Everyone's definition of "birdbath" varies.
Mine means a full shampoo in the bathroom sink.
Then move to a large stall with a lightly-soaped damp washcloth for a shoulders-to-toes scrubdown.
Follow it with a clean washcloth dipped into a very small bucket of clean water to wipe off the soap. Wring excess water into the commode.
Finish with a brisk towel-off. Then apply toiletries/dress.
I am very careful to keep the facilities very clean and I will wipe up any splashes with paper towels.
When finished, nobody can tell that the restroom was used; and I am just as clean as if I had taken a shower.

I'm sure everyone will agree the golden rule of "birth-bathing" is leave no trace, regardless of your exact techniques. ideally though you'll have access to a private bath with a locking door. I always arrived extra early to be sure I avoided anyone else just to be on the safe side. I had the luxury though of my company moving to a new locale with a shower. man that was the bees knees. like heaven, complete with a boiler room to dry my stuff during the day. they even offered to buy be a locker, but I declined saying if they didn't mind me hanging my stuff in the boiler room, I didn't either. I kept extra food in the break room cabinets and fridge and extra clothes in a box under my desk. I could dry my light and charge them at my desk. man that place was freakin' a commuters heaven. dam I miss that place.

Mine's pretty close ... though the caveat is I have to pay to belong to the healthclub downstairs.

That said, it's cheaper than a tank of gas and I commute enough to save that one tank of gas and then some, so the price is easy to justify. I've got a shower, sink, locker to keep my clothes in during the day and a place to change before and after work. My bike goes in the small mailroom up here, sometimes it has the company of one other bike but that's been pretty rare this year so far. I've got lots of storage at my cube so I keep a towel, toiletries, extra shoes, etc at my desk but you wouldn't know it.

It's quite a system, and I had to work out the kinks, but it works well.

If the showers are crowed and no room is available then I can understand the bird bath. Maybe this guy has a short commute as well. As for myself I have to take a shower because I sweat like a warthog in sauna.

I do the same and I have access to a shower. For me the bird bath above takes me 15-17 min. And the shower, with the walk and towel and all takes closer to 30 min. That means I don't have to take the earlier train to get to work, giving me 40 min of sleep more in the morning (4:00 am).

so for me it's convenience and I don't feel handicap with the "bird bath".

P.s. The bathroom/sink is all in one big room that locks behind me, so I'm the only one there.

Double O

I save money and time by taking all my showers at work.

I like that everyone at work knows I bike and they know I like to cool off before I shower. So I get there 15 minutes early and start work right away. Then at some point in the morning I get showered and dressed.

Some mornings are busy and I spend an hour or so in the spandex. I had a meeting the other day before I could change, no one seemed to mind. Luckily it was in house and not customers.

I did greet some customers with my cycle shoes on after going out for lunch. One commented but did not seem to mind my excuse of I just got back from lunch and had not changed them yet.

I'm in the shower-if-you-have-one camp. If it's cool and I keep the level of effort down, I'll skip it but a shower literally takes two minutes longer, only four or five if I wash and dry my hair, so why not?

Birdbath

Having wet hair for the first hour at work is awful.. and unprofessional imho

I agree and so for women the hair thing is best left to the individual. as a guy with short hair it was easy to bring or store a small bottle of diluted shampoo. I used a big plastic cup to dilute it and rinse my hair. the daily clarifying type shampoos rinse the best. I also arrived well before anyone else so that I was cooled down, dried off and dressed well before anyone else showed up. I was lucky that my boss also let me leave early to avoid the worst of rush hour.

Shower wins when matched versus sink. In fact, shower kicks the crap out of sink. My old routine use to be to take a shower at home, wear clean workout/cycle clothes, and change in a bathroom stall. I would sometimes use baby wipes to clean up a tad. It worked. My commute is 20 miles each way, plenty of time to get filthy.

Then, recently, like 3 weeks ago, my life changed. I was entering the garage at work (RRB in DC) when I saw some guys with bike standing near an unmarked door. I asked if there was bike storage or something. After a few emails, I got the code for the buildings bike room, which is epic. It is right next to a locker room with showers. THe feeling after taking a shower is pretty damn refreshing, especially this time of year when the humidity is through the roof and we really start getting summer temps. Since I am such a newb to the bike room, I don't have a locker (waiting list) but I just carry a car of soap with me and leave my towel/shower shoes neatly on a hanger, out of the way, in the bike room. Yea, I am a minimalist, a bar of Lever 2000 is all I really need to get clean.

There is a gym in the building, but since I am a contractor, I don't think I can take advantage of it, or at the very least, would have to pay.

Using a shower is literally a game changer. It makes commuting that much better. The only way I would go back to my old method is if I absolutely had to. ANother good thing is that I can wear cycling gear that has been worn before. I use to run laundry mid week for fresh workout/cycle clothes, but now it is a non issue since I can defunk with a shower.

I feel sorry for you people with hair. Shampoo, drying... what a waste.

I recently changed jobs and no longer have a shower/locker. Now I bring a dry washcloth with me in the morning and when I first get to work I wet it in a bathroom sink and then strip, wipe and dress in my office.

A shower is vastly superior.

Somehow I don't think I could pull off the cue ball as well as Demi Moore

I have fairly long hair so I stuff it under the Buff I wear under my helmet to keep it dry when showering... Uh, I take my helmet off, but I guess that's optional if you're scared about slipping in the shower ;)