Shower Curtain Ettiquette | Showering Enthusiast

Shelterrific:

In last week’s issue of The New Yorker, there was a humorous essay by Ian Fraiser called How to Operate the Shower Curtain. It’s an hysterical, detailed guide for overnight guests on the workings of the bathroom’s most crucial accessory. “When detaching shower curtain from clinging to you or when exiting tub during a change in water temperature, bear in mind that there are seventeen mostly empty plastic bottles of shampoo on tub edge next to wall,” writes Fraiser.

Though tongue-in-cheek, the piece hit a note of truth at our homes, where we care quite passionately about our shower curtains. Here are our simple rules to make sure the one in your bathroom lives a long, useful life:

1) While showering, the curtain should always be inside the tub.

2) Shower curtains need to be open gently, so as not to rip the delicate plastic holes.

3) There is only one kind of shower curtain ring worth using: Roller Rings, 12 for $11 at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

4) After exiting the tub, draw the shower curtain closed once more, so it will dry evenly, and to avoid, as Fraiser says “the gray substance in some of the inner pleat folds” which is “a kind of insignificant mildew, less toxic than what is found on some foreign cheeses.”

5) If you want to always have a towel in reach, without getting wet, consider the Duo shower curtain rod, $40 at Comfort House.

6) And finally, peeing the shower is not okay, but if you must, please make sure you are in the shower alone and that you aim into the drain.