansing products can damage the skin and hair.
In order to protect the hair, a shower cap may be used.
Constant use of soaps or soap-based products in the shower can produce soap
scum on the walls or floors, caused by the reaction of soap with lime in
hard water. One of the advantages of using a shower gel instead of soap is
that this soap scum does not form, reducing cleaning and maintenance of the
shower.
Purpose
Various purposes of showering include routine hygiene, as well as safety (as
in chemical spills, mass decontamination, etc.). Mass decontamination
showering consists of a 3-step procedure: (1) strip; (2) wash; (3) health
exam+contamination monitoring and re-dressing in disposable replacement
clothing. Depicted here is a lifesaving decontamination drill, remote triage
officer's telemedicine-based control console (men's side).
Structure and designs
There are free-standing showers, but also showers which are integrated into
a bathtub. Showers are separated from the surrounding area through
watertight curtains (shower curtain), sliding doors, or folding doors, in
order to protect the space from spraying water. There are seldom floor-level
showers. Here, the wall and floor of the shower areas are tiled or otherwise
made waterproof.
Places such as a swimming pool, a locker room, and a military facility, have
multiple showers. There may be shower rooms without divisions (typically
sex-segregated) or shower stalls (typically open at the top; often in shower
rooms which are sex-segregated anyway).
Anthony David Rueli of the University of Massachusetts researched the aspect
of why shower curtains billow inwards during showering ("shower-curtain
effect") and received for it the Ig Nobel Prize in 2001.
A shower head is a perforated nozzle that showers water on a bather. They
can be modified to spray different patterns of water. Due to hard water,
calcium and magnesium often cake and dry on it, causing it to malfunction.
References
1. ^ Cloyd, E.L., James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (1972)
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