Moved into a new home, I noticed the shower curtain always gets sucked onto my body while showering, which is quite annoying.

After some research, I found that this phenomenon, known as the Shower Curtain Effect, has been studied before. Although there’s no definitive conclusion, a few plausible explanations exist:

Buoyancy Hypothesis

When showering, hot water heats the air, causing it to rise. Cooler air near the floor then gets pushed in from under the curtain to replace the rising air. This hypothesis seems plausible since the phenomenon is often more noticeable when taking hot showers on cold days.

Bernoulli Effect Hypothesis

An increase in speed leads to a decrease in pressure. The water flowing from the shower head causes the surrounding air to flow in the same direction, parallel to the shower curtain. This parallel movement reduces the air pressure inside the curtain, creating a pressure difference between the inside and outside, causing the curtain to move inward.

The solution is simple: use hooks to secure the bottom of the curtain or weigh it down.