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A bath with sea salts & essential oils is very good for your skin & to relax the muscles every once & a while.
Do a rinse off after getting up out of the tub.

I don't know if there is an appeal to *starting* the day with a bath. It's really more of a relaxation ritual. I think if you clean out your tub before you bathe, it can be more cleansing than showering, since it really soaks all the stuff off of you. It breaks down the oils on your skin so grime really comes off, instead of just quickly rinsing off whatever happens to be the loosest and closest to the surface. And if you're grossed out by the idea of stuff floating around you, just remember that if it's in the water, it's no longer *on you*-- it used to be stuck to your skin!


But it does take more time, and isn't as perky as a shower.

I take a quick shower before I take a bath so when I do bathe...I don't feel like I'm bathing in my own filth.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm really not that filthy. I'll often take a rinse off after a really hard workout and then a soak in the bath. Just lovely.

Lily, I agree with you.
1. It takes a long time to prepare.
2. I kind of agree with the Kramer comment because
3. I always take a shower (albeit a quick one) afterwards anyway. I especially don't like washing my hair in a bath.

I've never really understood the allure of baths either.

I try it every now and then and just end up hot and bored. (And then cold and bored.) Part of it comes from the fact that I feel like after I've gone through the effort of cleaning the tub and filling the tub, I need to spend a decent amount of time in there to make it all worthwhile. Who needs that pressure?

Thankfully, hot showers are very relaxing for me!

I'll occasionally bathe to relax or shave my legs, but I always take a shower afterwards!

My husband grew up in a home with no shower--just a bathtub--so he and his siblings think nothing of it. He'll frequently bathe instead of showering (and he seems to come out clean enough).

I just stayed at a hotel in Rome that had the most gorgeous tub. So relaxing and decadent. Didn't take a shower the whole time I was there. Made me sad that my tub is so tiny at home.

I'm not a big fan of baths either. I can totally see how someone might want to just relax now and then in a bubble bath, but I wouldn't say it was very practical for long hair. After I broke my ankle and had trouble standing in the shower, but could remove my cast, I took baths all the time. The conditioner would get washed out by all the soap/shampoo when I tried to rinse it out, and my hair ended up tangled and hard to comb out. In terms of getting clean, I think that if you soak a long time in the bath and scrub yourself down, and then rinse off quickly in the shower, your skin does get a lot cleaner than in the shower. This seems rather wasteful in terms of water use though. I take a short shower (4-6 min) every morning, and that uses much less water than baths would.

I enjoy it once in a while. I was also raised with it, possibly a european thing. Now if I take one its to relax and it generally involves candles, calm music, and I'm doing it cos my muscles ache after a long work out!

Its a place to go and let your thoughts wander..and yes, its nice to shave your legs while sitting, and rinse at the end....

lily, i mostly agree! i only take baths when in fancy hotel rooms with very large tubs, jet streams, and such--more like a hot tub experience, and never in the morning. my small tub is of very ltd appeal!

I think baths aren't really for the mornings. They're meant to relax you, whereas in the morning you need more of a perk up. I think soaking in the tub and then showering is kind of backwards. In spas and bathhouses, you bathe first, then once you're clean, you get in the bath and let yourself soak. Especially when you put oils or bathing salts in the water.

I don't bathe in order to clean myself. I bathe in order to relax. And its usually something done in the eveings with a glass of wine and music. It'

Just curious... do the same feelings you have about bathtubs also apply to hot tubs, sauna's and swimming pools?

My sentiments are with Marie. Hot and bored and then cold and bored. I just find all the prep of cleaning out the tub then just laying there bored so not worth it. I have tried to like it many times but it just doesn't fit. Give me a hot shower any day.

How funny... I bathe every day... and I never knew people were so disgusted by it! How do these people who cringe at baths wash their young kids (if they have any)? Our tub sees an at least 2-4 bathers a day in a family of four, plus whoever showers. We only have the one bathroom, and the tub is also the shower. I don't scrub it before every bath, though obviously I do a once over glance to be sure it's clean enough. And it is... how could it not be with so much water and soap trucking through it in a day? I think people get out of touch with being human by freaking out every time they encounter a less-than-perfectly-sterile environment.

Now don't pass out... we occasionally wash the dog in there too. Though then I usually DO scrub it down afterwards... ;)

It's the only way I start the day. Couldn't imagine the appeal of a shower.

I ease into my day...always have, always will.
It's a jacuzzi spa too...salts, oils, or bubbles how can you deny yourself the luxury?

Some people are "cat" people, and some are "dog" people...same with baths and showers.

nothing like a hot bath to make you sleepy. Perfect for bedtime!

I'm not a bath person - and I'd have to scrub the tub to use it as it's in my kid's bathroom. So, it's partly that and partly the soaking in dirty water thing. I would not be happy in a hot tub, would sit on a clean towel in a sauna and would swim in a family pool but am not crazy about public pools...and I take a shower after a swim or sauna.

my favorite is the shower and bath in one. you fill up the bath half way, pull the curtain, turn on the shower head, and then just sit under the spray. it's kind of like being caught in a rain shower on a warm summer day. totally relaxing. AND it keeps the water warm because it is constantly running.

I was always a shower person. I took maybe one bath in each of my last three residences. Then we bought a house with 1 bath, no shower. I take a full bath maybe twice a week and a sink bath the other days or shower at the gym. One reason I don't mind the bath now is that I'm more likely to keep in clean because of the closer proximity and it is a J style tub (only touches two walls, not three) and we don't have a shower door or curtain, so even though it isn't huge, i don't feel like I'm in a cave. I guess I'd say baths aren't all that bad now.

I find a bath relaxing every so often, but you have to get all your accessories together to make it an enjoyable escape rather than hot/bored/cold, as someone said. If you have a magazine to read, a towel to dry your hands on so the magazine doesn't get all wet, a glass of wine AND a glass of water, and some kind of nice-smelling product in the bath, it's great.

My husband's old house in England had a wonderful, large bath, but no shower. He loved taking long baths. He'd take a book and a plate of snacks with him and soak for an hour or longer. Unfortunately, the bathtubs at our house here in the states are much smaller so he only takes showers. I think he really misses those baths.

I tried doing the bath-in-the-morning thing for a week or two. The problem was that I never wanted to get out. So, back to showering in the morning. I do, however, spend at least an hour in the bath reading every single evening.

This is not green or conservation friendly at all, but I take a bath and frequently take a quick cool shower after. It's about relaxation for me and it also helps my heels soften so I can slough of all that dead gross skin. :D

I don't mind the occasional bath, but follow it up with a quick shower. This is wasteful. In Japan, they do the opposite - a quick shower followed by a bath (but the family usually uses the same bath water to prevent waste because they're already clean by the time they get in the bath). This makes more sense, it's the best of both for germaphobes. Kinda like a swimming pool set up.

if i have a bath, i shower first and just use the time to relax and read. but not since i moved and have a small and narrow tub. not relaxing!

i never use it to clean. but i will soak w/ some salts if my legs hurt. i rinse off w/ a shower after though.

It's pretty much showers for me...not by choice! I use to relish soaking in a nice deep hot bath at the end of the day...soooooooooooo relaxing before going to bed~~~

Since I moved to my place, the small bath tub just doesn't cut it...I dream of a Japanese soaking tub. So, it's on the list of must haves for the future!!!

I bathe in the morning. In fact, I almost never shower in the morning. I find getting in the shower to be too shocking first thing in the morning! My senses are still sleepy and they don't like being jarred into alertness like that. (Think of the alarm clock noise... Reep! Reep! Reep! yuck!) I like to get up, make coffee, fill up the tub and sit in it while I drink my coffee. I mentally plan my day and gather the energy I need to get through it all. Then I was my hair (in the tub), get out and on with my day... i see no need to rinse off after either... I'm not that dirty in the first place.

OMG! I thought I was alone in my hatred for baths. It grosses me out. But I think its the fact of sitting in the bath tub....even when its freshly scrubbed...

I agree with Marie, and not only do I feel like I'm not getting clean, but it's not really relaxing. I can't even read a book or magazine because I don't like getting the pages wet. Even if I tried to relax, I mostly need to be submerged if I don't want to feel cold, and then I think that I'm getting too wrinkly, so all that water seems wasteful after only soaking for a few minutes ... It seems indulgent only when I'm in a hotel room. I wish I could like it more.

So many bath-haters!! A bath in the morning is the most wonderful transition between sleeping and waking. For me, it's a lovely, soothing experience in preparation for the day.

And my bath doesn't take any longer than taking a shower.

I lurve showers, sometimes taking two a day. Baths don't relax me. Water is only the right temperature for a few minutes. You have to sit in the water you sat in. If you use bath oil you have a another task: cleaning the tub. Shampooing your hair in the tub is awkward. etc. etc.

I love baths, in the last place I would take one occassionally and make a ritual out of it, bath bombs, book, wine, candles, soft music...very relaxing.

New place only has a shower, so guess baths will be out of the question for a while.

I'm about to rip out my small bathtub and replace it with a walk-in shower with body sprays. I considered a whirlpool or soaking tub but the time it would take to clean and use it every day just wasn't worth it to me.

Tomato Tomatoe I suppose.

I do love a good, long bath once in a while. But, as many others have said here on this post...a bath is more of a relaxing ritual. A quick shower is what I need in the morning to get the juices flowing. Oh, and I always take a short shower after the bath just to rinse everything off.

All this talk about hot baths has me wanting to go home and soak in my tub for awhile!

I find it's great for sore muscles... especially if you mix some epsom salts with some sort of essential oil (I use a combination of lavender and camomile) and let them dissolve in the hot water... takes all the stress out of muscles. Back when I worked in retail I would come home and soak in a piping hot bath every night (especially in the winter!! Ottawa winters are brutal).

And if you rinse out your tub with some nice hot water after every bath (removable shower heads help a lot with this) it makes it so much easier to clean when you do clean it.

First, it's convention in most of the bathing cultures in the world (like Northern Europe, Greece, and Japan to rinse off first, either by dumping water from the bath over your head to take off daily dust or a quick shower with a hand held shower head.

Like original sin, the idea that you are dirty and then wash yourself and become clean is more metaphor than fact. Your skin is much more vulnerable to infection when you shower or bathe frequently than when you have a more moderate rate.

Here's a little something extra for you to be squeamish about - the bath water is often shared.

In a proper tub, relaxing and reading with a glass of wine is amazingly therapeutic.

Well, we only have a bath in our house, so I don't have much choice anyway.
And I don't get bored in the bath. Either I read in the tub or I fall asleep (never more then 15 min, so it's more like a nap) or I wash myself really, really good. :)

Before I take a bubble bath at home I have to clean the hell out of the tub, which is why I don't take baths in hotels or when I'm a house guest. (I also can't drink milk unless it's from my own fridge...so maybe I'm weird.)