Why Your Shower Curtain Is so Annoyingly Clingy

The shower isn't supposed to be a dangerous place, but once you turn on the water, you might be attacked by your shower curtain. But don't blame the curtain! Blame physics!
Hosted by: Olivia Gordon
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[@PaleGhost69]

"It's not a poltergeist hell bent on ruining your shower... Probably" Caught red handed...

[@Taikamuna]

The shower curtain is the only thing that wants to be closer to me

[@lindsayguillen7]

... aww I'm sorry 😂

[@Goro_Maj1ma]

Damm.

[@brookboi_6992]

@@Goro_Maj1ma whats the plan

[@SuperStarwarsfan101]

Same.

[@AD-hq2uz]

Awe!

[@humanteddy]

Shower curtains are the only things that give me hugs

[@pigeonfowl474]

Do they arouse you?

[@mizuhonova]

oof

[@cggc9510]

Virtual Hug!

[@Aconitum_napellus]

I'll hug you next time I visit your house at night.

[@renapeppers20]

Scishow answering all the questions I ask myself at 2 in the morning.

[@ohtheblah]

why aren't you asking where the hell did I put the ambien?

[@micahphilson]

Why are you taking showers at 2am?

[@Monochromicornicopia]

Why are you showering at 2am

[@renapeppers20]

@@micahphilson I never said that.

[@seedoubleu3149]

only thing I ask at 2 am is "why doesn't my wife love me anymore?"

[@just-a-silly-goofy-guy]

When it clings to your leg: “MY LEG”

[@andy56duky]

My leg! My leg...

[@obama-bin-thanos7484]

Every night I can feel my leg

[@MrCinnamonWhale]

Not entirely sure if this is the reference your talking about but thank you for putting the “MY LEG” from Spongebob in my head anyway. Made my day man

[@froggyslap]

bruh sound effect

[@planespeaking]

Curved shower rail ftw

[@DrMAngelo]

Thats why my shower curtain is made out of chainmail

[@0mn1vore]

*chainmaille Stainless steel, I hope. Teflon coated? Rustoleum metal primer?

[@yonatanalem9343]

Made out of 'Chained-Males' who her in to BDSM...................................sorry couldn't help it lol!

[@DrMAngelo]

@@yonatanalem9343 whip me daddy

[@TitanUranusOfficial]

At least you'll be clean until you shuffle off this metal coil.

[@apple54345]

made mine out of adamant plate-mail, but then i got 85 smithing.

[@ecicce6749]

The worst thing is when the curtain is very cold and then suddenly sticks to your legs or body and you cant get rid of it quickly because then it sticks to your arms and also slides along your legs instead of letting go, while all the moving draws in the rest of the curtain so its suddenly stuck to your back too... I experienced some bad bad curtains

[@patrickmccurry1563]

Okay. I think that might actually be a haunted shower. lol

[@username-rs4vf]

I love that people actually thought about the physics behind this

[@ohtheblah]

if they don't then people will think it's god's will

[@kittybeans8192]

in MY shower, its ME the curtain has to worry about.

[@stegosaurus6654]

People like me with shower doors: wot

[@brokentombot]

I have a curtain and have only had this happen a few times in my life. I guess people who thought this was a normal thing just have high water pressure and take really hot showers.

[@flipnshifty]

Tom Larson hot showers. The water flow thing is negligible. I took a really hot shower for 10 mins and it kept coming to me. It was also really cold in my room so its deffo the cold / hot difference.

[@JustinY.]

Damn physics always trying to kill us

[@Mo95793]

Dude!

[@OEpistimon]

Stop being in the comments of everything I watch, it's kinda creeping me out...

[@MikefromTexas1]

GO. AWAY.

[@dontknowdontcare1934]

@@piko9680 Pepridge farm remembers...

[@CuteEvie]

Leave!

[@dibidibidis2896]

nah curtains are just probably possessed

[@froggyslap]

Dibidibidis damn ghosts :(

[@MrCinnamonWhale]

They are

[@tompossessed1729]

Like me

[@nolanwestrich2602]

Ghosts make a lot more sense than any of the video's explanations.

[@raythegardener]

Possessed curtains I can handle, but showering in a hurricane?

[@Kenxclout]

I thought it was its way of covering up its ears from my singing

[@XSpImmaLion]

Interesting stuff... I always kinda thought this had something to do with static electricity, I was wrong

[@dutubsucks]

That is what I have heard as well. Not sure if we are wrong or if it simply wasn't covered in this video.

[@see2suns]

Nothing a couple of shampoo bottles can't handle.

[@apple54345]

instructions unclear. shampoo bottles stuck in rectum.

[@Merecir]

@adrianna Attach weights to the bottom of the shower curtain.

[@darth-imperius]

@Davvy Jannes exactly. I have a bathtub with a shower curtain and I just get it wet and 'glue' it to the tub and wall and it stays there + no water can get onto the floor this way, works great.

[@YuBeace]

dafuq I actually had my bottles fall over thanks to the curtain, the force was too strong.........

[@hacked2123]

Princess YuBeace What was it’s metaclorian count?

[@Seventytwodegrees]

😫 I hate the feeling of a cold wet shower curtain on my body.

[@krymsynrayne]

Hey SciShow! Why don't we sneeze in our sleep?

[@92RKID]

Good question. Why don't we?

[@lordgarion514]

because during sleep certain neurotransmitters are shut down, including the ones that controls sneezing. but if enough stuff that normally makes you sneeze gets up your nose while you're sleeping, you will sneeze, but you'll wake up right before you do.

[@dennisvance4004]

Robert Pruitt so our cerebral OS has a Do Not Disturb feature.

[@crackedemerald4930]

Because you stop breathing

[@Merecir]

We do. Ever had someone stick a long hair up your nose and twirl it around while you were asleep? Explosive wakening.

[@sebastianelytron8450]

Still not as clingy as my ex

[@Dis_bltch_loud_in_every_movie]

Im not clingy stop texting me or I will block you!

[@wrestlingisfakebutthetitti1687]

Don’t talk about your hand like that

[@froggyslap]

Donald Trump {D.Trizzy} ooof omg

[@lawlerzwtf]

When someone who loves you has psychological issues and you don't want to take the time to help them

[@Tsumami__]

What ex?

[@dutchik5107]

Glass door squad.

[@TexasGTO]

I haaaaate shower curtain hugs!

[@Bolt99K]

I’ve never had a shower curtain that doesn’t have magnets, I thought they were standard lol. Like from the curtains in my childhood bathroom to the shower in my dorm room have all had magnets.

[@tibhamel]

I never had a shower curtain with magnets, didn't even know it was a thing before this video...

[@AlthenaLuna]

The "inside" curtains - when you have the waterproof liner inside as opposed to the decorative fabric outside - are the only ones with magnets, I think. It's not like the magnets actually *matter*, though - they've never stopped a single shower curtain from sucking in and clinging to me.

[@Bolt99K]

AlthenaLuna Yeah the inside clear ones are the ones with the magnets. Idk, I’m tall so my head is usually above the shower curtain railing, so maybe thats why I’ve never had a problem feeling like I’m being trapped in the curtain lol.

[@AlthenaLuna]

@@Bolt99K Showoff. :-P I'm short, so I'm entirely trapped down in that curtain smother zone.

[@AlthenaLuna]

@Davvy Jannes True, but even with the tubs they will stick to, they just don't adhere strongly enough (at least none I've had did) to not still suction in. They'd have to also be heavy enough to actually weigh the curtain down significantly, and they don't...so they just slide up a little and prevent nothing.

[@GIRGHGH]

I've actually never experienced this, even before I got magnets.

[@brokentombot]

It's probably something that happens to the the engineer with a computer model and SciShow producers cuz this seriously has happened to me like 4 times my entire life and I wasn't all that bewildered by it.

[@christafranken9170]

It probably depents on the distance between the water coming down and the curtain, in my parents house it never happened to me either, in my own house it happens way more frequently

[@denniswalsh8476]

If possible, leave the curtain open a few inches (furthest from the shower head). That usually lets in enough air to reduce or eliminate the curtain being draw inward.

[@schneemann-fy6gi]

Your floor will be wet instead

[@okeanos2100]

This is a good anchoring phenomenon when teaching high- and low-pressure systems in a weather lesson.

[@amigulus6896]

I don't have a shower curtain so I don't know what you are talking about

[@apple54345]

rip your laminate bathroom flooring

[@whom9421]

Amigulus lol me too I have a glass sliding door in my shower

[@VeggieBond]

Get out

[@lauri9061]

@@apple54345 Um the whole bathroom is tiled. I also have no bathtub

[@arduria538]

@@apple54345 You never know... they could have a shower stall door, like I do. ;)

[@micahphilson]

False! It's because the shower curtain is taking night classes to become Cling Wrap.

[@elevadon]

Literally never had this problem

[@thugasaurusrex6004]

Jeroen J yea I haven't either. No idea what they're on.

[@elevadon]

@@thugasaurusrex6004 Small showrs probably

[@maxtech226]

american showers are crazy high pressure for some reason so maybe they actually do have a problem but civilized people dont

[@maxtech226]

@@kyle5661 well im from germany and never experienced a high powered shower ever in my life and when i visited my aunt in the us we went on a road trip and 4 out of the 5 showers i was in at that time were probably more pressurized then a firehose and felt like they were ripping off my skin

[@NickVetter]

@@maxtech226 definetely not

[@redsparks2025]

If a shower curtain attacks me it would definitely have to be a poltergeist. My shower has glass screen.

[@Jackrodder]

1:37 that soft "awww" killed me

[@ilovepinatas3179]

"No malicious forces at work, it's just physics." Bold of you to assume physics is benign. 😂

[@ScottManly]

Not sure this is the same here, but it reminds me of the diffusion pumps we used at Space Power Institute while I was in college. A roughing pump would take most of the air out of the vacuum chamber, the a cylinder that sprayed oil downward into the cylinder would pull the more rarefied air to the bottom of the cylinder (diffusion pump) where another roughing pump would remove it. That's what I understood of it anyway.

[@uss_04]

Using a newly washed shower curtain is such an underrated experience

[@tylerwebb2495]

Ah yes, Bernoulli, my favorite pasta

[@klakiti02]

This is the question that has been bugging me for years but i always forget to gogle as soon as i get out of the shower

[@chungga94]

"There are no malicious forces at work. It's just physics." Yeah, malicious physics.

[@norrepud]

SciShow reads my mind again... was going to google this to see if I could figure out why my shower curtain is so obsessed with me, then got distracted by youtube, then this video appeared.

[@-4subscriberswithahammerad521]

I legit use tape to hold back my leg hugging shower curtains

[@Snarethedrummer]

Do you reapply every time? Or how do you move the curtains? So curious about this.

[@stoffers6419]

Just buy a curtain with built in magnets

[@Snarethedrummer]

@@stoffers6419 Not everyone has a tub, or a magnetic surface available

[@apple54345]

@@Snarethedrummer uh, you place the magnetic stickers there yourself, bruh

[@Snarethedrummer]

@@apple54345 To the tub or tile? Gross either way, noty!

[@Dcc357]

I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to throw my shower curtain into an active volcano and celebrate the day.

[@clochard4074]

I admit I always shrugged it off as hot air rising, I'm pleasently surprised.

[@sennsir]

1:36 had me! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@frankotte3613]

Water spraying on the bottom of tub displaces air. That air escapes the tub in the space between curtain and side of tub, blowing curtain away from side of tub and inwards. Have observed this for over 60 years. Best fix is a microfiber curtain without liner. Microfiber curtain gets wet and instantly clings against side of tub. Although wet, they will not let a drop of water actually pass through the micro fiber. Are also machine washable.

[@barbaracunningham964]

I sewed a hem at the bottom of the curtain and fed in a piece of electric cord left over from building. It worked a treat.

[@3RAN7ON]

0:35 you want privacy? Shut the bathroom door. The shower curtain is to keep water from getting everywhere it's not supposed to

[@RangerRuby]

I'm pretty sure that a nefarious poltergeist is hell-bent on ruining my shower... Probably.

[@zackp4798]

So this explains why farts stink worse in the shower, it gets sucked up straight passed your face. YAY SCIENCE!!!

[@alexx7910]

hahaha damnn your right!!

[@skgalindo7466]

They actually did a video on that question lol

[@lostpunker2]

I've also noticed something within my own experiences with the shower. Magnetism may have something to do with this as well. I only noticed with this very same question myself so I put my arm near the shower curtain itself, low and behold, the curtain was attracted to me.

[@jonnydude90210]

if you leave a gap on either end of the wall and the shower curtain it helps to normalize the pressure on the bathroom side and the shower side and you get less cling, or you know just buy some magnets as most bathtubs have some metal in them.

[@camillecirrus3977]

Even my shower curtain doesnt want to be close to me. I never even once had it stick to me.

[@Karabetter]

The "Norman Bates Curtain" has vertical slits to counteract this effect. Coupon Code: SciShowPsycho for %25 discount. But wait! First 100 orders get the blood-spatter pattern at no extra charge!!! Norman was simply a misunderstood physicist, ahead of his time. ;)

[@UberAwesomeMan9]

i think whats happening is the same thing that happens when your hand is very slightly wet and you are able to grab on to things easier as if your hands are sticky. this helps me closing metal doors at work since our building has a high positive pressure so you have to pull hard to close the doors.

[@mau_victorino]

0:45 “exactually” I love it 😍

[@davidbuschhorn6539]

I moved the bar the curtain hangs from, out about 4-5 inches. It not only opened up the way the shower felt, it trapped that overly-affectionate curtain against the tub. No more cold-wet leg-humping shower curtain!

[@spiderboyjw]

Me and my wife were literally just complaining about this

[@OLBICHL]

Free, cold and wet hugs... what a way to start the day!

[@quentinlynch]

If you take a shower standing up in a bathtub, you can spray the curtain from inside the shower and it will move towards the bathtub and stick to it (rather than to your leg).

[@secondconflict570]

what if you lay down in the bathtub to shower though?

[@quentinlynch]

@@secondconflict570 You wouldn't really need a curtain then, right?

[@oldtimefarmboy617]

Mount the shower rod several inches outside the bathtub's edge so it is already hanging at a slant towards the tub. That way it is already at the angle the air flow is capable of blowing it to and it will not be able to move further into the inside tub area.

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

Tip: while the water is warming up, use your hand to spread water on the tub's interior as if you were washing it; make it pretty wet. Then, when you go in, flatten the curtain against the tub's interior with your hands. It gets stuck, it won't attack you again. :-)

[@Ingcivilcarlos]

I had this problem before, it is most annoying when the curtain is cold and grabs your leg ugh, I really thought it had to be explained by the rising hot air, thanks Scishow for answering questions I didn't know I had.

[@robertmcfarlane3604]

The plastic shield on my shower curtain prevents this very well as well as keeps the curtain dry

[@micahphilson]

Are you sure about the Poltergeist theory? The worst curtain I've ever seen was in college, and it would literally chase me over 3 feet just to give me a piece of its mind!

[@BothHands1]

Micah Philson i understand your struggle, on a spiritual level

[@ibrohimhakimov6435]

Finally evidence for me to sue my shower curtain for assault

[@xSimone92x]

Strangely enough. I was thinking about this in the shower this morning and then this video popped up. Thanks for the information! Liked!

[@jonahbrame7874]

That quick “probably” was perfectly delivered and hilarious.

[@dustydarkhorse]

"Shower Curtain hugs" lmao

[@MichaelsmindToday]

Thank you but I had figured that part out. What I needed was a way to keep the curtain from surrounding me? The magnets might work.

[@jazminekissel2568]

Your shower curtains only want a hug. Your so mean to them , give them a hug and they will not be so clingy.

[@safepethaven]

All that stopped at my house when I replaced all the toxic vinyl liners and synthetic shower curtains with cotton duck fabric or true linen fabric shower curtains.

[@teresafan1]

I just got out of the shower and was asking myself this very question... perfect timing

[@Great-Beard-of-Zeus]

the vacuum created from the collecting water emptying at the drain also needs to be considered.

[@lindseybarrett1627]

You could argue that physics is the most malicious of forces

[@emiv592]

There's also sticky hooks you can put on the bathroom walls to pull the shower curtain tight. No more curtain hugs.

[@BlackXxScopez]

I'm so thankful my shower has a sliding glass door. It ups the value of the house so it costs less than its sticker price

[@Cora.T]

I got so tired of shower curtain hugs that I bought a shitload of those little weights to hold it in place and now it doesn't assault me or my personal space anymore 💁

[@WouterCloetens]

I don’t have any need for shower curtains myself at home. Whenever I am somewhere that has them, before getting under the shower, I make the bath walls wet where the curtains hang over them. Then I spray water on the from the inside, to cleanly push the curtains to the walls. That makes them stick tight enough. I haven’t had a problem with moving curtains for decades.

[@kyuremking18]

"Remember, there are no malicious forces; it's just physics." This just in, Physics == malicious

[@saltydiarrhea386]

Close or block the drain and the problem is eliminated. It's the pressure difference created by the difference in temperature.

[@PlaythroughKitty]

There are no malicious forces at work "Phew" Only physics "AAAAAAAAAHHHH"

[@galaxymew5138]

The shower curtain is the only thing that's more clingy than my dog

[@brandonadkins9435]

Interestingly, this question lead to the development of the Portal Gun. This was a triumph.

[@DennisRash]

These are the questions that need to be answered

[@aidanisakov3365]

My shower has glass sliding doors so I’m ok.

[@92RKID]

Mine too. I only have the shower curtain cling problem when I travel. And travel is a rare thing for me so that pretty much solves the curtain cling problem for me.

[@sogerc1]

Oh, so that's what that magnet is about! Well, I never figured it out because the magnet protected me from the poltergeist effect.

[@alanwhitsitt5196]

Those curtains with heavy magnets still attack me in the shower.

[@mybackhurts7020]

Now this is all I’m gonna think about while showering today

[@mrcastillo4240]

How tf? I was just thinking about taking a shower, and then I see this notification *"Why your shower curtain is so annoyingly clingy"* . And I'm just here shook like how tf did you read my mind?

[@ralexandra1058]

Two solutions: Weighted curtains, or curtains with magnets at bottom. OR Seal the curtain to the shower/tub rim by pressing the curtain down against the wet surface of the shower/tub. “It’s not a problem anymore”

[@belindaweber7999]

Love that Olivia got a script with a touch of humour it was nice

[@hacked2123]

I just shortened my curtains width by a hook (folded it back to the previous hook) and the 1ft gap it leaves prevents the interaction and retains the majority of the curtains purpose.

[@sarahleonard7309]

Shower curtain hug! Awww!

[@richardbidinger2577]

I attached small fishing swivels about every six inches along the curtain, a few inches above the edge of the tub, then tied some fairly significantly heavy lead sinkers to some fishing line with a loop on one end, and hooked them to the swivels so they hung a couple inches off the floor that way my shower curtains wouldn't get sucked into the tub. Even made some small cloth bags for the weights so they didn't scratch the outside of the tub or make a horrendous noise every time you got in or out of the shower. Works fine and I can take the weights off when I wash my shower curtains. It also took a few tries to get the right weights that were heavy enough to hold the curtains back without pulling them out of the tub altogether.

[@hornetluca]

I don't have shower curtains, problem solved!

[@BillySugger1965]

Of course it’s Bernoulli’s Principle. Angle the water stream a little toward the wall, and the curtain behaves. Known this for years.

[@culwin]

If you leave a little space and don't close the curtain all the way, it doesn't do that as much. It also helps if you set the curtain rod as high as possible.

[@ladyviking.mallory]

Even heavy curtains with magnets blow in. Thinking about getting some rocks for the shower

[@laurensomething1899]

Also answered in John Green’s “An Abundance of Katherines”

[@gunnar1846]

SciShow is asking the important questions these days.

[@snepNL]

I found a solution to the showcurtain problem, don't close the curtain fully. Leave a gap on both sides about 15cm or more and a small gap from the floor, about 2cm will do. No more sticky curtains.

[@DavidLinn]

0:45 "you know exactually what i'm talking about"

[@Metal_Mama87]

2 questions I need you to answer please. 1. Why do our bodies get welts on them? When we bump or bruise we have welts? 2. What can babies see in the first year of life? New mom here and I'd like to know my baby's eye development. Thanks for the videos.

[@pyrotheevilplatypus]

In the eye of a hurricane, There is quiet, For just a moment, A yellow sky...