you want me to wash my hair with this?
May 20, 2009 11:46 AM   Subscribe

Why does the shower head only come up to my chest?

I'm not inordinately tall. I'm 6'2". Why is it that so many shower heads are installed in the wall below my neck? The first time I experienced this was in junior high when my basketball team played a game at another school and my team was put in the girls' locker room. At that time, freshly lanky from puberty, I assumed it was just something that all girls' locker rooms had in common, like not having urinals.

But in the many years since that game (which we lost) I have run into the same problem too many times to count. Currently, I'm staying in a house in Irvine, California, that has a short shower head. It's not a girls' school, so my original hypothesis doesn't work, and it's only a few decades old at the most, so I can't chalk it up to the fact that people were tiny centuries ago. Why does it happen? Do contractors forget to factor in the distance from the bathroom floor to the floor of the tub? Are they trying to save expenses on copper pipes? Am I wrong to expect to wash my hair in the shower?
posted by billtron to Home & Garden (28 answers total)
 
As someone who is taller than average, but not excessively tall either, I can only come up with one certain reason for low shower heads - sadism.

In seriousness, I imagine this is probably related to cost cutting and/or poor technique.
posted by seppyk at 11:51 AM on May 20, 2009


My friend, it is a world made for people shorter than you (or me). Cars, trains, plains, buses, blue jeans, showers, movie theaters, roller coasters, urinals: they all work best if you are between maybe 5 and 6 feet, and that is a cold, hard, short, fact.

They figure what the lowest common denominator is, circle it, and that's that. Sorry.

Also, sorry that you lost the game.
posted by dirtdirt at 11:54 AM on May 20, 2009


I wonder if it has to do with standard heights for shower curtains? Cause you don't want the showerhead to be too high (if at all) above the shower curtain, right? Though that feels like an after-the-fact justification, as opposed to a proper reason for lowering the showerhead.

I bet it is probably more due to poor planning/construction than anything else.
posted by Grither at 11:55 AM on May 20, 2009


I'd imagine they're low because it's a safety issue when you need to adjust the shower head and you're only, say, 5 feet tall. For the young, very old, and people with limited reach, it wouldn't be the best scenario to have to stand on tiptoes in a shower to adjust the head.

Our house (built in the mid '70s) had shower heads that were probably 5'7" or so off the floor of the shower. Like you, I felt this was way too low (I'm 5'9") and raised them to about 6'3" off the floor.
posted by puritycontrol at 12:02 PM on May 20, 2009


My son has the same complaint. I think it not only saves money on piping but also means that the tile doesn't have to go as high (probably a bigger cost savings). We bought a hand-held shower head that has a cable that attaches to the neck of the pipe where you screw in the main shower head. You can also just replace the fixed mounted shower head with a hand-held one with a holder so you can use it either way. Both a simple do-it-yourself jobs.
posted by metahawk at 12:05 PM on May 20, 2009


Response by poster: @metahawk, if only I could hack the plumbing to make it work for me, but I usually run into this problem when staying at hotels or short term residencies, like this one in Irvine.
posted by billtron at 12:07 PM on May 20, 2009


Digging into the recesses of my mind, I think I remember someone once telling me that 60's/70's showers did this because of beehive (and other tall) hairdos.

Probably apocryphal, but here it is anyway.
posted by sbutler at 12:08 PM on May 20, 2009


I'm barely 5'10 -- not even close to your genuinely tall 6'2 height -- and I face this problem all the time. Most showerheads are at chin or eye level, most kitchen sinks and countertops are low enough to cause back strain when used (and baby strollers! oh god, the low handles on those things!), my knees jam up against the seat in front of me on the bus, the list goes on. Occasionally I'll find myself in a home or facility seemingly designed for people of average height but for the most part it seems like the entire world is made to the specifications of a little old lady.

"they all work best if you are between maybe 5 and 6 feet"

I'm right in that range, and believe me, most of the world seems to be designed for someone between 4'11 and 5'5.
posted by majick at 12:09 PM on May 20, 2009 [1 favorite]


believe me, most of the world seems to be designed for someone between 4'11 and 5'5

No way! I'm 5'2" with shoes, and nothing fits me either. Mirrors above sinks are too high, airplane seats are so high that my feet dangle, causing severe lower back pain after a long flight, bar stools are impossible to sit in or scoot over comfortably, kitchen counters are too high to comfortably/safely use a knife, and hell if I can ever reach things on shelves.

I'm pretty sure the entire world is made to the specifications of one very lucky person, and all the rest of us are SOL.

Back to the question at hand, I once was in a hotel shower that was too low for me - me! at 5'2"! I was stunned. That said, the ones in my office building showers are too high and not adjustable, so even when I'm as far away as I can get the water hits me square in the face.
posted by misskaz at 12:20 PM on May 20, 2009 [3 favorites]


Maybe it has to do with a limited distance that water can shoot upward once the plug mechanism is enacted to switch from coming from the tub faucet to coming from the shower head?

-making it up as I go along.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 12:27 PM on May 20, 2009


...because of the size of the pipes, I'm saying--just the volume of water?

Alternatively, to make you feel big and strong? And oily haired?
posted by A Terrible Llama at 12:29 PM on May 20, 2009


I'm 5' 9'' and I've also run into this shower head problem, most frequently in hotels. I'd be very interested in knowing if there is a rationale for this choice.
posted by alms at 12:35 PM on May 20, 2009


sbutler is close: Back when hair do's took several hours under intense chemical baths and big hair dryers, women didn't wash their hair every time they took a shower (lest they ruin their perm). Either this meant that they had to wear a shower cap or have a shower head that didn't spray them on the head.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:43 PM on May 20, 2009 [1 favorite]


I rebuilt my bathroom with a 7' shower head -- it's the only shower that's ever actually fit my height, and I'm only 6' tall. The water pressure didn't decrease, so that's not the issue. Has to be the $$.

FWIW - the internets are full of people complaining about short showers, but I can't find any explanation (even on the pro boards).
posted by coolguymichael at 1:01 PM on May 20, 2009


A terrible llama, the total head pressure in the pipes is always gonna be enough to rise the three or four feet to the shower head.

I believe this is mostly to accommodate short people. If Granny can't reach the shower head at all, she might try to stand on the edge of the tub and kill herself. That it doesn't rain down blessings on your head is merely an inconvenience.

(also, I looked at the ADA requirements, and they demand a shower head on a hose, but no minimum height.)
posted by notsnot at 1:04 PM on May 20, 2009


I would think for two reasons

1. Shower height has been at a certain standard for a while now and we are taller than we used to be. Once something becomes a standard, fixtures are made to fit that standard and getting away from that moves at the speed of a glacier.

2. It's cheaper. One less row of tile in a shower might equal a savings of $10 to $40. Imagine multiplying that over building and it begins to add up.
posted by Foam Pants at 1:06 PM on May 20, 2009


Get used to it. I'm 6'4" and gave up on getting a proper shower, at least until I have my own place I can remodel.
posted by valadil at 1:07 PM on May 20, 2009


Because of the height of the plumber/contractor?
posted by rabidsegue at 1:08 PM on May 20, 2009


I think a Shower Extension Arm would be a good investment for you. Also: on Amazon.
posted by bengarland at 1:13 PM on May 20, 2009


Yes. Short showers.
I run into the exit signs in my building, too.
Someday the tall will rule the earth and the short will be inconvenienced!
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 1:19 PM on May 20, 2009


When the classic shower height complaint is brought up, one traditional explanation is that hotels and dormitories have low shower heads so no one hangs themselves from it.

It's most definitely an urban legend but it has enough rational to survive a drunken debate.
posted by FastGorilla at 1:41 PM on May 20, 2009


2. It's cheaper. One less row of tile in a shower might equal a savings of $10 to $40. Imagine multiplying that over building and it begins to add up.

There's probably a lot of truth to this. Even with one-piece fiberglass units, moving the showerhead up a foot would add a lot to the overall size of the unit, which has repercussions all the way through the supply chain.

(The alternative is my weird apartment setup, where the showerhead is mounted a foot above the top of the fiberglass, about 7' up.)
posted by smackfu at 1:52 PM on May 20, 2009


majick: "(and baby strollers! oh god, the low handles on those things!)"

It's a derail, but relevant to the tall: stroller handle extensions. We got a pair for our cheap-ass umbrella stroller, and they do the job.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:24 PM on May 20, 2009


I like being taller than the shower head so I don't have water spraying in my eyes the whole shower.

I went another route and tried to look up if there was some stupid min or max shower head installation rule contractors and builders follow but there isn't.
I found that shower stuff is usually installed of the gound:
40" for the thermostatic valve, 48" to the control valves, 40" for the hand shower, 84" for the showerhead, 24", 36", and 48" for the body sprays.

So it seems it's just made to be accommodating for everyone. You don't want people reaching and jumping in a dangerous slippery place, do you? =]
posted by zephyr_words at 4:13 PM on May 20, 2009


I think cheapness, builders' convenience has to be the answer. It's probably an even division of some common length of pipe. IE, pipe comes in 12 foot sections. So they could make it 4' from the faucet, or 3' from the faucet and get another "piece" out of the stock.
posted by gjc at 6:04 PM on May 20, 2009


battleshipkropotkin: "Someday the tall will rule the earth and the short will be inconvenienced!"

We already are. Would you mind going shopping with me and getting the cereal off the top shelf for me?

Back on topic though, I always did think it had something to do with the force it takes for the water to go up to the shower.

Some (seemingly higher-end) houses now have rainfall showers mounted in the ceiling.
posted by IndigoRain at 9:03 PM on May 20, 2009


A bit of trawling around finds that there seems to be no minimum height for the shower head itself, though 80" (6' 8") seems to be a traditional choice. That 80" is specified (in the International Residential Code) as the minimum floor-to-ceiling height for a shower, presumably one with a lower shower head.
posted by dhartung at 9:39 PM on May 20, 2009


I can tell you it has nothing to do with water pressure. Some people here seem to be guessing that if the shower were any taller, then there might not be enough water pressure coming out of the shower head. That is completely ridiculous. How do you think people in a 2 or 3 story house have showers on the upper floors? (And no, at that level, they don't have on-site pressure pumps)
posted by bengarland at 8:52 AM on May 21, 2009


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