[grose]

I have one of these in my home (in Tokyo). Honestly... they kind of suck. The lint from your clothes clogs your drains and vents even faster than normal (you're supposed to use a plastic slab cover thing over your bath, which requires a lot of maintenance or it gets gross very quickly). It renders your shower unusable for hours at time, so if you live with other people it makes coordination of laundry/showers much more complex. Would not recommend. I got a regular washer/dryer combo unit recently and it markedly improved the quality of my life.

[wst_]

I couldn't agree more. After reading article I'm kind of confused about the praise. First of all, vast majority of population just dry their clothes outside. I'd say, while this is installed in many bathrooms - it's used rarely. Maybe during rainy season. The thing is, it's highly ineffective and there is not a lot of drying poles installed. It doesn't work well even for bathroom towels, not to mention for the full laundry.

The more useful trick, that I didn't know from home (EU) is underwear drying rack. Small rack on a hook with plenty of clips attached. Back at home, we used to put our socks and panties next to everything else on a big rack. This small drying rack makes it much more effective.

[mook]

Is the drying rack you're taking about the thing that's typically used with socks? That is, something like https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/x-10421217/?

[wodenokoto]

I think so, although the ones you’d get at Daiso in Japan would fashion a rectangular, foldable design.

[cinntaile]

I think he means an electrically heated drying rack. Usually attached to the wall. Sort of like a heating element but you can easily hang your clothes on it.

[Aeolun]

Something like this. They come in many sizes. Big ones for clothes, small ones for socks and underwear.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01D4I3RW2/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?...

[crazygringo]

I'm confused, how do these generate any lint and how would that clog drains or vents?

Dryer lint is produced by the abrasion of clothes as they tumble in your dryer.

Hang drying doesn't produce lint. It seems like this is just hang drying but circulating warmer drier air to speed it up.

So I must be misunderstanding something. How is this generating lint that clogs your drain? Why do you have to put a plastic cover down at all? I don't put any kind of cover on my floor when I air-dry my T shirts on a rack after washing. (I don't like them shrinking in my dryer.)

[grose]

It's not as intense as regular dryer lint. Seems to be like small bits of thread that fall off during the drying process (perhaps coming off during tumble wash and sticking to it while wet?). There's a pretty strong gust of air coming from the dryer. My unit came with panels fitted for the bathtub and instructions to use when drying, it's a bath/shower combo thing.

[bamboozled]

I’ve lived in Tokyo for a period during college and the dust was crazy. I read that it’s just from all the people living there, car pollution, tyre and break dust from cars and the subway, I suspect it’s not just from the clothes.

[bemmu]

I also live in Japan. Here people bathe in the evening, while I'm finding it hard to shake my habit of taking a morning shower (spend the whole day dirty? ick).

This means if it's raining, we'll have clothes drying in the bathroom, which I'll then need to move out to take a shower. Whether it makes sense to then put them back in to the now wet bathroom with the dryer running I'm not sure.

[rayiner]

Japanese bathing habits might reflect their different genetics: https://medicalchannelasia.com/less-body-odour-in-south-kore... (“Several studies have shown a strong correlation between the ABCC11 gene variant and East Asian populations. Research conducted by the Journal of Investigative Dermatology found that 80-95% of Koreans and Japanese carry this gene variant. In contrast, only about 2% of Europeans and 3% of Africans possess the same variant. This genetic difference helps explain why people from South Korea and Japan tend to have lesser body odour.”). It’s possible that they are less likely to have bacterial activity overnight result in body odor compared to other populations.

[samatman]

This is also the dry earwax gene, which makes a certain intuitive sort of sense.

It dramatically reduces the amount of lipids in sebum, which is what odor-producing bacteria in the armpits feed on. It's also a recent mutation which has been highly selected for, despite being recessive. Comparable to lactase tolerance.

[IncreasePosts]

If you shower in the evening before bed, how dirty do you get while sleeping? The alternative is rolling around in your bed all night with all the grime of the day.

[seanmcdirmid]

My hair doesn’t look presentable at all if I don’t clean it in morning. It gets all greasy and dark (I have blond thin hair). I never saw an Asian with that problem before, they can just wake up, wash their face, and walk out.

On the other hand, before I visited China, I never imagined getting so dirty that I needed to shower before bed, or I would be rolling in dirt. The dirt really gets on you in dusty Beijing. It wasn’t what I was used to from the states at all.

[rawgabbit]

Full shower in the evening. I stick my head in the shower in the morning to get my hair wet and wash my face. Otherwise my hair looks like an anime character.

[Macha]

I guess it depends on whether the primary contaminant you're worried about is dirt from outside (in which case you want to wash in the evening to keep your bed clean as you describe) or sweat (in which case you want to wash in the morning to avoid smelling sweaty while interacting with people).

For me, the latter is much more a concern - I sweat overnight and so want to be clean in time to start interacting with people. If I do physical activity, or it's a hot summer day, I might even shower in the morning and evening.

[Aeolun]

I have airconditioning so I don’t sweat at night? I mean, it’s Japan, everybody has one.

[raincole]

Dirty is more a psychological thing than a biological thing here. If you always shower at certain time, you will feel dirty when you don't.

[mc32]

Do a Brad Pitt and choose both!

[flemhans]

On a mildly related note; I've never been called Brad Pitt as much as when I was in Japan.

[veunes]

Is it bad to take both evening and morning showers?

[schumpeter]

I find this interesting… I grew up in a Latin family and learned to shower at night. I rationalized it as, not going to bed dirty, and you aren’t going to get dirtier just sleeping anyway.

[Auracle]

I’m simply way too greasy of a person to shower at night. I’d rather sleep through the part where it’s built up the most, not waste the first 8 hours of being less greasy when I’m sleeping.

I suppose different genetics in different regions might play into that.

[dymk]

I’m in the habit of a shower in the morning and a quick rinse shower before bed. Idk why people limit themselves to grooming only at a single point in the day.

[strken]

Depends where you're from. I'm from Australia and lived through a period of extreme water shortages called the Millennium Drought[0]. During it, the water catchments for most of my state were alarmingly close to dry. We started collecting water from showers and using it on the garden, the government sent out little five-minute hourglasses with suction cups for everyone to put in their shower, and several families in my local area had to have tankers of water brought in to refill their rainwater tanks.

My uncle's family kept visiting from America and taking 20 minute showers, which would have been totally fine if they were still in Vermont but used an incredibly high amount of water. He eventually installed a shower timer so his tank wouldn't run dry.

In such conditions, water costs more than mere money. Yes, you can probably afford to shower twice a day, but that would require you to bring in a tanker of water from an already drought-stricken reservoir. Water takes on a moral cost as well as a financial one. There's a famous passage from Dune: "One date palm requires forty liters of water a day. A man requires but eight liters. A palm, then, equals five men." Australia is not quite Arrakis, but in a water shortage extra showers start to feel like an Arrakeen date palm.

[0] See this huge PDF for exactly what that was and how we plan to manage it if it happens again: https://www.water.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/671...

[to11mtm]

For me the answer is 'it depends'.

Currently our home's AC is out which has resulted in two showers/day due to the heat. Post exercise is going to at least be a hot rinse.

The irony (pun semi-intended) is my wife has gotten fond of at times hanging clothes in the bathroom during a shower to help remove wrinkles. No, Ironing is better but it's a little less ceremony as well as increasing the overall utility of the water you used in the shower.

[BurningFrog]

I've always showered at night, and I now can't fall asleep dirty. I feel all sticky and gross.

I think I wake up still basically clean, not filthier than morning showerers. I am of course a biased observer for that.

[derefr]

> you aren’t going to get dirtier just sleeping anyway

I don’t shower to wash off dirt; I shower to wash off my own body’s excretions. Which definitely do happen while I’m sleeping (and more so, in fact, because body temperature rises during sleep.)

I can shower, dry thoroughly, get straight into bed… and still, the next morning, I’m sticky from sweat; have BO (that deodorant won’t mask); and my hair is now stuck moussed by my own overnight scalp oils into looking like Goku.

[Retric]

> because body temperature rises during sleep

You have that backwards. “People maintain a fairly consistent body temperature during the day which drops at night by around 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. However, some people still feel hot at night due to their unique body composition, sleep environment, something they ate or drank, or other medical reasons.” https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-faqs/why-do-i-get-so-h....

Deeper look: “Core body temperature (CBT) reductions occur before and during the sleep period, with the extent of presleep reductions corresponding to sleep onset and quality.” https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/japplphysiol...

Critically your body intentionally lowers temperature including changes to skin capillaries and sweating, it’s not simply lowering temperature from not moving. So you can wake up sweating even if things where fine when you went to sleep.

[derefr]

Maybe technically true as a matter of biology in isolation, but mostly not in practice — specifically due to that "something they ate or drank" part. The basal body temperature reduction that happens at night really isn't relevant for anyone who consumes any amount of caffeine during the day (which is most people), as when caffeinated, the BBT shift downward at night isn't accompanied by a complementary upward shift in comfortable/tolerable air temperature. Rather the opposite.

Caffeine, as a cholinergic, constricts peripheral blood vessels, and reduces bloodflow; and as a diuretic, it also reduces interstitial-fluid retention in peripheral tissues. These effects combine to decrease your skin temperature (or rather, to make your skin temperature less reflective of your core temperature and more reflective of the ambient air temperature); while very slightly increasing your core temperature (and blood pressure! Which is one reason caffeine is bad for your heart!)

Most of your heat-sensing nerves are in your periphery, not in your core. So caffeine, by making your skin cooler, makes you feel cooler (even though your basal body temperature goes up!) to which your body responds by sweating less (even though caffeine, as a cholinergic, would force you to sweat in great-enough amounts. See: SLUDGE syndrome.)

Most people don't drink caffeine after a certain time in the evening; and so at night, whatever caffeine was in their bodies has a chance to flush out — which then suddenly allows bloodflow, blood pressure, and interstitial fluid to wash back out to their skin and extremities — and with that comes an increase in skin temperature, "hot" qualia, and triggered sweating from signalled overheating (i.e. the same reason you sweat from spicy food even though your BBT isn't increasing.)

[distances]

I definitely heat up in the evening when laying down. I may need socks + woollen socks through the day, but it's socks off time during the evening movie. And sleeping time means full-body heating, which my partner really appreciates.

With my partner we have complementary heating systems. I get warm in the evening when they are cold, and they warm up after eating which does nothing for me. The difference is radical.

I guess partly due to this I would never spend a day without a shower in the morning. I've never been sick enough to skip a morning shower, even in a high fever (or especially then I guess, due to sweating more than usual). The dirty feeling is just too much to bear.

[Retric]

You feel the sensation of warmth because your body is trying to cool down. It does so by raising the temperature of your skin so more heat is dumped into the environment. This is part of the reason why drinking can lead to hypothermia. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1811578/ “Alcohol is a dominant cause of death in urban hypothermia. Drinking alcohol gives a pleasant feeling of warmth.”

Try taking your core body temperature using a thermometer rather than relying on perceived temperature.

[thisislife2]

Yeah, body temperature falls when you sleep. In fact, that's one of the tips give to insomniacs to help them sleep - have a bath at night, preferably with cold water.

[b112]

Indeed. I think this may be down to individual preferences, with all sorts of things affecting it.

[_Microft]

Maybe make sure that there is no medical condition if you are experiencing night sweats regularily https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_sweats

[Nux]

Yep, also the Eastern European way. Always found it counterintuitive when watching American films.

[Izkata]

In my family, parents showered in the morning and kids showered at night.

I tried switching after moving out but didn't find it nice for the same reason you mention, getting the bed all dirty with whatever sweat had accumulated over the day.

[klyrs]

Night sweats be damned.

[dymk]

As a fellow night sweater, I got a forced air blower and special sheet that distributes the air for my bed and it’s been life changing. It took a week or so to get used to. It’s temperature and speed controlled. Check out BedJet.

[sumnole]

By an air conditioning unit.

[klyrs]

Thanks for the useless advice, random internet stranger! Not all night sweats are remedied so easily...

https://www.healthline.com/health/night-sweats

[raydev]

As if that stops your body from producing oils and sweat.

[Macha]

Showering in the morning is a much cheaper option than retrofitting my home to support air conditioning.

[langsoul-com]

Even in the summer? Most South East Asian nations shower in the evening because of the mad heat and humidity.

[refurb]

Most SE Asian shower multiple times per day. Morning and evening at a minimum but maybe a mid-day shower if you’re sweaty.

[grose]

Haha, I know exactly how you feel. I too often wondered about the optimal timing for clothes reinsertion... at least the dryer unit is pretty good at drying out the shower which seems to help with mold, so even if you're not using it for clothes it still serves a purpose.

[moomoo11]

I'm glad I'm in the US where I shower whenever I want. Morning, middle of the day, and at night again.

I grew up in 3rd world without running water, so I'm not ever going to feel "guilty" or whatever other BS for taking 2-3 showers a day.

[Aeolun]

> spend the whole day dirty? ick

How does that work? If you wash in the evening and go to bed you do not wake up dirty. Unless your bed is a pigsy I suppose, but then the solution is different.

[veunes]

Taking a morning shower is perfectly fine if that's what makes you feel comfortable and clean. Love me morning showers

[rambojohnson]

do you sleep walk outside all night?

[grose]

To add on to this: I think they are mostly intended as an "emergency backup" for people who usually hang dry their clothes outside to use when it's raining, etc. If you're not using it as your primary drying method maybe it's not so bad? Having more than one shower probably helps too. Unfortunately I am not blessed with such a large space, and my balcony is pitifully small :)

[mook]

I thought they were mostly for drying out the actual bathroom, because Japan is an island, and it can get quite humid at least towards the southern parts (which may lead to mold issues). The warm air is also comfortable as a side effect.

[qingcharles]

Is it common to hang laundry outside in Japan even in cities? The USA has made hanging laundry a no-no across most of the country, for aesthetic reasons I guess. It's very common in Europe, though.

[Larrikin]

I've never seen a dryer in Japan except at laundromats and the dorm. If you live in an amazing high rise in Tokyo without a balcony you'll have the fancy in bathroom hot air system. If you live in a crappy place without a balcony (which actually is kinda rare), you'll still have a pole to hang your clothes out the window.

My first time staying there I was told regulations make dryers take so long that it just isn't worth the electricity cost. The one time I used the dryer in Japan, my clothes were just a warm damp after two cycles.

[SapporoChris]

I have used dryers in multiple location in Japan with primarily good experience. Coin laundry clothes drying machine: exceedingly powerful, no issues except for cost and convenience. Dryers in hotels: small capacity (7-9 kg), 30 minute cycle usually complete in 45 minutes of drying. Bad experience with washer dryer combo, could be programmed to wash and then dry clothing however the installers did not attach vent hose so it would fill the apartment with hot air and lint.

I have also used shower dryers. Very pleasant. Controls are outside the shower and the shower was separate from the toilet. I didn't note any issues with lint, however, I had weekly cleaning service that was probably dealing with it.

I've also lived in Japan without a dryer at all. Hanging clothes on the balcony to dry or inside when it's raining. It seems to me that clothes last a lot longer when they're air dried.

[kalleboo]

Combo washer/dryers are pretty common, especially among families. Our Panasonic works great, electricity cost is negligible. It's a heat-pump model, so it quite efficient and doesn't need venting.

[csa]

> Is it common to hang laundry outside in Japan even in cities?

Yes.

In fact, the minami-muki (south-facing) places garner a premium precisely for this purpose — much more of direct sun.

[wst_]

I'll never understand this "aesthetic" argument. Are those cities really so pretty to avoid using something that naturally comes to mind? Sun, warm, makes things dry, just use it.

[FredPret]

Clothes and laundry in general are so personal. If there’s a way for it to not literally hang out in public, we should do that.

[pquki4]

...by American standards.

Coming from another culture, nobody even remotely think this is a thing.

[FredPret]

I’m not American.

Seeing multicoloured underpants and bedsheets fluttering in the streets is not an impressive or edifying sight for the clothing owner or for the unfortunate observer. Lack of privacy is dehumanizing.

[grose]

Very common, although some especially fancy buildings have rules against it. Probably a similar rate as Europe.

[numpad0]

I think the device is partly for drying the bathroom to reduce mold, and partly for condo owner to justify the no-no clause. Washer-dryer combo units are not more outrageous than MacBooks.

[eloisius]

I’ve never seen an integrated device specifically for bathroom drying, but this approach is very common here in Taiwan. I have a dehumidifier and clotheslines in my bathroom. Multiple people showering is never an issue. The dehumidifier (on clothes drying mode) brings the humidity down to 35%. A shower briefly brings it back up to 65%, but the vent and dehumidifier bring it back down pretty quickly once you turn the water off and squeegee the glass. The bigger problem for me is that if I leave it running overnight it dries the entire apartment out and I wake up feeling dehydrated.

[tjpnz]

Our apartment complex is undergoing renovations right now and we're not able to use the balcony for drying clothes - so we're using ours for everything. There certainly are logistics involved and reconfiguring the shower area (wife's up early) every morning is now part of my routine.

Under normal circumstances I do appreciate the quick work they'll make of the occasional pair of jeans.

[nazgul17]

I loved being able to use this on rainy days or when I needed something to dry quickly while living in Japan. Back in Europe, only having air-drying was annoying on those occasions.

Notice that the amount of manual work required with these bathroom dryers is the same as air-drying, but less than tumble drying.

I never had a problem with lint. Like others mentioned, there is a plastic plate that you have to clean regularly, the same that captures hair.

[Aeolun]

That’s odd. We use it literally every day that it’s raining (admittedly not all that often in Japan), and have none of the issues you mention.

If you clean your drain maybe once every two weeks and it’s fine. Hair from showers and baths is a larger issue.

We all shower in the evening in random order, and clothes drying happens during the day when everyone is off to work.

Whoever showers first takes all the clothes out and dumps them somewhere until it can be folded.

Not trying to say you don’t have issues, just want to give a different perspective.

[soraminazuki]

> you're supposed to use a plastic slab cover thing over your bath, which requires a lot of maintenance or it gets gross very quickly

Buy a copper replacement. They get much less grimy than the plastic ones. This goes for the kitchen sink strainer too.

Plastic is a nightmare when I try to clean them. I can't remove filth or stench from plastic no matter how hard I try.

[angled]

Do you select your wardrobe to be easier to dry? The clothes I wear in Asia are very different to those I wear elsewhere, both for comfort of wearing them but also their maintenance.

[karunamurti]

It's useful on certain conditions, for example I used the bathroom drier on 2 separate emergency situations in the past 3 years.

[sour-taste]

For the year I lived in Japan I also found the capacity quite limited, and my clothes dried very slowly.