Hooked on Hookless | Big Green Pen

My friend Rhett Devane said in a recent Facebook post that she “could write two pages about a trip to the mailbox.” When I sat down to write today’s blog, I did not think I could expand on my Facebook conversation yesterday about hookless shower curtains enough to fill a typical-length blog, so I was prepared to do a blog with three “mini topics.” Once I got started on the shower curtain thing, I discovered it’s not so mini (or maybe I’m not so concise).

With credit to Rich Rasmussen for this week’s title, I will explain my discovery (eureka!) yesterday of “hookless” shower curtains. Five years ago, when we moved into this house, I put the coolest shower curtain hooks in the children’s bathroom, which is also the main bathroom in the house. They were so neat looking — my favorite combination of matte and shiny metal (just like my silverware, maybe there’s a pattern here):

The problem is that these hooks are a lot more attractive than they are functional. Because they do not close, they rely on gravity and a gentle touch with the shower curtain open/close process. I have a boy child — gentle and boy child are not two characteristics that generally share time in this particular bathroom. So I have endured five years of hearing the shower curtain come crashing down, putting it back up, and general annoyance.

When I went to buy a new shower curtain, I already had the box of “the usual” shower curtain rings in my hand and was trying to pick out a new shower curtain when magic words came into my line of vision: installs in a minute! no need for rings! flexes right onto the shower rod! I am usually pretty skeptical of this type of claim on a consumer product, but I kept envisioning all those teeny tiny little plastic dots that end up all over the floor when installing a traditional shower curtain, and how the end always gets ripped making the whole curtain droop until another one was purchased, and I decided to give it a shot.

I am happy to report that, amazingly enough, all three claims are true! I think it took longer to get the shower curtain out of all the packaging than it did to install it. I didn’t need any rings, and it did flex right onto the shower curtain rod without me having to take the rod down. I think it’s highly likely these were invented by a mom (although my little bit of research traces back to hotels that need easy on/easy off shower curtains in their bathrooms).

Once I became so enthralled with my new discovery, the decision was “to Facebook status or not to Facebook status.” Figuring that those who aren’t interested can ignore, delete, remove, or unfriend (although I hope it would take more than a trivial post to drive people away), I went for it.

This post generated five “likes” and comments from an additional four people. Besides the “thumbs ups,” several of us shared resources for where to find this product affordably, and how silly it is that some internet vendors charge SO MUCH for them. A group of diverse people who don’t really know each other and aren’t all that likely to meet in person shared some useful information that may make their lives easier in some small way.

And if by sharing a bit of information I can remove a little hassle factor from a friend’s life AND have a pleasant back-and-forth, I’m hooked.

I’ll “run” into you next week!!

Paula Kiger

Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.

Comments

Susan Fields says

February 8, 2010 at 12:19 pm

Paula – I'm glad you included a picture, or I probably wouldn't have been able to picture it. Thanks for sharing your find! The two younger kids, Scott, and I all use my master bathroom shower which has doors, but Jillian's shower has the old-fashioned rings. Next time we update her bathroom, I'll know what to look for!

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