Dirty Little Secrets: 18th Century Hygiene
Soap: It's Not Just for Lords Anymore! The topic of cleanliness and hygiene comes up frequently at events. You know the questions: “Why didn’t people take baths?” “They had soap, why didn’t they use it?” and so on. There is a widespread assumption that people in history bathed only once a year—if at all-- and used excessive perfumes and oils to cover body odor. Some people did use perfumes, powders, and oils to smells, of course—just as people do today with highly perfumed laundry products, scented deodorants, mouth washes, etc. But the idea that people in the 18 th century were a mass of reeking unwashed bodies is simply not true. Figure 1 We do not have an excessive amount of documentation for the process of washing and bathing for personal hygiene because, like many mundane activities, it was not noteworthy enough to be frequently documented. How often do you write about taking a shower? But people in the 18 th century did want to be clean and smell n...