This is *exactly* how long your average shower should be for clean and healthy skin

Cutting down on the time you spend in the shower may seem close to impossible. How in the world can you sacrifice precious seconds required to groom your mane for optimal growth? To exfoliate your skin? To shave your legs? Well, a recent report found that we’re all using a ton of H2O each time we suds up (17.2 gallons per shower!), and that equates to a lot of wasted water, not to mention it also eats up time that could be spent doing other things.

The average American’s get-clean routine requires about 8.2 minutes of shower time, according to Home Water Works. Do the math, and that means United States dwellers spend close to an hour in the shower and use more than 120 gallons of water in just a week (and that’s for those who fall in that middle range rather than skew longer). Here’s the bright side though: If everyone managed to cut their cleansing regimen in half, there’d be oh-so much more time to do other things, like squeezing in one extra-snappy workout each week, speed cleaning your home on the reg, and even keeping up with your bullet journal. Plus, as an added bonus, you’d get the satisfaction of knowing that, *hair flip*, you saved the planet about 240 gallons of water on a monthly basis.

The average American’s get-clean routine requires about 8.2 minutes of shower time. Do the math, and that means United States dwellers spend close to an hour in the shower and use more than 120 gallons of water in just a week.

If your hair-care routine is a little too intricate to allow for a stricter time frame, you can still dial back your water bill and lessen your water usage by adopting a “navy shower” routine. To do so, just shut off the water each time you’re not actively using it. Like, say, when you’re giving yourself a shampoo scalp massage, loofah-ing your legs, or waiting for your deep conditioner to turn your strands to silk.

This way, you step out of the shower feeling like the eco-conscious #queen that you are.

Should you make that shower…cold? Derms weigh in. Plus, here are three things that happen when you cut showering from your routine all together.