Have you wondered how astronauts live when they are in space? Many people wonder how astronauts do things like eat, bathe, and wash their hair in space. Anyone going into space actually has to get special training in how to eat, how to sleep and how to wash your hair in space. The lack of gravity, scarcity of resources, and other factors make it challenging to take care of basic hygiene in space. But the close quarters mean that everyone has to make hygiene a high priority. According to several female astronauts this is how to wash your hair in space:

Start with a bag of warm water: Moisten your hair with about half a bag of warm water. This will be easy to do because your hair will be standing straight up. The water will run up your hair instead of down it as well. Water isn’t collected in a sink, instead it just dried in the hair and is later collected from the atmosphere by a special heating and cooling system. Water that is pulled from the air is recycled to be used for other things since there is a very limited amount of water available on board a spacecraft.

Then shampoo: A unique shampoo is used to wash hair while in space. It’s a no-rinse shampoo similar to a dry shampoo. The no-rinse shampoo was originally designed for medical patients who couldn’t wash their hair. The shampoo is squirted onto the hair from a bottle. Then the astronaut takes a comb and works it through her hair from scalp to tip. Using a towel or a washcloth is a good way to loosen up any dirt, oil or debris that needs to be washed out.

Then add more water: Because water is scarce, there is no proper rinsing of the hair but several of the female astronauts like to use the rest of the bag of water to get the feeling of having rinsed the hair. As the water dries is just evaporates into the air inside the space craft. Then the astronaut can style her hair as usual. It might seem like a strange way to get your hair clean but when you are dealing with the challenges of limited resources like water, no gravity, and not a lot of room in which to keep yourself tidy, this is the best way to make sure that hair stays clean and healthy.