By Emery Styron

   In your quest for a greener, more efficient lifestyle, may I suggest you consider shower shaving.

 A flexible, tubular arm lets you position the Shower Tek mirror as needed and directs a flow of hot water through the enclosure to eliminate fog. A handy rack keeps razors off the shower floor, even pink ones.   I became an inadvertent adherent some months back while the sink in my basement bathing area was out of commission. It was either shave in the shower or trek up two flights of stairs to the family bathroom where there’s tough competition for face time with the mirror over the vanity sink. (Life with a wife and two lovely girls is rewarding but it does drive a man to the basement to shave and shower. What is with those 27 plastic bottles in the upstairs shower? What is wrong with ordinary bar soap? Herbal oatmeal body wash!)

    I digress. We were talking about shower shaving. The basement sink was sinko, so I took my brush, shaving mug and round mirror with the flexible neck into the shower stall. Once the regular shampoo and shower were done, I wet the brush, stirred up a lather in the mug, applied it to my face and scraped off whiskers, peering into a fogged up, 4-inch diameter mirror perched dangerously on a narrow shelf. The results were rough, but a new habit was born.

    The transition was not as silky smooth as a man’s skin in a Gillette commercial. Sometimes there was blood on the floor. I did some fancy dancing when the mirror fell from its shelf toward my toes. Several times I showered, dressed and sat down to breakfast with the uncomfortable feeling of having forgotten something. Only when I rubbed my stubbly chin to ponder, did I remember what.

Shower shaving is something you want to do while you are there. There is no efficiency in getting back in the shower a second time only to shave.

    But those are the negatives. On the plus side, I’ve never experienced a closer shave than the one I get immediately after a hot shower. Blades glide through the shower-softened beard and stay sharp for weeks. 

    Once you get the habit problem solved, there’s a noticeable time gain. Rather than getting out of the shower, drying off, wiping the fog off the bathroom mirror, lathering up and shaving, you simply lather up in the shower while you are still dripping. You shave and it’s done.

    Does it save water? My best is guess is yes. You don’t wet your face because it’s already wet. You wet your shaving brush, but you would do that anyway. You run a little water from time to time to unclog your razor, but you would do that, too. When you’ve finished, you rinse your face and wash lather and stubble down the drain. No messy sink to clean up.

    My wife bought me a $15 Shower Tek Fog Proof Heated Shower Mirror for my birthday. Now shower shaving is even more pleasant.

    The mirror installs between the shower pipe and showerhead with a flexible, tubular arm that lets you position the mirror as needed. There’s a shower flow control valve to reduce shower flow to a trickle while shaving (I just turn the water off) and mirror flow control valve to divert hot water through the arm to defog the mirror.

    Not many products advertised “Installs in Minutes!” live up to the claim, but this one did. It instantly solved the problem of my mirror fogging and falling off the shelf. A handy razor hangar also eased my fears of stepping on a dropped razor.

    Shower Tek  is not paying me to post this endorsement. The company deserves credit for developing and marketing an inexpensive product that’s easy to use and lives up to its billing.

    I eventually got the basement sink fixed, but, I’ve never gone back to sink shaving. I know I’m saving time and I think I’m saving water by shower shaving. I haven’t bought razors in months. I just might stay a shower shaver for life.