How to Take a Military Shower

The military shower, also known as the “Navy” or “combat” shower, is a method of showering that conserves water by employing a strategic stop-and-start approach. While it originated on naval ships where freshwater is limited, the method is also deployed by other branches of the military in water-scarce environments — like remote bases, forward operating posts, and field-training exercises.

The process of a military shower is simple: get wet, shut off the water, soap up, turn the water back on, and rinse off fast. That’s it. It’s efficient and effective: while the average shower lasts eight minutes and uses around twenty gallons of water, a military shower can be done in as little as two minutes and uses less than three gallons. And it still gets you clean.

For civilians, the military shower is useful if you want to lower your water bill and conserve resources, and it can be utilized in situations where water may be rationed or scarce — like camping or grid-down emergencies. Or it can simply be practiced as a daily exercise in self-discipline.

If you find yourself even shorter on water, use the “bird bath” technique to clean up. Skip the shower entirely and wash with a washcloth, a small basin of water, and some soap. Focus on the key zones: face, pits, groin, and feet. It won’t get you all the way clean, but it’ll freshen you up when water’s most scarce.

Illustration by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.