The Bucket Shower

As detailed in my previous post on greening your hygiene routine, showerheads use 2 to 5 gallons of water per minute. With an average shower time of 8 minutes, that’s a whopping 16-40 gallons of water being consumed per shower.

Last week’s blog on rainwater catchment systems highlighted the realities of the ongoing global water crisis and the need to conserve and utilize our water resources more responsibly. When it comes to the act of cleaning ourselves, adopting the bucket shower method is one way to conserve water.

I was first introduced to the concept of bucket showering a few weeks ago by a volunteer named Fiona on the permaculture farm in Puerto Rico where I am currently living. A 19-year-old environmentalist from Arlington, VA, Fiona explained that she has been bucket showering for 2 years and 7 months, almost without fail (aside from one time after hiking for two weeks when she needed to shower and could find no receptacle to serve as her “bucket” and another time when she had the misfortune of encountering poison ivy and subsequently had to shower conventionally to prevent the oils from spreading).

She was first made aware of this water-saving personal hygiene technique while volunteering in Uganda with a group from her high school. Water was extremely limited in the area they were in, having to be sourced from a rainwater catchment system or collected and carried, often over long distances, from a stream. Even taking a conservative bucket shower was considered a luxury.

In Fiona’s own words, once she had been introduced to this method of showering that uses next to no water, she “came home and didn’t stop.”

For those of you still wondering what the heck a bucket shower is, there are some variations, but I’ll explain Fiona’s method first:
The first thing one requires when taking a bucket shower is, of course, the bucket itself in which to put the water. Fiona explained that she has a dedicated showering bucket at home that she will take on vacation with her, when practical, but at other times she has had to improvise a receptacle using things like cooking pots and trash bins when no bucket can be obtained.

She fills the bucket with about 1-2 gallons of water from the showerhead, tap, or faucet. The act of showering takes place in the shower, as one might expect. She starts by soaking her head in the bucket to wet her hair, which she then wrings out back into the bucket. She lathers her shampoo into her moistened hair and then rinses the shampoo out of her hair scooping water up with her hands or with a designated scoop.

She finishes off the hair washing process by re-dunking her head in the bucket. She then utilizes this slightly soapy water to wash the rest of her body, scrubbing herself with a washcloth.
On the bucket showering method, Fiona states that it “makes me feel very clean.”

It is interesting and slightly unconventional in the world of bucket showering not to use soap, but as Fiona explains, she decided to abstain from using soap in order to promote the growth of her body’s healthy bacteria colonies. Although I did not pick up on any noticeable odor during my time spent with Fiona, she did admit that her decision not to use soap does make her smell a little.

In other methods of bucket showering, or bucket bathing as some call it, you use a small secondary bucket or scoop (like a cup or tupperware), scoop into the bucket and pour water over yourself, suds up your hair and body, and then use the scoop to collect water out of the bucket and pour it over yourself to rinse off. Fiona explained that she used to use this method of bucket showering, but found that it ultimately uses more water than her dampened washcloth.

Consider reading up on alternative bucket shower processes including “How to bucket shower like a pro”and “How do you take a bucket bath in India?” for additional tips, tricks, and step by step instructions.

Although Fiona admits that she does sometimes miss the warmth of a regular shower (she does not heat her water as that uses additional energy and resources, but know that you can use hot water in your bucket shower to increase its comfort and palatability while still conserving substantial amounts of water), she ultimately feels satisfied in knowing that she is using so much less water and finds the process to be fun and relaxing.

She will often tell people she meets about her bucket showering in the hope that they will implement the practice.

So, when I heard about her practice of bucket showering, I of course decided to try it out.

The process in total took me about 5 minutes and approximately 1.25 gallons of water. Admittedly, I did not wash my hair, so that would add time and water consumption for sure. I filled a large bowl up with water (cold water, as that is all we have here on the farm, but it’s hot here so showering with cold water is actually quite refreshing) and then dipped my designated scoop (a tin mug) into the water and poured it over my body.  I then soaped up, dipping my lufa into the bucket and rubbing my bar of soap into it.

I lathered my body with soap and then repeated my series of scooping until I had rinsed the soap off. Tip: start at the top of your body and work your way down when rinsing. I used a washcloth to scrub any particularly dirty regions of my body. I left the “shower” feeling clean and accomplished, only having used 1.25 gallons of water.

Overall, I’d consider my first attempt at bucket showering to be a success. I imagine that with additional practice, I could use even less water going forward.

Finding ways to reduce our water consumption while showering can save vast amounts of water. According to the EPA, showering accounts for 20% of average household water use in the United States. Therefore, conserving water resources by implementing water-saving bucket showers can have a significant impact on reducing household water consumption.

Even if you think the idea of bucket showering is crazy (when what’s actually crazy is continuing to deplete our finite water supplies through wasteful, unsustainable, and irresponsible patterns of consumption), I urge you to give it a try. Try it just once to start. Then maybe swap out one shower a week with this method. Maybe you'll even come to embrace it and shower like this for the rest of your life like Fiona intends to do. Either way, let me know how it goes and what you think in the comments section below. And best of luck on your journey toward greener living.

~Sam

PS-shout out to Fiona for teaching me about bucket showering and for being so passionate about water conservation!