Washing with Only Water

Washing My Hair and Showering with Just Water

It’s been nearly five weeks since I tossed out the shampoo and started washing my hair with only water.

My eldest son began doing this around March—washing his hair with water only—and by early September, after about six months, I decided to follow suit. I sniffed his hair out of curiosity, but it didn’t smell unpleasant. I wanted to test it for myself. According to him, the beginning feels sticky and uncomfortable, but the effects become noticeable over time. Those effects, he said, include the natural protective oil layer of the scalp being maintained, significantly reducing dryness-related dandruff, itchiness, and even hair loss.

For the first three to four weeks, I didn’t feel clean at all after washing. My hair felt sticky and clumped together due to oiliness, and I wasn’t sure if the odor was truly gone. But once it dried, it sort of felt like I had washed it. That gave me enough reason to push through. My towel, after drying my hair, often smelled like the top of my head—not exactly refreshing. Sometimes, I would ask my wife to smell my head (an awkward request, admittedly), and she would reassure me that it wasn’t as bad as I thought. That gave me enough confidence to continue.

Around the fourth week, I started gently massaging my hair and scalp with water, and then added two to three tablespoons of vinegar to a basin of water to rinse again, followed by a clean water rinse. Maybe it was the vinegar, but my hair felt significantly smoother and cleaner. It reminded me of how a dash of vinegar in ramen at the end can cut through the oil and make the broth cleaner and the noodles softer and chewier. The same seemed to happen to my hair. The smell from my head felt much more tolerable, and my towel didn’t retain that unpleasant odor anymore. I took it as a sign that my skin no longer needed to overproduce oil to make up for the stripping caused by harsh cleansers.

I decided to take things a step further—I started showering with just water. Of course, certain areas can’t be cleaned with only water, so I used a natural soap without artificial fragrance for those spots and simply massaged the rest of my body with water. No slick sensation, no artificial scent, no excessive foaming like with typical shower gels. But perhaps because the skin’s natural oil layer wasn’t being stripped away, I experienced zero itchiness. Usually, as heating becomes more frequent during colder months, the air gets dry and I feel itchy despite applying lotion—but not anymore. Even the usual flakes of dead skin seemed to decrease noticeably. After the shower, I applied a scent-free, non-irritating lotion to maintain minimal skin stimulation.


A vintage-style digital illustration on a beige background featuring icons symbolizing hygiene and natural healing. Elements include a bar of soap with bubbles, water droplets, a medical cross, a leaf, a hair follicle diagram, sebum representation, a bottle with a prohibition sign, and gentle waves—all depicting cleanliness, natural ingredients, skin absorption, and chemical-free care.


The decision to use or not use chemical products may ultimately come down to a matter of how we feel. Like that vague discomfort of not using dish soap—fear that bacteria may be lurking unseen. People go to great lengths to emit fragrance: using not only perfume but also fabric softeners, shampoos, shower gels, hair gels, sprays, body washes, lotions, mouthwashes, and cleansing foams. At times, someone’s cheap and overpowering scent can be unpleasant. Yet a woman’s flowing hair, exuding a rich and refreshing fragrance as she turns her head, can be enchanting.

Still, I believe our bodies possess an inherent ability to stay clean and protect themselves. Under the pretext of cleanliness and beauty, are we overusing synthetic chemical products, indiscriminately pushed by consumerism? I think we need to take a hard look at that.


And then, time passed… October 2024

After quite a long while of washing my hair with just water, I eventually began using mild, natural soap.

I don’t live in an agricultural society, nor am I in a position to stay home all the time. I also needed to feel refreshed from the sweat and fine dust of daily life, so I returned to soap. I can’t say exactly which soap I use, but there are certainly some that help alleviate itching and dandruff.

Skin absorption rates vary by body part. The eyelids and genital area are said to have the highest absorption. So, the ingredients in cleansing products don’t simply wash off—they get absorbed into the body. The scalp, in particular, has the most developed hair follicles and sebaceous glands, with rich blood flow, meaning substances can be absorbed quickly and travel into the circulatory system.

Therefore, whether it’s skin or scalp, I believe using natural soap rather than complex chemical-laden cleansers may be a slightly healthier choice for the body. 


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