I figure that since I am always talking trash about the green movement, I should put my money where my mouth is and start a weekly series on things one can do to help the environment. And stuff. Since the Farmers’ Market is on Wednesdays, it gives me a giddy sense of connection to talk about environmental stuff on Wednesdays, so here’s the first post. If y’all like it, I’ll keep doing it. If y’all don’t…I don’t know what will happen. Something exciting, in all probability.

At any rate, today I decided to talk about the combat shower because, well, because it’s a pretty useful water-saving skill to have. You may also know the combat shower as the “navy shower,” or by some other creative slang term, in which case, please add that slang term to the comments, because I collect slang terms like cat hair.

Long before I cared about the environment, I was familiar with the combat shower, for the simple reason that I grew up in a house with a very limited water supply. Showers had to be made as efficient as possible, or we would run out of water, and that would suck. For years, I was known for my eerily rapid showers (in part because I don’t wash my hair every damn time I shower like some kind of OCD freak).

The goal of a combat shower is to get as clean as possible while using as little water as possible. In my experience, I think that I actually get cleaner when I take combat showers than I do when I take regular showers, perhaps because taking a combat shower ironically gives one more time to shower.

How is this, you might ask?

Because, my homechickens, when you take a combat shower, you don’t leave the shower running continuously. Instead, you hop in, turn on the water, get wet, turn the water off, and then soap yourself. If you’re washing your hair, you get it good and soaking in this first pass, and then lather up your hair while the shower is off. Since the water isn’t pushing the soap off, willy nilly, and you’re not worried about running out of hot water because, duh, the shower’s not running, you can scrub all the little piggies, and it’s a grand old time. Incidentally, for those of you who shave various body parts, this is a dandy time to do that. The heat opens up all your pores, making it easier and more comfortable to shave, and the soap makes a great shaving lubricant.

Then you turn the water back on, rinse off, and hop out. Unless you washed your hair, in which case you turn the water off, apply conditioner if you’re into that sort of thing, and then turn it back on again to rinse the conditioner out before turning turning the water off and toweling dry. (Or air drying, whatever works for you.)

For those of you who have long hair, like I do, you can appreciate the amount of water this saves, and people who have less hair can still save a lot of water by showering this way. I’d argue that it’s a pretty small step which saves a significant amount of water, and it doesn’t require:

A. A major lifestyle adjustment

B. A purchase

or

C. A sacrifice of any kind

For extra credit, set up a greywater reclamation system, and use it to flush the toilet or water the garden. Or both. Or, heck, you can fill water balloons with it and fire them at your neighbors. It’s your choice.