Humans have probably been bathing since the Stone Age, not least because the vast majority of European caves that contain Palaeolithic art are short distances from natural springs. By the Bronze Age, beginning around 5,000 years ago, washing had become very important.
The oldest accountable daily ritual of bathing can be traced to the ancient Indians. They used elaborate practices for personal hygiene with three daily baths and washing. These are recorded in the works called grihya sutras which date back to 500 BCE and are in practice today in some communities.
Before soap, many people around the world used plain ol' water, with sand and mud as occasional exfoliants. Depending on where you lived and your financial status, you may have had access to different scented waters or oils that would be applied to your body and then wiped off to remove dirt and cover smell.
Cleanliness now and then
In the 1700s, most people in the upper class seldom, if ever, bathed. They occasionally washed their faces and hands, and kept themselves “clean” by changing the white linens under their clothing.
Ample archaeological evidence points to soap making arising in the Near Ancient East. At the very least, it is well documented there in the art and culture of the time. Babylonians, Mesopotamians, Egyptians, ancient Greeks and Romans were all making and using a soap-like substances for various purposes by 2800 BC.
One hot bath a week sufficed for most people. In the 1920s, the attitude toward cleanliness shifted significantly. Both body and clothes cleanliness became a standard requirement. As the new house appliances became more available and economical, cleanliness in the house also became a requirement.
Fast forward to 1767, when the first patent for a shower was granted to William Feetham, a stove maker from Ludgate Hill in London. These early modern-day showers were powered by a hand pump and used less water than baths.
1800s-1900s
They used woven fabric or flannel to make homemade cloths to use during their menstrual cycle. Soon, people started having concerns about possible bacteria growth (duh!) from these homemade cloths since they were reused between each cycle and cleaning may not have been adequate.
They also felt that with the pores widened after a bath, this resulted in infections of the air having easier access to the body. Hence, bathing, particularly at bathhouses, became connected with the spread of diseases.
Many doctors say a daily shower is fine for most people. (More than that could start to cause skin problems.) But for many people, two to three times a week is enough and may be even better to maintain good health. It depends in part on your lifestyle.
A healthy body eliminates unhealthy substances naturally, a self-cleaning system – the kidneys filter toxins from the blood and excretes them in urine, the liver helps remove unwanted substances from the body, the lungs breathe out toxins and the digestive tract absorbs the nutrition from food while letting unhealthy ...
Science continues to zero in on, to make more precise, what we 'feel' to be right: dirt causes disease. But as a species, we are naturally hygienic – in fact, we 'knew' that all along.
The Native Americans that colonists encountered had different priorities in terms of hygiene. Like the Wampanoag, most Native Americans bathed openly in rivers and streams. And they also thought it was gross for Europeans to carry their own mucus around in handkerchiefs.
Soap was sometimes used & hair was washed using an alkaline solution such as the one obtained from mixing lime & salt. As most people ate meals without knives, forks or spoons, it was also a common convention to wash hands before and after eating.
You don't need to use conventional soaps in your daily hygiene routine. All you absolutely need, bare bones, to stay clean is water. Just water. Water does a fine job of rinsing away dirt without stripping vital oils from your skin.
A person's hands and face were the things most likely to be cleaned daily, if possible. Some people, uncomfortable with being dirty or overly smelly, would wash themselves in a river or stream: In such circumstances, nice smells were very welcome.
University of Birmingham researchers have discovered that at least 50% of people do not have a habit of automatic handwashing after using the toilet in China (77%), Japan (70%), South Korea (61%) and the Netherlands (50%).
Did you know that Victorians didn't wash their clothes regularly? This is because it was really hard work and so people didn't want to do it all the time. Sometimes, they would go an entire month without washing them!
Among tools people used in the past were moss, sponge on a stick, ceramic pieces and bamboo 'spatulas. '
The Victorian Period (And Beyond)
From the 1890s to the early 1980s, people used sanitary belts, which basically were reusable pads that attached to a belt worn around the waist – and yes, they were as uncomfortable as they sound.
In ancient Rome, women with heavy menstrual bleeding would be treated by applying ligatures to the groin and to the armpits, thus blocking off blood flow throughout the body. It was theorized this also resulted in the reduction of blood flow to the uterus.
1800s to 1900: Turn of the century – From rags to riches? In European and North American societies through most of the 1800s, homemade menstrual cloths made out of flannel or woven fabric were the norm–think “on the rag.”
In the late 15th century, Queen Isabella of Spain bragged that she had only bathed twice in her whole life.
Noah Riffe took a shower in 36.10 seconds. He set the record to raise awareness for the Records For Water campaign.