Rub a dub dub, new soap in the club!
Regular Berghainers have noticed that the hand-washing equipment in the bathrooms of the famous nightclub is different, and people are… struggling. Multiple clubgoers have been confused by the new soap dispensers, which are meant to function by turning a plastic wheel until a grated rain of bar soap falls into your waiting hand. The output resembles a fine white powder with no scent – which I’m sure reminds everyone in the Berlin club of flour, and nothing else.
“It took me 10 minutes to figure out how this shit worked,” wrote one clubber on Reddit, where other bewildered partygoers on the subreddit r/Berghain_Community gathered to complain about the situation. “There comes something out?” wrote another user. (The Berliner could not confirm whether this clubber still had unwashed hands.) From another: “I was using it wrong the whole time – I assumed we have to dip our fingers in this small bowl beneath the ‘grater’ to fetch some soap.”
It’s quite entertaining watching everyone turn it and look bewildered
Others thought the soap dispensers, which are allegedly made by Sapor and appear to have been installed earlier this year, were akin to a dining experience. “I find the soap to be especially nice when you sprinkle it on the kartoffelsalat,” said one Redditer. Another commented simply, “parmesan [sic]”.
For many, the change harkened back to an earlier time. “Oh I love it, reminds me of my time in highschool in rural west-germany.” User General-Hamster-8731 wrote, “Takes you back behind the Iron Curtain.” Some remembered the mechanism from riding the rails as children; a similar grater-style dispenser was used in the bathrooms of old German trains, back when DB stood for Deutsche Bundesbahn. You can occasionally still stumble across them in the older train models – and in the exhibition Unter Druck – Die Geschichte der Zugtoilette (“under pressure – the history of the train toilet”) at the Deutsche Bahn museum in Nürnberg, which runs until August 2026 and also features former Chancellor Otto von Bismarck’s personal railway chambor pot.
Back in the Berghain Reddit war room, a handful of the ever-so-lucid clubbers wondered whether there was even soap in the dispensers at all. “I don’t think I ever was able to use it, those things are ALWAYS empty.” And, “Please, we need more soap.” It wasn’t clear if these clubbers were there on a day where staff had forgotten to reload the machines, or just struggling that day.
“Back in January when I first saw it, after coming out of a cubicle, I went to wash my hands. Long story short, i put some on my hand and for some (as in obvious) reason mistook it for a line…. I did end up snorting it,” said one poster in a – now deleted – comment. The conversation turned to a lively discussion about proper usage. (Redditer sexydiscoballs helpfully explains that “you’re supposed to use the water tap next to the soap to wash it off.”)
But while Berghain regulars are foaming at the mouth to diss the toilet transition (“I was so waiting for this post”; “it’s giving prison toilet”), there may be a method behind the madness. Of course, Berghain generally has an airtight no-comment policy on all things inside its doors – so we don’t know if the Great Soap Swap was a budget-driven decision, an aesthetic one, or one made with health and safety in mind. But bar soap can be a more cost-effective alternative to the liquid soap the club previously stocked, because guests tend to overuse the latter.
Whatever the reason, at least some soap-smart Berliners seem to be enjoying the hygiene hubbub. “I actually love watching how some people don’t understand how to use it and they give you a cute confused face.” “It’s quite entertaining watching everyone turn it and look bewildered, thinking there’s no soap,” wrote another. Someone added that it made the club feel “like a kindergarten”. And in fairness, they’re both places where you have to stand in line.
