Not to want to wash my hair over a sink with a bloody sieve?!

[RulesControlTheFun]

Ok first world problems, but DH, DS, DD and I are staying with my elderly aunt and uncle. They have a massive house with modern bathrooms but DA had just told me that I cannot wash my shoulder length hair in the shower as it will block the drains, “But it’s ok as you can wash it over the sink and catch all the hair in a sieve”! FFS!!!

If I try to do this the water will go everywhere (the basin is tiny), the shampoo and conditioner will go in my eyes if I bend forward, and if I try to kneel backwards it will give me severe neck pain (and water everywhere again).

I normally wash my hair every three days which should have been last night, and we don’t go home until tomorrow. And we’re in the middle of nowhere without a car, though I’m going to have to insist on a diversion on our day trip to buy some dry shampoo.

I’m really annoyed she didn’t tell me this before hand as at least I could have washed my hair just before coming. And what about my 11 year old who has really long thick hair? Mercifully she’s not due to wash hair until tomorrow, but if it had needed washing sooner we’d be stuffed.

😩

I would also just fill a bucket full of water for the garden.

Proper sieve type shower drain covers are a couple of quid

I want to see the giant bucket please

They are rich, and have no mobility problems (they go on long walking holidays). But I get that the traps on the bath and shower are inaccessible.
I don’t understand why sink unblockers don’t work for them when they seem to work for everyone else.

Also, they must have lived in this house for 40 years, and this is the first time they’ve implemented these rules. I don’t get it as they had the bathrooms redone in the last 10 years but presumably this drain issue has only happened since then or they’d have tackled it as part of the bathroom works.

I would just wash my hair as I normally would. If aunt notices it’s newly washed I would either deny it had been washed, tell her I’d done it over the sink, or come clean. But I wouldn’t piss around with little basins and sieves.

I give you not just the giant bucket but the smaller bucket array too!

Washing their hair one time is not going to cause an issue with the drains that is going to cost money to fix. Don't be daft. And OP doesn't have long thick hair, only her daughter.

At worst there might be a few hairs to pick out of the drain which they can easily do, or throw some drain cleaner down.

As a host, if I was concerned, I would just go and clean the drain after they left. Hair in drains is not the end of the world or insurmountable!

That set up is actually quite dangerous, I wouldn't be happy being asked to stand in that to shower. It would be so easy to slip.

I'd do it anyway and rake any hairs out of the plughole. Why can't they have one of those filters that you put over the hole, most people do.

They have those annoying pop up plugs (we have them too tbf) - I don’t know if the hair catchers work with those, I guess you’d have to remove the whole plug.

Surely water that has soap in it isn’t good for the garden?! This is all bonkers!

I was just wondering if there was a particular song you had to sing while you were in the shower?

They need to pay to get their plumbing sorted! 😂

You’re right, the giant bucket did slip slightly when I got in two nights ago. I now wedge it hard against the end of the bath. It may be ok with a rubber bath mat underneath.

Have you (politely, because they are hosting you and elderly) pointed out that if you are showering in the giant bucket no water or hair will go down the drain?

I have masses of really long hair. Every four months or so my husband has to unblock the drain but we're talking really long very thick hair and a lot of washes. I have lived in many places with many different plumbing set ups and I have never blocked the drain with one hair wash. It sounds though as if they have some sort of blockage or problems with their pipes though that has never been thoroughly unblocked. I would give my hair a thorough combing/brushing before hand to get rid of any shedding hair and wash it in the shower and clean out the drain. There is no way I'd be juggling with a shampoo, conditioner and a sieve in a tiny basin. I mean you realise they are totally deranged to try to impose this on guests.

I haven’t - when I was initially told of the shower prohibition and sink/sieve system I was too shocked for it to occur to me.

Now I’m too afraid to mention it in case they come up with a spurious reason as to why it shouldn’t be done this way (maybe they won’t want shampoo and conditioner in the garden water even though shower gel apparently ok?!). So I’m going to keep schtum and just do it.

I wouldn't be standing in any bucket

I can easily see that would make you slip like someone said

And I'd probably wait to wash my hair at home rather than do it over a sink, even if it mean being late washing it

That was my first thought. I'd definitely fall over if I couldn't move my feet around to brace myself against slipping!

Agree that the pop up plugs are a nightmare. We have one that does unscrew but the one in the ensuite was fixed so we got it changed to one on a chain, old school style. Never seen a pop up in a shower though!

It’s not very hospitable of them, but it’s not exactly the end of the world to have to wash your hair over a sink just once. It’s how everyone washed their hair all the time when I was a child and I don’t remember ever spilling loads of water everywhere. Ask for a jug rather than a bowl so that you can control the water better when you’re bending over the sink, or if it’s still too small, ask if you can wash it over the kitchen sink instead.

This

Just wash it as normal - unless she's spying on you in the bath, she's not going to know

Another thought. As they are obviously trying to conserve water (which is admirable) they could use the shower water for toilet flushing rather than carry it out to the garden. Of course, this encourages the dangerous standing-in-a-bucket-in-the-bath-to-shower practice.

This was my first thought. I mean, it's an unusual request but will it kill you to comply and respect how they do things?

You and DD can wash your hair when you get home tomorrow. You won't suffer, really you won't.

Mental. I have long hair I wash every second day and I have hair catcher things over the plugs, no blocked drains!