The perfect playlist to help you save water, money and your skin this World Water Day

The shower is the best place to belt out a song or two and there really is nowhere else that matches your bathroom for acoustics. But could a shower playlist actually help you to save water while you’re in the shower?

Science has proven that singing in the shower is fun for a reason and that’s because your voice always sounds remarkably better, thanks to the smooth surfaces that your notes can bounce off.

This singing phenomenon has spread far and wide, with thousands of Spotify users creating playlists dedicated solely to a soapy singing session. For World Water Day, Mira showers has analysed thousands of user-created playlists to discover the world’s most favourite songs to sing whilst showering, to encourage more time-efficient showers that not only benefit the environment but also your physical health.

We’ve worked with Abbas Kanani, a Pharmacist at Chemist Click, alongside analysing Spotify tracks to find out the world’s favourite 4-minute songs to sing in the shower. You can then shuffle the playlist and shower away to two songs max for a perfectly timed water-saving shower!

How long should you take in the shower and why?

According to Abbas Kanani, Pharmacist at Chemist Click, “ultimately, you want to be spending enough time in the shower to adequately clean yourself and get rid of any dirt and sweat. If you have been in the gym or been involved in an activity where you have excess dirt on your body, you need enough time to cleanse. A sufficient amount of time to clean your body is 8 minutes.”

How long should you take to shampoo your hair?

“If you have been involved in an activity where there is dirt in your hair, you may need to spend a little longer cleaning than usual. The same applies to products, if you’ve used hair product, it may take slightly longer to get rid of it. In fact, you may need a few washes to get rid of it completely. If you are using medicated shampoo to treat a scalp condition, you may need to leave the shampoo in contact with your scalp for a few minutes. On average, around 30 – 90 seconds is ample time, sufficient to give your hair and scalp a thorough cleanse.”

How long should you take to condition your hair?

“Repair conditioner usually requires you to leave it on for around 15 minutes. There are different types of conditioners and most of them will usually state on the bottle, exactly how long you need to leave it on for.”

What are the benefits of shorter showers for your hair and skin?

“Most people who tend to take longer showers, will have the temperature of the water quite hot. Whilst this can be relaxing for your muscles, it can irritate your skin, leaving it itchy and dry. Hot water causes damage to the outer layers of the skin, which can cause skin irritation. Hot water can also dry the scalp, causing dandruff and an itchy scalp. It can also weaken the roots of the hair, causing it to become frizzy, brittle, and easily breakable. However, warm water opens the pores on the skin and scalp, helping to remove oil, dirt and sweat, so a lukewarm shower is optimum.”

How long should you shower to save water and how much can be saved by taking shorter showers?

The average person in the UK uses 149 litres of a water a day, but we can all do our bit to reduce this usage on a personal level by taking shorter showers.

Reducing the amount of time that you spend in the shower is a simple and effective way of lowering your water usage. Mira previously surveyed the nation and discovered that 40% of us shower for leisure reasons – whether it’s to relax, escape reality or for pure enjoyment. If every home in the UK took one minute off their shower each day, we would collectively save £215 million on our energy bills each year in the UK!