11-15-2003, 06:15 PM
All cloth had to be fulled after weaving. It was part of the manufacturing process. Somewhere I have a picture of Egyptian fullers (no relation to me stomping on cloth that is probably in some fuller's earth mixed with urine. That's pretty much how fulling was done until I think around the 1200s when monks invented the fulling mill that mechanized some of the process, mainly the stomping part.<br>
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As for washing, I know for hundreds of years before commerical soaps, the detergent of choice was - stale urine, preferably from a young boy. Don't empty your chamber pots just yet! Clothing was soaked in the urine to neutralize the body oils that had built up in the cloth. Urine, is of course, urec acid and you need an acid to neutralize body oils. It is also free and available in mass quanitites. (Hey honey, drink another beer! I need to do laundry!) Clothing was then boiled in a lye solution, which is a base, to neutralize the urine and actually clean the clothes. Lastly things like blueing are added to keep whites whiter. I know the Romans used chalk in some of their togas to make them a brilliant white (the toga candidicta if I remember correctly from my Latin classes in jr. high) but don't know if that was used in regular laundry or if they had blueing but I'm sure they probably had something to bleach their whites. Maybe just drying them out in the sun was good enough.<br>
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Vinegar might work for working on rust stains as that's a universal cleaning agent. Don't know if the Romans had baking soda but vinegar and chalk might have the same effect. And you'd be surprised at how well stains come out if you beat your clothes over a rock.<br>
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Perhaps we should have a Roman laundry at the next Roman days. (No, I am not volunteering.<br>
<br>
Deb <p></p><i></i>
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As for washing, I know for hundreds of years before commerical soaps, the detergent of choice was - stale urine, preferably from a young boy. Don't empty your chamber pots just yet! Clothing was soaked in the urine to neutralize the body oils that had built up in the cloth. Urine, is of course, urec acid and you need an acid to neutralize body oils. It is also free and available in mass quanitites. (Hey honey, drink another beer! I need to do laundry!) Clothing was then boiled in a lye solution, which is a base, to neutralize the urine and actually clean the clothes. Lastly things like blueing are added to keep whites whiter. I know the Romans used chalk in some of their togas to make them a brilliant white (the toga candidicta if I remember correctly from my Latin classes in jr. high) but don't know if that was used in regular laundry or if they had blueing but I'm sure they probably had something to bleach their whites. Maybe just drying them out in the sun was good enough.<br>
<br>
Vinegar might work for working on rust stains as that's a universal cleaning agent. Don't know if the Romans had baking soda but vinegar and chalk might have the same effect. And you'd be surprised at how well stains come out if you beat your clothes over a rock.<br>
<br>
Perhaps we should have a Roman laundry at the next Roman days. (No, I am not volunteering.<br>
<br>
Deb <p></p><i></i>
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Deb
Sulpicia Lepdinia
Legio XX
Deb
Sulpicia Lepdinia
Legio XX
