The Outdated Boomer Shower Items Millennials Can't Stand Using

Think taking a shower is the same for every generation? Think again. Baby boomers and millennials have some surprisingly different preferences when it comes to showering.

Pew Research Center attributes such generational dissimilarities to the fact that each generational group experienced unique economic and social circumstances. For instance, millennials used to be widely anti-bar soap, which was a pretty standard bathing product for boomers. The younger generation believed it harbored germs, seeing liquid soap as a viable alternative. In 2016, CBS News noted that millennials switching to non-bar soaps caused bar soap sales to drop.

Boomers may have had the last laugh, though: As of 2024, some millennials had returned to bar soap because of its eco-friendliness and low price point. Meanwhile, older generations just kept using bar soap all along. (With that said, make sure you're not making a big mistake with your bar soap: forgetting to let it dry between uses.)

However, bar soap is a rare example of certain millennials swinging back to a beloved boomer shower hygiene product. In most other cases, millennials are saying "No way" to what they view as outdated boomer shower items.

The loofah became a mainstay object during bathtime as far back as the first half of the 1900s. Accordingly, boomers grew up associating loofahs with cleanliness. Decades later, dermatologists have issued warnings about the safety of using loofahs for a couple of reasons — and millennials seem to be taking precautions by turning their backs on loofahs.

What's wrong with a loofah, which is actually a dried gourd? For one, it has a terrible reputation for becoming a veritable petri dish. Speaking to Cleveland Clinic, dermatologist Dr. Melissa Piliang explained the gross side of the loofah. "They don't ever totally dry out, so the loofah is a beautiful breeding ground for bacteria," she said. "If you have a natural loofah, you should replace it every three to four weeks." Basically, it's time to throw your loofah out if you notice or smell mildew.

Dermatologist Joel Schlessinger went into even more detail about the hidden risks of using a loofah in a Dermatology Institute interview, noting that "loofah sponges are intimate with many unclean areas of the body and then sit around allowing bacteria to multiply within the nooks and crannies of the sponge." In the same article, other dermatological experts mentioned that loofahs can be too rough on skin. Unsurprisingly, your best bets for scrubbing yourself would likely be a clean washcloth or, quite simply, your bare hands. 

Why not save time by using a two-in-one product like shampoo? That seems to be the idea of the revolution that happened in the 1980s with the commercial introduction of two-in-ones everywhere. Consumers could buy a single product to both clean and condition their hair — and those consumers back then were basically the boomers of today.

For millennials, the economical trade-off of a two-in-one shampoo doesn't seem to be worth the results. One way to understand this trend away from typically minimalist items (which millennials sometimes prefer) is to think about the rise of the so-called "everything shower" that went viral in recent years. As one Gen Z influencer noted on TikTok, "I wash my hair, shave my legs, shave my armpits, deep condition, exfoliate, do my skincare. I do everything in the shower." Two-in-one products just don't fit the luxurious, laid-back shower session ethos.

For the record, millennials love everything showering, too. But the practice may be one of those millennial hygiene habits boomers just don't understand (even though AARP recommends that older generations give it a try).