How to shower and wash yourself with one hand
Quick answer: Set the shower up so nothing needs two hands: pump bottles instead of bar soap, everything at chest height, and a seat if you feel unsteady. If your other arm is in a cast or dressing, keep it out of the spray and follow your care team's advice on keeping it dry, because a taped bag often leaks.
Not quite your situation? Showering when you can't bend or reach or see every reason showering gets hard.
A one-handed shower has two separate problems. If the other arm is in a cast or dressing, it has to stay dry, and a bag is hard to seal at the top when you're taping it with one hand. Washing also assumes two hands, one to hold the soap or cloth and one to scrub, and the working arm itself is the hardest part to wash, because the only hand that could reach it is attached to it.
Try this first (no purchase)
- Check the rules for your cast or dressing. Follow what your care team told you about keeping it dry; some casts and dressings must not get wet at all, and for a while a wash at the sink may be the simpler choice. If one does get soaked, ask the clinic that fitted it what to do.
- Treat a taped bag as a splash guard. A plastic bag taped at the top keeps off drips but often lets water in under direct spray, especially when it's taped one-handed. Wrap a small towel around the arm just above the cast before the bag goes on so any drips soak into that, ask someone to do the taping if you can, and rest the arm outside the shower curtain.
- Swap bar soap for a pump or a stocking. A bar needs two hands to lather and shoots away when dropped. Press a pump bottle with the heel of your hand onto a washcloth, or drop a bar into the foot of an old knee-high stocking and hang it by the open end from a hook so it can't fall.
- Wash the working arm on your leg. Sit down, lay a soapy washcloth across your thigh, and rub your working arm back and forth over it, then rinse under the spray. It's the one part of you the working hand can't scrub, so the leg does the scrubbing instead.
- Set up before the water goes on, and sit if unsteady. Put body wash, shampoo and a washcloth at chest height where you can reach them without bending or twisting. With your one hand busy washing, you have none left for a grab bar, so if you feel unsteady, wash sitting on a proper shower seat rather than a household chair.
What actually helps
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Keeping a cast dry
Our pick
Silicone waterproof arm cast cover, adult
Waterproof cast cover
$9.99 price as of Sep 27, 2026 at 4:47 pm ET
Check price on Amazon (opens new tab)- Why it works
- A stretchy silicone seal keeps a cast or dressing dry in the shower; one reviewer's wrist cast, about 11 inches around, fitted, and another used it after carpal tunnel surgery.
- Who it won't suit
- It comes in one universal size, so a very thin or very thick arm may not seal, and it has to be stretched over the cast, so ask for help the first time.
What reviewers report
Reviewers report that it fits a wrist-to-elbow cast measuring about eleven inches around, and people who had carpal tunnel surgery say it kept the hand dry in the shower. — Our summary of customer reviews on Amazon · read the reviews (opens new tab)
Another option
BLOCCS waterproof arm cast cover, adult short arm
Waterproof cast cover
$39.99 price as of Sep 27, 2026 at 4:47 pm ET
- FSA/HSA eligible
- Why it works
- A natural-rubber seal fits arms 8½ to 13½ inches around with a 22-inch sleeve, so a short-arm cast stays dry in the shower; one reviewer put it on with only one hand working.
- Who it won't suit
- It is sized, so measure the arm first; it costs several times more than a basic silicone cover, and natural rubber isn't for anyone with a latex allergy.
What reviewers report
Reviewers say the cover goes on with one working hand, which is what matters when the other wrist is broken, and people recovering from hand surgery used it to keep dressings dry. — Our summary of customer reviews on Amazon · read the reviews (opens new tab)
Washing hard-to-reach places
Our pick
Rehabilitation Advantage 18" long-handled bath sponge
Long-handled sponge
$15.97 price as of Sep 27, 2026 at 4:47 pm ET
Check price on Amazon (opens new tab)- Why it works
- Light enough to use with one hand, as one reviewer on a walker does: the 18-inch handle reaches your back and legs without a second hand holding a washcloth.
- Who it won't suit
- It can't wash the arm that is holding it, so keep a pump soap within reach for that; the sponge head is only 5 by 2 inches.
What reviewers report
Reviewers mention two things: it is light enough to hold while the other hand stays on a walker, and it reaches a foot they can no longer bend down to. — Our summary of customer reviews on Amazon · read the reviews (opens new tab)
What not to buy for showering with one hand
- Suction-cup grab bars — they look like grab bars but can pop off the wall without warning when you put weight on them. Anything you hold for balance has to be screwed into the wall.
- Cast covers you stretch on with both hands — some have a tight rubber neck that takes two hands to pull open over the cast. Check that it can go on one-handed, or plan on help before every shower.
Buying this for someone else?
- Ask which arm, and how far the cast goes. Cast covers are sold in short-arm and full-arm lengths, and the seal has to sit on bare skin above the cast, so a cover that's too short won't close.
- Ask whether the cast is allowed to get wet. Some clinics fit waterproof casts or liners; if that's what they have, a cover may not be needed at all.
- Measure before buying a seat. A shower seat needs its feet flat on the floor of the tub or shower tray, so check the width there, not at the top of the tub.