Before the mid-nineteenth century, Americans seldom bathed for personal cleanliness. Many considered bathing to be unhealthy, believing it removed a “protective” layer of oil and dirt and exposed the body to unclean water and dangerous “miasmas,” or diseased air.
Cultural Beliefs: Many people in medieval Europe believed that bathing could be unhealthy. It was thought that immersing the body in water could open the pores, making individuals susceptible to disease.
Early Christian clergy condemned the practice of mixed bathing as practiced by the Romans, such as the pagan custom of women naked bathing in front of men; as such, the Didascalia Apostolorum, an early Christian manual, enjoined Christians to bathe themselves in those facilities that were separated by sex, which ...
Bathing Too Often
Showering every day may be a habit, but unless you're grimy or sweaty, you may not need to bathe more than a few times a week. Washing removes healthy oil and bacteria from your skin, so bathing too often could cause dry, itchy skin and allow bad bacteria to enter through cracked skin.
“The idea of being clean wasn't closely associated with water in the 17th century anywhere in the western world,” Ward says. Although bathhouses did exist in the colonies, they were not for bathing in the modern sense.
Regular bathing was still uncommon; many people would go without washing their bodies for extended periods. Clean water was often scarce and expensive, making regular bathing a luxury that only the affluent could afford. This resulted in body odor and skin conditions being prevalent among the general population.
For more effective daily cleansing of the skin – and for additional health benefits – a shower may be a better option. Showers can also give you an immune-system boost and prevent a range of ailments if you switch from hot to cold for the last few minutes of your daily routine.
Here's the deal: If you want to take a bath, that's obviously fine from an overall health standpoint (and hopefully a great, soothing experience for you). But it's not a bad idea to give your skin a quick rinse after to make sure you get off all the soap (and any residual dirt, salt, or oil it's clinging to).
There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Many doctors say a daily shower is fine for most people. (More than that could start to cause skin problems.) But for many people, two to three times a week is enough and may be even better to maintain good health.
Since the 7th century, Islam has always placed a strong emphasis on hygiene. Other than the need to be ritually clean in time for the daily prayer through Wudu and Ghusl, there are a large number of other hygiene-related rules governing the lives of Muslims.
One of the biggest challenges in medieval times was dealing with human waste. Most people lived in small villages and did not have indoor toilets, so they used outdoor privies or chamber pots. These were often emptied into nearby rivers or streams, which was a significant source of contamination.
The Priestly laws of Leviticus (so called because they were probably written by priests) require bathing to purify oneself from various things that were considered contaminating, such as skin disease ( Lev 14:8-9 ), sexual intercourse ( Lev 15:18 ), and certain bodily discharges (for example, Lev 15:5-6 ).
Modern-day hygiene was largely unknown during the Renaissance. Water was considered unhealthy. Armpits, anuses, and mouths were ripe with odors, masked only, if at all, by perfumes.
If you don't wash your body, it makes it easier for germs that cause actual skin infections to flourish. If you didn't wash at all, dirt, sweat, dead skin cells and oil would start to accumulate, and infections or ongoing skin conditions can become more serious, more difficult to manage, and harder to undo.
In the 1700s, most people in the upper class seldom, if ever, bathed. They occasionally washed their faces and hands, and kept themselves “clean” by changing the white linens under their clothing. “The idea about cleanliness focused on their clothing, especially the clothes worn next to the skin,” Ward said.
"What people tend to do is soap up their entire body, which is really not necessary," Stevenson says. "You really only need soap in your armpits, your groin and your feet. Places that you get stinky." Soap is a detergent and it helps to break down the top layer of oil and get it off your skin.
Don't take a bath every day: Daily baths can dry out your skin by ridding your body of its natural oils. Try for baths no more than twice a week. Shower between bath days. Use warm (not hot) water: Some people may experience dizziness or weakness when the temperature is too hot.
Rinse off the Residue: While a bath can be incredibly soothing and refreshing, it's important to acknowledge that the water you soaked in might contain bath oils, soap residue, or dead skin cells. Taking a quick shower afterward ensures you rinse off any lingering substances, leaving you feeling fresh and clean.
Using a hygienic cleanser is the key to beautiful skin.
On the other hand, a shower gel or a body wash comes in a squeezy sealed bottle which you have to pour out on a scrub or a loofah. Which makes it super hygienic and the entire family can use it as well. Hence there are no chances of any germs getting transferred.
In reality, the Vikings were, perhaps, some of the most hygienic people of their age. Viking travelers raided and settled around the British Isles for about 200 years, beginning around 800 A.D., bringing with them novel ideas such as thorough weekly bathing, daily hair combing, and regularly changing their clothing.
Natural Toothcare Techniques
Native Americans cleaned their teeth by using chewsticks and chewing on fresh herbs to cleanse their teeth and gums. Chewsticks were twigs that had two uses: one end was frayed by a rock and used for brushing, while the other end was sharpened and used as a tooth pick.
It is unlikely that colonists bathed on a daily or even a weekly basis. Some believed that stripping the skin of its natural oils left a person vulnerable to disease, not to mention that filling a washtub without the help of indoor plumbing was likely a laborious task.