But Honey, You Just Took a Bath Last Year! Bathing Is So Overrated

You probably didn't like taking a bath when you were a kid but if you are like most adults, going more then a few days without one is uncomfortable and embarrassing. In our day and age, people who stink tend to be treated like the proverbial leper but being malodorous hasn't always been an instant turn off. In fact, it used to be the popular fashion!

People in the dark ages sometimes never bathed at all and even as recently as the 1800s people tended to bathe very infrequently (of course, in some parts of the world this is still true). If you think this would be unpleasant now, just consider what that meant back then. For one thing, there was no such thing as air conditioning and for another, people lived in close contact with animals everyday. Horses were the main form of transportation and if you have ever been around one you know just how much they can stink. Imagine then, hundreds of horses traveling up and down the street grinding into airborne powder the manure the other horses have left before them. There was also no indoor plumbing as we know it today so you would most likely find yourself surrounded by human waste as well as animal waste.

Once you start to understand some of the obstacles to bathing that the people back then faced though, it does become easier to understand why they were willing to avoid the bathtub in spite of the overpowering smells. For one thing the mechanics of it was so much more difficult then we are familiar with today and during Roman times the public bathing areas had become more of a brothel then a bath. But even so, with such overpowering odors to contend with they surely would have been willing to make the extra effort. Just what kind of difficulties could have made them willing to live with this stink?

Mission BATH!

I don't know about you but I get so busy that I find myself resenting having to spend the little time it takes to shower and if it weren't for the unpleasant results I'm sure I would be showering less. Imagine then, how quickly the frequency of showering would drop for Americans if they had to overcome the difficulties our ancestors did.

First of all, there was no indoor plumbing as we know it today, until within the last 100 to 200 years. So, if you wanted to take that bath you would have to haul all the water in by hand and in case you never noticed it takes a lot of water to fill a tub. Then of course, you would have to heat the water until it reached the desired temperature. Many families in early American history would try to make the most of their prepared bath by having the entire family take their bath in the same water. They would generally start with the father, then mother, then the oldest child on down to the youngest. By the time
the baby was bathed, the water would usually be a very dark color and this practice is believed to be the source of the old cliché "don't throw the baby out with bathwater". It's not that hard to lose the baby in that kind of murk! Still, as a knowledge of the importance of cleanliness began to increase, the frequency of bathing also increased. In addition to taking more baths, some would take 'spit baths' by washing themselves down with water from a small wash basin between regular baths.

Many of you may be asking why they didn't just go jump in a lake. That option had a lot of problems too. For example, those who lived in northern climates had to contend with VERY cold water. I once decided that I would like to go swimming in a clear beautiful beaver pond but I only got my feet wet. The water was so cold that it felt like liquid nitrogen and I was hopping out of there in a hurry. Cold water isn't the only obstacle, however, bathing in 'wild' water can prove problematic because of the animal and human waste and disease. Many places are virtually open sewers and in that kind of a situation Giardia would be he least of your problems.

The technical obstacles to taking a bath would be enough to stop many people from doing it very frequently but the people in the dark ages also had moral objections to the practice.

Is Bathing Immoral?

Early Christian's objected to bathing because it was usually done in the Roman style. Much of Europe and the middle east was under the rule of the Roman empire prior to the start of the dark ages and one of the most common Roman customs throughout the conquered countries was the Roman bath house.

These bathhouses have been found as far north as England and they typically became the central social hub of the city. If you were to travel back in time and visit one you might recognize many similarities with a modern spa but these bathhouses had other less 'modern' services available and this was what early Christian's found morally objectionable. Many different reports of the available activities have come down through the ages and in the preserved city of Pompeii the bathhouse was decorated with art of so hard core pornographic a nature that for many years female tourists were not allowed in to view it. It's no wonder then that Christian's didn't feel comfortable visiting such places. Unfortunately, many people did not make a distinction between bathing and Roman bathhouses. This led over time to bathing itself being viewed as immoral. There is no evidence, however, from sources such as the Bible to support this belief and thankfully it finally fell away.

Not everything about these times were bad, some of the dresses that women wore in old Europe were very beautiful but we can all be glad that the paintings we have of them aren't scratch and sniff! I do want to point out here though, that we will never be able to get rid of our body odor entirely. Indeed, many unfortunate people can't get rid of body odor no matter how many times they shower. Considerate treatment of everyone is a must, after all, you never know when it might be you with the problem.

Despite our inherent 'stinkiness' we have come a long way and we have much to be grateful for...we don't have to haul water long distances and generally we don't have to worry about getting a life ending disease from while taking a bath. After looking at some of the problems people in earlier times faced it kind of gives you a new appreciation for the humble shower doesn't it?