Woman at Burning Man Festival Says 8 Second Shower "Tastes Like Vinegar"

When you think of the Burning Man festival, you probably envision a vast desert of tents and people with the same peaceful mindset of having no issue camping in the heat for days. And you aren't wrong. But when you really think about it, have you considered how everyone goes to the bathroom or takes a shower at Burning Man? Yeah, I didn't think so.

On TikTok, Angie (@angiepeacockmsw) shared a video where she explains the showering process. And it's both technologically advanced and primitive at the same time. How can that be, you ask? The showers are outdoors and you need to fill a bucket of water to use them, yet they require a key fob. According to the user's video, the outdoor showers are less than ideal and she might even prefer not to use them.

Burning Man is a week-long communal celebration of art and inclusiveness in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The days are extremely hot and the night is often freezing, but hordes of individuals make the trek every year. Except now, there's TikTok, and even if you can't go, you get to learn all about it through the videos of individuals who are there.

And in Angie's video, she explains how the showers work while she and tens of thousands of other people camp out somewhere where there is no standard running water or central electricity.

"So this is really funny, but I thought showers were included and that's what they told me," Angie says in the video. "So here, I'm thinking, like Planet Fitness-looking showers." But that's not the case at all.

Angie explains that, in order to use the showers at Burning Man, you have to fill a bucket of water and attach it to a hanging hose. You then wave a key fob in front of a sensor and water comes down from a shower head.

But it only lasts for around eight seconds and, according to Angie, it's best not to get the water in your mouth since it "tastes like vinegar." And it's not totally clear where the initial water comes from that you fill your bucket with at a station of makeshift spigots.

I'm not saying I would forego showers the entire week of Burning Man to avoid these primitive showers (even though they have key fob technology). But in so many ways, the Burning Man showers seem unpleasant. The TikTok user even says in her caption, "I'm just going to be dirty. I've embraced the dust."

From the showers to being out in the middle of nowhere, those who have never gone to Burning Man don't quite understand what the point is. And you'd better believe they sounded off in the comments under the video.

One user commented, "It's crazy how much I never want to go to Burning Man." Another shared, "Burning Man just seems like rich people playing pretend boho in a desert." That one is painfully accurate, at least for those of us who have never gone to Burning Man.

I mean, with the showers the way they are and the Burning Man ticket prices in the several hundreds, I can't blame the naysayers. Especially the individual who commented, "Having a fob scanner for a bucket of brown water is wild," because the clash of primitive and modern day technology is almost unbelievable here.

I'm not saying that Burning Man isn't worth it for those who make the trip every year. But it's also hard to deny how much those same people give up in order to do it, and I'm not sure if vinegar showers are worth all the trouble.