I’ll be honest: I had no idea how many adults peed in the shower until I got chatting about the topic with a friend. YouGov put it at 25% of us in 2014.
The practice has never suited me (what about your leg? Does it touch your toes?! It doesn’t bear thinking about), but after asking around, I learned the habit is more common than I realised.
Some joke that it saves water, to which I say: at what cost?
Another friend claimed it’s a sort of reflex at this point, and while I feel that’s a response worth unlearning, they don’t think their ritual is bad enough to change.
So, who’s right?
Experts are surprisingly pro-shower peeing
Turns out it’s a shower pee-ers world, and the rest of us are just sitting beside it.
Speaking to CNN, professor of urology Dr. Karyn Eilber said “There’s no downside” to peeing in the shower, “and it is just convenient for some people.”
In the article, she added that peeing on your legs and toes is fine as water washes it away; even in public showers, she said, mould and fungus are more of a health concern than urine (OK, health is one thing, but what of morality?!).
And while some have worried that peeing in the shower is bad for your pelvic floor (especially for women), urologist Dr Chris Kyle told Well + Good that “the ‘risk’ is largely theoretical.”
“I haven’t seen any studies that address whether women can fully empty their bladder when standing, but for an occasional void in the shower, I really don’t think it’s a big deal,” he told the publication.
One-nil to the temerarious tinklers, I guess.
Should I clean my shower more if I pee in it?
Healthline points out that menstrual blood, sweat, mucus, and even (shudder) small bits of faecal matter also end up on your shower floor, so you should blast it with hot water for a couple of seconds after leaving the area regardless of whether you’re a shower peer.
You should also deep-clean and disinfect your shower every one to two weeks, they add (regardless of your bathroom habits).
But they agree with Dr Eilber, saying that for people who use public restrooms, the danger is likelier to come from other folk’s feet than their urethras.