Growers vs Showers: Does it Matter?

There are a lot of urban legends about both showers and growers out there, but what’s really in a name?

Science hasn’t published enough penis growth or sex life research to prove being a grower vs. shower matters to the size of your penis, your sexual prowess, or really anything but your own confidence.

Still, your confidence is an important element of your sexual health, so if you’re truly curious where you fall and what it means, read on. Below we’ve explained the scientific differences between growers and showers, how to tell whether you’re in one camp or the other, and what to do with the information once you’ve measured.

Being a grower or a shower doesn’t indicate how much shrinkage happens when it’s cold or how big your erect penis is — it’s actually a question of how much your resting flaccid penis extends when it becomes erect.

With growers, penises get significantly longer when they become hard. A shower’s penis, on the other hand, doesn’t extend much when it goes from flaccid to erect.  

Rumors swirl that one team has a larger average penis size than the other, and one 2018 review in the Journal of Impotence Research analyzing data from 73 men who fit the description of grower (≥4.0 cm change in length from flaccid to erect) and 205 men who fit the definition of shower (<4cm change) did show that while there was no significant difference in flaccid penis size, growers “gain” on average about 2.2 centimeters more with erections than showers.

However, that’s not a particularly substantial difference (a little more than 3/4 of an inch) — and larger, multicultural, and multinational studies are needed to confirm these findings.

If you’re curious about average penis size and what constitutes a “large” penis, check out our guide on the ‘ideal’ penis size. 

Currently, there is no consensus about what biological or genetic factors may affect your likelihood of being a grower or a shower — or what affects your penis size in general.

The scientific explanation for the differences, meanwhile, is fairly simple to understand.

Urology experts at the European Association of Urology or EAU, which defined growers as >56% change in length from flaccid to erect, and showers as <31% change in length, found that the tunica albuginea — the fibrous tube that encloses the inflating tissues of your penis — was typically thinner on growers. The most common reason for this difference, they say, may be age.

In general, research shows that older men were less likely to be growers primarily because the erectile tissue, collagen, and other tissues in the penis tend to lose their elasticity over time.

In other words, as you age, your “grower” elasticity is more likely to transition into a permanent state of “shower” functionality.

Finding out whether you’re a grower or a shower is relatively easy — you just need to take a couple of measurements.

We’ll break it down:

• First, measure your flaccid penis. You’ll measure the length (we’re not worried about girth here) from the tip to the base.

• Next, get into an erect state, and measure your erect penis length from the same reference points as when you measured yourself in the flaccid state.

• Finally, subtract the flaccid penile length from your erect penis size to determine how much enlargement you experience going from flaccid to erect.

If the difference in those two numbers is greater than 4 centimeters (or 1.5 inches), it means that you’re a grower. If the difference is less, you’re a shower. Alternatively you can calculate the percent change, and if that is more than 56% it means you’re a grower, and if that is less than 31% you’re a shower.

Probably not for your health or sex life, at least according to current research.

While the 2018 review suggested that growers’ erect penises are on average 2.4 centimeters longer, on average, compared to showers — which also correlated with age, even that study’s authors cautioned that their relatively small study size of just about 300 men was not enough to make conclusions, and that more and larger scale research was needed.

Generally, most genital measurement data suggests that there are no known differences between so-called growers and showers.

That said, research into men’s health has established a number of reasons that your penis could shrink over time, including comorbidities like reduced testosterone or impaired sexual function that could reduce penis size.

Age can also change the amount of visceral fat or body fat that someone carries, which can bury or cover portions of the length of a man’s penis in some circumstances making it appear to have shrunk.

There’s even some indication that a serious smoking history could impact penis size over the course of someone’s life.

What really seems to matter is that you’re comfortable with your penis and confident using it. 

Being a grower or a shower may feel important in the locker room, but to your urologist, these things aren’t really a big deal. Instead, proper erectile function is what makes someone “healthy.”

Here’s how we see it:

• Growers tend to be younger men, while older men are more likely to be showers.

• This is predominantly due to the changes in elasticity that the tissues of your erection go through over time.

• Limited research suggests growers may be bigger when erect on average, but it hasn’t been backed by appropriately large follow-up studies. Right now, there’s no reliable evidence to suggest one label or the other has a bigger penis on average.

If you’re concerned about the size of your penis or how aging might be affecting you, consider seeking medical advice to determine whether you’re at risk for health conditions that could reduce the size or effectiveness of your erections.

Not sure where to start? Hims can connect you with a healthcare professional.

We can also help with the management of erectile dysfunction using erectile dysfunction medications like PDE5 inhibitors. Common PDE5 medications increase blood flow to your penis, and they include familiar names like sildenafil (Generic for Viagra), tadalafil (generic for Cialis), or Stendra (Avanafil).