In the 50's, was taking baths, rather than showers, the popular thing to do?

The description sort of confuses me but it sounds like it is simply more convenient to have a towel rack in the shower as you could dry off in the shower rather than step onto the floor and drip all over the place???

As I remember, it was about the same, except for young children who took baths with Mommy or Daddy hovering!

I think your assumption is correct. People took more baths rather than showers back then. Can you put up a towel rack? Will the landlord allow it?

Now that I think of it, I never had a shower until I went to college. It was tubs all the way. At home, it was a big claw footed thing. Must have taken a lot of water to fill.

I was a teen-ager in the fifties. The kids’ bathroom had a shower inside the tub with glass doors. We almost always took showers; my sis and I had long thick hair; washing in in a bath was unthinkable.

My parents had a separate large tub and a shower stall with its glass door. There was a towel bar on the outside of the door. I don’t think they ever took baths.

Your situation sounds unique or idiosyncratic, at the least. Could that towel bar have been also used as a grab bar to help the bather out of the tub?

I don’t know how which was more commonly used showers vs bath tubs but I remember my first shower taken was in 1954 when I was 3 years old. My Dad put me in the shower and closed the door. At first the water terrified me. But soon I began playing in the water thinking that it was fun. Then suddenly may Dad’s huge hands grabbed me out of the shower. It was way funner than a bath.

My house was built in 1957. I m the second owner.The shower head was already installed.

I don’t understand. If the towel rack is in the shower, wouldn’t the towel get wet? @city_data_forum ?

I was 7 years old in 1960. Neither baths nor showers were popular with me.

However, having lived in houses of that vintage, it seems to me that showers weren’t often as powerful as they are (or can be) now, and shower nozzles were nowhere near as efficient. And I never saw sliding glass doors at that time, which is one of the most common modern places for a towel rack.

But just because the towel is hanging over the end of the tub before you start the shower doesn’t mean that it needs to stay there as you shower.

There was a shower head in the bathroom that got remodeled in the 50’s. But at the end of the tub, there was a cabinet that held towels and other toiletries. As I recall, in the 50’s there was great emphasis on saving water and conserving electricity – we’ve come full circle. There were 4 kids in my family – every saturday the tub got filled and we were all tossed in with my dad! he’d soap us down and rinse us off one at a time then toss us out to my mom who would dry us off. My mom and dad did shower daily, and as we got older, we showered more often than once a week – and alone. But my dad would walk by the door and holler about being quick and not wasting the hot water.

My towel rack is in the shower and doesn’t get wet from the shower [it is in the back]
In the 50s I think showers were manly and women preferred baths.

Not true. I went to a woman’s college from 1954 to 1958. Rarely did anyone take a bath. I certainly never did. Too much bother to clean the tub.

That is not a towel rack, it is a handle bar. You have a lovers shower. Improvise.

I think the 20th century was the spark of the “fast-paced lifestyles”. Showers became popular for that reason. I agree with the first answer, the rack is probably in the shower because people find it logical to dry of in the shower rather than getting the bathroom floor wet.

Our family moved to a new suburban tract home (3 BR / 2 BA) outside Chicago in 1955. Both baths had tubs w/ sliding glass door shower enclosures & the familiar control atop the spout. Later my parents added a bath in the basement with only a stand-up shower stall. I think both ways of bathing were popular.

Here are my thoughts. It is useful to have a rack in the shower to dry of articles of clothing that are dripping wet like bathing suits. Also, many times in small bathrooms there is only one towel rack, but if two people share the bathroom, and additional rack in the shower can provide a second place to allow a second towel dry during the day. Also, if the towel rack in the bathroom is for the pretty towels, the bath towels can be stored in the shower, even if you pull them out during the shower. Some apartments have only one bathroom, so this would keep the grubby paws of visitors off your bath towels.

If the shower is long enough, the towel probably will not get very wet during a quick shower.

Baths way back in the day were more common, people shared baths, you know the old saying don’t throw the baby out wi the bath water, the poor baby went last in the dirtiest of water. So, I would guess poor people probably took more baths than showers, just a guess. Baths use less water if multiple people use the same water. Also, water pressure was not the same, so showers were not as good as they are today. But, by the 50’s most buildings and houses in the US had adequate pressure and by the 50’s people would have found it icky to share baths probably like we would today.

When I was little, in the early 70’s, there was a push to conserve water, and it was touted that a short shower uses less water, but a bath uses less than a long shower, so people could choose I guess which was best in regards to water usage if they cared.

When I was in England back in the mid 80’s a couple hotels I stayed in had only a bath, no shower. I would guess that many Europeans who emigrated to America were accustomed to taking baths.

@JoeyOhSoClever, but the towel would get wet before you can even use it…..

Grab bars were uncommon in the 1950s except in hospitals. If they look like towel bars that’s probably what they are. Rule 1: Remove towels before showering!

The rack is usually placed on the opposite wall of the shower head. Unless you throw water everywhere while showering, the towel would maybe dampen a little from the steam. The towel still does its job, trust me I have one of those towel racks!

I always took a bath in the 1950’s. The only time I showered was at the public baths.

I was born in 1946, the houses I lived in as a child had only claw foot tubs. When I was about 7 my dad installed a shower in the one tub. I fell in love with it instantly. I hated baths but loved and still do love showers. I never take a bath. But I do remember as @anartist suggested, when in high school a nun said that females should always take baths, it was more suited to a lady. Made me like showers all the more! And it was a bit strange since that was in boarding school and there were no tubs to use even if you had desired.

It is a too high up, and on the wall facing the shower head. Not a grab rack. Thanks for the answers! I guess in a quick shower, the towel would stay dry.

@rooeytoo Do you think they mean a bath is better for cleaning the girly parts? Or, just that baths are more dignified?

Perhaps showers were discovered to be more stimulating. (Although now that I think of it, tubs give you easy access.)

@JLeslie – I could never be sure how a nun’s mind works, hehehe, but I think in this case she was thinking it is easier to clean the girly parts without actually touching and perhaps taking pleasure in the touch. Sort of like the soak cycle on the washing machine! ;-)

@rooeytoo: There is a rumor that sitting on the dryer while it is running is a good thing also.

@rooeytoo I once had someone who grew up with bidets say they couldn’t understand how women got along without them in America. I will say that during menstruation, if a woman can’t use tampons, bidets are very nice to have.

@gailcalled I’ve heard that one. Or, actually having sex on a dryer.

(Quick..it’s bidet.)

@gailcalled – I always heard it was the washing machine when it was out of balance. But for modern women the electric toothbrush is the choice, no personal experience of course, I have only heard these stories in the beauty parlor. hehehe

I have never had the opportunity to use a bidet, although I did housesit for friends who had one but they used it to wash their feet. Or at least that is what they always said.

@rooeytoo Even if you just get one of those bottles chefs use to decorate plates and fill it with water, the rinse is nice. I discovered that when I was in the hospital for an ectopic pregnancy, and bleeding fairly heavIly. I would think hospitals maybe give them to all women after giving birth? I have no idea, I never asked anyone.

Well, this question did take an interesting turn! Which I think is great.

@rooeytoo : I have an electric tooth brush which I use only for brushing my teeth. It seems too bristly with the brush attached and too sharp and fragile with the brush removed for any extracurricular activities.(But what do I know?)