Conventional concrete is a rather brittle material. Its ultimate strain capacity is less than the strain imposed by shrinkage under normal climatic conditions. As a consequence, cracks will be formed during the first decade of the envisaged service life. Observation of real life cases clearly show that cracks are most often at the origin of early corrosion of the steel reinforcement in concrete. SHCC (Strain Hardening Cement-based Composites) is a comparatively new material with an ultimate strain capacity of up to 6 %. This pseudo-ductility, however, is reached by multi-crack formation. This study focused on the capillary suction of cracks in SHCC during imposed strain and after unloading. Even very fine cracks absorb water or salt solutions deep into the material. This could be visualized and determined quantitatively, by means of neutron radiography. From the water filled crack-surfaces the liquid penetrates further into the adjacent material. In the study SHCC sample surfaces were impregnated with liquid silane and water penetration was determined under both uloaded and imposed strain conditions. It was observed that capillary action of SHCC was practically eliminated by water repellent treatment. This leads to the conclusion that the potential of SHCC can be exploited fully only if the material is made water repellent.