Ancient Egyptians prized them, long-suffering medieval patients were less keen. The popularity of showers may have ebbed and flowed through the ages – but now they’re here to stay

Whether our ancestors stood under waterfalls or poured jugfuls of water over their heads, the pleasure of taking a refreshing shower is something humans have delighted in for thousands of years. Evidence of waterfall ablutions has long been washed downstream but history throws up many tantalising insights into how we progressed from public bathing to the sophisticated showers of today.

Incredible as it seems, it’s only in the past 50 years that many people in the UK have been able to shower at home, yet wealthy ancient Egyptians were enjoying that luxury thousands of years ago. Excavations of palaces around the Nile have uncovered the remains of shower rooms where a bather could stand on a slab of stone with a drain while they, or a servant, poured water over their head.

The showering evolution: from left, an early catalogue; 1930s; 1960s; and 1970s. Photographs: Getty Images, Advertising Archives, Mira Showers, Alamy

The showering evolution: from left, an early catalogue; 1930s; 1960s; and 1970s. Photographs: Getty Images, Advertising Archives, Mira Showers, Alamy