Not all showers are created equal as I am sure many of you know. My shower at home is a weedy effort thanks to terrible water pressure and a reason too dull to mention why we can't have a power shower. It's so bad that even the shower in our touring caravan is better. One of my favourite parts of staying in hotels is that often I get to enjoy a proper shower with jets you can feel cleaning your skin.
Bizarrely one of the very best showers I ever had was on a campsite in Cornwall. Anyone who ha ever gone camping knows showering on sites can be a traumatic experience with spider-infested institution-style showers which are usually either scalding hot in the two and a half minutes a day they have hot water available, or freezing cold.
Heading to this campsites showers housed in a giant open sided barn with my towel and wash kit imagine my surprise when I opened the door to a huge slate tiled wet room with multiple shower heads and fancy multi-coloured lighting set into glass tiles just for me! It only needed some music for it to be like a watery night club.
Of course the range of showers available which you can install in your home nowadays mean you actually can buy units with built in radio or speakers and lighting so you can enjoy a bathroom karaoke sesh while doing your ablutions.
And taking inspiration from the ancient Roman steam rooms you can even buy steam showers which, similar to saunas, can help with pain from conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and may even alleviate symptoms of the common cold! Certainly more fun and safer than the old "head under a towel, over a bowl of hot water" method of clearing your sinuses.
Asthma sufferers report improved health using steam showers and it's believed regular use can enhance the immune system and accelerate the metabolism too. If nothing else, steam showers offer ultimate relaxation and can ease the stiffness and pain of joints whether caused by a health condition or a slightly longer morning run than normal.
The Romans powered their steam rooms with natural underground hot springs and they tended to be quite the place for social gatherings. It's up to you whether you share your steam shower but with spa-like additions including foot massagers, rainfall water showers, televisions, bluetooth speakers, telephones, aromatherapy and chromatherapy (using the colours of the visible spectrum thought to have healing benefits) why wouldn't you just want to enjoy all the benefits in regular pampering self-care sessions alone. Unless you want to duet during "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls of course.
Obviously steam shower cabinets are designed to be enclosed so your bathroom wallpaper won't peel off so while your skin might end up glowing your paintwork won't end up bubbling.
If you are considering giving your bathroom a glow-up, it might be worth considering upgrading your shower to a steam shower for a host of benefits to keep a smile on your face and a spring in your step.