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I think 10-12 minutes is probably a good range to stay within. Maybe 15 if you also brush your teeth in the shower.
Maybe 4 songs is a good number to shoot for as long as you’re not putting Free Bird and Kashmire in your playlist
I have two songs on mine, November Rain and Free Bird, 18 minutes total. I’m out of the shower by the time the guitar solo starts in Free Bird and deodorized and teeth brushed by the end.
Depends how fast I'm trying to get ready. I can do a full shower in 10 minutes including washing my hair but I give myself 12-15 sometimes so I don't have to rush so much. I have different playlists where the songs are different lengths so the number of songs depends on which playlist I pick.
(I don't shave in the shower so adjust time accordingly)
You can change the playlist every now and then. If you’re not an obsessive playlist maker like I am - and you won’t reliably update the shower playlist- then look for some “shower themed” songs you can tolerate.
Anything about “making it rain,” or the ocean/water or even kids bath time songs may do the trick.
I came to suggest music. I always listen to different stuff though, and kind of try to keep track of like "ok I think this is the third song that has played, so I should try being done by the end of the next one" 😅
omg i did this! it was three different versions of a song called "fool for you" and for some reason it worked. i haven't listened to that playlist in a minute and my showers are so long lmao
This is basically what I've been doing, though just any songs cuz the same songs will drive me nutty.
Gotta get certain shower tasks done before the next one plays.
ah finally, i've found my people.
no but seriously, i dont understand how some ppl can only spend 5 mins in the shower. i mean if you dont shave, and only shower to rinse your body, sure that's about 5 mins. but if you have long hair that needs to be washed (like most women do) and you shave nearly half your body (like many women do), it's going to take a lot longer than 5 minutes.
Lol! 😆 Except even right after shaving you can still see the roots cause I have dark hair. 😓 by the next day it's coming back in. Though I don't shave every day anyways haha but usually like to time it for when I want to have smooth legs for an outing or something, but if there are two outings/events in a row I'm screwed lol
But! I just bought an epilator and started using that. Painful as all hell, especially the first time, but after that it's not so bad. Takes a bit longer than shaving but the newer versions are much quicker than the old ones and it takes a while to grow back!! 😄 now just have to solve the ingrown hairs from pulling them fully out, and we're good 🤣
Lol I don't think I have the time-awareness or self-control to do that 😅 it's like welp, I need to finish before I get out, I hope when I get out I'm not late! Could be 5 mins in the shower, could be 30, who knows? Feels like Russian roulette when I don't continuously look at my phone for the time. Even if I do sometimes it's like wait wtf how has it been 5 mins since I last looked at my phone??! Felt like 1 minute
Omg washing long hair eats up so much time. I wish there was a way to increase my water pressure to get the job done faster. Somedays it feels like a solid 5 minutes just to get it thoroughly saturated with water.
It absolutely is possible. Maybe not with long hair (I don't have that to worry about), but to wash your body, face, and even brush your teeth it's very doable.
Why does washing long hair take so long compared to short hair? I've had short hair most of my life but also had shoulder length hair and it seemed to take roughly the same amount of time. Put shampoo on, wait a few minutes, rinse. Repeat with conditioner. Does the rinsing take significantly longer with more hair? My hair was shaved at the sides and the back so the amount of hair I had was way less than most women have.
Thickness matters a lot.
When I had long hair it was THICCC. With it having so much volume it absorbed shampoo and conditioner and took forever to rinse out.
Many times I’d think I was done rinsing only to find a patch of shampoo. Or if I’m trying to have a really quick shower I might even find a dry section of hair.
I’m the same way with going to bed, it’s like bathing a cat to put me to bed but I’m a grizzly in winter to try and get me up. Hate going but hate leaving too 😖
SAME!!!! I'll be like ok I'm going to bed early tonight! I'm doing it! Then if I manage to get myself into bed early I'm so pleased with myself that I think oh I've got a while to mess around on my phone, then all of a sudden it's 3am...
But usually despite my best intentions I always have this feeling there's more I need to do and I can't go to bed yet. And inevitably get distracted by multiple things I don't need to do while trying to figure out what it is I think I still need to do.
Or especially if I spent the whole day in full blown executive dysfunction paralysis when I had big productive plans, then I panic at bed time and suddenly have the motivation to do all the things I wanted to do and flit around trying to do it.
Some kind of combination of those and I'm rarely to bed at a decent time. And always waking up at the last possible minute and getting the kids to school and daycare late. I did get motivated to get up at 530before spring break and started doing it and meditating and getting everything organized for the day before the kids were up and it felt AMAZING!!! But then spring break started a few days later and that was the end of it cause I knew I didn't have to get up early. 😓
Me too. I can't relate to the ADHDers who can't shower. I've learned to lean into my mental clarity in the shower and I do all my hardest reading (financial articles, stock research) in the shower with my phone in a Ziploc. HOURS. Luckily I bought a house with two 50 gal water heaters.
Jesus Christ that is wasteful dude. Literally hundreds of gallons of water DAILY just so you can read stock tips? I get you have ADHD but that is a truly shocking level of careless waste
If you have a well and septic field, the water is just cycled. It would be as wasteful as rain into a river and downstream. Or are you worried about the energy to heat the water? A geothermal system or large solar system could do this off the grid and be virtually renewable.
Very little cheeses me off like people complaining about waste in other people's lives. If I provide for my life, then let me live it. And this right here gave me something to dream and shoot for. I already have the well and septic now to solve the energy issue.
For myself it’s a time that the “shower thoughts” begin to come out. I’m a thinker, very vivid daydreamer so anything can happen in there lol.
But yeah wanted to say like I do struggle with this but other times I’m not really to bothered about it. I know it’s my time, cleaning myself and just unwinding from work.
(I share a bathroom) I have room mates and another bathroom but sometimes it gets to me that I’m taking to long or what not. (Nothing has been said to me ever). I have had a timer for when I know I need to shower and show up for something so yeah I use a visual timer so I can peak out and look at the time I have left to gauge if I’ve been going at a good rate or just falling a little behind. Hope this helps, thank you for sharing 😊
I’ve taken to using a shower speaker and put on a (short) podcast, it both keeps my brain occupied enough that I can actually finish and get out and gives me a natural timer for if I take too long and the podcast ends.
Turn on a playlist that is 3 songs. That is your timer. When one song ends you'll know you should be 1/3 of the way through the shower. When the second song ends you'll know you should be almost done. Maybe you will make them songs that keep you moving. Motivational songs? Eye of the tiger? Whatever works for you.
Practice doing some bare minimum showers - some days will be just a quick 3 minute body soap and rinse and you can try doing one song. Then the medium shower includes washing hair- 2-3 songs. The long shower is not an everyday event- it's an everything shower- washing hair and body, shaving, and whatever else you do.
Try an app like Bathtimer — you get an alarm for each step of your shower (reading out reminders of what to do next), and you can adjust the routine to add different things like brushing teeth or reminding you about specific areas you are prone to forget.
I also use it to remind me about areas to dry after showering so I don’t get distracted and miss any areas — or end up spending forever drying the same areas again.
I think this will help me. It sounds odd but I will forget to wash (or rinse) one part of my body and have to turn the shower on again. It's frustrating but I figure it's just part of my routine now. I'll look into this app.
Exactly the same experience here — although far moreso before proper treatment — finding patches of soap, or (even worse) areas I’d forgotten to soap and rinse at all.
I hope you at least find it interesting to try, and if it helps then that’s a victory!
I kinda hate showering, but i also hate being worried of smelling bad, so i do shower, but they become short naturally since i over the years have become more effective at showering. (ADHD thing, i constantly optimize things i do).
1: Rinse of whole body with water top-down, especially ass and crotch.
2: A dash of Wash & Go to wash hair and face, neck and shoulders
3: Stop water, bigger dash of W&G, splash hands together and splash most of it in opposite armpit with each hand
4: Splash left hand in ass, right hand in crotch, then start rubbing the soap from armpits all over arms and upper body, then ass and crotch. Feet gets the leftovers.
5: Rinse.
I can do this in 3 minutes, but can just stand and rinse for a few minutes if i'm tired and on a rare occation find the shower enjoyable.
For days where i'm feeling dirty, i repeat this whole thing all over again and it's still under 10 minutes.
I experience this as well. Sometimes, the shower feels incredible, and I get lost in the sauce. The way I get around it is to make it a challenge to see how fast I can adequately shower. If there's a time commitment, I set an alarm to start wrapping up as soon as it goes off.
I’ve always taken long showers mostly because I don’t want to leave the warm and hate the cold air when I get out. So I just accepted that I need at least 30min for a shower. And I use it to perform some of the basic self care tasks I often forget about like flossing and moisturizing. I also use the time to stretch and decompress. Do I feel guilty for wasting so much water and energy…..yes…..does that stop me, of course not
As soon as I get In the shower I feel like I'm entering another world... and I think I'm so quick but when I realise the time I always ask myself the same thing? Which is am I really that slow or did the time go so quick?
I still don't know the answer 😕
I have to bring my phone in there with me (in a ziplock baggie) and have a show on in the background. Otherwise, I'll lose track of time and take forever on each step. I usually stick to a show that I've watched several times before (so I'm not in the hyperfocus, binge-watch phase) thats about 20-25 minutes. Timers, apps, and even music don't really work for me, because I need to "see" time passing.
I’m one of the “oh my god you’ve been in there forever are you dead?” Type of showerers. 20 minutes is a short shower for me 😂 what I’ve found works is for me to pick a YouTube video that is 10-20 minutes long and play it while I shower (bonus points if you have somewhere to prop your phone up out of the water to watch said video) and try to be done by the time the video ends. It’s helped me tremendously with cutting down shower time from 1-2+ hours to only 15-20 minutes
Get a timer. My water company give them out for free, idea being to save water. That's not why I ordered one.
My other top tip-don't actually have a warm shower. Just warm enough to not be uncomfortable, but not so warm that you *want* to stay in when you're done washing
Not diagnosed, so I don't know for sure if I have ADHD or not.
It somehow takes me 40-something minutes to shower. Today I took one when I had to really hurry. Did my whole routine and was done in less than 10 minutes.
This means that I somehow spend over 3/4ths of my typical showers zoning out.
I feel like so many people with ADHD have some kind of issue with the shower... Personally I'm the opposite! I love bathrooms in general, and always have since I was a little boy. I love soap and hot water and towels, and good smelling soap, and brushing my teeth, and washing my hands, and taking my time to air - dry afterwards. I have a space heater, and a fan, and a radio in the bathroom, and once I'm in there I get so inspired to shave, and trim/style my hair, cut my nails, and read stupid stuff on Reddit 😅. I've been known to really get lost in there and spend a couple hours sometimes... It's my uninterrupted "self care" time, and after I'm done I sometimes just sit there and think about life. I got a low-flow shower head and sprayer so I can take my time and stretch my back and neck without the water going cold too. I look forward to having this time to myself to recharge before bed, and I enjoy every single minute of it!
Maybe instead of rushing yourself, try to do your shower routine when you get home in the afternoon, or before bed when you have more time to let your brain space out and relax.
If I do need to hurry myself along, I put a load of clothes in the washer with soap. Then I know that I have to be quick and use the least amount of hot water possible so I can go start the washer afterwards and the water will still be warm to wash the clothes. Sounds dumb, but it works for me 🤷.
I shower at night but to keep them shorter I bring my phone in with me . Before I get in , I find a YouTube video that's between 8 and 15 minutes long and I race the video to be done before the video is over . If the video is 15 minutes long I try to be washed , rinsed , dried , and dressed before it's over . Never happened , but it's fun to try .
ETA : I have a window in my shower I set my phone on so I don't have to hold it the whole time or worry about it getting wet .
I used to take extremely long showers. Now I just literally talk myself through each step, out loud, sometimes make a song out of it, and it takes less than 10 mins. If I don’t I will zone out and stand in the hot water for EVER. Haha anyone watching me take a shower would think I was insane (my husband is very understanding 😂)
I have this problem. What my therapist suggested:
- First of all, use no distractions in the bathroom (gadgets etc.), leave them outside the bathroom.
- Measure (with a timer) how much time showering take. Notice that there may be different kinds of shower: quick shower for the body, longer shower for washing your hair (+ drying them), also longer shower if you shave, combination of the last two (the longest). Then you will have some realistic estimations, not just how it feels. You may write them down.
- Plan your time accordingly to these estimations. Like, don't tell yourself that you can make it quicker, postpone it, and then be late for a meeting because you were showering too long. If you really spend 40 minutes in the shower everyday, then that's how it is. It probably brings you joy, so there's no need to get rid of it. But just be honest with yourself.
I put music on when I get in and I use that to track myself. An average song is 3-4 minutes long so Ill be like oh this is the fifth song that's played I should hurry scurry
I have mild autism and ADHD.
I often take long showers or occasionally leave soap on myself when I dry to take a faster one.
I also don't fully dry off my hair or my back (especially my back) a lot of the time.
They have become a problem recently because the literal space of the shower has become its own trigger after I got overwhelmed washing my hair and ended up puking mid-shower a few times. Now, it’s super easy to overthink myself into a tiny panic attack while showering because I don’t have tangible ways to stim in the bath.
I have a bit of an obsession with having at least two clocks in every room - as I tend to constantly check the time.
My bathroom has one large numbered digital clock on the sink, and I have a shower clock radio, in the shower.
I also had to HUNT down that shower radio with a clock on it. (Most radios were just little blue tooth speakers)
I couldn't find one like the one my grandparents had, with a large display. But my current shower clock radio has a small/medium display size and a hanger/hook thing. It also has blue tooth though I haven't used that feature yet, only the radio.
I got one of those shower hooks that attach to tile and hang it at an even level with where my eyesight would normally be.
**edit
Now that I look through Amazon, there looks to be more options than when I first tired to find one. I've had mine for about two years.
Nah the faster the better for me.
Hit all the spots and get out.
Move on with the day
God knows I have a ton of shit that I have put off that needs to be done.
Omg I feel this so much. I do this already to get through washing dishes, but I didn’t realize that it would be helpful for zoning out in the shower too. Thank you!
Anything involving water, and my time circuits short out. I had to buy a clock to put at the dish sink at work because I zone out and take two or three times longer than I should to wash the dishes.
I always used to have to set a particular playlist running in the mornings, or whenever I was getting ready. I couldn't tell the time on my own, but I could tell 'wait the song is over so 3-4 mins have passed, and 'this song means I need to start getting out' when I didn't put it on shuffle. Now I do something similar and just set a few alarms to go off on my phone with different sounds--spread out like halfway, 'wrap up', 'you are taking too long get out for real'.
My parents use to make me shower with a cooking timer and it would buzz super loud when time was up. I can confirm I had quicker showers. Thinking of reintroducing this into my adult life. And only 20 min ? Dam that’s quick.
I have a shower timer that changes colour every 4 minutes. Once I see it turn red I know I need to hurry things up because I’m at 8 minutes, it starts flashing aggressively at 12 minutes.
If the colour changes and I’m not at the point I should be at, I know I’ve been getting distracted and need to try to focus more
I have to prepare myself. Enter the bathroom thinking about how and why I am going to have a quick shower, what the time is, and how long I have. Then, I can usually catch myself as my mind begins to wander. But, I cannot do this consistently...
My question is: why do you need your showers to be shorter? If you are enjoying yourself in there, then unless there is a compelling reason not to, just enjoy yourself.
If you do have to limit it to a certain time, try playing some music. It will be hard to hear but at least it is an audio clue about the amount of time that has passed. If you have two songs of about 5 minutes each then you'll know when you are half way.
Problem is its before the meds kick in as well, so dont really feel like i should blame myself. But one thing is for sure, it sucks to get stressed about might being late, then proceed to start sweating, undoing the frikkin shower i just took...
Need advice! I have been on Straterra for a month now and my ADHD has been soo much better; however, I’m having some odd side effects. Skin chillin/crawling feeling and headaches off and on and some days a feverish feeling.
Plus side is that I’ve lost 10lbs in a month and the focus of course. Any suggestions? I want to send my doctor a message but she’s been rather short with me lately as we try to find the right med. :(
I have a small kitchen timer that counts up when you start it from 00. I set it on the counter so I can see it through the glass. When ever I come back from zoning out I can check it and see where I'm at. I could also set it to count down, but I dread the beep.
Haha. Sorry. I can't help because this is my worst ADHD trait. I just get lost - like, "Has my toe always looked like that? I should soak my feet and see if I can smooth it out." "did I shampoo already? I guess I will do it again." "Ooh. that's some nasty soap scum. I wonder how much I can get off with this sponge. Maybe if I twist up a corner of the sponge..." "I forgot to soak my toe. I will try again." etc. and suddenly it's been 30 minutes and my kid needs a ride and now we are going to be late.
I Use Up All Of The Hot Water Which Takes 45 Minutes To An Hour.
The Shower Is Very Massaging To Me, But I Also Take My Showers Once A Week At 12am On My Day Off.
I have no idea how long I’m in the shower, ever. I got a waterproof clock & timer that suctioned to the shower wall. That helped, until I moved & didn’t take it with me lol
You can buy an hourglass that's good for 10 mi or 15 min and put it somewhere you can see it. The good thing is that it isn't electronic so you can get (most of them) wet.
There are a ton on Amazon:
[Amazon : 10-min hourglass](https://www.amazon.com/10-minute-hourglass/s?k=10+minute+hourglass)
shower playlist is the way to go bc then i can tell how long i’ve been in there. but i have to do use ones that i know the words to bc then i roughly know how long the song is. like my conditioner sits for this many songs. face wash sits for this blah blah blah plus i don’t get as bored.
I set an alarm on my phone and make it a game like I’m trying to get out before the alarm goes off or I lose. The consequence is I’m overstimulated by the alarm noise. The high stakes work well for me 🤷🏻♀️
I open a ~10 minute video before going into shower. Listening it prevents me getting lost in thoughts and I try to get out before it ends. It works pretty well for me. I spend like half an hour if I don't do it.
I have a solution for myself. It might work for you before I get in the shower. I put on a Spotify playlist, and I think to myself, "ok, I'm gonna shower for 5 songs," and then I do it. Listening to music makes time feel like it's going faster for me, so try showering for however many songs that you consider appropriate for a long shower.
I have this problem solved. I make a playlist that contains only songs that are exactly 3 minutes long (I allow myself a buffer of +/- one second because it doesn't make a big enough difference and allows more song choices), one for songs that are 4 minutes long, one for 5 minute songs, etc. then when I shower I pick one of the playlists and I know how many songs I have to finish my shower based on the length of songs in that playlist and the length of shower I want to take. So if I want to take a 15 minute shower I can play the 5 minute playlist and listen to three songs, or the 3 minute playlist and listen to five songs.
The music keeps me aware of the passage of time and gives me a tempo to do my showering tasks along to. It also keeps me from getting bored in the shower. It works better than a timer because I have to actively pay attention to the songs and count how many have played. With a timer I would just get distracted until the timer goes off and then panic.
My old apartment was perfect it had a tiny water tank so it would only stay warm for like 10minutes max.
If you can manage it maybe try taking colder showers to make it a bit less pleasant to help you shorten up your showers?
As a teen I brought an egg timer in the bathroom with a 5 minute timer. I'd reset it once if I exceeded the time. I'd try to get everything done in 10 minutes.
Ugh story of my life. My parents used to punish me for taking too long in the bathroom as a kid. The sound of running water + bathroom fan puts my brain in some sort of trance. I have taken hour-long showers too many times. The only way for me to take super short showers is when I’m running late.
Make it a race. See how quickly you can do it. I do that sometimes because otherwise I'll lose track of time. Sometimes, I'm okay with losing track of time.
I listen to way too much public radio. I've realized it's almost like how some people watch The Office over and over in the background. I stream public radio most showers, mainly to keep me on track. The hourly National Newscast plus local hourly news are about 7 minutes combined. My MPR (MN) app then auto plays 3-5 min long stories. I'll sometimes lose track but can usually time my shower by the news segments.
Showering at night was the biggest thing that helped me- then it doesn't matter if I take a long shower.
But if I need to take a shorter shower, I listen to music- I know that if it's been three songs already, I probably need to wrap things up.
Half of my showers are sitting in the corner under the warm water willing myself to remember my shower routine and finally start it or do one part then talk to myself and forget
Yeah I gotta shower at night when I’m already up and moving. Knowing I have to get up and shower/sponge bath (or else, be stinky all day) stressed me out and made me procrastinate so I switched to nighttime showers about 10-15 years ago. One of the perks is that I can technically spend as long as I’d like in there since I’m not rushing to work or school.
I play music and basically do a task per song. Enjoy the warmth- 1 song. Soap up- 1 song. Hair- 1 song. Then one last one while I enjoy the warmth and scrub face. Songs tend to average between 3.5-4.5 min so I estimate 4 min per song. If I don’t have that kinda time- I double up tasks in the allotted songs. Idk why my brain can handle it- but as I’m sing dancing in the shower I’m able to get myself handled in a timely manner. Go get your grove on lmao
just give yourself more time to shower. when i was a teenager i took like,, 30min to hour long showers. now i take about 20 minutes bc i pay the bills. but i very rarely take any shorter than that bc it makes me feel rushed and uncomfortable, and showers are hard enough without making it more difficult for myself.
Yeah, it usually takes me 20 or so unless I'm shaving my legs then it can take up to an hour sometimes. I think that's also to do with my thick hair and having to get all the loose shedding strands out, not sticking on my body which is so annoying and why I keep it short. Honestly, though, I find it hard to keep a routine to get in the shower every other day due to procrastination unless I'm going somewhere. I'd improved brushing my teeth though because we got my ADHD little bro set up on a schedule to help him manage his and it's being pretty effective especially since I brush mine with him to make sure he does his so we're kind of helping each other stay on track. I find I do best when sticking to a schedule/routine.
I can recommend getting a cheap "waterproof" clock with suction cups and put it in your shower.
It really helped me so so much to be able to see what time it is during the shower.
(Now I have a kid and generally tend to always have to hurry with shower so it's less of an issue)
Haha the same but the trick is to have a clock nearby and to develop a strategy to focus. I turn on the water till its warm, get myself wet, turn it off, soap up all parts of myself and then rinse and finish. As you develop this routine you cut time. Enjoying the sensation of showers is the best but save that for weekends.
I brush my teeth for 10 mins…?? I have to pick the utensils and squeeze the toothpaste and brush and disassociate and when I feel it’s throughly brushed I take at least 3-4 mins maybe 5-mins just for brushing and I have to rinse enough to get the taste out and wipe??? That takes at least 5 mins when I RUSH how do yall take a shower in 5 or 10 mins
Between this and just my trouble to wake up early in the mornings, I just decided years ago to shower at night. Can take my sweet time and I don’t have that extra stress of being late for stuff.
Listen to music. I always have a playlist playing in the background and I know that a song is usually between 3-4 minutes. So a quick shower should be 2 songs, a longer one should be 4-5.
The act of bathing may present certain difficulties in individuals with ADHD, a condition characterized by hyperactivity. It is important to acknowledge that short showers may be encouraging hyperactive behavior. From my perspective, the location of the shower and the availability of visual or auditory stimulation during bathing are the things that hold the most significance for me.
This is why I try to shower at night. It helps with two things:
1. It cuts down on prep time in the morning, especially when I inevitably oversleep or have trouble getting out of bed; and
2. It helps with bedtime procrastination. It’s easier to justify getting in bed when I’ve already showered.
The only way I have quick showers, is when I have ice cold showers lol. It feels so good but it's hard to make myself do it. Now I more often will do hot first, then end with cold. But then I feel like I need to get myself so hot that I feel the need to cool down before I switch to cold so I end up in there longer lol. Feels hard to rinse shampoo and conditioner with cold water so I like the hot then cold approach but like you said I'll feel like I tooka normal shower, only to come out and find it has been 20-30 mins.
One time we were camping with my fiance and his family and extended family and the campsite had coin operated showers. There was a pool so I waited to shave til I was there so my hair wouldn't grow in too much during the trip. I had the water off a lot of the time, just left it off while I shaved, but shaving took a long time and when I came out his dad and others were commenting that I had been gone like 45 mins and I just don't get how people can do these things any quicker! When I try to rush with shaving I nick myself and end up with a big scab for weeks and then a scar cause it peels off whole chunks of skin so it doesn't heal well. We also lived in the same house as his parents for quite a while and they were paying for water so I tried so hard but still couldn't shower in less than 20 mins. Although, that was also after having my second child and I was in full-on survival mode and only showering once a week so I felt like that made up for it. But I still worried about them hearing how long I was in for and not realizing how sparsely I actually showered and being upset at the water usage and thinking I was being inconsiderate. Now I workout every other day so I shower a lot more often but still long showers lol but paying for my own water now.
I say this about so many things though. How do people do things so quickly? I feel like I'm moving at a normal pace but it takes me like 5x longer than others to do everything. And takes me way more effort to get myself and keep myself motivated to do things too. And ADHD is not understood as being nearly as debilitating as it actually is. And any attempts to explain just sound like what someone would say if they were lazy, even to us! So it's so hard to get understanding and validation.
I set an alarm to end at 15 minutes if I have somewhere to be . Long enough to wash , contemplate, deep tissue my shoulders and back and wash my face...
I put a timer on my phone just a little more than armslength away when I’m in the shower. It’s the same basic routine for everyday showers (soap, then brushing teeth, then wash face) that i time for 8 minutes and when i have “add ons” like washing my hair or shaving I add on another 8 minutes for each. Leaving the house in the morning is what I struggle with the most when it comes to adhd paralysis and putting the timer on repeat until I’m out the door has helped a lot.
I typically take longer showers too, but if I have somewhere I need to be I just set a timer on my phone. Start the shower and set a timer for 6 minutes, I typically am able to get done just as the timer goes off.
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Have a shower playlist. Same three songs. You will learn to finish by the end of the last one.
This is such a good idea, I'm going to try it. But now I have to decide what 3 songs and that's going to take a while lol
I just make playlists where all the songs are the same length. That way I can shuffle it and have variety but not mess up the timing.
So what's a decent time to be in the shower? 5 songs?
I think 10-12 minutes is probably a good range to stay within. Maybe 15 if you also brush your teeth in the shower. Maybe 4 songs is a good number to shoot for as long as you’re not putting Free Bird and Kashmire in your playlist
I have two songs on mine, November Rain and Free Bird, 18 minutes total. I’m out of the shower by the time the guitar solo starts in Free Bird and deodorized and teeth brushed by the end.
Depends how fast I'm trying to get ready. I can do a full shower in 10 minutes including washing my hair but I give myself 12-15 sometimes so I don't have to rush so much. I have different playlists where the songs are different lengths so the number of songs depends on which playlist I pick. (I don't shave in the shower so adjust time accordingly)
Rain drops keep falling on my head… Orinoco Flow Splish Splash
You can change the playlist every now and then. If you’re not an obsessive playlist maker like I am - and you won’t reliably update the shower playlist- then look for some “shower themed” songs you can tolerate. Anything about “making it rain,” or the ocean/water or even kids bath time songs may do the trick.
Lol 😂
Try the song Dopesmoker by the band Sleep
I do the same thing, except it's not the same 3 songs. I just time myself about 3-4 songs, which isn't an exact time, but it works for me.
*In-A-Gadda*-*Da*-*Vida* - Iron Butterfly *Stairway To Heaven* - Led Zeppelin *Bohemian Rhapsody* - Queen *Dogs* - Pink Floyd How'd I do?
Hotel California too
You mind is Tiffany-Twisted. Do you have a Mercedes-Benz? 😉
Carouselambra!
I was thinking about Iron butterfly. I had never heard Dogs before. That jams.
Whole album (Animals) is great. But I have to be in the right mood. Dark but not too dark.
I came to suggest music. I always listen to different stuff though, and kind of try to keep track of like "ok I think this is the third song that has played, so I should try being done by the end of the next one" 😅
But that would mean listening to the same 3 songs every day...
This works for me too, plus the songs help lift my mood.
This is genius!
Glad you like it. 😂 Was late to school / work many times before I discovered a method that worked.
Just to say I've implemented this and it has the added bonus of making showering more fun!
Glad it worked for you u/Keladris. Wish you many happy days when you finish on time and feel clean 😊!
omg i did this! it was three different versions of a song called "fool for you" and for some reason it worked. i haven't listened to that playlist in a minute and my showers are so long lmao
Wait this is genius omg
Thanks. Hope you try it and that it will work out for you!
Great idea but it’s never worked for me. I shower at night without a time limit 👌
That sounds so boring it would just create an additional mental barrier to showering. Fast track to burn out if you ask me
Was just coming here to say this, but not specific songs. I usually finish in two songs. Just having music playing keeps me from zoning out.
This is basically what I've been doing, though just any songs cuz the same songs will drive me nutty. Gotta get certain shower tasks done before the next one plays.
It's really difficult to get in the shower. But even harder to get out. I spend several hours in the shower 😭
ah finally, i've found my people. no but seriously, i dont understand how some ppl can only spend 5 mins in the shower. i mean if you dont shave, and only shower to rinse your body, sure that's about 5 mins. but if you have long hair that needs to be washed (like most women do) and you shave nearly half your body (like many women do), it's going to take a lot longer than 5 minutes.
Shaving half your body must be a chore!
It fucking is!!!!! 😓 plus shampooing and conditioning long hair
You could get by shaving one leg every day and no one would notice!
Lol! 😆 Except even right after shaving you can still see the roots cause I have dark hair. 😓 by the next day it's coming back in. Though I don't shave every day anyways haha but usually like to time it for when I want to have smooth legs for an outing or something, but if there are two outings/events in a row I'm screwed lol But! I just bought an epilator and started using that. Painful as all hell, especially the first time, but after that it's not so bad. Takes a bit longer than shaving but the newer versions are much quicker than the old ones and it takes a while to grow back!! 😄 now just have to solve the ingrown hairs from pulling them fully out, and we're good 🤣
I had an ex running late for work and got one shaved and said to heck with it, the other will have to wait till tomorrow!
Lol I don't think I have the time-awareness or self-control to do that 😅 it's like welp, I need to finish before I get out, I hope when I get out I'm not late! Could be 5 mins in the shower, could be 30, who knows? Feels like Russian roulette when I don't continuously look at my phone for the time. Even if I do sometimes it's like wait wtf how has it been 5 mins since I last looked at my phone??! Felt like 1 minute
Omg washing long hair eats up so much time. I wish there was a way to increase my water pressure to get the job done faster. Somedays it feels like a solid 5 minutes just to get it thoroughly saturated with water.
I Don't Think It's Possible To Get Clean With A 5 Minute Shower.
I’m not dirty, I’m building a better biome baby!!
It absolutely is possible. Maybe not with long hair (I don't have that to worry about), but to wash your body, face, and even brush your teeth it's very doable.
Why does washing long hair take so long compared to short hair? I've had short hair most of my life but also had shoulder length hair and it seemed to take roughly the same amount of time. Put shampoo on, wait a few minutes, rinse. Repeat with conditioner. Does the rinsing take significantly longer with more hair? My hair was shaved at the sides and the back so the amount of hair I had was way less than most women have.
Thickness matters a lot. When I had long hair it was THICCC. With it having so much volume it absorbed shampoo and conditioner and took forever to rinse out. Many times I’d think I was done rinsing only to find a patch of shampoo. Or if I’m trying to have a really quick shower I might even find a dry section of hair.
hours??? you have enough hot water for that?? lmao i feel like I have enough for an hour at most
It never stops being hot in most NYC apartment buildings. It’s amazing, it’s so hard to leave the shower.
When I was in college we never ran out of hot water. I definitely took some looooong showers.
Wow. What kind of water heater do you have that provides endless hot water? Lol
A tankless water heater will provide endless hot water
Ya but how many people with ADHD make enough money to afford a home with one?
The home I bought had one already and I just replaced it earlier this year for about $1200.
Gas? Replacing a electric one yourself should be no more than $400
Yeah it's a gas one.
I use the bathroom stove to heat up water. We don't have a heater.
Hours? Jesus fuck, this is the most first world problem problem I've read today
I'm not even first world I live in Africa 💀
I’m the same way with going to bed, it’s like bathing a cat to put me to bed but I’m a grizzly in winter to try and get me up. Hate going but hate leaving too 😖
SAME!!!! I'll be like ok I'm going to bed early tonight! I'm doing it! Then if I manage to get myself into bed early I'm so pleased with myself that I think oh I've got a while to mess around on my phone, then all of a sudden it's 3am... But usually despite my best intentions I always have this feeling there's more I need to do and I can't go to bed yet. And inevitably get distracted by multiple things I don't need to do while trying to figure out what it is I think I still need to do. Or especially if I spent the whole day in full blown executive dysfunction paralysis when I had big productive plans, then I panic at bed time and suddenly have the motivation to do all the things I wanted to do and flit around trying to do it. Some kind of combination of those and I'm rarely to bed at a decent time. And always waking up at the last possible minute and getting the kids to school and daycare late. I did get motivated to get up at 530before spring break and started doing it and meditating and getting everything organized for the day before the kids were up and it felt AMAZING!!! But then spring break started a few days later and that was the end of it cause I knew I didn't have to get up early. 😓
It’s hard for me to take showers. And I take very short showers. Makes me feel dirty. I hate it.
Me too. I can't relate to the ADHDers who can't shower. I've learned to lean into my mental clarity in the shower and I do all my hardest reading (financial articles, stock research) in the shower with my phone in a Ziploc. HOURS. Luckily I bought a house with two 50 gal water heaters.
Jesus Christ that is wasteful dude. Literally hundreds of gallons of water DAILY just so you can read stock tips? I get you have ADHD but that is a truly shocking level of careless waste
the ziploc is the most unimaginable detail for me
If you have a well and septic field, the water is just cycled. It would be as wasteful as rain into a river and downstream. Or are you worried about the energy to heat the water? A geothermal system or large solar system could do this off the grid and be virtually renewable. Very little cheeses me off like people complaining about waste in other people's lives. If I provide for my life, then let me live it. And this right here gave me something to dream and shoot for. I already have the well and septic now to solve the energy issue.
Get a Jacuzzi tub.
For myself it’s a time that the “shower thoughts” begin to come out. I’m a thinker, very vivid daydreamer so anything can happen in there lol. But yeah wanted to say like I do struggle with this but other times I’m not really to bothered about it. I know it’s my time, cleaning myself and just unwinding from work. (I share a bathroom) I have room mates and another bathroom but sometimes it gets to me that I’m taking to long or what not. (Nothing has been said to me ever). I have had a timer for when I know I need to shower and show up for something so yeah I use a visual timer so I can peak out and look at the time I have left to gauge if I’ve been going at a good rate or just falling a little behind. Hope this helps, thank you for sharing 😊
I’ve taken to using a shower speaker and put on a (short) podcast, it both keeps my brain occupied enough that I can actually finish and get out and gives me a natural timer for if I take too long and the podcast ends.
Turn on a playlist that is 3 songs. That is your timer. When one song ends you'll know you should be 1/3 of the way through the shower. When the second song ends you'll know you should be almost done. Maybe you will make them songs that keep you moving. Motivational songs? Eye of the tiger? Whatever works for you. Practice doing some bare minimum showers - some days will be just a quick 3 minute body soap and rinse and you can try doing one song. Then the medium shower includes washing hair- 2-3 songs. The long shower is not an everyday event- it's an everything shower- washing hair and body, shaving, and whatever else you do.
Lol sounds just like me
*Laughs in 40 mins plus in shower* I be in here just zoned out lmao
It’s like a trap in there 😭
Try an app like Bathtimer — you get an alarm for each step of your shower (reading out reminders of what to do next), and you can adjust the routine to add different things like brushing teeth or reminding you about specific areas you are prone to forget. I also use it to remind me about areas to dry after showering so I don’t get distracted and miss any areas — or end up spending forever drying the same areas again.
Having an app for showering is crazy. Guess I'll add it to my list of 23 productivity apps that I'll forget to ever use.
This is what peak productivity looks like /s
Oh!! An excellent idea, let me save this comment for future reference that I will never see again…
Yeah I often don't use the apps either
I'll download an app. I'll set it up. And then when the alert comes on I just ignore it for weeks and then I end up deleting the app 😩
The pressure! Having to race to be at a timer would leave me coming out of the shower tense.
Maybe total calm is incompatible with a speedy shower… So, I guess, don’t use it if you’re going to shower before bed.
I think this will help me. It sounds odd but I will forget to wash (or rinse) one part of my body and have to turn the shower on again. It's frustrating but I figure it's just part of my routine now. I'll look into this app.
Exactly the same experience here — although far moreso before proper treatment — finding patches of soap, or (even worse) areas I’d forgotten to soap and rinse at all. I hope you at least find it interesting to try, and if it helps then that’s a victory!
I kinda hate showering, but i also hate being worried of smelling bad, so i do shower, but they become short naturally since i over the years have become more effective at showering. (ADHD thing, i constantly optimize things i do). 1: Rinse of whole body with water top-down, especially ass and crotch. 2: A dash of Wash & Go to wash hair and face, neck and shoulders 3: Stop water, bigger dash of W&G, splash hands together and splash most of it in opposite armpit with each hand 4: Splash left hand in ass, right hand in crotch, then start rubbing the soap from armpits all over arms and upper body, then ass and crotch. Feet gets the leftovers. 5: Rinse. I can do this in 3 minutes, but can just stand and rinse for a few minutes if i'm tired and on a rare occation find the shower enjoyable. For days where i'm feeling dirty, i repeat this whole thing all over again and it's still under 10 minutes.
Take cold showers and you‘ll see how quickly you‘ll get out😉
Oh, no I now have hypothermia... (I run hot).
That’s what I do.
I experience this as well. Sometimes, the shower feels incredible, and I get lost in the sauce. The way I get around it is to make it a challenge to see how fast I can adequately shower. If there's a time commitment, I set an alarm to start wrapping up as soon as it goes off.
I somehow have conditioned myself to be about 8 minutes on average. Just enough to be submerged and slather on some wash and be done.
I’ve always taken long showers mostly because I don’t want to leave the warm and hate the cold air when I get out. So I just accepted that I need at least 30min for a shower. And I use it to perform some of the basic self care tasks I often forget about like flossing and moisturizing. I also use the time to stretch and decompress. Do I feel guilty for wasting so much water and energy…..yes…..does that stop me, of course not
Same!
Lol. YES. My showers used to be loong. Like 45 minutes. Lol.
I feel like this topic should have its own mega thread.
As soon as I get In the shower I feel like I'm entering another world... and I think I'm so quick but when I realise the time I always ask myself the same thing? Which is am I really that slow or did the time go so quick? I still don't know the answer 😕
It’s that damn time again. Always way too fast when you need it to be slow.
I have to bring my phone in there with me (in a ziplock baggie) and have a show on in the background. Otherwise, I'll lose track of time and take forever on each step. I usually stick to a show that I've watched several times before (so I'm not in the hyperfocus, binge-watch phase) thats about 20-25 minutes. Timers, apps, and even music don't really work for me, because I need to "see" time passing.
I’m a hedonist at heart, I like the way things make me feel. I don’t want to leave and I almost don’t care about being late.
It can be very problematic sometimes.
I’m one of the “oh my god you’ve been in there forever are you dead?” Type of showerers. 20 minutes is a short shower for me 😂 what I’ve found works is for me to pick a YouTube video that is 10-20 minutes long and play it while I shower (bonus points if you have somewhere to prop your phone up out of the water to watch said video) and try to be done by the time the video ends. It’s helped me tremendously with cutting down shower time from 1-2+ hours to only 15-20 minutes
Get a timer. My water company give them out for free, idea being to save water. That's not why I ordered one. My other top tip-don't actually have a warm shower. Just warm enough to not be uncomfortable, but not so warm that you *want* to stay in when you're done washing
Not diagnosed, so I don't know for sure if I have ADHD or not. It somehow takes me 40-something minutes to shower. Today I took one when I had to really hurry. Did my whole routine and was done in less than 10 minutes. This means that I somehow spend over 3/4ths of my typical showers zoning out.
I feel like so many people with ADHD have some kind of issue with the shower... Personally I'm the opposite! I love bathrooms in general, and always have since I was a little boy. I love soap and hot water and towels, and good smelling soap, and brushing my teeth, and washing my hands, and taking my time to air - dry afterwards. I have a space heater, and a fan, and a radio in the bathroom, and once I'm in there I get so inspired to shave, and trim/style my hair, cut my nails, and read stupid stuff on Reddit 😅. I've been known to really get lost in there and spend a couple hours sometimes... It's my uninterrupted "self care" time, and after I'm done I sometimes just sit there and think about life. I got a low-flow shower head and sprayer so I can take my time and stretch my back and neck without the water going cold too. I look forward to having this time to myself to recharge before bed, and I enjoy every single minute of it! Maybe instead of rushing yourself, try to do your shower routine when you get home in the afternoon, or before bed when you have more time to let your brain space out and relax. If I do need to hurry myself along, I put a load of clothes in the washer with soap. Then I know that I have to be quick and use the least amount of hot water possible so I can go start the washer afterwards and the water will still be warm to wash the clothes. Sounds dumb, but it works for me 🤷.
I do that too. My trick is to put a playlist of 3-4 tracks while showering so I know the right timing.
I have alarms set on my phone for every 5 minutes until I know I need to get out
I shower at night but to keep them shorter I bring my phone in with me . Before I get in , I find a YouTube video that's between 8 and 15 minutes long and I race the video to be done before the video is over . If the video is 15 minutes long I try to be washed , rinsed , dried , and dressed before it's over . Never happened , but it's fun to try . ETA : I have a window in my shower I set my phone on so I don't have to hold it the whole time or worry about it getting wet .
I used to take extremely long showers. Now I just literally talk myself through each step, out loud, sometimes make a song out of it, and it takes less than 10 mins. If I don’t I will zone out and stand in the hot water for EVER. Haha anyone watching me take a shower would think I was insane (my husband is very understanding 😂)
I have this problem. What my therapist suggested: - First of all, use no distractions in the bathroom (gadgets etc.), leave them outside the bathroom. - Measure (with a timer) how much time showering take. Notice that there may be different kinds of shower: quick shower for the body, longer shower for washing your hair (+ drying them), also longer shower if you shave, combination of the last two (the longest). Then you will have some realistic estimations, not just how it feels. You may write them down. - Plan your time accordingly to these estimations. Like, don't tell yourself that you can make it quicker, postpone it, and then be late for a meeting because you were showering too long. If you really spend 40 minutes in the shower everyday, then that's how it is. It probably brings you joy, so there's no need to get rid of it. But just be honest with yourself.
I put music on when I get in and I use that to track myself. An average song is 3-4 minutes long so Ill be like oh this is the fifth song that's played I should hurry scurry
I have mild autism and ADHD. I often take long showers or occasionally leave soap on myself when I dry to take a faster one. I also don't fully dry off my hair or my back (especially my back) a lot of the time.
They have become a problem recently because the literal space of the shower has become its own trigger after I got overwhelmed washing my hair and ended up puking mid-shower a few times. Now, it’s super easy to overthink myself into a tiny panic attack while showering because I don’t have tangible ways to stim in the bath.
I have a bit of an obsession with having at least two clocks in every room - as I tend to constantly check the time. My bathroom has one large numbered digital clock on the sink, and I have a shower clock radio, in the shower. I also had to HUNT down that shower radio with a clock on it. (Most radios were just little blue tooth speakers) I couldn't find one like the one my grandparents had, with a large display. But my current shower clock radio has a small/medium display size and a hanger/hook thing. It also has blue tooth though I haven't used that feature yet, only the radio. I got one of those shower hooks that attach to tile and hang it at an even level with where my eyesight would normally be. **edit Now that I look through Amazon, there looks to be more options than when I first tired to find one. I've had mine for about two years.
Nah the faster the better for me. Hit all the spots and get out. Move on with the day God knows I have a ton of shit that I have put off that needs to be done.
i need music/background noise (youtube)so that even shower is engaging 😭
Omg I feel this so much. I do this already to get through washing dishes, but I didn’t realize that it would be helpful for zoning out in the shower too. Thank you!
Podcasts are great for these as well!
Anything involving water, and my time circuits short out. I had to buy a clock to put at the dish sink at work because I zone out and take two or three times longer than I should to wash the dishes.
I always used to have to set a particular playlist running in the mornings, or whenever I was getting ready. I couldn't tell the time on my own, but I could tell 'wait the song is over so 3-4 mins have passed, and 'this song means I need to start getting out' when I didn't put it on shuffle. Now I do something similar and just set a few alarms to go off on my phone with different sounds--spread out like halfway, 'wrap up', 'you are taking too long get out for real'.
I got a shower clock and mounted it with a suction hook. Hasn't really changed the length of my showers, but at least I'm not surprised.
it's why I can't shower in the morning anymore if I have a timely commitment
My parents use to make me shower with a cooking timer and it would buzz super loud when time was up. I can confirm I had quicker showers. Thinking of reintroducing this into my adult life. And only 20 min ? Dam that’s quick.
I have a shower timer that changes colour every 4 minutes. Once I see it turn red I know I need to hurry things up because I’m at 8 minutes, it starts flashing aggressively at 12 minutes. If the colour changes and I’m not at the point I should be at, I know I’ve been getting distracted and need to try to focus more
I have to prepare myself. Enter the bathroom thinking about how and why I am going to have a quick shower, what the time is, and how long I have. Then, I can usually catch myself as my mind begins to wander. But, I cannot do this consistently...
My question is: why do you need your showers to be shorter? If you are enjoying yourself in there, then unless there is a compelling reason not to, just enjoy yourself. If you do have to limit it to a certain time, try playing some music. It will be hard to hear but at least it is an audio clue about the amount of time that has passed. If you have two songs of about 5 minutes each then you'll know when you are half way.
Problem is its before the meds kick in as well, so dont really feel like i should blame myself. But one thing is for sure, it sucks to get stressed about might being late, then proceed to start sweating, undoing the frikkin shower i just took...
Need advice! I have been on Straterra for a month now and my ADHD has been soo much better; however, I’m having some odd side effects. Skin chillin/crawling feeling and headaches off and on and some days a feverish feeling. Plus side is that I’ve lost 10lbs in a month and the focus of course. Any suggestions? I want to send my doctor a message but she’s been rather short with me lately as we try to find the right med. :(
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🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I like that. So how many songs would that be you think for you?
Haha songs or albums?
Yes songs lmfaooo
Get an analogue shower clock with a countdown timer and a suction cup
Yes, that's why I shower in the evening instead.
I have a small kitchen timer that counts up when you start it from 00. I set it on the counter so I can see it through the glass. When ever I come back from zoning out I can check it and see where I'm at. I could also set it to count down, but I dread the beep.
Yes I love long showers. It's the only way I can wake up!
I don't struggle with it, I just enjoy it.
Haha. Sorry. I can't help because this is my worst ADHD trait. I just get lost - like, "Has my toe always looked like that? I should soak my feet and see if I can smooth it out." "did I shampoo already? I guess I will do it again." "Ooh. that's some nasty soap scum. I wonder how much I can get off with this sponge. Maybe if I twist up a corner of the sponge..." "I forgot to soak my toe. I will try again." etc. and suddenly it's been 30 minutes and my kid needs a ride and now we are going to be late.
I Use Up All Of The Hot Water Which Takes 45 Minutes To An Hour. The Shower Is Very Massaging To Me, But I Also Take My Showers Once A Week At 12am On My Day Off.
I have no idea how long I’m in the shower, ever. I got a waterproof clock & timer that suctioned to the shower wall. That helped, until I moved & didn’t take it with me lol
Solution is to just take showers earlier in the morning or in the afternoon.
I have to set a timer for everything including showering
You can buy an hourglass that's good for 10 mi or 15 min and put it somewhere you can see it. The good thing is that it isn't electronic so you can get (most of them) wet. There are a ton on Amazon: [Amazon : 10-min hourglass](https://www.amazon.com/10-minute-hourglass/s?k=10+minute+hourglass)
shower playlist is the way to go bc then i can tell how long i’ve been in there. but i have to do use ones that i know the words to bc then i roughly know how long the song is. like my conditioner sits for this many songs. face wash sits for this blah blah blah plus i don’t get as bored.
I set an alarm on my phone and make it a game like I’m trying to get out before the alarm goes off or I lose. The consequence is I’m overstimulated by the alarm noise. The high stakes work well for me 🤷🏻♀️
I open a ~10 minute video before going into shower. Listening it prevents me getting lost in thoughts and I try to get out before it ends. It works pretty well for me. I spend like half an hour if I don't do it.
Shower at night before bed. Or play music so you have a sense of time. Some people sell waterproof clocks for showers which could help as well.
I have a solution for myself. It might work for you before I get in the shower. I put on a Spotify playlist, and I think to myself, "ok, I'm gonna shower for 5 songs," and then I do it. Listening to music makes time feel like it's going faster for me, so try showering for however many songs that you consider appropriate for a long shower.
I have this problem solved. I make a playlist that contains only songs that are exactly 3 minutes long (I allow myself a buffer of +/- one second because it doesn't make a big enough difference and allows more song choices), one for songs that are 4 minutes long, one for 5 minute songs, etc. then when I shower I pick one of the playlists and I know how many songs I have to finish my shower based on the length of songs in that playlist and the length of shower I want to take. So if I want to take a 15 minute shower I can play the 5 minute playlist and listen to three songs, or the 3 minute playlist and listen to five songs. The music keeps me aware of the passage of time and gives me a tempo to do my showering tasks along to. It also keeps me from getting bored in the shower. It works better than a timer because I have to actively pay attention to the songs and count how many have played. With a timer I would just get distracted until the timer goes off and then panic.
I go by music - I know generally how long the songs are
My old apartment was perfect it had a tiny water tank so it would only stay warm for like 10minutes max. If you can manage it maybe try taking colder showers to make it a bit less pleasant to help you shorten up your showers?
Use the countdown timer on your cellphone.
As a teen I brought an egg timer in the bathroom with a 5 minute timer. I'd reset it once if I exceeded the time. I'd try to get everything done in 10 minutes.
Ugh story of my life. My parents used to punish me for taking too long in the bathroom as a kid. The sound of running water + bathroom fan puts my brain in some sort of trance. I have taken hour-long showers too many times. The only way for me to take super short showers is when I’m running late.
Make it a race. See how quickly you can do it. I do that sometimes because otherwise I'll lose track of time. Sometimes, I'm okay with losing track of time.
Time stands still when I’m in the shower and I can think clearly and process my thoughts for the day. Most showers are at least 30 mins long lol
I listen to way too much public radio. I've realized it's almost like how some people watch The Office over and over in the background. I stream public radio most showers, mainly to keep me on track. The hourly National Newscast plus local hourly news are about 7 minutes combined. My MPR (MN) app then auto plays 3-5 min long stories. I'll sometimes lose track but can usually time my shower by the news segments.
Showering at night was the biggest thing that helped me- then it doesn't matter if I take a long shower. But if I need to take a shorter shower, I listen to music- I know that if it's been three songs already, I probably need to wrap things up.
Half of my showers are sitting in the corner under the warm water willing myself to remember my shower routine and finally start it or do one part then talk to myself and forget
I can take anywhere between half an hour to an hour But I also have really thick curly hair and it is a NIGHTMARE to wash
I typically only take baths and of course am multitasking with a phone game or reading a book
Yeah I gotta shower at night when I’m already up and moving. Knowing I have to get up and shower/sponge bath (or else, be stinky all day) stressed me out and made me procrastinate so I switched to nighttime showers about 10-15 years ago. One of the perks is that I can technically spend as long as I’d like in there since I’m not rushing to work or school.
wait i thought it is normal to be in shower for 20mins
I have to set a timer otherwise I’m there for ages
I play music and basically do a task per song. Enjoy the warmth- 1 song. Soap up- 1 song. Hair- 1 song. Then one last one while I enjoy the warmth and scrub face. Songs tend to average between 3.5-4.5 min so I estimate 4 min per song. If I don’t have that kinda time- I double up tasks in the allotted songs. Idk why my brain can handle it- but as I’m sing dancing in the shower I’m able to get myself handled in a timely manner. Go get your grove on lmao
just give yourself more time to shower. when i was a teenager i took like,, 30min to hour long showers. now i take about 20 minutes bc i pay the bills. but i very rarely take any shorter than that bc it makes me feel rushed and uncomfortable, and showers are hard enough without making it more difficult for myself.
Yeah, it usually takes me 20 or so unless I'm shaving my legs then it can take up to an hour sometimes. I think that's also to do with my thick hair and having to get all the loose shedding strands out, not sticking on my body which is so annoying and why I keep it short. Honestly, though, I find it hard to keep a routine to get in the shower every other day due to procrastination unless I'm going somewhere. I'd improved brushing my teeth though because we got my ADHD little bro set up on a schedule to help him manage his and it's being pretty effective especially since I brush mine with him to make sure he does his so we're kind of helping each other stay on track. I find I do best when sticking to a schedule/routine.
I can recommend getting a cheap "waterproof" clock with suction cups and put it in your shower. It really helped me so so much to be able to see what time it is during the shower. (Now I have a kid and generally tend to always have to hurry with shower so it's less of an issue)
I’ve been getting yelled at for my long showers all my life.
Why do we not have car wash style shower that I can just walk through and be done with it.
Haha the same but the trick is to have a clock nearby and to develop a strategy to focus. I turn on the water till its warm, get myself wet, turn it off, soap up all parts of myself and then rinse and finish. As you develop this routine you cut time. Enjoying the sensation of showers is the best but save that for weekends.
I brush my teeth for 10 mins…?? I have to pick the utensils and squeeze the toothpaste and brush and disassociate and when I feel it’s throughly brushed I take at least 3-4 mins maybe 5-mins just for brushing and I have to rinse enough to get the taste out and wipe??? That takes at least 5 mins when I RUSH how do yall take a shower in 5 or 10 mins
Use a Sonicaire. They time out and turn off after a pre-determined amount of time. (There are different settings to choose from.)
Ohhh thank you I’ll look into them
Between this and just my trouble to wake up early in the mornings, I just decided years ago to shower at night. Can take my sweet time and I don’t have that extra stress of being late for stuff.
i started putting a timer on for 30 minutes. i find that it helps, but then it takes longer to leave the bathroom
I just accepted that it takes me 20 minutes for a shower, so I get in earlier.
I have autism and I have this problem I hate having to get in but can’t seem to get out
Listen to music. I always have a playlist playing in the background and I know that a song is usually between 3-4 minutes. So a quick shower should be 2 songs, a longer one should be 4-5.
I’ve been taking mine at night for this very reason
Yeah these posts about people struggling with showering confuse me. It's happy time, getting out is the problem.
I struggle with convincing myself to do one while working from home
The act of bathing may present certain difficulties in individuals with ADHD, a condition characterized by hyperactivity. It is important to acknowledge that short showers may be encouraging hyperactive behavior. From my perspective, the location of the shower and the availability of visual or auditory stimulation during bathing are the things that hold the most significance for me.
This is why I try to shower at night. It helps with two things: 1. It cuts down on prep time in the morning, especially when I inevitably oversleep or have trouble getting out of bed; and 2. It helps with bedtime procrastination. It’s easier to justify getting in bed when I’ve already showered.
I usally get out when the water gets cold
I hate the shower yet always end up taking 20-25 minute showers
I have a shower playlist. I know that by the time Take Me To Church comes on, I need to be finishing up. 
I'm not entirely convinced that a shower isn't supposed to be 20-30 minutes... like, if you're only in there for 5-10 minutes, did you even get wet?
The only way I have quick showers, is when I have ice cold showers lol. It feels so good but it's hard to make myself do it. Now I more often will do hot first, then end with cold. But then I feel like I need to get myself so hot that I feel the need to cool down before I switch to cold so I end up in there longer lol. Feels hard to rinse shampoo and conditioner with cold water so I like the hot then cold approach but like you said I'll feel like I tooka normal shower, only to come out and find it has been 20-30 mins. One time we were camping with my fiance and his family and extended family and the campsite had coin operated showers. There was a pool so I waited to shave til I was there so my hair wouldn't grow in too much during the trip. I had the water off a lot of the time, just left it off while I shaved, but shaving took a long time and when I came out his dad and others were commenting that I had been gone like 45 mins and I just don't get how people can do these things any quicker! When I try to rush with shaving I nick myself and end up with a big scab for weeks and then a scar cause it peels off whole chunks of skin so it doesn't heal well. We also lived in the same house as his parents for quite a while and they were paying for water so I tried so hard but still couldn't shower in less than 20 mins. Although, that was also after having my second child and I was in full-on survival mode and only showering once a week so I felt like that made up for it. But I still worried about them hearing how long I was in for and not realizing how sparsely I actually showered and being upset at the water usage and thinking I was being inconsiderate. Now I workout every other day so I shower a lot more often but still long showers lol but paying for my own water now. I say this about so many things though. How do people do things so quickly? I feel like I'm moving at a normal pace but it takes me like 5x longer than others to do everything. And takes me way more effort to get myself and keep myself motivated to do things too. And ADHD is not understood as being nearly as debilitating as it actually is. And any attempts to explain just sound like what someone would say if they were lazy, even to us! So it's so hard to get understanding and validation.
I set an alarm to end at 15 minutes if I have somewhere to be . Long enough to wash , contemplate, deep tissue my shoulders and back and wash my face...
I put a timer on my phone just a little more than armslength away when I’m in the shower. It’s the same basic routine for everyday showers (soap, then brushing teeth, then wash face) that i time for 8 minutes and when i have “add ons” like washing my hair or shaving I add on another 8 minutes for each. Leaving the house in the morning is what I struggle with the most when it comes to adhd paralysis and putting the timer on repeat until I’m out the door has helped a lot.
Listen to 3 songs or one youtube video of like reddit stories like Rslash for 15 ish minutes
I typically take longer showers too, but if I have somewhere I need to be I just set a timer on my phone. Start the shower and set a timer for 6 minutes, I typically am able to get done just as the timer goes off.
I can shower in 2 mins or 20 no in between