nytraveler

The difficulty is that you need both hands to wash your hair - how else to lather up the shampoo and work it through your hair? Then the same with cream rinse and perhaps glaze or whatever else you use on you hair. That means 6 or 7 minutes you need water flowing on your head (not madly spritzing in all directions around the room) while you use both hands to wash etc - if you have short hair. If you have LONG hair it takes longer.

I have seen proper showers that have this attachment - but then the slot it fits into is high enough in the air - at least 7 feet - and is really FIXED - that is the spray stays where you put it - doesn't wiggle all around.

If the purpose is just to rinse off bubbles in the tub - then they shouldn't call it a "shower".

travelerjan

boy, I'd hate to go camping with you NYtraveler. But I don't suppose u ever did. I grew up in a home with no shower. We sudsed our heads over a a bathroom sink or the tub, and then used a detatchable rubber hose thing with a shower head on it to rinse. And we survived, we looked good, we grew up and lived happy lives. Get over it.

SeaUrchin

As I noted, I have stayed in about five of their rooms and all had very nice shower/baths. I have not seen a hand held shower that just dangles in the air, there is some kind of bracket.

I don't think I get what the problem would be with washing long hair. I have pretty long hair and I haven't had any problem. What am I doing right?

SusanP

SeaUrchin, I also wonder what the difference is between short and long hair. For long hair, you just hold it over your head longer to make sure the shampoo is all rinsed out!

butnotrmpt

That's what I'd like to know, SeaUrchin - what are you doing right? The problem would be trying to wash your hair with one hand while holding the shower wand with the other. But from what I'm reading, that isn't how these things are meant to be used. Instead, it is wet the hair, put the shower head down - presumably turning it off, then lather up, then pick it up and turn it on and rinse, using one hand to hold the shower head and the other to try to get the soap or conditioner out of the hair. Anyway, if the shower head has a bracket that holds it, then it should function like a regular wall mounted shower.

I agree with you NYtraveler.

And Askar - I am sure you see wonderful things on your travels - but pining for a bucket of hot water is not in my future!

As for TravelerJan - I make no apologies for enjoying my shower, which is never so extraordinarily long. And not being a camper or not growing up with someone else's hardship doesn't make a person less worthy of respect. Besides, this is not a campground we are discussing. It is a hotel in Rome. And hotels that charge more than 200E per night are presumably aimed at attracting tourists, who might expect a real shower. But I am also willing to go with the flow (no pun intended) if that is not how it's done in Italy.

Regardless, I am happy to hear from SeaUrchin, who has actually stayed at the hotel in question. If anyone has stayed there, please chime in.

raspberryberet

Our shower in Rome and in Paris was like that- it was tricky. Fortunately I got a "system" down by way of balancing the hand held thingy so that it still sprayed my back and kept me warm, a BIT, while I was standing there.

I'm quite thin and we were in budget accommodations in January, and I wound up getting sick with fever and eventually walking pneumonia while over there. There are times when you just NEED a warm shower. Even when Im not burning a fever, I'm thin and can't stand a poor shower- turning the water off in a cold apartment is NOT an option for me. Sorry, I don't live in a 3rd world country, but I'm sensitive to the environment and don't take 20 minute showers, either. I get in and out, wash my long hair, but everyone has to draw the line somewhere.

SeaUrchin

I guess you mean a shower wand that gets put into a holder like an old telephone hook? And it is by the spicket for the bathtub?

I wet my hair with the wand, lay it down in the tub while I am sitting in it letting the water fill up, lather up my hair and then pick up the wand to rinse my hair. Then I may stand up and rinse myself off.

Or do you mean you are standing in a shower stall and there is no bracket for the wand? So the wand is dangling from its cord in midair? I have never seen this and I am sure it would have made an impression, so there must not be any of these at the Canali.

Sorry if I am being dense, truely.

bozama

Well they are not as convenient as the wall mounted shower, lets face it you can't just stand there and let the hot water pound into your shoulders, and , I think that is the point. Europeons seem to take conversation of water and electricity more seriously then we do, must be expensive.

I was a hairdresser for 5 years, it is simple to wash your hair with a handheld unit. Wet hair . Put hose down, lather, pick hose up, rinse, using one hand to hold hose and one nand works through the hair ( obviously long or thick hair takes longer) to remover soap and cond. Anyone one can master technique, we regularily hired shampoo girls with no experience , if the average 16 old girl can figure it out so can most other people.

LoveItaly

Uh yes, water and electricty is quite expensive in Italy and Italians are use to being conservative with both. So butnotrmpt, the old saying "when in Rome....".

SeaUrchin and bozama explained how to wash your hair and I am sure you will figure it out after a few times. And actually with the cost in Italy 200euro is not considered a highend hotel. And do remember, a good percent of the Italian women have the same type of bathing/shower situation and they manage just fine.

AnthonyGA

If having a hand-held shower head stresses you, it might be best to remain home, as there are many other surprises abroad of much greater magnitude than a difference in shower heads.

kerouac

I don't know if it's the same term in in Italy, but if ever you have to talk about the mobile shower attachment to anyone in France, it is known as the <i>telephone</i> (t&eacute;l&eacute;phone de douche).

hanl

I have very long hair and find it much easier to rinse with a hand-held shower head than with a fixed shower. And I don't need both hands to lather up/apply conditioner either - I can easily reach round to all sides of my head with one hand, while holding the shower head with the other. When it comes to rinsing, a hand-held shower head is great as you can direct the water easily and keep the soap runoff out of your eyes.

I don't like it when I go to the States and have to use those fixed wall or - worse - ceiling mounted showers as I hate having hot water/soap in my face.

quokka

Her's another long-haired lover of hand-held showers. I cannot stand those fixed to a wall. How does one get the shampoo and soap off everywhere with those inflexible ones?

Sorry, I don't get why hand-held showers should be a problem.

elina

Washing long hair is way easier with a handshower. You hold the shower about 10 cm from your scalp (standing bent from the waist, head down) and water goes where it is supposed to go, and your other hand rubs the scalp. The shower moves, not you, hair hanging towards the floor, and left hand fingers running through it you also get all the tangles off.

It is hard to wash with a shower that is half a meter above your head. I always get a feeling that I donīt get all the shampoo off, and even with conditioner hair ends up full of tangles. And for women, not to mention, how on earth does one wash so called private parts when the water source is nowhere near them.

kerouac

This is basically one of those threads where everybody prefers what they are used to.

alanRow

&lt;&lt;&lt; The difficulty is that you need both hands to wash your hair - how else to lather up the shampoo and work it through your hair? &gt;&gt;&gt;

Whatever happened to the can-do spirit of Americans?

Here's how you do it.

1) turn shower on
2) wet yourself
3) turn shower off
4) apply shampoo
5) rub through your hair
6) turn shower on
7) rinse hair
8) turn shower off.

Nikki

It is difficult to break a lifetime of bathing routine during a brief stay in a place where the facilities are unfamiliar. There have been long discussions here about such things as why on earth people would use washcloths, and why on earth people would not use them. The difference is almost always that it is what one is accustomed to (also widepread misconceptions as to how such things are done by those who don't do them). It is apparently one of the great cultural divides.

That said, I read lots of home decorating magazines from Europe, and they all are filled with ads for shower facilities every bit as elaborate (with multiple outlets on the walls for shower massage, for instance) as those found in the most expensive American home or hotel.

GSteed

Great postings...I remember Saturday bathing in the kitchen in a tub with 'warm' water from the wood stove. Mom poured &quot;cold' water over me to rinse. The bath water was used more than once. No special soap, often it was a strong yellow bar. We were really clean and shining for Sunday church. Hair washing was different. Mother collected rain water! It was soft...Many of these archaic practices are slated to return as electricity and gas disappears. Next, have a sailor explain ship type shower practices.

sandi_travelnut

I stayed at the hotel and my room did have a bracket to put the hand-held thing on the wall. The bathtub was very narrow so sitting down and enjoying a bath wasn't really an option.

NoleNomad

bozama,

Do you have a list of hotels employing those 'shampoo girls?' That sounds like the ideal way to get what little hair I have washed. Oh... I require they be at least 18.