Julianna Jacewicz squatted underneath a cow, waited for it to urinate, and washed her hair in it.
Then she did it again. Several times.
The Polish travel influencer and tour leader took part in what the Mundari tribe of South Sudan calls a spa experience.
It involves cow urine for the hair and cow dung ash for the face. Jacewicz shared the footage with her 14,600 followers.
The comment section responded about how you would expect.
‘You only live once’
Jacewicz visited the Mundari with a group of friends. The urine wash was supposed to be a group activity. She was the only one who went through with it.
“At the beginning, the Mundari Spa experience was supposed to be a highlight for all the group members but eventually it was only me that decided to give it a try,” she told CreatorZine.
“I was a bit reluctant once I saw a Mundari guy doing it. But then I told myself, you only live once, and I just put my head to be washed too and I repeated that a few times.”
Later that evening, members of the tribe gave her a facial and hair treatment using cow dung ashes.
She described the whole thing as making her feel, at least briefly, like part of the community. “I was all dirty and very happy, feeling like I’m at least for a moment part of the tribe.”
Why the Mundari do it
For the Mundari, cattle are not livestock in the way most of the world understands the word. They are status, identity, currency and culture. Cows provide the dowry paid for a bride. The tribe’s relationship with their animals shapes virtually every part of daily life.
The urine wash is not a stunt. Jacewicz explained that the Mundari have practised it for centuries, believing in the antiseptic properties of urine and valuing the way it turns hair orange, something considered highly desirable within their society. Cow dung ash serves a practical purpose too, acting as insect repellent and sunscreen.
“Their spa tradition of urine and cow dung is an important part of their culture,” Jacewicz said. “They have been living this way for centuries.”
‘Never been happier to be bald’
The comments section did not hold back.
“I wasn’t ready for that,” wrote one viewer.
“Oh no way would I do this, you are very brave,” said another.
One person simply asked: “But why?”
The most efficient response came from a bald viewer: “Never been happier to be bald.”
Why it matters
Travel content that involves genuinely participating in indigenous customs rather than just filming them from a safe distance tends to split audiences. Some see it as respectful immersion.
Others see content creators using unfamiliar cultures as shock value. Jacewicz’s video sits somewhere in the middle.
She clearly respects the Mundari and explains the cultural context, but the clip still travels primarily because a European woman is washing her hair in cow urine and that is always going to be the headline.
For smaller creators, the engagement is instructive. Jacewicz has under 15,000 followers, but content this unusual punches well above its weight in shares and comments.
Whether the attention converts to lasting audience growth depends on what she does next.
The cow urine gets people through the door. What keeps them is whether there is substance behind it.
