Personal Hygiene during the golden era? did some people only bath once a week??

[Jools]

I guess it's where you grew up. I grew up in my grandparent's 1920 house, where my grandfather had a custom made, extra long bathtub put in. (I can lie down in it completely. He was over 6 feet tall, tall for the day.) My dad was born in 1920, my mom in 1923. Both said they bathed daily. BUT my mom said she only washed her hair once a week, because she had to set it in pincurls. So it was typical to wash your hair on Fridays. She also said she frequently went to work with her hair in pincurls, with a "do-rag" on them....and it was not an uncommon sight in those days.

 

[rue]

I guess it's where you grew up. I grew up in my grandparent's 1920 house, where my grandfather had a custom made, extra long bathtub put in. (I can lie down in it completely. He was over 6 feet tall, tall for the day.) My dad was born in 1920, my mom in 1923. Both said they bathed daily. BUT my mom said she only washed her hair once a week, because she had to set it in pincurls. So it was typical to wash your hair on Fridays. She also said she frequently went to work with her hair in pincurls, with a "do-rag" on them....and it was not an uncommon sight in those days.

Jools! Happy to see you post again

I only wash my hair twice a week, but I shower everyday. At the very least I have to shave every single day or it creeps me out.

 

[Jools]

I have to wash my uber-curly hair every day, or I get dreadlocks. It is not pretty. No siree.
I asked my mom. She said her parents bathed every day...except during Prohibition. My grandfather was using the bath intermittently to brew beer.

 

[rue]

I have to wash my uber-curly hair every day, or I get dreadlocks. It is not pretty. No siree.
I asked my mom. She said her parents bathed every day...except during Prohibition. My grandfather was using the bath intermittently to brew beer.

Well.... Yeah! Liquor comes before bathing... hello?! lol

 

[cookie]

My grandparents would only bathe once or twice a week but would take a "sponge bath" every morning while getting ready for work along with teeth brushing and shaving. The women would often wash their hair in the bathrrom or kitchen sink at night before bed. Despite being very poor they and their home was very clean, filth was not tolerated.

My Dad worked on the ships from about 13 years old. He used to tell the story of some guy who went to the bathroom with what Dad called his "bag of tricks". Dad reckoned he spent so much time on the ablutions with the ''bag of tricks'' that he could have had a proper shower in the meantime!

If you want to know about what they did in certain classes for ablutions in the no bathroom era watch the film "Sporting Life" with ä very young Richard Harris. When they referred to "toe rags"as a term of disrespect for crims on The Bill I did not know exactly what they meant until I saw that film...a British classic BTW.

 

[Jools]

The laundry thing is interesting. This city, like many big cities, had laundries. In doing research for a book (history, 1851-1929) there were several laundries in this part of town, from the very earliest days. They picked up and delivered.

I can remember the Chinese laundry picking up and delivering my dad's shirts in the 1960s and 1970s.

But it was traditional for women to do laundry on Mondays, and ironing on Tuesdays. Why? Because the soot in the air from the industry was the least on Mondays, and laundry was generally hung outside to dry...or in the basement.

When I was a little kid, we had a gigantic mangle in the basement of our house- it is a giant clothes press. We got rid of it sometime in the 1970s....but it was fantastic for ironing a shirt or a tablecloth!
I remember using a "wringer-washer" in Alaska, when I worked up there. Actually, it was amazingly efficient!

I know that one of the things that drove my dad nuts in WWII was not being able to bathe on a regular basis. (Well, that, and being shot at by the Japanese, and getting dengue fever and malaria. )

You know in old movies where the dame turns down a guy for a date because "she has to wash her hair"? Well, it's true, and not just a made up excuse. My mom told me that she would do her hair Friday nights, so it would look great on Saturday!

 

[scottyrocks]

I know that one of the things that drove my dad nuts in WWII was not being able to bathe on a regular basis. (Well, that, and being shot at by the Japanese, and getting dengue fever and malaria. )

Minor hijack:

One of the local talk radio stations runs a spot about dengue fever, calling it a problem in developing countries. I didnt know it had been around for so long. The ad, arguably, makes it sound like its a fairly recent thing. It mightve sounded fairly recent because they are now looking here for research dollars. At any rate, it sounds like a very painful illness.