Advantages of Shower Bath
The shower bath has the advantage of requiring much less water than the tub to accomplish the same results. Its par¬ticular advantage over the tub bath, however, is that one is always using clean water, whereas in the tub one uses the same water over and over until the bath is completed. And many otherwise fastidious people complete their tub baths without rinsing from their bodies the water which bathed them free from dirt and perspiration, apparently not real¬izing that as the water drains from the tub (in which they usually remain seated during part or all of the draining) the floating body oil, dirt and perspiration on top of the water are attracted to and adhere to their bodies. Of course, the towel removes this, or most of it; but the point is that they are not using clean water and that the towel is obliged to do what the bath water should do. With the shower bath this clinging to the body of once-removed dirt is impossible; new water is used throughout the bath, and its force and downward flow carry the dirt with it. One usually feels cleaner as well as more invigorated after a shower bath than after a tub bath. The same general principles apply in using the shower bath as in the use of the horizontal douche.
The quantity of water falling steadily upon the bather and the amount of body surface reached by it are greater than with the horizontal jet; hence the cold shower is a somewhat more vigorous treatment than the horizontal jet. But because the pressure is less the mechanical effect is less, which will make the reaction less prompt. For this reason those of low vitality must use, or have used for them, all necessary precautions to insure perfect reaction after the shower bath.