Brits prefer it standing up

April 2007

We're a nation of shower lovers - and that's official. According to a nationwide survey, most Brits prefer a shower to a bath, although a significant number of women still like to pamper themselves in the bathing bubbles.

The survey by Ipsos MORI shows that 63% of respondents prefer to shower than bath, with men (72%) taking the lead over the ladies (53%) . The majority of us (53%) shower once a day with the 35-44 year olds taking the greatest number - often several times a day.

"National Shower Week is a new initiative designed to encourage people to shower rather than bath, in an effort to save water and time. The survey confirms what most of us already know - that the shower is the best way to wake up in the morning," said marketing manager for Kohler Mira, Roger Crabb. "63% of those surveyed shower in the morning with less than 10% before going to bed."

Younger people (15-24 years olds) tend to spend the most time in the shower, on average just over 10 minutes, and not surprisingly the ladies take slightly longer (8.4 minutes) than men (7.6 minutes) washing down.

If you're single you are also more likely to spend longer in the shower (on average over 9 minutes), compared to those who are married/living together (7.5 minutes).

"More and more people are choosing showers to baths because they are convenient, save time and more importantly, save water," added Roger Crabb.

"Research has shown that the average person uses 1,120 litres of water a week. Of this 168 litres are used for bathing compared to only 56 litres for showering. Over a year, on average, one person will use 8,760 litres of water for bathing compared to just 2,290 litres for showering . It is never too late to cut back on both the water and energy you use from simple everyday tasks such as running a bath. If everyone in the UK switched from bath to shower, they would potentially save 388 billion litres of water every year."

Other findings concluded that Brits also like it hot, the shower temperature that is, with over half saying so (52%). On average, Scots use the warmest water on an estimated scale of temperature from very hot to freezing (1 to 7) scoring 5.9 compared to Londoners (5.4).

When asked about popular shower tunes - soft rock, easy listening and disco club classics take top spots.