The art of a cold shower
Jul. 21st, 2011 02:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tylikBefore I left Seattle I spent a couple of years living in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sea_gaagii's wonderful housebarge. The last summer, in particular, was a hot one, and I was heading home from the lab early when I could, so I could spend time working on a paper. There wasn't air conditioning in the boat, so when I got uncomfortably warm, I jumped off the side. Okay, the boat was on the north end of lake union, and the water was more than a little scary, but hey, who could resist? Then I'd come in, rinse off in the shower, and be good to go for a couple of hours.
Right now I am severely lacking a boat and a lake. And Cleveland is having a heat wave, and I'm once again living without air conditioning. So I have been working on the art of a cold shower. (Or, more likely, I am just being Captain Obvious.)
* It starts up with a tepid shower. Run the water a bit, until the temperature is stable and it's on the cool side but a temperature you think you'll be able to bear. As long as it's cooler than your body temperature, it will help. Remember that it will feel cooler as a shower than it does coming out of the tap.
* Step into the shower. If this is hard, think of it like getting into a cool lake to swim. It'll only feel cold for a moment, and then it will feel nice.
* Whenever possible, try to have the water falling over your head and trunk.
* There are two approaches for the next step. For the more aggressive approach, when you realize this doesn't feel that bad, adjust the temperature down. For the gentler one, the point is when you realize this feels pretty nice. Repeat this several times. Bonus points if you can get it down to cold water only with no hot at all... but that's locale dependent (some areas have colder water than others).
* If you're not in an area where water is being particularly conserved, take a nice long shower. This is all about reducing body temperature. Duration counts.
* Wash with something scratchy. Dead skin comes off less readily in cool water.
* When you're done, step out and enjoy the fact that for the moment, the heat feels really good.
sea_gaagii's wonderful housebarge. The last summer, in particular, was a hot one, and I was heading home from the lab early when I could, so I could spend time working on a paper. There wasn't air conditioning in the boat, so when I got uncomfortably warm, I jumped off the side. Okay, the boat was on the north end of lake union, and the water was more than a little scary, but hey, who could resist? Then I'd come in, rinse off in the shower, and be good to go for a couple of hours.Right now I am severely lacking a boat and a lake. And Cleveland is having a heat wave, and I'm once again living without air conditioning. So I have been working on the art of a cold shower. (Or, more likely, I am just being Captain Obvious.)
* It starts up with a tepid shower. Run the water a bit, until the temperature is stable and it's on the cool side but a temperature you think you'll be able to bear. As long as it's cooler than your body temperature, it will help. Remember that it will feel cooler as a shower than it does coming out of the tap.
* Step into the shower. If this is hard, think of it like getting into a cool lake to swim. It'll only feel cold for a moment, and then it will feel nice.
* Whenever possible, try to have the water falling over your head and trunk.
* There are two approaches for the next step. For the more aggressive approach, when you realize this doesn't feel that bad, adjust the temperature down. For the gentler one, the point is when you realize this feels pretty nice. Repeat this several times. Bonus points if you can get it down to cold water only with no hot at all... but that's locale dependent (some areas have colder water than others).
* If you're not in an area where water is being particularly conserved, take a nice long shower. This is all about reducing body temperature. Duration counts.
* Wash with something scratchy. Dead skin comes off less readily in cool water.
* When you're done, step out and enjoy the fact that for the moment, the heat feels really good.
