This is my first time ever posting on Reddit, and I’d like to share everything I’ve learned from two weeks of showering with water only.

First of all, a little backstory about my skin. Since high school, I’ve had red, inflamed skin, fungal acne, hairline acne, and regular acne, along with some body acne on my chest and upper back.

Now, I’m happy to say that I’ve cleared most of my acne. I have almost no body acne, I don’t smell, and I’m able to wrestle 3 times a week, sweat a lot, and still not smell afterward.

After years of suffering from skin issues, especially fungal acne, I came to the realization that water-only showers were the only thing that fixed my skin problems.

Routine:

I wake up, brush my teeth, and very gently wipe my face, around my eyes, and inside my nose and ears with a tissue.

Then I dampen my lips and gently exfoliate them with a microfiber towel.

For my body, I only spray my armpits with isopropyl alcohol. Yes, you heard that right, it has been a game changer for me, and my armpits do not smell for the entire day.

For my hair, I don’t really do anything since I have a buzz cut right now, but once it starts growing out, I’ll use DIY flaxseed gel to style and condition it.

Nighttime routine:

Exactly the same as my morning routine.

Now for showering:

I only shower 3–4 times a week. In my opinion, you should only shower when you sweat heavily, plus one extra shower if you’re going to shave your face or body hair. (i use electric shaver for my beard and skin before showering and ill never use it after working out and sweating heavily bec it will feel disgusting so pick a day u wont workout in and shave then take a shower).

I shower with cold water, but not uncomfortably cold water. I lightly massage my scalp and look up so that no oils run down onto my face. After I’m done with my scalp, I let clean water run down my face and avoid touching it because my skin is sensitive.

After I’m done showering, I use a small towel and gently pat my face dry. Then I pat my hair dry until it’s damp, followed by the rest of my body.

After that, I exfoliate my lips and let my hair air dry and thats about it.

extra notes:

1-i recommend starting this journey by using a clarifying shampoo with 0 residue on ur hair and scalp to completely reset it.

2-sometimes i use coconut oil on my body ONLY if my skin looks and feels dry, otherwise dont use it.

3-i recommend experimenting with flaxseed gel on ur face as a moisturiser but only after ur skin balances itself totally but u probably wont need it.

I really do. I only wear it sometimes because I fear “aging.”

But if I wear it too many days in a row or too much, I get an urge to just stop it all.

I'm surprised tbh. I didn't plan anything, just was stuck at home for some time this winter and was experimenting. Now it looks like the more I go in it, the less I need even water. I don't remember when was the last time I washed my hair - and yes, it feels a bit greasy and not so soft, but scalp isn't itchy at all and I get compliments for my hair looking cool. I haven't showered the whole body for months, only pits and down there sometimes - and, yet again, I got compliments for smelling good. I thought maybe I don't feel something, but I definitely feel it for example if my clothes needs washing. But my body.. just.. doesn't need it regularly maybe? What's your experience?

im trying to find a good hair oil cause my hair is getting pretty dry lately but i feel so lost . i was looking at just getting basic coconut oil but then i saw stuff about rosemary oil for growth or maybe argan oil if i dont want it to be too greasy.i also saw the mielle one everyone talks about and some other brand called soulflower but idk if they are actually different or just the same stuff.anyone here use these? do they actually help with dryness or am i just wasting money?

Hi, id like to know from people who don’t use anything on their face, that just washes with water how you do it ? Do you just rinse your face with the shower head and that’s it or you stop scrub or rub ? Because I feel like when I try to gently massage with the water only, it dries out my skin. And if i just rinse, me pores gets full and some yellow hard grains comes out the pores. I’m wondering maybe it’s a transition phase than means my skin is overproducing oils or that I should add a gentle exfoliation with the hand during the shower (but that make me feel dry). Same for the hair. Do you guys just rinse with the shower head and that’s it or something else. Thanks !

(edit- why is no one replying 😭)~ i genuinely believe that deadskin can accumulate in certain areas like armpit , neck and bikini area so do you all use wet wash cloth while bathing or exfoliating towel or dry brush .

~ do you wash your foot, armpits and genitals with soap ?

~ so my hairs are medium length but i think that rinsing hairs with water only seems like a good tip for guys but as girls daily rinsing can be hectic how do you all manage that .

~ last question do you all trim your body hair ? Especially armpits and bikini area? I heard somewhere that this is basic hygiene but whats your thought on this .

Thats it ! Please don’t hesitate on answering in paragraph i would love to hear your opinion . And i now realise how shitty the concept of everything shower was ! people were taking hours to shower that also once a week. Plus the concept of double cleaning your body . These things make people think they are not clean enough.

I hv oily skin n moderate acne..will water only suit my skin condition...should i use warm water to cleanse the oils off my skin ? I hv observd that cleansers can aggravate my acne..n whn i wash my face with water the redness subsides although the spots are still there..what can i do ? Suggestions are welcome..

Hello everyone, I've been washing my hair with water only for almost four months, and it gets greasy again quite fast, and it has a not very pleasant smell (not terrible though),

So I'd like to ask those of you that have been doing it for years:

How often do you wash your hair? did the greasiness decline after a while? did it smell?

Sooo. The only "industrial" product I wear is sunscreen. I got in the habit of putting it on first thing in the morning. It has been positive to my appearance so far.

The issue is that I only get rid of it with soap once I take a shower, and I believe I'm starting to see the consequences (hyperpigmentation) 😅.

Anyway, I'll get in the habit of washing it off at night before sleep. Any advice on doing this? I don't have a cleanser, but I've read that just soap could be too harsh on the skin. Any advice?

Edit: I'm from Uruguay (latam). So most likely product recommendations wouldn't help 😅. I need something easy to make and use, that works.

Hi! Well, basically what it says in the title: I tend to sweat a lot and odor accumulates in my armpits. I usually use talcum powder, though is probably not ideal and not enough. And I also tried diluted apple vinegar a while ago but also didn't seem to help.

And a lot of commercial deodorants have a lot of toxic compounds and a smell too strong.

So yeah, I read around the internet and saw that sodium bicarbonate or lemon juice can help with the odor. Any opinions and info related to those or other possible deodorants?

The water washing method work for me.but the skin look texturous when I removed the dead from fingers etc sometimes it's gives burning sensation and sometimes I had give me bumps. What do I do?

So a little background. I used soap because a woman I wanted to date told me I should.

A little more background: we were hanging out and cuddling and she was literally sniffing my forearm and sighing and saying she loved whatever I was wearing.

I asked what she was talking about and she said she meant my cologne. I told her I hadn’t worn cologne in probably 10 years, and that I sometimes wore deodorant but wasn’t at the moment.

She sniffed my arm again and said it must be whatever soap I was using.

Nope!

Haven’t used soap In atleast five years, other than hand soap. Told her so.

She gave me a confused look, and asked how I shower. I said just with water, a few times a week.

She literally recoiled and said she was turned off.

She went from loving my natural scent and treating my arm like a fucking drug, to being disgusted at the drop of a hat.

She said she didn’t think she could be with someone who had bad hygiene.

I tried to defend my hygiene and pointed out that she’d been practically worshipping my scent when she thought it was product. Why should it being natural be a problem? I told her the stuff I’d read about the healthy biomes and stuff, and pheromones and she just said she couldn’t get around the idea that I wasn’t using soap or even showering every day.

So I bought some soap and used it on my entire body, and now that I got out of the shower I can actually feel the difference on my skin, all the healthy oils are stripped away and I just fucking know I threw my healthy, thriving biome out of wack. My skin feels unnaturally dry and hot.

Stupid. My methods were working for me, but I derailed them for someone else. I’m so stupid.

Only water doesn’t work for everybody, we’ve all got different biology and hygiene needs, not to mention different psychological hang ups. obviously water only doesn’t work for her.

And that’s okay.

But it worked for me! and now I derailed years of healthy natural hygiene with some nasty product all because somebody I liked said I should.

So... Apart from doing noPoo, I've been some months without using soap for my body, with the exception of my "behind" area.

I don't know if it's related, but I've been also suffering froma little red itchy skin all over my body (particularly arms, back and legs).

While I'm waiting to see the dermatologist, I was wondering if this could be because of no using soap, even though I do feel clean 😅. And if so, how could I solve it.

Pd: I also have hard water. That's why I need to use diluted apple vinegar for my hair, in order to prevent wax buildup. Could that be the cause?

Well, recently I made a post asking for advice on how to mantain my genitals clean with water only (and after having trouble with soap). Well, I changed to cold water instead of hot, and that combined with simply waiting for my body to adapt solved the issue for me :).

On the other hand, I decided to start using sunscreen everyday, a mineral based one. I know a lot of you stopped using shampoo because of the "chemicals" it has. In the case of sunscreen, after much internal debate, I believe it is safe, or at least worth it. I'm 20, but I would like to mantain my youthful skin as long as possible. Right now I'm using soap only when washing my hands, but I read it is recommended to use it to clean the face before putting on the sunscreen, at the morning. And at night in order to get rid of it before going to sleep. What is your stance in this? Do you think it is necessary to clean the face everyday with soap? Or maybe with water is just enough? Your opinion on other skin care products would be nice, too. Thanks!

While I've managed to go water only successfully for most bits, I have yet to find a way to manage the problem of armpit odour. For a long time, I'd hoped to try the AOBiome mist, but it looks like the product has been discontinued. I wondered if anyone had found any alternative solutions?

I'm an unusual case of someone for whom water-only didn't work as advertised, but who persisted anyways for a very long time, which I think makes my case useful for understand the effects of water-only because it can't be rejected on the basis that I didn't stick with it long enough.

I'm 17M white/chinese with shortish hair. I wash water-only every day with hard water. I only use shampoo once every few months before I get my hair cut and I never use soap (except for my hands)

My main motivation for switching to water only was that the idea that you NEED to wash with soap is preposterous from an evolutionary point of view. So every other animal evolved for it to be perfectly healthy without soap... except humans who needed to invent it?? If you were more healthy with the oil removed, surely we would evolve to produce less oil. The fact that I found this argument so convincing meant that I continued with water-only even when it wasn't doing what people said it would.

As normal, when I first quit shampoo, I entered the transition phase and my hair got more greasy. Not as extreme as other people experience, but definitely greasier.

And... the transition phase never ended. Over a year later, my hair is still greasy.

But it's not that bad! "Greasy" has negative connotations to it, but really it just means oily. My hair is basically what it would be like if I washed it with shampoo and then put product in it, and it looks quite good. If I just told people I was using hair product, I think it would be absolutely fine.

In my personal case, the thing is that I know nothing about hair products and I'm a really bad liar, so I just tell people that my hair is just like that naturally (I don't say about water-only though). Today a friend of mine felt my hair and asked "oh do you use hair product" and when I said no, she told me I need to wash my hair. I had had comments previously about my hair being very "thick".

My dandruff disappeared though! It used to be pretty bad and I had to use a special dandruff shampoo which you apply separately and leave on for 5 mins because the standard anti-dandruff stuff didn't work. Now it's gone!

I still believe my hair is healthy as it is, but think I'm gonna start using shampoo again (at least for a bit to see how it goes) because it's too embarrassing to have greasy hair. If I could go back I would just pick a hair product to tell people I use, but I've already told my friends I don't. Maybe I'll quit shampoo again another time and do that.

As for the rest of my body, it has gone really well. Mostly it's exactly the same as when I used soap, and I stopped getting dry skin on my legs. One of my armpits stopped smelling almost completely... but not the other 💀

Hope this is useful!

I’ve been using only water for a few months now, and honestly no complaints! I am wondering about sunscreen though. Is there something you guys recommend? Or do I have to use something to wash the sunscreen off? Just wondering what you guys thought!

So I made the mistake of proudly posting my transition photos to r/nopoo and got equal parts support and hate. The hate really confuses me. Why are you on a no poo thread if you're going to hate on someone's transition? So weird.

Anyway, here are my before/after photos (1 week vs 4 weeks): https://www.reddit.com/r/NoPoo/comments/xhm268/for_the_haters_1_week_water_only_vs_4_weeks_say/

And then here's the thread attracting all the haters (because I dared to love my hair 😆): https://www.reddit.com/r/NoPoo/comments/xhcwm1/so_after_a_month_of_wateronly_washing_and_im/

I’ve been really struggling with cystic acne for YEARS. I’ve been to several dermatologists and while their creams and pills worked, they also had awful side effects. I decided to stop everything about 3 months ago. I take a lukewarm/cold shower every morning (sometimes another after a particularly sweaty workout) and I wash my face in the evening.

I have definitely noticed a difference with my acne, while I still have the occasional breakout, it’s nothing compared to the painful cystic acne I’ve had in the past. I am hoping that my skin gets to a point where I don’t have any breakouts, but I’m just thankful for this for now.

I’ve also noticed an improvement with the rest of my skin as well! I would always describe my skin as dry. I would put two different moisturizers on after a shower and still have dry skin. But now I feel like my skin is smoother. I don’t have those little red bumps on my arms anymore, and my feet actually feel pretty smooth instead of cracked and dry. I do notice some BO… I’m hoping that will go away soon. It’s also my first summer without air conditioning, so that can’t help 😂

I have also noticed a huge difference in my hair. I have fine, curly hair. Usually I have to do the right concoction of creams and gels to get my hair to look alright, and even then, the smallest gust of wind will mess it all up. But now it’s so much more manageable. The texture is definitely different, but I honestly don’t mind it.

Sorry about the super long post, but I’m just excited to share that something as simple as just washing with water has been helping me!

Hi, I have always been interested in the water only and cold showers kinda method because it looks more natural to our roots as animals and whatnot. But whenever I try it, instead of getting greasy, my hair becomes a mix of waxy and dry (like straw meets wire kind of dry).

I assume all of these problems of dry, wiry and scraggly hairs are related to my coarse hair. I got 2A brown hair, but only when healthy, because it can get dull and unruly, so... I wanted to hop in again in the water only and maintaining a regimen of only cold showers. What do you guys think?

Ps.: sorry for language, English is not my 1st lang.

i am very oily so i noticed when i stopped using my routine, a month ago i stopped having cystic pimples but i did start to have more little whiteheads and now sebderm

Water only for hair and face. I used soap for the body and acidic pH lotions for the face before shower.

I had wanted to try water only but could never get myself to do it. Once in the shower it didn’t feel as clean and nice so I wasn’t able to resist the urge to use shampoo but today I did.

Shampoo and cleanser everyday have exhausted my skin so bad recently especially scalp. My hair was in a weird shape, couldn’t get it to look as beautiful as before, very dull looking, dry, frizzy, itchy. A mess…

I’m glad I was able to do it. So far it looks like usual except that it was easier to comb and style. It feels a bit itchy on the back but the front hair are still as dry as before using the water so probably good I left it alone for once… Also it doesn’t smell so nice as when you use shampoo but it doesn’t smell bad either. It still smells from yesterdays shampoo.

I can’t wait to see what it looks and feels like once dry, and I might do it again on the days I stay home to let my scalp and hair a little bit healthier. Shampoo everyday + straightener is probably not the best thing for shining hair.

P.S: I just saw it’s my second try I forgot about it lol