NASA astronaut Jessica Meir shared a video from the International Space Station walking fellow curly-haired viewers through her zero-gravity hair-care routine, and the results are out of this world.
Meir, stationed roughly 260 miles above the planet, demonstrated how she washes and conditions her curls without the luxury of a shower, running water, or even gravity to keep things in place. The video, first spotlighted by the New York Post, walks viewers step by step through a process most people on the ground take for granted every morning.
Her routine starts with weightless drops of water applied directly to her head, droplets that float freely in microgravity rather than running down like they would on Earth. From there, Meir works in a no-rinse shampoo NASA developed specifically for astronauts. The formula requires almost no water and does not produce floating droplets, a critical feature aboard the ISS, where stray water can damage sensitive equipment.
After shampooing, she dries her hair with a plain t-shirt, no blow dryer, no towel, and finishes with a small amount of conditioner. Simple enough on paper. Considerably less simple when nothing stays put.
Meir addressed her audience with a greeting aimed squarely at a specific community:
"Curly-haired crew, this one's for you! Join me in my temporary home on the Space Station, where curls are even more free to be what they want to be."
She described a phenomenon that anyone who has wrestled with curly hair might appreciate, microgravity actually changes her curl pattern. On Earth, Meir said, her hair falls into what stylists classify as "3a" curls, a loose spiral. In space, those spirals tighten into "3c" territory, a much denser coil.
And the hair has a mind of its own up there. Meir noted that her curls latch onto every strip of Velcro they encounter aboard the station, Velcro being one of the primary ways astronauts secure objects in a weightless environment. Despite all that, she said she still does not need a brush.
"Ever wonder how I care for my curls in space? Where my Earthly 3a curls become more like 3c, my hair finds every piece of velcro it can, and I STILL don't need a brush!"
Not every aspect of space hair is a hassle. Meir pointed to at least one upside.
"There are definitely some major pros to my space hair, like not having to put it up when I work out."
Still, she made clear the novelty has its limits.
"I'm looking forward to an Earth shower when I get back, though."
The no-rinse shampoo Meir uses is not a commercial convenience product. NASA engineered it to solve a real operational problem. Fresh water aboard the ISS is limited and expensive to resupply. Every ounce matters. A shampoo that requires rinsing under running water would waste a resource the station cannot afford to squander, and free-floating water droplets pose a genuine risk to electronics and instrumentation packed into every corner of the orbiting laboratory.
The formula works without producing runoff or airborne moisture. It cleans effectively and stays put, which in a microgravity environment is no small engineering feat.
The video drew enthusiastic responses online. A commenter named Garrett Jameson wrote that the content would matter long after Meir returns to solid ground.
"Decades from now my daughter and countless other little girls will be so grateful for this content. They'll be ready to be confident curly girls in SPACE."
Another user, posting under the name MG | Fulcrum, offered a more candid reaction: "I have never even thought about this but I know my hair would be crazy in space."
It is a small, human moment from a place that often feels impossibly distant, a reminder that even 260 miles up, the ordinary details of daily life do not disappear. They just get a lot more interesting.
