What does the “-ся” ending mean in “умываться”?

Умываю means “I wash” something; add -сь and the action turns back on the subject: умываюсь, “I wash (myself),” which in Russian means washing your face and hands in the morning. The speaker explains it himself: я умываюсь, то есть я умываю лицо. In умываться the ending works as a reflexive, but -ся/-сь has other jobs too, so not every one means “myself.”

The same reflexive use runs through the routine: бриться (to shave), одеваться (to get dressed), причёсываться (to comb one’s hair). In verbs like нравиться or бояться there is no “self” at all. Чистить зубы, “to brush your teeth,” takes an object instead. The clip adds мне нужно побриться, “I need to shave.”