When you’re staying at a hotel, you never know what kind of shower you’re going to get. Will the shower head be an old-fashioned “spray coming out of the wall” type, or will it be a rain shower head coming from or near the ceiling? Will you be able to change the sprays, or will you have no choice because there’s just one spray option? And most importantly, will you have decent water pressure or not?
Since 1992, the U.S. Department of Energy has mandated that the water flow rate for new shower heads can’t be more than 2.5 gallons per minute (a water pressure of 80 pounds per square inch). Some states have laws that make it even lower (showers in NYC can’t be more than 2.0GPM. Those in California aren’t allowed to be more than 1.8GPM).
Hotels want to save money on their water bills to conserve water. So they tend to use showers with the lowest water flow rate. That low rate, in combination with low water pressure, can sometimes mean you’re taking a shower with a trickle of water, or a puny spray that may get you wet, but doesn’t do a great job of rinsing you off.
Hotels can fix their low water pressure if they want to, but what if they don’t? There’s a hack out there for hotel guests to be able to alter the shower head, but it’s admittedly kind of shady to do so.
However, we’ve discovered something that’s not only super simple, but also much more on the up and up.
Use the handheld shower wand.
PC: Delta Faucet
Of course, a handheld shower wand isn’t perfect. For one, it doesn’t cover as much body space as a full sized showerhead. But that’s the beauty of it – because the handheld shower wand is smaller, it has fewer holes. But the same amount of water will be trying to come out. That automatically means more water pressure per hole.
That being said, if you have thick hair, especially on the longer side, using the handheld wand works better to get all the soap out of your hair. It also can rinse the soap off your body faster, but because of its small size, it might be just as slow, overall, as the full sized shower head.
I’ve discovered that, in cases of a crappy hotel shower, using a mixture of the shower head and the shower wand, if available, works best.
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2 comments
Another way to make travel more inconvenient
I’m in hotels about 150-180 nights per year. Nice hotels. I NEVER see a hand held shower wand in a hotel.
I DO see a lot of $50 shower heads with five cents worth of water pressure. And lots of shower heads that are corroded and 3/4 stopped up with sediment.