Bathing is a Blessing

After I posted my Don't Shower post, I was thinking more about this. How blessed are WE in America to have clean, DRINKABLE water to WASH OURSELVES with? Daily. I've been to India, twice. They love their bath, and most people also wash daily. But they use a bucket of water, maybe a couple of quarts for their whole bath. They might have to walk to a village pump to get it. Those who don't have that, wash in the river. (many also drink that same water!)

They have showers and bathtubs in India, and indoor plumbing/running water for some. But in every hotel I've ever been in, there is a bucket and a cup to use for bathing. What I gather from that, is that even Indian people who can afford to stay in a hotel, will expect to take a bucket bath. I'm sure some take showers, but it seems to me the expectation is otherwise.

If you have insight into this, leave a comment to correct or clarify this for me.

But how about in dry, desert areas? What about in drought-stricken places where there isn't even water to drink? They don't get a daily bath. I wonder how much they mind? By that, I mean, you and I expect to have a daily bath and if we don't, we begin to feel uncomfortable. But for someone to whom that concept is foreign or not available, do they walk around feeling grubby, or just accept things as a normal state of being? I would tend to guess that if you routinely get a bath once a week, you don't begin to feel unwashed until that point has passed.

Anyway, I don't have any trouble with the Don't Shower concept, for a day or so, if I don't have plans. I have a hairstyle that can skip a day of washing.

But this morning, the Turn off the Water During Your Shower threw me for a loop. It messed with my routine! I almost forgot to rinse the soap out of my hair!

Today's tip: How do you get hot water from your faucet? If you're like me, you flip the faucet to hot and run it full blast, sticking your hand in it until it feels hot enough. Today, in my kitchen, I'm going to put a stockpot in my sink and run the water into that until it's hot. I'm sure I can use the stockpot water to boil something for lunch. I'm curious to see how much water I waste by waiting for the hot water.