Wash Away Stress By Putting A Squid In Your Shower
I'm going to start this blog with two seemingly unrelated stories. If, however, you have keen powers of deduction (and saw the title of this post and looked at the featured image on the front page) you might just realize these two stories will end up being connected in the end. Story One: I love cephalopods. Mainly octopuses and squid. I remember when I was a kid my dad would tell me about giant squid and how their eyes were the size of dinner plates and how no one had ever seen a live one, but we knew they were more than just myths because we'd found their corpses, and I was transfixed. I would demand to know more. My dad still sends me links to articles about giant squid. And octopuses? Forgetaboutit. Remember when an octopus in the Seattle Aquarium kept murdering sharks to, I don't know, prove how badass it was? And speaking of cephalopod/shark comparisons, both have been around in their current forms since dinosaurs (my favorite animals, btw) walked the earth. Because cephalopods were made perfectly the first time around. The Great Creator said, "Never change, cephalopods!" And they were like, "Don't plan on it."
Story Two: I have been on the hunt for a decent shower caddy for as long as I can remember. The ones coated in plastic always end up with the plastic flaking off and looking gross. The metal ones end up getting rusty and looking gross. I have bought every shower caddy that swears it won't end up getting gross, and they all get gross. I have gone through this process in multiple showers in multiple states - it's just impossible to keep things tidy in the shower and have the keeper itself also look tidy. This is a persnickety pet peeve that I inherited from my mom, and when I complained to her about my shower caddy woes, she said, "Well, you need a Shower Squid."
"You have my complete attention." I replied.
The Shower Squid is a great way to give your shower a minimalist makeover (it was designed by a Swede, natch), keep your crap tidy, and because it's made of latex, keep the keeper tidy as well. There are nine "tentacles" that each have an adjustable loop at the end for holding an item. Why nine? Each tentacle is actually half of one long tube, so there are four long tubes, folded to make eight arms, and the ninth goes up through the head of the squid to make the loop that attaches to the arm of your shower head.
The folded-in-half method is very inventive, but it does hinder your ability to adjust the length of the arms. All the arms are the same length, and if you want to change their hanging position your options are pretty limited. You can slide them up and down the length of the center tube, but only so high, because at some point the head of the squid won't cover the entirety of the tube cluster. If you don't care about this, then adjust to your heart's content, but we've established that I have shower organization control issues, so I will not abide having any of my shower squid's secrets exposed.
The loops at the bottom of the tentacles though, are very easy to adjust and work flawlessly. I haven't really changed the size of my squid's loops since I initially fit them to my shower products, but I do have to replace bottles in the loops all the time and they're incredibly flexible and easy to work with, especially considering how well they hold your stuff. Like I said before, the Shower Squid is made of latex, so it grips the bottles even when they're wet or soapy. As long as you've made sure the loops are snug on your products (not a death grip or anything, just not crazy loose) nothing will ever fall out. The straps are long and pliable, so when you need to say, dispense your shampoo, you just lift up the bottle, flip it over, and squeeze some into the palm of your hand - no need to take it out of the loop. (Pictured above are previously recommended favorites of mine, Superfacialist by Una Brennan Rose Brighten and Refine Facial Scrub and the Salux Beauty Skin Wash Cloth, which I just loop through a large, well, loop on one of the tentacles to air dry.)
The Shower Squid can't handle everything with ease, however. If you use bar soap, you'll need to put it in a container and then put that container in the loop. (If you want to keep it in the squid at all. As you can see from one of the photos, I keep my razor on the wall next to the squid, but my mom keeps hers in a teeny little loop on her squid. All depends on your preference!) A bottle of Cetaphil is a fairly large and would majorly weigh down my squid, so I decant my Cetaphil into a travel size container and use that in the shower instead. It's much easier to use and cuts down on shower clutter even more.
When I first looked into the Shower Squid at my mom's recommendation, I suffered from major sticker shock. Now, though, I can't imagine life without it. If something ever happened to my Shower Squid I would order another one immediately, no questions asked - that's how much I love this product. And when I think about how much money I wasted on shower caddies that promised to solve my problems only to keep causing them, $36 for a bit of Swedish shower innovation is a drop in the bucket. If you, like me, spend too much time stressing about the aesthetics of your shower, throw a latex squid in there and start showering in peace.
