Standards of hygiene in the roman empire

[MARCVS PETRONIVS MAIVS]

Most dirt (and yes, even blood) is fairly easily removed with oil or water, assisted sometimes by wood ash (the 'handy hand cleaner' of ancient times).

So technically you could 'bathe' yourself in wood ash and then scrape it off and wash yourself with water?

When I grew up (not all that many centuries ago), being clean did not involve scrubbing yourself and adding chemicals daily; I got into the habit of that because it was sold to me as 'what everyone does'. A few years ago (after an outbreak of excema) my doctor sent me to a dermatologist, who's first question was "Do you wash daily?" and his first advice "stop it, it's very bad for the health of your skin". Look around the 'net a little, you'll see there's plenty of support for his conclusions.

Yes, I had heard excessive washing is not desirable, like many other excesses.

No, we use antiperspirants and deodorants because a whole industry has grown up convincing us they are necessary. Antiperspirants are designed to block your pores and seal off your sweat-glands. As well as preventing your body from controlling its temperature properly, this causes the secretions of those glands to build up and thicken, causing all sorts of skin problems; it also causes the scents that the sebaceous sweat glands secrete to become stale, hence the need for deodorants. Incidentally, the process of natural selection (you believe in that right? t is modern and scientific) means that the scents secreted by your that are naturally attractive to humans (the musky scents of perfumes try to imitate them).

I agree with nearly everything you have said. But I don't know, perhaps its just me, but for whatever reason, if I don't wear deodorant, after a while I do get an unpleasant scent, especially out in the sun or exercising. Usually wearing deodorant eliminates the problem.

Nowadays I work in a customer-facing role in enclosed office environments and bathe once a week again, I never use antiperspirants or deodorants (I avoid most commercial bath soaps) and never have a problem with BO. Fresh water washes off fresh sweat as and when necessary.

Sadly that would not work for me. Perhaps you are just lucky or it is just me, although to be fair I have never just tried washing my armpits individually, its usually deodorant and then daily shower.

LOL!!! This one always gets me! What magic is there in a washing machine? It is a drum with (usually three) paddles in it. The task of these paddles is .... to beat your clothes in a soapy water solution. That is all it does, no technological marvels, nothing more than you could do beside a river, with a rock (just less effort).

Yes I know the principle is the same, it is just more convenient and less time consuming.

[Alan E]

Most dirt (and yes, even blood) is fairly easily removed with oil or water, assisted sometimes by wood ash (the 'handy hand cleaner' of ancient times).

So technically you could 'bathe' yourself in wood ash and then scrape it off and wash yourself with water?

Euugh! No!! Wood ash plus fats plus water = lye; like I said ancient 'handy hand cleaner', but you wouldn't want to bathe in Gunk or Swarfega (to name two products at random). Lye is astringent and can be fairly nasty (careful, it can burn), but basic wood-ash lye cleans plates and I've used it to clean stains off my hands and nails.

...[snip]... But I don't know, perhaps its just me, but for whatever reason, if I don't wear deodorant, after a while I do get an unpleasant scent, especially out in the sun or exercising. Usually wearing deodorant eliminates the problem.

Nowadays I work in a customer-facing role in enclosed office environments and bathe once a week again, I never use antiperspirants or deodorants (I avoid most commercial bath soaps) and never have a problem with BO. Fresh water washes off fresh sweat as and when necessary.

Sadly that would not work for me. Perhaps you are just lucky or it is just me, although to be fair I have never just tried washing my armpits individually, its usually deodorant and then daily shower.

That's where the plain water comes in, yes rinsing the under-arms (etc) is what older generations used to call a stand-up wash (or 'top and tail'), it can easily be done from a pump or tap-stand, or even a bucket of (non-drinking-quality) water. From observation I think that many people who are used to showers and baths have forgotten the means of basic hygiene that our ancestors took for granted (I know it's true of a great many in the generation after me, often in my generation too).

LOL!!! This one always gets me! What magic is there in a washing machine? It is a drum with (usually three) paddles in it. The task of these paddles is .... to beat your clothes in a soapy water solution. That is all it does, no technological marvels, nothing more than you could do beside a river, with a rock (just less effort).

Yes I know the principle is the same, it is just more convenient and less time consuming.

Point is though, beating on a rock can get the clothes just as clean (and sun-bleaching doesn't contaminate clothes with chemicals).

Anyway, I think I've made any point I had ... back to lurk mode

[MARCVS PETRONIVS MAIVS]

Thanks for clarifying, makes much more sense now.

Also, could you please have your real name in your signature, its a forum rule :wink:

[Carlton Bach]

There is a good book on the issue

Günther Thüry: Müll und Marmorsäulen

He decided to look at exactly that kind of questrion - what did the Romans do to garbage, sewage etc in a typical settlement, how hygienic were they, really?

The answer is, not very, but a lot better than others.

[MARCVS PETRONIVS MAIVS]

There is a good book on the issue

Günther Thüry: Müll und Marmorsäulen

He decided to look at exactly that kind of questrion - what did the Romans do to garbage, sewage etc in a typical settlement, how hygienic were they, really?

The answer is, not very, but a lot better than others.

Wow! Really? Is there a english translation of this book?

[Carlton Bach]

There is a good book on the issue

Günther Thüry: Müll und Marmorsäulen

He decided to look at exactly that kind of questrion - what did the Romans do to garbage, sewage etc in a typical settlement, how hygienic were they, really?

The answer is, not very, but a lot better than others.

Wow! Really? Is there a english translation of this book?

I don't think so, but if you bug Philipp von Zabern Verlag enough, they might commission one.

[Casmin]

I think we'd we'd really find folks of the era to be quite stinky by our current standards until we got "used" to the smell.

Mike

I agree. In some places of the world today, deodorants are not used, however, the people do not find themselves as stinky. To them we probably smell like floral arrangements.

[DECIMvS MERCATIvS VARIANvS]

You know, when EVERYONE stinks, nobody does. We have been conditioned by modern ideals and not what they thought then...