How important is your hair to you? Do you spend hours debating whether to finally commit to a bob or researching the best products to define your curls? According to a recent survey, 87% of British women aged 18-64 say the appearance of their hair impacts their self-esteem. Over half of all those surveyed said having a bad hair day makes them feel more self-conscious (58%) and less confident (53%), while nearly one in five (19%) say a bad hair day makes them feel more stressed.

At the same time, how many of us also take being able to wash and care for our hair in clean water for granted?

A striking new photo series from WaterAid lays bare how sustained exposure to dirty water and poor hygiene can affect women’s hair and, in turn, their self-esteem, from hair loss caused by contaminated water or carrying jerry cans on their heads to period taboos preventing women from washing their hair while menstruating. 

The reality is devastating. One in 10 people across the world have no clean water close to home, affecting their health, education and livelihoods. Women bear the brunt of this injustice, with water collection, household chores and caring for family typically falling to them. But continued exposure to dirty and contaminated water also impacts women’s skin and hair as well as their wellbeing, identity and sense of self-worth.

WaterAid discovered that women are experiencing hair loss and other impacts to the scalp and skin at least in part due to dirty or contaminated water. In the south-western region of Satkhira in Bangladesh, women say they are losing their hair because they wash in water contaminated by saline and other pollutants.

“Women in the Satkhira region are living without the basics of clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene, and the climate crisis is making it worse,” explains Anindita Hridita, programme lead on climate resilience at WaterAid Bangladesh.

“This leaves them walking long, back-breaking distances to collect drinking water for their families, bathing in ponds contaminated with saline and other pollutants, and using flimsy pit latrines that are unsafe, dirty and get washed away in powerful downpours. They say continued exposure to contaminated water sources is not only causing dangerous waterborne diseases but also robbing them of their hair – an added layer of injustice in an already dire situation.”

Access to clean water has the ability to change lives. In Ghana, Gifty, the owner of The Lord Is My Shepherd hair salon brought women in her community together once she got clean water in her workplace and home.

Support WaterAid’s Water Means Life appeal this winter to help provide weather-proof taps and toilets to communities in Bangladesh and across the world

Images: WaterAid; Sianeh A. Kpukuyou