The History Of Personal Hygiene in America (1950's, European, Russia)

[Yeledaf]

Originally Posted by slowlane3

JAPAN has developed some very high-tech toilets recently. Some of them have warmed seats, and spray your behind afterwards with a mist to clean it - I think it might even have perfume.

Advanced models also monitor your heart rate. And in more luxurious rest rooms there is an optional "white noise" button to mask unpleasant sounds.

It really helps, though, if you can read Japanese. If you can't, be very very careful. Check out the control panel on this baby:

World’s Most Advanced Toilets of Japan | PurpleSlinky

[ABQConvict]

Originally Posted by nightbird47

One of the recent Olympics, I think the last winter one, they had to requst all the athletes not to put any paper in the toilents since they were having massive problems. It was in Europe, not third world, but apparently the norm there is a special container. It makes water treatment much simpler if you don't have to filter out paper fibers.

The last Winter Olympics was in Canada. I'm pretty sure the Canadians, by and large, have mastered the art of the paper flushing toilet.

[tvdxer]

Originally Posted by slowlane3

In Mexico, on the other hand, I've heard that people just stuff their dirty toilet paper in the restrooms' trash can.

Yes, they do (except in some resorts), and in Costa Rica too. I would ASSUME that all countries in between are the same way, since they are poorer than Mexico and Costa Rica. The reason is simple: the plumbing in those countries can't handle paper. Just as if you were to flush a ream of letter paper down the toilet (or tampons, etc.) here, toilet paper clogs the pipes and often requires "de-clogging" which can be a very unpleasant process.

I haven't taken any long whiffs or anything, but generally, bathrooms in those countries aren't really unpleasant smelling. I think they use odorized trash bags or something.

[banjomike]

According to some of my ancestors, the folks who moved west over the Oregon trail used a lot of bar soap and water. They cleaned their bottoms with it, used a large pan to take sponge baths and do laundry in, and continued those practices after they settled down.

Standard cowboy gear, for the men who worked from ranch to ranch, always included an enameled wash basin; while full baths were rare, the use of the basin and a rag removed the daily dirt and dust well enough. The dust is abrasive, and wears clothing out quickly that isn't washed regularly, so they did a little laundry quite often. Since everyone wore long johns, there was very little nudity in both bathing and clothes washing.

There are a lot of old photos showing immigrants bathing in rivers and creeks. Every time they encountered a good spot, they would jump in and clean up.

Winters were different, especially in the northwest. Folks who could afford it would buy another set of trousers, larger than the first, and wear two sets. The same with shirts, and most often, the second set was wool that was very hard finished, almost like felt. They didn't wash the wool, but wore it while they cleaned the set underneath.

Women always wore at least one more layer of clothing than the men, year round. It made them sweatier, but they had more modesty, so the middle layer was acceptable to be seen, but the undergarments were not.

[Trimac20]

Anyone who's travelled much in Asia will probably know to keep some toilet paper handy with them, unless they wanna use a hose to wash their behind after going. In some Muslim nations they use their left hand to wash there, using their right to eat.

[tyvin]

The smell of Paris; the great stink of London. It seems ever since Rome was sacked and the aqua ducts trashed that no one could figure out how to do the running water bit. So people literally peed and pooped in the streets of big cities in Europe and England. People went in buckets inside their houses disposing it on the sidewalk knowing that later people who were hired would scrape it up later at night. Just boggles my mind.

The history of our habits of disposing of our waste is absolutely astounding. Rural people were cleaner of course living close to water or water sources. I was born in 1953 and as a child I remember we only bathed on Wednesday. We didn't stink and to this day I only bathe once or twice a week. Of course I do live next to the sea and go to the beach all the time (availing of the showers there).

It's known that many of the wigs of the 16th and 17th centuries were worn for hygienic reason due to dirty hair attracted lots of lice. So it was common for both men and women to shave their heads and opt for a wigs in Europe and England. Interesting stuff.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by tyvin

The smell of Paris; the great stink of London. It seems ever since Rome was sacked and the aqua ducts trashed that no one could figure out how to do the running water bit. So people literally peed and pooped in the streets of big cities in Europe and England. People went in buckets inside their houses disposing it on the sidewalk knowing that later people who were hired would scrape it up later at night. Just boggles my mind.

The history of our habits of disposing of our waste is absolutely astounding. Rural people were cleaner of course living close to water or water sources. I was born in 1953 and as a child I remember we only bathed on Wednesday. We didn't stink and to this day I only bathe once or twice a week. Of course I do live next to the sea and go to the beach all the time (availing of the showers there).

It's known that many of the wigs of the 16th and 17th centuries were worn for hygienic reason due to dirty hair attracted lots of lice. So it was common for both men and women to shave their heads and opt for a wigs in Europe and England. Interesting stuff.

You shower once or twice a week? What line of work are you in...?

Do you at least wear deodorant daily?

[tyvin]

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

You shower once or twice a week? What line of work are you in...?

Do you at least wear deodorant daily?

I'm an APN specializing in mental health...I think perhaps you should hone up on your reading comprehension skill set.

[Tracysherm]

I've always thought the history of deaths from "childbed fever" was an interesting hygiene tale.


It was very common from the 1600s (when physicians attending to childbirth became more common) to the mid-1800s for women to die from infection shortly after giving birth, this was commonly called childbed fever. There was no concept of germs, and physicians rarely washed their hands. They would examine patient after patient, transferring bacteria from patient to patient, in hospitals and when doing house calls.

A Viennese doctor, Ignaz Semmelweiss, began to study the problem in the 1840s, and continued throught the 1850s. He found in a Vienna hospital that doctors would perform autopsies all morning, then have lunch, then without having washed their hands all day, examine women in the maternity wards. They found that women attended by midwives had a much lower rate of childbed (puerperal) fever than those attended by doctors. The midwives didn't perform autopsies, and tended to wash their hands more. Semmelweiss found similar findings in a subsequent study in Hungary. He urged doctors to wash their hands, and use disinfectant, but with both published studies, his findings were mostly ignored.

He kept on for years, trying to get the European medical establishment to wash and disinfect their hands and instruments. He was ridiculed and alienated, and subsequently fell into a deep depression. He ended up in a mental institution, where he later died, ironically, of an infection that had set into a wound he had gotten.

Years later, Louis Pasteur's research confirmed Semmelweiss's theory, and eventually, he was lauded as an important figure in medical history (better late than never I guess).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerperal_fever


Ignaz Semmelweis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by tyvin

I'm an APN specializing in mental health...I think perhaps you should hone up on your reading comprehension skill set.

And I think you should work the word "daily" into your hygiene habits.