The Truth Behind "Grower vs. Shower"

[RodEnuf]

The Truth Behind "Grower vs. Shower"
What's the real relationship between flaccid and erect penis size?

By C. Brian Smith -- MEL Magazine

Since the dawn of time -- or at least since the dawn of The Howard Stern Show and Reddit -- men of smallish flaccid penises have sworn that there's serious truth to the claim, "I'm a grower, not a shower."

Showers, like Jon Hamm, have large flaccid penises that don't increase as much when erect, whereas growers are relatively small when soft but expand significantly when hard.

Growers, of course, are quick to point out they're working with more than meets the eye. Stern, for example, says he "looks like a button" when he's soft but that he's "a full six inches when erect!" Most Redditors also claim to be growers, though they offer questionable metrics to support those claims.

"I'm a hardcore grower," explains OnlyOnThursday in the BigDickProblems subreddit. "When completely flaccid I'm like 2" - 2.5" but when I'm hard I'm at around 8" - 8.2"." And Amazinguser reports his penis goes "from thumb size to wrist size" and more than doubles in both length and girth.

Strangely enough, it was more difficult to find showers. Until, that is, I stumbled upon Measurection, "a site for men with small penis insecurities." At 4" to 4.5 inches soft and 5 inches "at the absolute maximum," TheFriarsDruggist most definitely identifies as a shower. "It's great in places like the locker room, or if I end up naked in public for some reason (streaking, strip poker, skinnydipping, truth or dare, etc.) because around most guys, when soft at least, I look like one of the bigger dudes in the room. But if for some reason someone sees it soft and we end up hooking up later, they usually seem disappointed. Once a drunk girl at a party said, 'Wow. That's it?!'"

To check the veracity of this classic dichotomy, I reached out to urologist Dr. Alex Shteynshlyuger (whose name is harder than an erection" -- grower or shower -- to spell correctly on the first pass). Dr. Shteynshlyuger is among an elite number of fellowship-trained urologists in the United States. Mainly, I wanted to know: Was it true? And does the size of your flaccid penis have any relation to the size of your erect penis?

Shteynshlyuger explains it's all a matter of skin elasticity. In other words, some men simply have more stretchable penises than others. The latter are classified as "showers" because they tend to be more prominent than most in their flaccid state -- it's essentially the same as their erect state. Further, Shteynshlyuger says you can't really make a good generalization about the relationship between flaccid and erect; it's different for each man. If a shower is larger than average when soft, he likely will be when hard as well. Growers are more unpredictable, and what looks to be a less-than-average flaccid penis can grow to an above-average erect penis, Shteynshlyuger says.

Bottom line: There are small growers and showers, average growers and showers and large growers and showers. "A lot of people wrongly assume if someone is a shower, he has a huge penis," Shteynshlyuger says. "But it just means the penis doesn't stretch as much as the grower." Nor does one typically get harder than the other, since the firmness of an erection is a result of good blood supply and determined by a totally different part of the penis. As for numbers, 79 percent of men are growers while 21 percent are showers, according to an international Men's Health survey. In terms of demographics, younger men tend to have more stretchable penises because the collagen fibers inside the penis become less stretchable as a man ages.

The jury, however, is still out on the Darwinian angle. "A shower, especially if it's a big shower, signals to a female about the reproductive capacity and the grandeur," Shteynshlyuger explains. On the other hand, he argues, a grower has the best of both worlds: It provides protection to the nether regions (shrinkage is the body's way of protecting the penis from the elements), while also impressing when erect.

So which are you? Shteynshlyuger says there is a way to test. It's called "putting a penis on full stretch." Or in two easy steps:

Pull your flaccid penis as far as you can away from the body.
Measure.

The propensity for a penis to grow is directly proportional to how far you can pull it away from the body (i.e. how stretchable the collagen fibers are within the skin of the penis). Growers tend to have a significant increase -- approximately 50 percent -- stretched. Showers will hardly stretch at all.

We'll give you a moment.

C. Brian Smith is a contributing writer to MEL. He last wrote about why you look like your dog.

[Gezr69]

Interesting topic for discussion.

 

As a grower, my flaccid length is quite variable.

 

Totally erect BP length is very static.

 

Despite that I'd have to say my erect length in general is also fairly variable.

 

What do others experience?

Anyone else experience variable size of erection.

 

Bring on some discussion.

[Red Scott]

Interesting topic for discussion.

 

As a grower, my flaccid length is quite variable.

 

Totally erect BP length is very static.

 

Despite that I'd have to say my erect length in general is also fairly variable.

 

What do others experience?

Anyone else experience variable size of erection.

 

Bring on some discussion.

 

In answer to your questions, my flaccid length can vary by almost two inches, mainly dependent on temperature. In contrast my erect length varies by around half an inch, dependent on levels of arousal, my erect girth fluctuates around the same.

 

As for the topic of growers and show'ers, over the years I've come to learn that you absolutely cannot determine erect size by the flaccid size. I've heard some say "a 6" flaccid is gonna be huge when hard" when actually a 6" flaccid size simply guarantees at least 6" erect.

 

I've seen 2" grow to 6" and I've seen 5.5" grow to 6" so you can never tell. Only the uneducated see a large flaccid and assume large erect.

[Gezr69]

Yes I know the comparison is not that relevant, but notice it a bit amongst our play friends.

 

All but one are showers, (only 5 couples), but they all only slightly thicker & gain near no length; in some positions you have to look twice to distinguish hard from soft.

 

The guy who's the grower is always about 5 1/2 hard, never changing unless he's lost it.

 

Mine by comparison can he hard (and the comment is there, "Oh it's hard"), but it still can grow only noticeably harder yet I gain near an inch length.

 

Definitely linked to arousal, and in particular, visual attention, just on 5" in those situations.

 

I know oral & hard has me closest to my limit, while penetration & non-visual hand contact has me more closer to the 4" hard mark.

 

Edit:- had some really interesting comparisons recently but that's another thread.

Edited January 19, 2017 by Guest
Addidtional comment.

[IndyBanker]

I have had interesting moments with a few women over the years related to this topic. Being a shower (a bit over 5" flaccid) I am always eager to let a woman see my soft penis for the first time. On more than one occasion after we had had intercourse for the first time the woman said something to the effect "I thought you were going to be bigger." Hence, I think women think big soft means real big hard.

[SamBadger]

That's interesting. How did you receive that remark? Like she was disappointed with your dick size? Has she ever had sex with you since?

[Deik]

I have kind of thought that some guys suspensory ligament is tighter than others. It is the ligament that attaches the base of the penis to the pelvic bone. It's also the ligament they cut in lengthening surgery. So a penis like mine that just slightly juts out would hang if that ligament were not as tight. 

[Guest]

On 1/30/2023 at 3:22 PM, Deik said:

I have kind of thought that some guys suspensory ligament is tighter than others. It is the ligament that attaches the base of the penis to the pelvic bone. It's also the ligament they cut in lengthening surgery. So a penis like mine that just slightly juts out would hang if that ligament were not as tight. 

Ligaments don't contract like a muscle, though.  Muscles pull them.

I've been told my retracting flaccid means I'm a fearful, anxious person.

[Deik]

@wondering4I never mentioned contracting just I suspect mine is tight (smaller) to my bone and others is loose(longer). It's probably genetics that determines it. And it is referred to as ligament medically despite not being a true bone to bone connection. 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Deik
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