Three-Minute Shower Challenge CONCLUSION

I completely forgot that I had documented my three-minute shower challenge here and turned my experiences into an article for Grid Magazine, Philly's sustainable living publication. Here is the link to the original article on Grid's site, in case you can't see it below. I highly recommend checking out the publication itself, too. Enjoy!

Dispatch: Money Down the Drain - How I learned to say goodbye to half-hour showers.

FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2011 AT 3:23PM

Story by Maryline Dossou | Illustration by Kirsten Harper

I distinctly recall my sister pulling back the shower curtain and telling me that my dad was seconds from exploding. I was in elementary school and had developed a habit of falling asleep in the shower every morning—staying in there for easily half an hour. I used to stay up all night knowing I could get some extra sleep in the shower. I’ve never been a morning person, so I switched to taking nighttime showers. That worked until I got to college.

My best friend (and roommate) would blast music while in the shower, and I always found that to be weird. One day, while innocently recording her singing in the shower, I was intrigued by how much fun she seemed to be having and decided to try it out for myself. I created a shower playlist and went to town. What began as harmless fun soon turned into a wasteful, careless, time-consuming habit.

I’d stay in until my skin got so pruned, it was almost numb. There was nothing like washing off days of classes, work, gym, activities and internships with an R&R party for one.

Right around Earth Day this year I heard that the online magazine Her Campus (to which I contribute, hercampus.com) was partnering with the Body Shop to encourage girls to take daily three-minute showers for two weeks and blog about it. As if the world had caught on to my dirty secret, I was also bombarded with shower facts from green advocates around campus—like that for every minute the shower runs, we waste, on average, one gallon of water. It seemed as good a time as any to change my habits, so I started my own two-week, three-minute shower challenge.

It was awful. I felt like a lifelong smoker who had quit cold turkey. How am I going to shave? How could I possibly be clean? Will my life retain any meaning? Questions swam through my mind. I timed my showers using three-minute songs, counting the days until I could return to my beloved routine.

One week in, curled in the fetal position in bed, I tried to find meaning in this torture. Was I doing this to learn a lesson, or simply to say I’d completed a “green” challenge? The latter seemed like a poor reason.
Then I started to see the light. I learned not to waste time just standing around under the spray, and how to shave in the sink. I also realized (and I’m very embarrassed to admit this) that not only did I spend a long time in the shower; I kept it running for a long time before I even got in. Often, I would be on the phone for an hour at a time with the shower on blast. Then I’d get in for 25 minutes.

Today, I’ve turned it around, but it’s still a daily struggle—I’m a recovering shower-holic, after all. But I’ve managed to cut my shower time down to about 10 to 12 minutes, and I’m pretty happy with the progress that I’ve made. It probably all seems pretty dramatic, but, sadly, the issue of water waste was never really addressed in my world until I got to college. My schools didn’t consider it a priority and my parents were unaware of the damage I was causing because, as renters, they didn’t have to worry about the water bill. Many people don’t concern themselves and their children with these issues because it doesn’t affect them directly. Luckily, it’s never too late to recognize our faults and gradually work through them. Who knows? Maybe—maybe—one day I can upgrade to taking under-two-minute Navy showers.

Maryline A. Dossou is a senior in Temple University’s Journalism department. Read her work for Her Campus at hercampus.com/maryline-dossou.

gridphilly | 1 Comment | Share Article | #028 July 2011

tagged Dispatch, Maryline Dossou, conservation, water

3-Minute Shower Challenge: Day 14

     It's over. It's really over. But I'm left wondering: "What now?" Sometime before this journey began, it never occurred to me that this would be a lifestyle change. I never thought about what it would be like afterward.  But somewhere along the way, as I miserably counted down the days until the torture was over, a thought crept in my mind that I couldn't be doing this for nothing. I couldn't spend two of the most crucial weeks of my college career cutting out something that abnormally meant so much to me. Otherwise, I would have wasted my time and yours.

     So maybe what's next is finding a happy medium. Looking back, I'm appalled by how much water I've wasted over the years. But believe me when I say: it is physically and scientifically  impossible to take 3-minute showers for the rest of your life. Admirable, yes, but there's something morally corrupt about it in the end. So what I really want to do next is find a reasonable shower time. I'll have to do some digging to find a satisfactory answer, but I'm sure I can find someway to keep me happy and still be respectful to the environment. I'll keep you guys posted.

     So I ended this thing off with a bang. One of my favorite Disney movies growing up was Mulan. This movie meant a lot to me for several reasons. It was awesome to see a Disney movie moving beyond the norm and speaking to topics such as Asian culture and male impersonation. Also, it was the first time I realized my love for Asian men. Shang was a cartoon, yes, but that doesn't make him any less of a man. I was putty in his hands when he vowed to make men out of the gentlemen at the camp in the song "I'll Make a Man Out of You." Oh, you know you love it, too.

3-Minute Shower Challenge: Days 6-13

     Well, this is embarrassing. It's been quite some time since I have updated this, but to tell you the truth, I was exhausted and it seemed a bit redundant. So I go about my busy life and then take 3-minute showers at the end of the days. So what? I apologize for that. I guess I'll fill you in now.

     I'm in the middle of finals and so the past week has just been study, study, study. This 3-minute challenge has worked both for and against me. When you study up until 4 in the morning for an 8am final and you're a person who can't help but take long showers, you waste minutes of precious sleep time. In this case, I was in and out. It was almost miraculous to me that I was out of the shower by 4:08.

     The downside to this is that my shower used to be my sanctuary, like a pampering car wash. I'd run there at the most stressful of times and just unwind without a second thought. Now it's more like a quick trip to the gas station when you're in a rush. It's just hit me, though, that I only have to do this for one more day.

     This means that Monday will be a great day for me: I'll take my last final, turn in my last paper, and take a real shower. Sweet victory.

     Meanwhile, one of my songs over this week was Rock Mafia's "The Big Bang" aka the theme song for that "Mob Wives" show. It's actually been out a lot longer, but I just discovered it. Don't judge me, I had no intention of watching this show. But it's actually pretty entertaining. And, save the ties to Disney channel stars like Miley Cyrus, this song is actually pretty damn good.

3-Minute Shower Challenge Day 5: I Tweet Now

     I tweet now. Yes, that's right. I am officially on Twitter and it all started with a dirty word. My best friend, Kenny, tweets everything I say. So today, she said something gross about fellatio and I sought vengeance. The only problem was that I didn't have a Twitter. I threatened to start one but I've been saying that for months and had yet to do it. And I was bluffing again, of course. So she pretty much started it for me.

     I never cared to tweet before, but my Advanced Magazine Writing prof, Erica, suggested it was a great way to generate story ideas and create a network of people and ideas. The more I heard that, the more I was convinced that Twitter was not just a tool for young narcissists to brag about all the "cool" things they do and feel like people give a shit.

     So my song choice for this shower was Rihanna's "California King Bed." I'm not a huge fan, but I enjoy this song and the fact that her vocals have shown tremendous growth. I used to hear Kenny play this when Ri-Ri's album first came out and I kind of liked its swagger. It's 4:12 but I was washing my face for the first minute or so before I hopped in the shower. Also, I was talking to my fellow e-board members today and realized that my showers are obnoxiously long. I may be in a state of mental anguish but I'm kind of glad I'm doing this thing.

     Oh, one last thing: Larry Stains came to my class this morning, gave us copies of his taxes, shouted out my 3-minute shower challenge and newfound popularity (not really), and then shook my hand quite fervently. Oh, Larry.