Your Everything Shower Deserves A Little Treat. Literally.

Ever since the “everything shower” got its name a couple of years ago, the ritual has been a mainstay in everyone’s beauty routine. But a new viral bathing trend extends the practice beyond leg shaving and body scrubbing — and it’s delightfully absurd, but also kind of genius. People are eating fruit in the shower, making a surprisingly compelling case for combining snacktime with shower time. It might just be the silly custom you didn’t know you were missing.

On June 15, Terrence O’Connor, the photographer, creative director, and internet It boy shared an Instagram Story proving that multitasking can actually be hilariously chic. In a now-expired post showing off a blemish he jokingly referred to as his “looksmax pimple” since it squared out his jaw, he was pictured in the shower, showing off his profile, and biting into an apple as water poured over him.

He did so casually, without even acknowledging his shower snack. But viewers immediately noticed. Soon after, he added another Instagram Story with simple text saying: “ok shower apple apparently upstaging looksmax pimple..” Then followed it up with another to explain himself.

“Fruit in shower is whimsical and transportive. it activates a memory of our jungle dwelling ancestors. the feeling of a waterfall.. mowglicore etc,” he wrote in the following slide, then added a picture of Mowgli from Disney’s 1967 hit The Jungle Book eating a fruit. O’Connor hath spoken: cottagecore and nonnacore are officially 2000-and-late. It’s all about Mowglicore now.

Sure, it may not be a typical part of the lather-rinse-repeat routine, but as it turns out, O’Connor — a tastemaker in his own right (I mean, he did help conceptualize Charli xcx’s brat era) — is part of a growing movement of shower-fruit enthusiasts. It’s silly, sure, but those who participate may be onto something.

“One of my favorite little pleasures in life is eating a fruit that would normally be messy in the shower. i can get the juice everywhere and it doesn’t matter i don’t have to be sticky for any time at all. Tonight i have a plum,” wrote one user in a June 4 TikTok with over 890,000 likes.

As someone who enjoys an occasional kiwi over the kitchen sink (easy access to the faucet for when my hands get covered in juice), I can see the appeal. Messy fruit is considerably less messy when eaten in a place literally designed to rinse things off.

However, others online are eating in the shower for less logical reasons, including @miniferalgoblin and @huddy_3, who both shared videos enjoying a shower banana to see what it would feel like to be a “scared monkey in the rainforest.” OK, sure, that works too!

Some people specifically eat oranges in the shower because the warm water helps release the fruit’s natural oils into the steam for an aromatic, spa-like experience. For others, fueling up while winding down is simply another way to maximize time.

Perhaps, though, as O’Connor says, the fruit-in-a-shower trend is simply another way to lean into making your day just a little more whimsical. Clean? Satiated? Fun? Check, check, and check. Truly, the reason why people are doing it isn’t really all that important after all. Routines are allowed to be unserious.

So go ahead, embrace your inner Mowgli or lonely little monkey, or simply indulge the part of you that wants to participate in the small act of rebellion. A nibble of fruit in the shower never hurt anybody. At the very least, you’ll have one less dish to wash.