Vanlife: How to stay clean whilst living in a van without a shower
One of the questions I’m most often asked is “how do you stay clean while living in a van?”. It’s true, travelling around the US in a van means you’re not exactly the cleanest human being. Our little van (Elvis to those of you who are new) doesn’t have space enough for us to stand up, let alone install a shower.
This wasn’t a problem when we were cruising down the east coast of the States as we’d signed up to Planet Fitness. Planet Fitness is a gym chain that’s all over the USA and costs just $20 a month for the two of us. We’d pop in every couple of days for a quick workout and a much-needed shower. So far, so good. We were pretty clean.
But then we got to south-west. We headed away from the coast and inland to Utah, Colorado, Nevada and up the west coast through California, Oregon and Washington. Around here there didn’t seem to be many Planet Fitnesses which left us with a bit of a dilemma.
How could I keep myself from looking, feeling (and most probably smelling) disgusting when there wasn’t a shower around? This was made all the worse given that we were hiking in the National Parks quite a lot. (Don’t worry, I did pop into campsites every now and again and pay for a shower).
Over the past three months I’ve developed a few tips and tricks to stay clean while living in a van. If you’re off on a summer camping trip, heading to a festival, or planning your own vanlife road trip then here’s a few things you should know about how to stay clean while living in a van.
If you’re wondering how to shower when living in a van see this post!
Want more vanlife inspiration?
- My list of essential gear for vanlife
- How to find places to sleep for free when living in a van
- Where to find water when you live in a van
- Where to shower when living in a van
- How to make a stealthy camper van and sleep for free every night!
- How to survive vanlife in WINTER
- Easiest Solar Panel installation for your van
- 10 ways to make your van feel like home
- Tips for parking overnight for FREE in urban areas
- 8 things I learnt from living in a van
- Best FREE road trip apps from US road trips
- Our three month, cross USA road trip route
- Vanlife inspiration
- Things to think about before choosing your vanlife home
Baby wipes aren’t just for babies
Top tip: Go for unscented ones as otherwise you might feel a little sticky.
Micellar water
I haven’t been wearing make up whilst we’ve been travelling but I still have a bottle of Micellar water in our ‘toiletries cupboard’ in the van. I like to use it every now and again to give my face a good clean when it’s feeling dirty. Grab your cotton wool (or put a bit on a baby wipe) and get cleansing! It’s amazing (disgusting) how much dirt comes off…
Moisturiser
Clean underwear
Never underestimate the power of clean underwear to make you feel like a new person. Make room in your luggage for enough lean underwear and you’ll feel so much better day to day
Dry shampoo
Plus, it smells so nice.
And if you must shower out the bac
k of your van?
k of your van?If you really, really need a shower and there aren’t any lakes, rivers, campsites or other showering places around then you’ll be grateful you have this portable solar-heated shower.
You do need quite a lot of water for this (well, depending on how long a shower you want to take), and it’s never going to be a super warm shower, but it’s a great alternative option.
Simply fill this up wherever you fill up your water bottles, strap it to your roof for maximum sun heat and then drive to your campsite. Once you’re there, shower away!
Last Updated on May 11, 2024 by Hannah
Hannah started That Adventurer after graduating back in 2013 and has documented all of her adventures since then. From backpacking South America to city breaks in Europe, a 3 month road trip across the USA in a self-converted van and 6 years living in Canada, you’ll find posts on all of this.
Hannah specialises in active travel and on That Adventurer you’ll find hiking, walking, biking, skiing and all sorts of active travel guides to allow you to see a destination in an adventurous way.
Now back in Europe, you’ll find new guides as Hannah and her husband spend the next year ‘digital nomading’ from Norway to Portugal, Switzerland to Scotland and places in between.
Taking a shower at a truck stop is not as bad as it sounds. They are wicked clean and cheap for 2 people sharing. For $12 (6 bucks/quid per person) you get a a huge private shower, sink and toilet for as long as you need it. I cut my own hair as we travel to save money and truck stop showers are a great place for this as well. They even provide soap, shampoo and towels. Most of the chain truck stops have at least 5 or 6 showers and you seldom have to wait long.
Good addition!
If you take a drink bottle of clean tap water into the loo you can sit down and wash your bottom bits well, dont even need soap really. This is good too when theres no loo paper, having a mans hanky in yr pocket works to dry u off.
These are great tips! I’ve camped *once* in my life and basically didn’t bring ANY of these things and felt so gross the next day, ha! I recently discovered Micellar water (even though it’s been around for ages, I know) and it’s been a game-changer. Great tip about the unscented baby wipes as well!
xo Jaime