Whither the bath.

[attimes_bracing]

A random though hit me today.  Many do but this one stuck.  In this day and age do we really need a bath in our homes?  I have had one bath in 8 months.  My mother has used her bath twice in twenty years but despite a tiny bathroom which necessitated a corner bath to make it fit, refuses to remove it and put in a far more practical walk in shower..

And as I am a rational person I asked myself if I would buy a house without a bath? Nope.  Despite the space they take up, I am emotionally attached to a bath.  I want a bath after a really bad day.  I know that if I have a messy job to do like bathe a pet, bleach/dye something large or dissolve a corpse at least I will have a contained space to do it.
[Poll #2035327][Poll #2035327]

Comments

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

Would be very unhappy without bath. When I travel and am in room / suite with only shower, there is something very important missing.

[history-monk.livejournal.com]

In a shower, I feel I'm at risk of falling, because I can't see well enough (steam, can't wear contact lenses, or glasses for part of it) for that to assist my dodgy sense of balance. I also positively enjoy a bath: it's comfortable and relaxing. .

[uitlander]

I view my bath as one of life's essential luxuries. The bathroom, with a deep and luxourious bathtub, was one of the major "oh yes" features of the house. I start the day with a bath and may relax and unwind in another after work. It is my favourite things, made more wonerful by my memories of fieldwork in Africa and the absence of any private bathing facilities for 3 months. On return to civilisation I had a room reserved in the Maseru Sun with a capacious bathtub and would not emerge until I had achieved full prunedom. I could not contemplate living somewhere without a bath.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

So, we have two baths. We have 3 bathrooms. One bath doesn't work, to my great rage, because I like baths, but the water pressure is wrong (several plumbers have failed to solve the problem permanently). The other bath, in an even less heated part of the house, is full of boxes of science fiction books.

The shower works well.

Ask me again after Eastercon.

[andrewducker]

I need a shower, but I _like_ baths.

Although I would really like a bigger one.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

One of the problems with a bath-free house is that no family with small children will ever buy/rent it by choice, so it restricts your market - unless it's the sort of home that would already not be popular with families.

Baths are my guilty eco-crime. We have a huge one and I can have three a day if given half a chance.

[coughingbear]

I love baths and I have one most mornings. So would definitely never want to live in a house without one.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I mostly shower (in the tub), don't use it as a bath much because the water supply is crap and it is a LONG job putting in enough to be worthwhile. Use it for washing various things e.g. the big stones and other stuff from my snakes' vivarium.

[owlfish]

I really really love baths. But my parents' place in Italy doesn't have one and honestly? I would be willing to live there anyways.

[murphys-lawyer.livejournal.com]

I'd live without a bath if I could afford to look after a hot tub. Otherwise, no.

[were-gopher.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. A hot tub would mean I can get the theraputic warming of the dodgy bits of my skeleton while reading in comfort. (Really must get some of those stick on non slip bits.)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Before I left the UK, I had a bath pretty much every night: a long deep hot soak with Radio 4 and possibly a drink perhaps, as much about therapy as soap.

In the four years since I came to California, I have not had a single bath.

The "bathtub" in our house here is barely deeper than a shower-pan, and embarrassingly short; if I sat straight up like an L I might just get water enough to cover my legs. Maybe. That is useless to me bathwise, so I shower. And miss baths tremendously, and remain untherapeuted.

K says it's a safety feature to reassure families with small kids (pace your correspondent above) that their little darlings are safe from drowning, even unattended. I say it's a torment for the damned, meaning we expats who understand what a bath should be. Sigh.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Showers for speed, but I like to bathe periodically in a bath and soak. I'm prone to eczema so can't wash and soap too much. A regular soak allows me to rub off dirt and skin without the need for excessive soap use. So from that point of view, a bath is essential.

Also like to soak if I'm cold and aching.

[cthulie.livejournal.com]

Hot baths in winter, cool in summer. I also like to wash my hair with the detachable shower head, which is easier if there's a bath underneath (handy for dyeing hair.)

I've lived in a flat which had a shower but no bath, and would do it again, but not if I intended to live there very long.

[ramtops.livejournal.com]

I have an elderly, creaking skeleton, and have a soak in a very hot bath a couple of times a week. Would hate hate hate to be without a tub.

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

I like showers for keeping clean and baths for relaxation and getting warm. I would miss a bath, but would live somewhere that didn't have one if that made sense for other reasons. Of course, if it had a sauna, that would be BETTER than a bath.

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

Also baths are nice to sit in while hair dye soaks in - no worries about staining clothes or furnishings.

[ivory-goddess.livejournal.com]

I use our bath every week. I love baths. When we had the bathroom redone a few years back we got a Really Big Bath. One of the best things about working from home is finishing work at 4pm and being able to have a bath instead of commuting.

As others have said, it's also useful when dying one's hair and hand-washing some larger items.