What do you look for in a shower curtain? How about one that won't poison you?
We recommend curtains made from nylon rather than PVC-based vinyl ("poison plastic"), which isn't good for the environment or for you. Treehugger recommends hemp curtains, but we've heard that they can be hard to keep clean.
Whether you go for hemp or not, a simple white nylon curtain liner, like the ones used in hotels, will solve this problem. Nylon dries fast, resists mildew and can be tossed in the washing machine periodically for a good showering of its own.
posted originally from: AT:San Francisco
My old room mate's hemp shower curtain laster 7 months before it developed holes. It didn't develop any mold, but it was in a really dry, pretty mold-free bathroom.
view quercus's profile
my canvas shower curtain (touted as not needing a liner) has mold stains that i can't get out. bummer. glad to hear about nylon as an alternative.
view anne (www.sustainableflatbush.org)'s profile
Ikea has a non-PVC shower curtain (Saxan). It's PEVA (polyethylene vinyl acetate), which means that there's no chlorine, so it's likely that the environmental impact of PEVA is better than PVC. However, it's still a petrochemical (but then, so is nylon).
I like the feel of the PEVA curtain; it's got a silky, not stiff, feel. And when my cats chew on it, I don't worry as much.
It's a good alternative for those of us whose decorating scheme requires a waterproof liner behind the shower curtain.
view Moryse Heron's profile