The easiest way to keep your shower curtain liner from clinging to you, once and for all

Nothing ruins a luxurious spa-like shower—and your squeaky-clean vibes—faster than the icky feeling you get when your curtain liner suctions onto your body. (It makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.) But before you take steps to prevent the issue from creeping you out mid-scrub, it’s important to understand why the weird magnetism happens in the first place.

This particular problem really bothered David Schmidt, PhD, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who used computer software to solve the issue in 2001, according to a press release. (He even won an Ig Nobel Prize for his discovery, NBD.) After some calculations, he learned the spray from the showerhead actually creates a vortex, basically putting you in the midst of a mini shower cyclone. “What makes the shower curtain suck in is that you have low pressure on the inside and high pressure on the outside,” he says.

Pin your curtain in place by sitting hefty potted plants (little ones will just topple over!) atop it on the tub edge.

So, how do you stop this water cyclone? Well, you can’t—whenever you turn on the water, science is going to run its course. But there are some simple ways to keep the billowing shower-curtain liner in its place. If you want to go the standard route, buy a nontoxic version (no one wants to cleanse among chemicals!) that has magnets or weights at the bottom to keep it in place. Or, put your greenery and heavyweight skin-care products to good use.

The shower-liner conundrum is the perfect excuse to turn your bathroom into a tropical garden. You can pin your curtain in place by sitting hefty potted plants (little ones will just topple over!) atop it on the tub edge. Plus, the plants can help purify the air (and they need to be watered anyway, right?). Or, you can use a similar tactic with heavy tubs of those body scrubs you love so much by placing them on the tub floor or edge to trap the wandering curtain. This way, your solo shower will never get touchy-feely again.

Here’s a natural way to clean your shower curtain liner. Or, find out why derms recommend cold showers over warm.