【Learn Chinese】Chinese Lesson: Taking a Shower

By the end of this article, you will have bathed yourself in Chinese vocabulary, lathered up your hair with sample sentences, scrubbed up with new knowledge of common shampoo brands found in China, and finally, rinsed off, with practice situations that will prepare you to apply this knowledge in the real world!

Let’s start with some basic shower vocabularies:
Shampoo: 洗发水 (xǐfàshuǐ), 洗发露 (xǐfàlù)
Conditioner: 护发素 (hùfàsù)
Body Wash: 沐浴露 (mùyùlù)
Loofah: 丝瓜络 (sīguāluò)
Hair dryer: 吹风机 (chuīfēngjī)
Towel: 毛巾 (máojīn)
Face wash: 洗面奶 (xǐmiànnǎi)
Moisturizer: 护肤霜 (hùfūshuāng)
Soap: 肥皂 (féizào)
To bathe: 洗澡 (xǐzǎo)
To shower: 淋浴 (línyù)

Common Shower Product Brands
Walking into a grocery store in a foreign country can be dizzying. New products, new items, so many choices to make- all in a foreign language! Decision making can be hard. That’s why it is useful to familiarize yourself with some of the most common brands in advance.
Some of these are international brands, others are found only in China. If you are extremely particular about your hair care brands or have a hair type that is very uncommon in China (extremely curly, for example), you may want to pack some extra product in your suitcase.
Most products available internationally are also available in China, but some are much more expensive and difficult to find.
Although international grocers in bigger cities may offer a simplified shopping experience by selling items labelled in English, you will save a lot of money and transit time by simply heading over to your nearest supermarket to stock up on shower supplies.

Full Sentences
The most common way to announce that you are going to take a shower in Chinese is to say “我要去洗澡了.” (I’m going to go shower/take a bath, wǒyào qù xǐzǎo le).
Although in English, people tend to more specifically say “I’m going to go shower” or “I’m going to take a nice relaxing bath tonight,” 洗澡 (to bathe, xǐzǎo), as opposed to 淋浴 (to shower, línyù) is the most common word to refer to any form of washing up.
沐浴露在哪里？(mùyùlù zài nǎlǐ) - Where is the body wash?
我要去洗澡了。(wǒyào qù xǐzǎo le) - I’m going to go bathe/shower!
她每天洗两次淋浴。(tā měitiān xǐ liǎngcì línyù) - She showered twice a day.
用洗发液洗洗头发然后擦干。(yòng xǐfāyè xǐxǐ tóufa ránhòu cāgān) - Shampoo your hair and dry it.
在洗澡或淋浴后，用丝瓜络按摩身体。(zài xǐzǎo huò línyù hòu yòng sīguāluò ànmó shēntǐ) - After a bath or shower rub down the whole body with a loofah.