It is widely known, in any unsanitary conditions people lived Medieval times. But few realize what hygienic problems disappeared also for frilly dresses Rococo and romantic appearance of the heroines of early nineteenth-century…
Such airy beauty and had no idea about the many benefits of civilization that are familiar to us. It is difficult to imagine what difficulties they had in daily life for parts of hygiene and associated health… some 150-200 years ago to cope with the smell of sweat was very difficult, and regular washing of the private parts was considered as a cause of infertility!
So soak in hot water? Women of past centuries is fun and never dreamed… Oh, by the way, many of them never themselves would not have agreed to climb into the tub!
Washed the Europeans crane reluctantly believed that the water in the pores penetrate the infection, the body will weaken and will pick up the consumption…
It was thought that frequent washing – nothing but trouble, and even possible harm…
That had to literally persuade doctors to their patients. For example Friedrich Bilz at the end of the XIX century exhorts the Germans in his book “the New natural treatment”:
“There are people who, in truth, did not dare to swim in the river or in the bath, because from childhood never entered the water. This unfounded fear. After the fifth or sixth bath you get used to it”.
A little early even monarchs washed everything a couple times in my life: so in the fifteenth century Isabella confessed that was washed only twice: at birth and before the wedding. Louis XIV was forced to swim the doctors, but washing him was terrified and he had sworn never to do it…
Until the EIGHTEENTH century only rinsed hands and mouth area. Regularly washing the face is not advised doctors believed that it threatens to inflammation or loss of vision.
But by the XIX century took baths mostly due to illness – if they are prescribed by a doctor. Hot or cold, with the addition of salt, by the minute… And so treated by washing the hands and face, well, sometimes a wiping with a damp towel.
But popular fragrant infusions, rose water, cushions with dried herbs in the clothes…
Perfume, by the way, during the reign of Louis XIV was even prescribed by Royal decree! Without them to come to court were not allowed – had something to drown out the “flavors” unwashed aristocrats…
And only the middle of the nineteenth century, when finally established the role of bacteria and dirt in the development of disease, regular bathing began to take on a mass character.
However women until the early twentieth century recommended not to get carried away washing your intimate areas – it supposedly makes them infertile.
Worse wash could be just books! The doctor claimed that reading is particularly dangerous, as other, God forbid, a mental exercise – for the ladies in the critical days, when the moral strain dangerous to health…
By the way, those same spirits were interrupted, of course, unpleasant body odor and tighten the corsets and tight dresses of layers of fabric, but did not eliminate it completely.
Only to 1888 finally found a way to deal with the smell of sweat and released their first deodorant. However, it would seem inefficient To us… antiperspirants, which reduce sweating, thought only to 1903.
Included in the eighteenth century in Grand fashion hairstyles were very time-consuming: the hair they put professional hairdressers for several hours. Enough to flaunt such beauty, like the tower of Babel or of the ship on the head, and sleeping beauty on special supports for the hair. Naturally, this artwork is not assorted weeks and months.
Well, it is not surprising that these creations have become a hotbed of biting animals, if not turned into a mouse nest ) Here in the Middle ages, the Spaniard rubbed the hair against lice garlic. And the daughter of one of the French kings even died from their own lice.
Well, in order to scratch your head, at the noble ladies were special sticks… And if it came to wash – treated with soap. Sometimes a special for hair… As if something could still here to help!
Also used different home remedies: ash, mustard and so on. Shampoo that have allowed how to wash hair and make them supple and shiny, invented only at the end of the XIX century.
Silk vests, by the way, there it is because of their slippery fabric could not hold on lice and fleas. This linen has helped wealthy ladies to protect yourselves from bloodsuckers.
Until 1920-ies of the women, especially nobles, appeared in public only in private clothes. So the hair on the body they didn’t touch.
Here’s a soap to maintain the ladies ‘ beauty in the nineteenth century produced fairly, with different varieties…
Of course, no ready disposable hygiene products for critical days in the shop. Women had to use pieces of cloth or felt special. A poor had these makeshift pads to wash and dry.
Familiar to us the toilet paper in Europe was not there… It is in China, it began to produce more in the VI century! And in 1391 for the Emperor and his court, according to the Chronicles, was specially made around 750,000 sheets of hygiene. Europeans first surprised to meet it in 1857, a businessman from Germany. And similar to the modern – soft and the coils started to produce only в1890 year in the United States. So far as toilet paper is used the means at hand, mainly the Newspapers…
Yes, indeed, to be a beauty in those days was not easy!
