Every day, water races down the drain with every shower, carrying away not just dirt but gallons of precious resource. Now imagine each shower as a drop in a bucket – sometimes quiet, sometimes stormy – but always adding to a larger pool.
Swapping to sustainable shower choices turns daily routines into real opportunities for change. Saving water, reducing plastic and avoiding harsh chemicals in the bathroom doesn’t need to be time-consuming or expensive.
Read how to clean your bathroom, naturally (choose unscented products for pregnancy/nursing and near babies and pets). It’s a 30-year old outdated myth that indoor plants ‘clean the air’. But if you use them, read our on indoor plants as many including lilies and sago palm are unsafe near pets).
Do You Need a Water-Saving Showerhead?
For older showers, water-saving showerheads are easy to fit (use a qualified electrician), and could save you on bills. Which? magazine suggests this test to see if it’s worth the investment. And the good news is that if you need one, your water board may offer one for free.
The one offered by water boards (Flowpoint) takes less than one minute to unscrew an existing shower base from its hose, and replace. It’s also easy to clean (just wipe the rubber nozzles from time to time, to replace limescale build-up).
This model has a 2-year guarantee, and works with a standard 1/2 inch hose thread, and Combi condensing boilers, and gravity showers with pump fitted.
Not suitable for electric showers, or lower pressure systems or gravity fed systems with less than 0.5 bar pressure. If you are uncertain if this product is suitable we recommend you contact the manufacturer.
Place a 2-litre container on the shower floor. If it takes less than 12 seconds to fill when the shower is running on full, you could benefit from a low-flow shower, which is easily replaced.
Water-saving showerheads aerate, so it’s a bit like a rain shower. It still gives a nice shower, but uses far less water.
How to Clean A Showerhead
If your showerhead is clogged with limescale, Mira has a post on how to fix (and prevent) using cleaning vinegar (instructions are different for fixed showerheads). Learn how to fix a dripping showerhead.
Duwax: ‘Waxed Cotton’ Shower Curtains
If you have a plastic shower curtain, when time comes to replace consider Duwax (made from cotton). Made in Germany, this is free from so-called ‘forever chemicals’ that are harming our planet.
Not just good for the earth, but good for you too. Made from waxed cotton, it won’t ‘stick to your body’, when you step out of the shower! The fabric is woven so tightly, that water cannot run through.
As with any textile shower curtain, let it hang freely to dry, after use. Suitable for floor-level walk-in showers, the waxed cotton fabric is water-repellent, but soaps and oils (from shampoos and shower gels) could damage the surface over time, if not rinsed well.
How to Clean Your Shower Curtain
Most damage to shower curtains is caused by limescale deposits. Rather than launder the curtain, simply remove any deposits by applying a paste of citric acid and wiping with a plastic-free sponge.
For heavier stains, immerse the shower curtain in a bucket, with a dilution of citric acid and water.
Tubshroom (stop gunky hair clogs)
Tubshroom is a nifty little invention, designed to stop all the gunky long hair getting clogged in shower drains (good for people especially with long black hair, and definitely an invention to help hotel housekeepers – bundle up for big discounts!)
Made from stainless steel, it looks a bit like a mushroom (hence the name) and is designed to prevent hair and dirt getting stuck, so you don’t have to use harmful bleach or chemical cleaners. Just rinse each time you shampoo your hair, by holding in the stream of warm running water. You can clean it out now and then by mixing 1/2 cup of cleaning vinegar and 1/4 cup of baking soda in 1/2 gallon (2 litres of water).
It fits around most shower tubs, and will save you a fortune, by preventing costly plumbing visits. Especially if you live with an extra-hairy person (or if that’s you!)
Low-Waste and Non-Toxic Shower Products
Personal care products pack a hidden punch: most come in plastic, contain unpronounceable chemicals, and clog our pipes and rivers after use. Sustainable swaps keep the routines simple, gentle and planet-friendly.
Use with a plastic-free shower sponge.
Avoid essential oils for pregnancy/nursing and affected medical conditions. Never use human shower gels or shampoos on pets as the PH is different- read more on how to give your dog a bath, naturally.
Miniml Refillable Body Wash (with Yorkshire water)
Miniml Body Washes are made with Yorkshire water, and naturally fragranced. They can also be used as bubble bath.
Once empty, you can find local stores for refills, or send them back using QR codes, and the bottles are washed, emptied and refilled to send back to you. Choose from:
- Nourishing Coconut
- English Lavender
- Pink Grapefruit
- Tea Tree & Mint
The Powder Foam Wash (for day or night)
The Powder Shampoo is a company that makes natural powders that you mix with water, to convert into body wash. Sold with refills in aluminium tins, these save you paying for water!
Around 95% of most shower gels are simply water, so you’re paying big companies for something that just comes out of your tap! These powders don’t fill the pack to the brim, in order to make them easy to shake out. But rest assured, they work out way cheaper than buying bottles of liquid shower gel.
Choose from day (turmeric, lemongrass, ginger) or night (lavender).
Kleen Soaps: Cold-Pressed Soaps (on ropes!)
Kleen Soaps is a super brand of soaps. Made with cold-pressed vegan ingredients (and no palm oil), they are sent in plastic-free packaging. But what makes them unique is that they have integrated ropes, so the water drains away in the shower. No more slimy soap dishes!
Handmade soaps (which are ‘cured’ and not the same as those fruity handcrafted soaps) don’t dry your skin out, as they retain moisturising glycerine in the soap-making process.
Instead of removing and sell it to industry (like commercial bars, which is why they dry your skin).
These soaps are sold in a wide range of scents. There are:
- Unscented oat milk soaps
- Activated charcoal soaps (for acne)
- Floral soaps (for older ladies!)
- Exfoliating pumice soaps
- Pink clay & lemongrass (for dry skin)
- Tall, dark and handsome (for men)
All of the bars are big and chunky. As as the water drains in the shower, they should last a long time. So invest in a few, stick the others under the sink, and enjoy turning your shower into a spa!
Each soap bar lasts around 3 to 4 weeks, with daily use. Or more, if you hang it somewhere dry, away from moisture.
free showers for London’s homeless people
Living on the streets or in insecure housing makes meeting basic needs a daily struggle. Without access to showers, laundry, and toilets, people not only face higher risks of sickness, but also loss of self-respect.
Lack of hygiene can also lead to infections, skin issues and trouble managing ongoing conditions like diabetes. Bad smells or stained clothes can also push people further away from society.
ShowerBox (London and Birmingham) run mobile showers in the two cities that have the highest percentage of homeless people.
The founder (a volunteer for homeless charities) heard that donating clothes to homeless people is virtually useless without showers, as the person needs to be clean, for the clothes to be clean and fresh too, for comfort and interviews etc.
Local people also benefit from hot drinks, free underwear and free use of hair clippers.
With enough support, this could become England’s version to ShowerUp, a US organisation that is sponsored by local businesses and churches, to provide mobile showers throughout several states, combined with volunteers (some also give haircuts).
We are not here to make ‘dirty people’ clean. We are here to give hopeless people HOPE!
No Nightmares! The Story of ‘Psycho’
Even today, it’s quite shocking that such a scary film was made, back in 1960 by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Janet Leigh (the wife of Tony Curtis, she also played an ageing star in a classic Columbo episode), it used chocolate syrup to show the scene where she is stabbed in the shower by the character Norman Bates.
Strangely, the sound of a toilet flushing led the censors to look at the film closely (but not of a woman being stabbed to death in her own shower?)
Based on the story of a real serial killer who was obsessed with his mother, the film led many women to be too scared to take a shower. One father sent an angry letter to Hitchcock, who simply replied ‘send her to the dry cleaners’.
Anthony Perkins (who played Norman Bates) was actually a singer (who spoke fluent French). His widow was one of the victims of 9/11, when her plane crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York.
The film did not do Janet Leigh any good either. She never again worked with Hitchcock, and in an interview, admitted that she stopped taking showers. And even locked the door when she had a bath, saying ‘I’m always facing the door, watching, no matter where the shower head is’.
Hitchcock himself appears to have been a complicated man. Obsessed with blonde women, he would also play jokes on set (like once handcuffing an actor, after giving him laxatives, which likely was not funny for the recipient of his joke).
He also had a fear of eggs: ‘That white round thing without any holes. Have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow. I’ve never tasted it.’
Conclusion
Switching to sustainable showers means swapping waste for savings, plastic for plant, and guesswork for peace of mind. Every item replaced with a better choice is a win—not just for you, but for rivers, fields, and future generations.
Start with one upgrade, like a water-saving showerhead or a vegan soap. The ripples will build with each step. Together, these small habits turn the tide in favour of cleaner water and clearer conscience.
