Open TikTok on a Sunday evening and you’ll find thousands of people filming their “everything shower” — a long, unhurried, head-to-toe ritual of steaming, cleansing, exfoliating and moisturising that has racked up hundreds of millions of views. It’s treated as a thoroughly modern invention: self-care for a generation that needs permission to slow down.
Here’s the thing, though. The everything shower isn’t new. It’s been practised every week, for centuries, across the Levant and North Africa. It’s called the hammam — and it did everything the trend does, long before there was a hashtag for it.
What exactly is an “everything shower”?
If the trend has passed you by: an everything shower is a weekly (or fortnightly) deep-care session, usually built around the same beats — set the mood, steam, deep-cleanse, exfoliate thoroughly, then seal everything in with oils and moisturiser. It’s deliberately slow. The point isn’t speed; it’s the reset — coming out feeling like a newer, calmer version of yourself.
Sound familiar? It should.
The hammam did it first — by a few centuries
The traditional hammam is a communal bathhouse ritual that has been part of life across Morocco, the Levant and the wider region for generations. Strip away the marble and the steam rooms, and its structure is almost beat-for-beat the modern trend:
- The steam. You begin in a hot room, letting warmth and humidity soften the skin — the original “shower steam” step.
- The cleanse. A layer of Moroccan black soap (beldi) — a soft, olive-based paste — is massaged over damp skin and left to work for a few minutes.
- The exfoliation. Then comes the famous part: a vigorous scrub with a kessa mitt that lifts away dull, dead skin in a way no loofah quite matches.
- The seal. A final rinse, then oils to lock in moisture while the skin is warm and damp.
Steam, cleanse, exfoliate, seal. The everything shower, centuries early.
Why the old version still wins
We love that the trend has reminded people that body care deserves time. But a few things the hammam tradition gets quietly right are worth borrowing:
- It’s products-light, not products-heavy. Where the TikTok version can involve a dozen bottles, the hammam needs essentially two things: black soap and a kessa. Simple, effective, and far kinder to your shelf (and the planet).
- The order matters. Softening the skin before scrubbing is the trick. Beldi prepares the skin so the kessa can do its work — scrubbing cold, unprepped skin is why many exfoliation routines disappoint.
- Once a week is the rhythm. The hammam was traditionally a weekly ritual, and that cadence still makes sense — thorough exfoliation needs recovery time in between.
- It was always about more than skin. The hammam was social, restorative, a pause in the week. The “mental reset” people describe after an everything shower is exactly what the ritual was built for.
How to do a hammam-style everything shower at home
You don’t need a bathhouse — a steamy bathroom and twenty minutes will do. The short version: steam for 5–10 minutes, massage on a thin layer of black soap, wait 3–5 minutes, scrub with a kessa mitt in circular motions, rinse well, and moisturise while damp. We’ve written a full step-by-step in our home hammam ritual guide.
Everything you need, in two items
If the everything shower trend has tempted you to upgrade your routine, skip the twelve-product checklist and start where the ritual started. Our hammam & exfoliation collection has the essentials — including our 750ml lavender beldi with a kessa glove included, which is, quite literally, the original everything shower in a single set.
Some trends are new. The best ones, it turns out, are just old wisdom finding its way back.