This consists of a cubicle or cylinder, about the size of a regular shower stall. It's made of stainless steel. Arrayed all around the interior are small nozzles.

Protruding from the wall is a facemask. To activate the system, you press your face into the mask, then reach up and grasp two handles above your head. If you take your face away from the mask, or release the handles, the system shuts off.

When the sequence activates, the nozzles first squirt soapy foam all over your body. The head is targeted with your choice of shampoo (This whole process only takes 2 to 3 seconds). Then the foam is washed off by fine but extremely forceful jets of water. A very mild abrasive might be entrained in the water to remove dirt and dead skin. Then you get soaped again, then rinsed again. Then soaped again, then rinsed again.

A buzzer sounds and you can let go of the handles and take your face away from the mask. A small shower jet triggers; you wash your face with soap from a dispenser, and rinse.

You then "assume the position" again and the drying cycle starts. Warm air blasts at you, drying you in a matter of a few seconds.

A minute after entering, you step out of the shower cubicle, clean, dry and invigorated. The annual chore is complete in record time.

[EDIT] There is a "priming" system that makes sure that when the water squirts from the nozzles, it's at the right temeprature before you enter; most of the controls are outside the cubicle.
-- 8th of 7, Dec 02 2002

Armpit bidet http://www.halfbake...idea/Armpit_20bidet
A minature version. [8th of 7, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

people wash http://www.halfbake.../idea/people_20wash
redundant with this one, is it not? [krelnik, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Although you have provided many additional details, it seems like the basic idea (automated shower) is the same as in "people wash". See link.
-- krelnik, Dec 02 2002


I read the "people wash" idea but this is a bit more 'intense' - hence the need for a facemask, etc. - which is why I posted it as a seperate idea, rather than an annotation. I think it's sufficiently different in its design and method of operation to justify that. It has many, many more nozzles, and uses mild abrasives instead of sponges/brushes.
-- 8th of 7, Dec 02 2002


Two buckets, one filled with warm water, t'other filled with cold.
Tip first one over self, Tipe second one over self.
My solution to the title.
-- kaz, Dec 02 2002


You only shower once a year?
-- absterge, Dec 03 2002


while that'll be good in a hurry, sometimes i shower to warm up, and a 9 second shower isn't gonna warm me up. likewise during the summer when i gotta cool off.
-- tkeyser, Dec 03 2002


[absterge] - yes, whether I need it or not.
-- PeterSilly, Dec 04 2002


Excellente! However, two things scare me: how mild is this abrasive we're talking about? Then the face wash thing...I have issues about drowning and water up my nose....stuff like that.
-- waxingpoetic, Dec 04 2002


// mild is this abrasive we're talking about? //

I'm thinking of something mild like ground up wallnut shells, the sort of thing that goes (apparently) into exfoliating scrubs used by ladies (according to the label on the jar, anyway).

// the face wash thing //

Your face is protected by the mask while the main system is operating. You wash your face by hand, yourself, with just one small shower nozzle and a soap dispenser in a recess in the wall.
-- 8th of 7, Dec 05 2002


It sounds like an unpleasant institutional system – for prisons, boot camp, high schools – the sort of places where those in charge want to make many people take quick showers just to get basically clean, not happy, and then get the hell out.

But would it work as well as standing under a shower and rubbing soapy hands all over your body? The sort of water blast that will get into all the typical body cracks and crevices is likely to be a painful blast. One wants to wash ones naughty bits, not sandblast them.

And the facemask – you wouldn't want to share a dirty one, so the mask, as well as the rest of the system, would have to be self-cleaning. And if the mask is protruding from the wall, it still has to be adjustable for different heights.
-- horripilation, Dec 05 2002


i want one!!! i have wanted something like this for a long time, when i wanna realx and get clean - i have a bath, much mmore immersive and nice imo

this seems like the perfect way to get clean fast

infact, i may see if a few engenieer frend of mine can build one....
-- Chester, Apr 17 2004


this would make the shower pretty useless for sex.
-- bmadigan1, Aug 18 2004


*cough*not necessarily*cough*
-- shapu, Aug 18 2004


I thought I read about something similar to this in an Asimov novel...it's certainly doable.
-- adamosity, Aug 18 2004


Shouldn't the face washing be done first?
-- BJS, Jan 03 2008


I like it, even the mild abrasive part BUT there's a couple places on my body (which are all more or less in the same place) that I do *not* want subjected to anything resembling sandblasting.
-- FlyingToaster, Jan 04 2008



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