Gen Z says 3-hour ‘everything showers’ are ‘better than sex’
It’s wet, but it’s not wild.
Gen Zs and millennials are hot for getting clean, very clean.
The newest trend in grooming is the “everything shower,” which entails taking an extremely warm, steamy shower for two to four hours, soaping up every nook and cranny while they blast their favorite music.
On TikTok, the indulgent practice has gone viral, with #EverythingShower racking up over 168.9 million views.
“An everything shower with hot water and Taylor Swift is better than sex. Sorry,” social media influencer Kourv Annon, 22, told her fiance when he questioned the lengthy scrub sessions.
Related: We tested 36 shampoos to find the best in 2023
“I wash my hair, shave my legs, shave my armpits, deep condition, exfoliate, do my skincare. I do everything in the shower,” Annon explained in a TikTok clip that posts racked up a staggering 8.2 million views.
She makes a point of taking an everything shower once a month for about three hours, but others are doing it more frequently.
Baking influencer Nicole — known only by her first name — opts for one once a week.
“[I] always start with a shampoo,” the 32-year-old from Los Angeles said in a TikTok how-to that earned 564,000 views. “Then we move on to the deep conditioner, the hair mask … and that stays in your hair for as long as it takes to get everything else done.”
She went on to detail the following steps to her weekly ritual — which includes washing her face, shaving her entire body, exfoliating away all of her dead skin cells, and rubbing a charcoal scrub onto her armpits.
She then washes out the hair mask and applies a leave-in conditioner to her tresses.
Once out of the shower, Nicole moisturizes with lotion and body oil before treating her face to a 7-step skincare routine and sliding into her “comfiest pajamas.”
According to an instructional video posted by TikTok-verified, board-certified dermatologist, Dr. Lindsey Zubritsky, a painstaking priming process like Nicole’s is nearly perfection.
“There is a right and a wrong way to do [everything in that shower],” Zubritsky advised in a TikTok tutorial with 426,000 views.
Tackling your hair first is a good call.
“If you’re waiting til the end of your shower to rinse out your conditioner, that conditioner can sit on the skin, clog your pores and lead to back and chest acne,” said the expert.
Related: Best body exfoliators, per dermatologists
She then advised exfoliating the skin before shaving with shaving gel in order to reduce the risk of irritation and razor bumps.
Finally, Zubritsky said to wash the body off, double cleanse the face, dry the hair with a microfiber towel, and apply a moisturizer to damp skin for extra hydration.
But some are lukewarm on the trend.
“You know what needs to be f – – king talked about? How f – – king draining an everything shower is,” said a TikTok detractor named Carly in a post.
“It’s not even enjoyable,” she continued, noting that she hates showering in hot water. “I just dread it … It’s literally my f – – king exercise for the whole f – – king week. I literally have to motivate myself to do it because it f – – king takes it out of me.”
And while a handful of everything shower haters agreed with Carly’s comments, fanatics of the fussy treatment couldn’t help but sing its praises.
“I love my everything showers,” wrote an advocate.
And another buff of the bath-time fun encouraged Carly to modify her shower settings, saying, “Don’t take an everything shower with piping hot water just use warm or lukewarm water lol.”
