Washing Hair Without a Shower?

[Cania]

This is probably a silly sounding question but how the heck do you wash your hair without a shower?!

We have a bath with a mixer tap and a bit you pull up to turn the shower on. Recently the bit you pull on got jammed beyond belief so I'm stuck with just the bath. The estate agent is being a nightmare about fixing it, so while I have been using my friend's showers I need a long term solution.

I tried getting one of those rubber fittings to do it in the bathroom sink. This presents two issues. First, my hair goes down the drain, snags and pulls up pipe gunk. Second, my hair is TBL and thick, meaning absurdly heavy when wet, meaning my back and neck are in hell all of wash day doing it that way.

Can you just dunk your head back in the bath to rinse? I can't help but think the water would get suds and it wouldn't clean off properly. Am I mistaken? Jug of water maybe? People used to manage without showers so there must be a way.

Tell me your secrets, please!

[MINAKO]

In that case i would try it with a bowl to pour water over my head and then get new water out the tap over and over again until i feel im done rinsing. Maybe a bottle would work as well. I have seen garden hose type thingys that can be attached to the tap as well. A mermaid rinse would work too, but wastes alot of water.

[lapushka]

This is how:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwnlC12W8vk

[MsVenus]

I have done mermaid soak backwards in the tub to wash hair using conditioner only method.

[Nemain]

This was the first thing that came to my mind: http://www.emlii.com/images/article/2014/02/5303162f3111a.jpeg

However, I would probably just use a jug of water, it seems like the most simple way. :)

[Timea]

I lie on my back and put my feet in the air so i'll fit, and I put my hair under water and scrub. I wash my hair first so the water isn't dirty yet. Once the hair all wet, I sit up and put shampoo. I scrub some more and then lie back under the water and scrub and scrub. I just scrub my scalp. Being in the soapy water is enough for the length. When my arms hurt too much to scrub my scalp anymore, I give up and put some conditioner on the ends. I don't get all the soap out because my hair is too thick and my arms hurt too much, but it's worse in the shower and I get much less soap out in the shower because I can't get it all the way wet and holding the shower head means I only have one hand to scrub with. Once my arms are tired, I wash the rest of myself. Then I was the conditioner out using fresh water. Finally I put some water in a bowl with a little bit of vinegar and pour that over the top and rub it in a bit. Once my hair is clean I keep it out of the water as best as I can.

I don't know how people get their hair clean without a bathtub.

[Robot Ninja]

By dumping pitchers full of water over my head. I was without a shower for a week and this is how we had to do it, and it's also how I rinse out dye so it doesn't splatter everywhere. I do it kneeling to keep the ends out of the rinse water although my knees and ankles don't really like that.

[chen bao jun]

When I was in my home country, water was scarce during dry season, gallon jug of water, sitting in chair, leaning over large bowl to catch the water, my granny with thick hair she could sit on did this, washed one half at a time to make it more manageable, the other half in a braid pinned up while she washed.
Of course she did not use shampoo which would require lots of rinsing water becasue of all the suds it makes.

[Anje]

You know, if you have a sink sprayer (say, in the kitchen), I'd try using that before I tried dumping jugs of water over my head. :)

[ExpectoPatronum]

I'd wash my hair in the sink every now and again...It wasn't the most comfortable, but it got the job done.

[lunalocks]

When I traveled in India and Nepal, I washed my hair in a bucket (my body, too!). Fill the bucket. Pop head into bucket to get hair all wet. Apply shampoo and gently wash. Rinse hair in bucket. Apply conditioner. Put fresh water in bucket. Rinse out conditioner, or whatever is your routine.

I still wash my hair this way in the Summer about once a week, to save on water.

[truepeacenik]

I wash my hair leaning back under the bath tap. Facing up.
I developed a perforated eardrum, so just popping backwards isn't smart.

I do have a mesh in the drain as my hair will go down, too.

The tough part is turning the water off and on in that position.

The option is in the bath, usual position, using a cup or small pan to scoop and rinse each step.
I'll still do a quick cool rinse under the tap to make sure all shampoo and conditioner is rinsed.

[meteor]

You know, if you have a sink sprayer (say, in the kitchen), I'd try using that before I tried dumping jugs of water over my head. :)

^ This is a great idea!

Also, if you are using a tub, basin or sink, I wanted to suggest washing hair in braids - when I wash my hair in braids (usually 4), I can easily do that in a bathtub or a very large sink (always use a sink stopper!). If the hair is loose, then it can be really difficult to wash in a bathtub, basin or sink, as mermaid washes always cause me scary super-tangles.

[Nadine <3]

You know, if you have a sink sprayer (say, in the kitchen), I'd try using that before I tried dumping jugs of water over my head. :)

We had that same piece in our bathroom get jammed and it took the landlord a good 2 weeks to get it fixed. I washed my hair in the kitchen sink this way and it worked to get it clean. My hair was a lot shorter than yours though, so mine didn't even touch the bottom of the sink.

[Cania]

We don't have those sprayers on our kitchen sink, in fact I've never seen those in the UK which is kinda strange! It wouldn't bypass my crippling back ache from bending over the bathroom sink much either unfortunately.

I really like the braid idea, doing half at a time would be much easier. Or I could shampoo in the bath, put the conditioner on and do a final rinse in the sink... :hmm:

[Arctic]

We Finns often have a sauna's in our summer cottages, which might not have running water and/or shower.

The same tips have already repeated on this thread that I would have written. Mainly, to use a container to pour water over your hair., and do some of the first wetting and first rinsing by meybe putting your hair in a pail. I would also have suggested to seperate your hair in parts because it's thick, but that, too, was already mentioned.

Hope that you'll get a new shower soon. Ugh about hair getting down the drain :tmi:

[Linguaphilia]

This is very interesting. I wash my hair with soap, but don't like acidic rinses, so I got the idea to use demineralised water instead of tap water. I have a small washing bucket of 5 liters which would be ideal to use, if it were not for the length of my hair and that mermaid style does indeed generate mega tangles. Despite there being one video that I know of of a woman in 1950 washing her floor-length hair in a basin:


]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1bStKZrNkk[/B

Still figuring out a solution!

[Linguaphilia]

I can't edit my post, here's the correct link:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1bStKZrNkk

[Upside Down]

Wow, I thought my English was at least decent, but I didn't understand anything in this thread! I am trying to imagine your bathrooms real hard and failing!! :lol:

Is there no hand held shower?
Can you just fit a hose of some kind (any bendy rubber tube) over your faucet?

I sometimes wash by leaning over the tub and using the hand held shower. Sometimes when the shower head is broken (somehow this happens a lot in our house), I just use the hose without the head and it works just fine. As for back pain, it is way easier if you bend from the waist, like in Uttanasana (http://ihanayoga.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Uttanasana-Standing-forward-fold-IMG_7717_bw1-PT_crop-1.jpg).

[vega]

I can't edit my post, here's the correct link:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1bStKZrNkk she reminded me of the girl of the ring

[mewmew]

I used to dunk my head under the water so rinse off shampoo/conditioner in the bath, but I used to get waterlogged ears almost constantly as a result, so I stopped doing that!

I'll add a +1 to the jug suggestion. I bought a plastic measuring jug a long while ago and I use that now whenever I have a bath instead of a shower.

If you're worried about re-using the water you've already washed in, consider running the bath taps and filling the jug with the fresh water from there.

[Hosta]

I wash my hair in the kitchen sink. I don't have a sprayer, I just put my head under the faucet. I have a screen that goes over the drain to keep hair out of the drain.

[Wildcat Diva]

I have done that kitchen sink method with a big bowl that I dump often that kind of mermaid soaks the ends multiple times while you deal with your scalp, scrubbing that under the tap and turning this way and that. Then at the end I straighten up and rinse the ends better under the tap. Or you can get a big plastic cup and add vinegar to the water and put that with your ends under the tap and keep rinsing and dunking at the end.

[Fericera]

I used to always wash my hair in the bath tub since I didn't have a shower curtain. I would lay down in the water and rinse my hair under the faucet, or swoosh it back and forth in the tub water like a mermaid (I was young). If you're worried about bath soap drying out your hair, you can wash your hair first and then wash yourself, but I never had problems and did it that way for years. You also could use a cup to rinse.

[Anje]

Wow, I thought my English was at least decent, but I didn't understand anything in this thread! I am trying to imagine your bathrooms real hard and failing!! :lol:

Is there no hand held shower?
Can you just fit a hose of some kind (any bendy rubber tube) over your faucet?

The OP has a bathtub faucet that looks like this: Faucet (http://img.ehowcdn.com/615x200/ehow/images/a05/6t/vj/replace-leaking-bathtub-spout-800x800.jpg). You pull up that little knob to get water to come out the shower instead of through the faucet. Unfortunately, that stupid little moving part gets gunked up pretty horribly with hard water (ask me how I know!) and then you can't get the thing to pull up correctly so you can't take showers.

It's rather annoying.

If you're not opposed to doing your own repairs, there's usually a screw underneath that will allow you to take the whole faucet assembly off. You can then soak it in acid to degunk it. I've been meaning to do this to mine....

[Cania]

The OP has a bathtub faucet that looks like this: Faucet (http://img.ehowcdn.com/615x200/ehow/images/a05/6t/vj/replace-leaking-bathtub-spout-800x800.jpg). You pull up that little knob to get water to come out the shower instead of through the faucet. Unfortunately, that stupid little moving part gets gunked up pretty horribly with hard water (ask me how I know!) and then you can't get the thing to pull up correctly so you can't take showers.

It's rather annoying.

If you're not opposed to doing your own repairs, there's usually a screw underneath that will allow you to take the whole faucet assembly off. You can then soak it in acid to degunk it. I've been meaning to do this to mine....

Mine actually looks like this:
http://newsloops.net/wp-content/uploads/eurostyle-bath-shower-mixer-taps.jpg

I usually do my own repairs but there is no screw or anything to remove the damn thing! I've had a few friends come look at it and they are all as baffled as I was.
Plus I tried to turn the water off the other day to replace a washer in the kitchen and the water stop is jammed. Great xD

Rubber shower attachments will not fit over the tap because it is too 'square'. I do have one of these for the bathroom sink but leaning over long enough to get my hair clean is very painful as it is so heavy when wet.
http://media.very.co.uk/i/very/B338P_SP621_17_3MPFX/sabichi-tap-fitting-shower-head-and-hose.jpg?$266x354_standard$

[patienceneeded]

I would think you could wash it during the bathing process. I'm thinking of how I washed my daughter's hair when she was younger.

Run your bath and soak in it, getting your hair wet. Sit up and shampoo. Lay back down and rinse. Sit up again and fill a pitcher with fresh water from the faucet. Rinse again. Apply conditioner and let it soak while you soap your body, shave, etc. (Obviously, there was no shaving involved for my little one). Start draining the tub. Once the tub is draining (I wait until it's at least half-empty) use the pitcher again - fill with fresh water - and start rinsing. Repeat the fill-rinse step until you're satisfied. Stand up. Rinse your body. Done.

[Cania]

I would think you could wash it during the bathing process. I'm thinking of how I washed my daughter's hair when she was younger.

Run your bath and soak in it, getting your hair wet. Sit up and shampoo. Lay back down and rinse. Sit up again and fill a pitcher with fresh water from the faucet. Rinse again. Apply conditioner and let it soak while you soap your body, shave, etc. (Obviously, there was no shaving involved for my little one). Start draining the tub. Once the tub is draining (I wait until it's at least half-empty) use the pitcher again - fill with fresh water - and start rinsing. Repeat the fill-rinse step until you're satisfied. Stand up. Rinse your body. Done.

I'll be trying this tomorrow. If I'm still gunky I can try Chen's 'half at a time' with braids suggestion.


Thank you for the ideas, everyone!

[Sharysa]

Yep, sounds like you're stuck with either washing your hair in the sink separately from your body, or dumping jugs of water on your hair. When I vacationed in my grandparent's house in the Philippines with no showerhead, that was what we did. It's a lot more tedious than a shower, but it gets the job done.

When our showerhead was broken here in America, we also reverted to the "fill a large bucket, suds yourself up, and dump water on yourself to rinse off" method of bathing.

[meteor]

I sure hope you'll try washing in 2-4 braids in a big sink (with stopper!) - it's super-easy even for very big hair and it's very fast and allows to wash super-effectively.

[Hairkay]

I've done the bucket and jug shower in the Caribbean in drought season. I've even used it here when my shower was broken and I didn't want to soak in the bathtub. I'm wary of hair washing in the bathroom wash basin because my hair tends to go down the drain. I could see how easy it could get tangled there and I'd be stuck to the basin by my hair with no one around to help.

[two_wheels]

I have a few of these tubtrug (http://www.equiport.co.uk/UserFiles/products/ST02_1_l.jpg) things - they are weirdly useful and get used for all sorts of stuff!

Anyway, recently I had a bit of a special evening involving a cassia application and complete loss of hot water :( :( :( so I mermaid soaked in one of these and used jugs of warm water from the kettle.

If I can get a head full of cassia out doing that, you can definitely wash it that way!

[Alun]

Didn't even own a shower until I was 18. Grew my hair relatiively long at age 15. Never occurred to us to do anything but wash our hair in the bath while bathing. Obviously, it's a good idea to wash your hair before your body in those circumstances. In any case, if you do that, then by the time you've washed your hair you have been soaking for quite a while anyway, so washing your body becomes a trivial exercise at that point.

I'm a Brit, and in my 50s, but when I was a kid nobody I knew owned a shower. It never even occurred to anyone to attach rubber tubing to the tap (faucet in American). Sorry if the problem seems laughable to me.

Ee by gum, we used to live in't shoebox in't middle of road. You were lucky, we lived in't bottom of septic tank. (With apologies to Monthy Python)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

[Panth]

Having grown up in a semi-off-grid situation (at least with regards to hot water), I'm kinda familiar with this. I agree with Alan, it does seem a little strange not to know / be able to figure out how to live without a shower! ;)

You have several options:

1) Sink wash
- works best in the kitchen sink, as that's bigger
- part hair, put each half over its respective shoulder, lean forward gently (this puts your hair forwards, over your face, without tangling it)
- sinkful #1 - lean over sink, use mug/jug to thoroughly wet hair, then apply shampoo to scalp, massage in as needed, rinse out with mug/jug and sink water, squeeze out hair, empty sink
- sinkful #2 - rinse hair again, to get remainder of shampoo out; then, mix conditioner and sink water in mug/jug and put length into mug, swish around to soak; then, rinse hair in sink water again, squeeze out hair, empty sink
- sinkful #3 - rinse hair with mug/jug, squeeze out hair, empty sink
- sinkful #4 - rinse hair as before - you shouldn't get suds by the end of this rinse, thus your hair is clean

2) Over side of bath
Similar process to sink, except you do it leaning over the side of your bath. You can use a showerhead attachment (https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSIMIOD7tUXVNotN6J4Bk8DqN0KwuVQD 7hlIOLJwA_e7IiieQkf) if you like, or just use a mug/jug as before. You may want to put a basin in the bath and work principally over the basin, to stop hair going down the plug hole.

3) Whilst having a bath
Simply wash hair whilst having a bath.
- wash hair first, either just leaning back and wetting/rinsing in the bath water or using a mug/jug or a showerhead attachement if that's easier for you
- you can use water straight from the tap for the last rinse and put the hair up with (non-wood) hairtoys before washing your body, if that makes you feel cleaner (though, really, it's not necessary unless you're using absolutely masses of product - there's enough water in a bath that everything gets very diluted)
- then, wash body
This doesn't work so well after about waist length as once the hair is long enough that the ends are constantly in the water rinsing becomes awkward.

The first two methods I've done very successfully with hair up to and including knee-length. It's really not that tricky. (That said, I do find showers easier...)

[Hairkay]

This reminds me when I went on holiday to another island in the Caribbean when I was 10. I was used to knowing there's the bucket and jug emergency method when you have plumbing trouble or drought that brings on water rationing but most of the time everyone just used their showers. Most homes there don't bother with bathtubs but do have showers. This place had plumbing or should I say partial plumbing. Their was the tap in the kitchen for cooking but that was it. If you needed the toilet you went to a part of the garden where they had an old fashioned out house. The very next morning when I expected to find a proper built in shower in the house I was handed a bucket and jug then they pointed to the far end of the the garden which was more than 5 minutes walk without a foot path. There was a concrete built cubicle without a curtain, that was the shower. All alfresco with a view of the hill drop full of tropical trees. They also had a huge cob oven outside that they used to bake bread. The little indoor kitchen over was reserved for delicate cakes and such things.