DISGUSTING HYGIENE PRACTICES FROM HISTORY

STREETS

Up until the 18th century there was no effective street cleaning

regime. Most streets in the city were covered with faeces

(both human and animal), urine, animal corpses

and rotting food.

FLOORS

Indoors, the dirt floor was often covered with straw. While the

top layer was often changed, the bottom layer was usually

left alone. As you can imagine, this effectively led to a

bacteria breeding ground.

EYEBROWS

Unfashionable eyebrows were often masked by small

bits of skin from a mouse.

SEWERS

In cities that did have some sort of sewer system, it was typically

open, as in there were no sewer drains. People would just

throw stuff in. Of course this beat throwing stuff straight

into the street.

RIVERS AND LAKES

Lakes and rivers got so polluted by waste that in the 14th century

the English Parliament levied fines against illegal dumping.

MAKEUP

Women during the Victorian Era used a lead powder to give their

faces a creamy white complexion. Instead of washing, many

times they would just keep adding more lead. Not

surprisingly, this led to many sicknesses.

FRECKLES

Freckles were considered unsightly and often people would rub

sulphur into their skin to try getting rid of them.

DEODORANT

They didn’t have it. Not even a little bit. Pretty much everyone

smelled funky and nobody noticed because they were used to it.

Royalty, however, did sometimes use flowers to smell better.