Personal hygiene in the olden days

I hear Marie Antoinette had a nasty smelling coochie.

That's what house slaves were for---providing hygiene to their 'masters'

It was normal back then to be smelly. Since deodorant and toiletries were not available (as well as limited baths), the norm was to smell bad. Remember, you only become aware of something after you've experienced it. A blind person born blind don't really have a hard time being blind, because they don't know what it is to see.

Apparently back in the day having rotten teeth was a sign of wealth and elegance. That meant you could afford sweets, which were a luxury back then^

[quote] Since deodorant and toiletries were not available (as well as limited baths)

Why weren’t they available?

The ancient Romans enjoyed bathing so likely Imperial Rome was not as smelly as early America.

R5 Because supermarkets and pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens/Duane Reade weren't invented yet.

R5 is retarded

R5, because the plane didn’t make it to the distribution point for Walgreens, Rose.

[quote](as well as limited baths)

Look up why it became a custom for weddings to occur in June, hence a June bride.

It’s not a pleasant story. Yuck.

I wonder if Ben Franklin ever scratched his sweaty taint and then huffed his own raunchy man smell right off his chubby finger.

Just look at that brilliant scent pig. Oh yeah.

OP, you pus-riddled shit, what makes you think that slave-owning fuckers of their own half-black sisters-in-law such as Jefferson couldn't wipe his ass as well as anyone today?

Jefferson deserves reprobation, but not in matters of hygiene. Same with Washington, who only wore his show-teeth when social settings required it.

After all, despite the infamous rats of the White House and the slave labor that built it, it was George III who found a louse on his plate and had his footmen cut their hair off in response.

And just imagine how bad the outside air smelled, with the horses randomly shitting on the streets.

Here in Boston, some very old homes still have the foot scrapers outside the front doors that visitors used to scrape horse feces off their shoes before entering.

That’s cool, r13!

About a week or two ago I came across this recent article on the "Sights, Sounds, and SMELLS of Elizabethan England."

Part 3 is on smells and covers personal hygiene.

People probably cleaned their dirty parts, faces and hair with soap and water as needed, but didn't fill-up a whole bathtub full of water.

Bathing once a month ??? I wonder if they were stiff with dirt and skin cells , how did they ever get into the bathrub ?

So when was rimming invented? It must be recent. Or maybe it was a special treat reserved for bath day.

I’m quite sure that George Washington’s mouth full of wooden teeth smelled like a beautiful pine forest.

True. He didn’t even need one of those little trees for his car.

I saw a magazine ad from the FIFTIES that tried to convince men that using underarm deodorant was not "sissy."

Only those queers use deodorant.

I think the U.S. military made Lifebuoy part of the regulation kit for soldiers during WW2. This got a lot of men thinking about how they smelled. I also remember my grandmother talking about the company's eyerolling ads on the radio where they'd make this loud and long "fog horn sound" with the letters "B.O."

You sho iz pahful musky!

People have been practicing personal hygience since they knew how to build houses. OP is projecting and assuming that people might be as filthy as she is.

In one of my Shakespeare seminars, my professor said it was common in Elizabethan England for chamberpots to be passed around at the dinner table, & guests would relieve themselves right at the table. Ick!

Sounds convenient to me! Maybe we’ll try that this here turkey day.

What is the Bunuel movie where everyone sits around the table on toilets doing their business, but hide away in little closets to eat?

Let's head over to the shithouse to take a shit!

And pass the sponge. I need to wipe.

[quote] Or how bad George Washington’s breath must have been with those nasty wooden teeth

Off topic but Washington did NOT have wooden dentures. [bold]His dentures were made from the teeth of slaves[/bold] among other non-wood things.

The lie about the "wooden teeth" is a prime example of whitewashing history because the fact that his dentures were made from slave teeth is very creepy in modern society - and how you gonna teach about what a great White man Washington was while all the students are eeked out over the fact he's going around sucking on slave-teeth-dentures in his mouth.

Along with human teeth, dentures in those days also could include horse/cow teeth, ivory, and various metals

Washington apparently paid the slaves for the teeth - as selling teeth to dentists for wealthy people's dentures was not uncommon back then, if that makes you feel any better. Receipts at link

OP - You've come to right place with this query, as many DLers can provide detailed first hand accounts.

I bet most people in post-Roman-Empire "olden" days would make Cheryl smell fresh as a daisy in comparision.

The myth of middle class people before the 20th century being dirty and smelly is largely just that - a myth. People did bathe regularly or at least sponged themselves off, and they easily made their own soap, starch, deodorant/antiperspirants etc.

And George Washington's teeth weren't made out of wood - they were made from human teeth, mostly his own slaves, as well as horses and cows - and his dental troubles weren't due to poor oral hygiene.

That Mount Veron site says that he was buying the slaves' teeth for a dentist to make dentures, but not for himself.

[quote]That Mount Veron site says that he was buying the slaves' teeth for a dentist to make dentures, but not for himself.

R34, it says it's unknown who the bought teeth were for - with this caveat:

"Since Washington paid for the teeth it suggests that they were either for his own use or for someone in his family."

Thank you R35! The man had many dentures over the years and some of them had livestock teeth, so he certainly wasn't a purist about where the human teeth he wore came from. Either way, they weren't wood like the OP says.

No, the site says:

[quote]If Washington had been purchasing the teeth for himself, there would have been no need for this information; the entries would have simply recorded the item and payment, as when Washington purchased poultry, wild game, fish, and garden produce from enslaved individuals.

In "Orlando" there's a transition in which climate kills warm recreational bathing in favor of enveloping the body in layers of protection against shit and grime.

People assumed they had enough clothes on to mask personal odor. Kind of like your cousin Kurt who was always methy.

Who wouldn't kill for the job title "Groom of the Stool"?

R36, Notice there are no portraits of him smiling.

Benjamin Franklin would take the 2 month cruise, the time it took to get from Philadelphia to London. Imagine what he must have smelled like when he got off the boat.

People in modern times have the hygiene of a person from the 18th century. Modern day isn't doing better. Some people don't shower for days and stink up where ever they are so it doesn't matter.

[quote]Why weren’t they available (toiletries and deodorant)?

Because Thomas Jefferson's estate at Monticello was not yet on Amazon's standard route.

You'd have to be smell-blind to stand the olden days. Think of the horseshit everywhere in the cities.

Even the royals smelled!

QE1 had chronic halitosis.

Didn't people just shit inside their palaces and castles? I read that the Palace of Versailles was covered in shit in those days. Disgusting!

In Medieval castles, there'd usually be a privy chamber (garderobe) and your poop would go down a shaft, which often led to the moat around the castle.

My Polish grandfather(1876-1965) once told me that back in the old country, they used large maple leaves instead of toilet paper.

R28 here you go. Bon appetite!

[quote] Here in Boston, some very old homes still have the foot scrapers outside the front doors that visitors used to scrape horse feces off their shoes before entering.

And yet they still didn’t take their shoes off before entering a home? White people 🤦🏻‍♂️

Don’t forget they were all uncut !

R52, Not if they were Jewish.

Don't Muslims "recommend" it too.

I bought Anne Frank's teeth.

i've often wondered about it. i don't feel clean or "awake" unless i take a shower every day.

Yeah r30 that SURE makes me feel better!

Also popular were "Waterloo Teeth" made from the teeth of dead soldiers.

The word is 'intact.'

And don't think because you've been mutilated that you smell like roses. You don't.

I don't know about most people, but the smell of a healthy, mostly-clean man with b.o. is erotic.

Well, when I was just a tad, sonny-boy OP, we usta waddle on over to La Brea and flop around in them there tar pits to dislodge any parasites. Then I'd shuffle over to the beach for a nice sand bath and a meaningful talk with the brain in my tail.

When the colonials did take a bath, the families shared the bath water.

So they conserved water. How very green of them.

What's old is new again!

[quote] How very green of them.

That and their teeth.

Elizabeth I wore poisonous lead and mercury makeup and left it on for weeks at a time.

Ugh. No mouthwash or dental floss. No rectal douching before anal. Dingleberries EVERYWHERE! No cures for STDs/hemorrhoids. HOW IN THE HELL DID THEY EVER HAVE THE GAY BUTTSEX?!?! So glad I'm a 21st Century fag...

What is the cure for hemorrhoids? I heard the aftermath of surgical removal is painful.

r47 People used to pee in the hallways of Versailles.

Oral sex was simply out of the question.

[quote]I read that the Palace of Versailles was covered in shit in those days.

There were passageways behind the walls that connected rooms. People would take craps in them.

Imagine the smell in summer.

R58, And today we have organ donors.

At least a lot of these unhygienic people had the good sense to die young!

[quote] From the 1500s onward, till around the year 1800, life expectancy throughout Europe hovered between 30 and 40 years of age.

The 45th President of the United States was rumored to be a germaphobe. Yet routinely shit his pants.

Someday people will look back on this era in shock that not everyone had a bidet.

Nowadays we have the opposite problem, people act like you need to a shower everyday when or 3 times a week is more than enough.

^single

Snuff was very important in olden times. If you came across a foul smell, you would simply fill your nostrils with a pleasant scent. This was handy because people would dispose of their human waste out their windows and into the walkways of the main thoroughfare. I’ve always wondered how the upper classes maintained their finery. You couldn’t bear those fabrics against rocks in the river. Was there dry cleaning in Elizabethan England?

R76 The smegma king.

As recently as the 1950s/1960s, bathing once a week was considered routine.

Madison Avenue convinced Americans that they should bathe every day and use deodorants, after shave lotions, colognes, etc.

[quote] Don’t forget they were all uncut !

Why were they all uncut?

After coming from this post to watching A Christmas Carol I bet Ebenezer Scrooge smelt all sorts of rank! It's a good thing he got to air those nuts out flying around London town in just a nightshirt.

R80 so you're saying because your grandparents bathed once a week that it was ok? Hopefully we KNOW better nowadays. Bathing daily is a lot more than about body odor... It's therapeutic, it gets rid of dead skin cells and exposure to latent parasites. People exercise more and are healthier because of it and need to bathe/shower afterwards. Yes building your immunity to the elements is paramount but considering that, in general, life expectancy is longer today than it was back then, I'd say the modern way is doing SOMETHING better than back then. I hope I never run into your reek-ful self.

R83, Easy, Mary . . .

Only a total moron would believe that dead skin cells and parasites form overnight or even in two or three days.

Any dermatologist will tell you that bathing/showering is bad for your skin. It dries it out, especially in winter months.

Of course one would shower more in the summer months, plus there is swimming then.

As recently as the 1960s, there were minimal choices for deodorant and deodorant soaps, unlike today.

Men used Right Guard and women used Secret for deodorants, while Ivory, Dial and Zest were all one could find for deodorant soaps.

R73, I believe that is an incorrect interpretation: life expectancy was low because so many children died young - thus why families had five or more kids, most were expected to die in their youth. But if you lived to adulthood, surviving all those childhood diseases, you had a good chance to make it to your 60s or 70s.

R60, I once hooked up with a construction worker just after he got off his shift; he stank of sweat and it was magnificent!

[quote] At least a lot of these unhygienic people had the good sense to die young!

Not exactly. As explained in the linked article:

[quote] Unhygienic living conditions and little access to effective medical care meant life expectancy was likely limited to about 35 years of age. That’s life expectancy at birth, a figure dramatically influenced by infant mortality—pegged at the time as high as 30%. It does not mean that the average person living in 1200 A.D. died at the age of 35. Rather, for every child that died in infancy, another person might have lived to see their 70th birthday. Early years up to the age of about 15 continued to be perilous, thanks to risks posed by disease, injuries, and accidents. People who survived this hazardous period of life could well make it into old age.

[quote]The 45th President of the United States was rumored to be a germaphobe.

He also fucks random hookers without a condom.

[quote] Don’t forget they were all uncut !

[quote]Why were they all uncut?

Because Staples was out of the good scissors, Rose!

Actually, they would have stripped washed every day using a basin, cloth and a jug. They were not nearly as disgusting as people today would believe.

"... the families shared the bath water."

aka Ass Soup

When Captain Cook went to Hawaii, he wore the same long underwear he had purchased for living in England. And wore it for months without having it washed.

R92, Did he turn his underwear inside out?

Some people can't smell themselves.

Such a shame to live in Hawaii with all that ocean water around and never wash your drawers. Was Capn' Cook retarded or just that fuckin trifflin?

Captain Cook's nickname was "Captain Crusty Pants."

R96, The original "Captain Crunch".

Washington and Jefferson lived in mini-palaces in colonial America. Washington was the equivalent of a billionaire.

For shitting and bathing at Monticello, see the attached link. He aspired to "French manners" (having a convenient toilet in his mansion) but seems like he didn't achieve it.

Did women stink - down there????

Washington's shitter.

Very instructive Frau explains Washington's bathing habits. Short, informative video.

R100, why is it a three-person toilet? Why did these go out of style and now it’s mostly one-person toilets?

^uh, because they nasty?

Then why wasn’t it nasty then?

Is there some reason that a toilet couldn't be built and located above a babbling brook, stream, or river, even? If they could build bridges, then they could do this. Build it and they will com...,er shit.

Your house would flood and there would be an outbreak of typhoid down stream.

well there is no stream crossing the Mount Vernon grounds. Also, they weren't stupid. Why pollute a water source that is necessary to the daily operations of their plantations?

"night soil" was a bit of a science and waste management system unto itself and generally avoided WATER.

Did Washington make big doo doos?

There are many articles on how much more hygienic Native Americans were compared to the invaders.

I saw a picture on Shorpy of tenements built over a bridge. You could see where the toilets were located by the stains that went down the side of the building into the river.

....

Something the OP (scat troll) needs badly.

“At Home” by Bill Bryson gets into a lot of grooming and plumbing history.

Really good book.

As someone who grew up in the 1960s (I was 5-14 year old), I remember kids in my neighborhood, which was average, white, middle-class in a major American city, talking about bathing only on Saturday night. Yes--bathing once, maybe twice a week. My family only had two kids and we bathed everyday, or maybe skipped a day here and there--but it was never just once a week. That was in the '60s (not all that long ago) when people did not bathe everyday. I remember a "sponge bath" was a common term. You washed yourself at the bathroom sink but didn't take a shower or bath. It's the way it was.

And bathing more than once a day was almost unheard of unless you worked out at the gym which wasn't all that common 50-60 years ago.

[quote] ^uh, because they nasty?

This tickled me so!

😂

I wonder how bad the flooding was, and it typhoid was a problem. Dumb, right?

Everyone’s ass must have stunk!

I can smell old world Russia from my house.

It's a pity Mrs Patrick Campbell (ADBA "Erna") didn't live centuries ago, despite rumors that she looked as if she did.

Waste would have been removed efficiently and bottoms would have been clean as a whistle.

I wonder. What did women do during menstruation? Someone Google it and report back, please. I'm tired. Thanks.

A hemorrhoidectomy is the gold standard. It's the total cure. The bad news is after the anesthetic wears off it really hurts, but the good news is you get prescribed the biggest oxycodone tablets you could ever have imagined. After a week you won't need them much or at all.

When I handed my prescription to the pharmacist he looked shocked and said "Come back in 2 hours. I have to make a phone call".

Ladies could order their sanitary belts and napkins from Sears Roebuck.

R119, Her chamber pot would have sold for a small fortune on eBay.

[quote] What did women do during menstruation? Someone Google it and report back, please. I'm tired.

You’re tired? Hell, I’m scared. I don’t want to see [bold]any[/bold] Google results for women’s menstruation. Jaysus.

Menustration huts.