Has anyone bought shower curtain in France?
 

Is the size the same as ours?

Thankyou.

I have been going to France for many years but I never saw a shower curtain there. The French prefer that you thoroughly soak everything in sight when you shower. I think it's something like the way my dog insists on splashing water all over the kitchen when he gets a drink. You can't make any sense of it; it's just the way it is.

Larry J

Actually that's how they save on buying a water dish for the dog. The shower water MUST be splashed all over the bathroom floor or else the poor dog will get dehydrated or develop kidney failure.

Well, yes, France does have shower curtains, though you may not see them in hotels. As for the size or sizes, I just measured the one in our bathroom, which is 80 centimeters long by 166 centimeters high, but I expect sizes vary. French bathtubs generally have higher sides than American ones. Great for soaking!

I've bought a few shower curtains in France. The country's on the metric system, so yes, everything's measured in metric. But I've also brought shower curtains from the USA to France, and they fit fine in my French shower. One time I bought a shower curtain in France and found it was about three feet longer than I needed or wanted it to be. The instructions said to "cut it to measure," so I did.

I'm not sure how "standard" Dave's shower curtain is, but 80 by 166 is the same as 31 inches by 65 inches. That's about standard length for a US shower curtain, but only about half as wide.

Patrick, I am so impressed with you! You seem to know everything about everything!

We bought a glass shower door from France for a bathroom renovation. They came in the standard sizes that our shower doors come in, so I would think curtains would also.

So the conclusion is yes, some french do use shower curtains and no, the size is not the same as ours. Is that correct?

Thankyou all.

I don't have anything illuminating to say, but I love the question.

Hang in there, Laqueridisima. With a little help you too can "know everything". Just use Mr. Google. Enter "converting centimeters to inches" and viola, you too can be a math wizard.

<<and viola, you too can be a math wizard.>>

but not a spelling maven:)

St. Cirq, apparently you haven't met Viola Laqueridisima.

Now what spelling maven are you talking about? LOL

LOL, Patrick!

Actually, I am not one to talk. I have made more typos on Fodor's in the past few days while getting used to new glasses than I'd care to admit to. Finally, the old 20/20 has deteriorated and I actually have to wear glasses to type on screen without making errors - something I'm rebelling against, but if it compromises my spelling reputation, I'm doing it!

LOL, Patrick - quick thinking!

They're a musical family, aren't they? I'm sure I've met her big sisters - Cello & Double Bass.

Well, I can't blame the glasses, although I guess I am due for new ones. Maybe I could blame that ghastly new header which is distracting me. Or maybe I'm turning dyslexic in my old age. Lately I've also even found myself doing there for their and too for to.

But I thought I got myself out of that voila/viola mess pretty well, don't you?

<<But I thought I got myself out of that voila/viola mess pretty well, don't you?>>

Yes, I have to agree. That was both quick and brilliant;)

Shower curtains in France come in all sorts of sizes. There are narrow ones for use in shower stalls and wide ones for use in bathtubs. As far as height goes, there are plenty of cut-to-fit ones available, as St-Cirq said.

You have to think that French people know how to take a bath and then rinse themselves off with the shower sprayer without soaking the whole bathroom. It's an art. You too can master it with a little practice!

Well, ckenb, I've been sitting here thinking if I should say this -- probably not -- but I will anyway and just take the slams as they come.

Maybe you've answered why so many Parisians DON'T shower every day, or even very often at all. And whether we want to admit it or not, a ride in any crowded metro car will tell you that many, many do not! In fact many Parisians openly say that Americans are crazy because we shower every day! Perhaps they just don't want to clean up their flooded bathrooms every day?

I think times have changed in France, and even in Paris. More and more, people have bathrooms in their houses and apartments, and have showers. They can afford hot water. And they have washing machines, so they can wash their clothes more often.

Don't forget how poor France was after World War II. Electricity and gas were very expensive and people used them sparingly. Modern plumbing didn't exist in many Paris apartments. People didn't have extensive wardrobes, and they didn't have inexpensive, convenient ways to do laundry.

It's still true that in Paris apartments are very small and often don't have washing machines or (especially) clothes driers. So there are still plenty of people in the city who can't wash their clothes as often as Americans do.

I'm not sure of the proportion of Paris apartments that don't have a shower or a tub but it surely is dwindling. There are very modest dwellings on the top floors of older buildings, former maids rooms, that not uncommonly still have only sinks, with the toilet common, and in the hall on the landing. Retrofitting of Belle Epoch buildings with "comfort" produces some fascinating results, such as shower in the kitchen and even the dreaded (to the French) toilet in the same room as the tub.

It would be interesting to know what that proportion is, but as you say it has been reduced considerably, I'm sure, by the modernizations and renovations of the last 25 years. The situation is the same with hotels -- many that I knew and stayed in in the 70s, which were budget/student hotels at the time, have been completely rebuilt inside and now offer 2- and 3-star amenities.

I wonder about laundry facilities in old Paris buildings and how common they are.

A friend of mine who lived in the 17th back in the 70s had the shower in the kitchen. In my apartment just off the rue Montorgueil, the bathroom was off the kitchen, with louvred doors separting the two "rooms". It had a small tub -- I put up a shower curtain -- a sink, and a bidet. No toilet. That was out on the landing and shared with people in other apartments. Those were the realities of Paris life 25 years ago. For god's sake the place didn't even have heat, except for the roll-around electric radiator I bought.

I guess the point of all this is that a shower curtain might be seen as a frill, when you don't have some of what we consider the necessities of life! But a nice, useful frill, once you're used to having one.

For goodness sake. How many people nowadays use shower curtains, nasty clammy things?
Shower screens are much more aesthetic and hygienic.
I expect that the French might report on the smell of unwashed bottoms in the New York Subway.

To me there is nothing worse than one of those "shower screens" that absolutely cries out for someone to spray it with Tilex soapscum remover!

What I hate about shower curtains is that they seem to get sucked into the shower stall or bathtub and stick to your skin. A glass door or other glass enclosure is better. Both curtains and doors get dirty, of course, but the doors are much easier to clean.

The French may end up skipping the shower curtain stage of civilization completely and move directly to glass shower enclosures. I know I went to the Leroy-Merlin store (similar to a Home Depot in the US) and ordered a glass door for my shower stall here in Saint-Aignan last year, to replace a curtain. Much better.

Americans are the ones that flood french bathrooms with water. The French people dont flood their own bathrooms. The French seem to understand that if you point the water away from the tub it will most likely go in that direction.

If there is just a tub with no shower curtain the French sit in the tub and either bath or use the shower head attached to the long metal hose to rinse off. They dont stand and spray water every where.. go figure...

As I am an american in Paris, and I prefer to stand and shower, I purchased a shower curtain. Very simple indeed.

Yes, it is simple. If it is a bathtub with a shower attachment and no curtain, it is not a shower. It is a bathtub. Take a bath. Then rince yourself off carefully without necessarily standing up. It works.

Patrick, your observation on Parisian personal hygiene habits reminds me of a bit of hydro-history. Prior to construction of the canals in the 19th century, water service in Paris was erratic, often characterized by "feast or famine" cycles of flooding and drought. Plausible legend has it that the reason the French excel at perfume making is that they needed something to mask the biologic smells that inevitably resulted when water was scarce.

Shower curtains are actually very easy to clean. Toss it in the washer with a bunch of bleach on the delicate setting.

The trouble with shower screens is that they're transparent. Mine has a mirror nearby. You see all your spare tyres and bulgy bits, a shock to the system first thing in the morning.

If you keep your eyes open you'll get soap in them.

Patrick,

A shower a day may be fine for "les gros richards," but what's the average guy or gal in an eight-square-meter cold-water sixth floor walkup supposed to do, especially now that most of the municipal baths have been closed? (And why didn't on-the-Metro B.O. come up when we were discussing why so many folks want lodging within walking distance of the major sights? That's a GOOD reason for not taking the Metro.)

Relatives rented an apartment on the rue Cler in 1990 that had been retrofitted with a bathroom next to the living room. The bathtub was too long to fit, so about half its length protruded into the living room and was fitted with a box-like cover.

the shower in our friends' guest house has an honest-to-gosh shower curtain in it, which came from Habitat.