Vintage Hygiene Practices of “ Scientific “ Western World !!!!!…….Part 1

Dead People Soaked in Honey Were Eaten for Good Health

When someone passes away these days, their body is usually cremated or put into a casket, but there was a time when people would soak dead bodies in honey. This process, called mellification, essentially turned a human into a honey-covered mummy.

They would be placed in a coffin and soaked in honey for up to a hundred years. But the worst part is that once their body would turn into a sort of confection, and people would sometimes eat it.

Apparently, the mixture of 100-year-old humans soaked in honey was supposed to be incredibly healing. People believed the combination could heal diseases and fix broken limbs.

Going to the Bathroom Was Very Different Back Then

There was a time when people all went to the bathroom together, completely exposed. It even became a place to chit-chat and socialize. There wasn’t any toilet paper back then either, so they would use a collection of materials like sticks wrapped in cloth and dipped in water or even leaves. This sounds painful, awkward, and pretty unsanitary in today’s world. Though today people still use the toilet together in public restrooms, at least there are stalls to make the experience more private.

Overall the Roman toilet setup could hardly be considered hygienic by today’s standards. And if you were the one left to clean those out, your life was horrid.

Chalk Was Eaten and Used as Face Powder to Appear Pale

Back in the Victorian days, women would consume actual chalk. Not because it was tasty but because it was known to turn your lips white, which apparently was a beauty trend then. The women would even smear the chalk powder on their faces; the paler they appeared, the better. However, these Victorian women didn’t know that their beauty products were highly addictive and even poisonous. Beauty really was a pain for them.

Thankfully this trend eventually died out, when side effects were brought to people’s attention. But it wouldn’t be long before the next gross or poisonous thing came along.

Lard Was Used to Style Hair

Looking back in time, there’s no doubt that people’s personal hygiene, medical treatments, and beauty choices were outright disgusting. Another gross practice of the 1700s has to do with the way they styled their hair. It was highly fashionable for people to wear their hair incredibly voluminously, sitting high atop their heads. But how would they successfully get that hairstyle? It stayed in place with the help of a pomade, usually made of pig or sheep’s lard.

They would spread the lard in the hair, similar to modern-day hair gel. They would even go days without washing it, attracting bugs and releasing a foul odor.

Urine Was Used to Bleach Hair

The Elizabethan era was a time full of bizarre beauty techniques, and when it comes to hair, the list of gross practices is endless. When women of that era wanted to lighten their hair, they needed something with ammonia. Why? Well, ammonia acts as a bleaching agent and would brighten their locks. But what had ammonia in it during that time? Yep, it was urine. That’s good old-fashioned pee.

Women would douse their hair in pee just to achieve a lighter color, which simply would not fly today. The lengths people went to for beauty are astounding.

Dying Teeth Black Was Seen as Beautiful

In the modern world, it is often encouraged to whiten your teeth, as this is a sign of cleanliness. However, this wasn’t always the case. In fact, it was popular in Southeast Asian countries and Japan to dye your teeth black. Though it might look frightening to most people, they were covered in a glaze-like substance that was supposed to preserve teeth and prevent them from rotting. It was even believed to be extremely beautiful.

Though this practice has mostly ended around the world, there are still a few places where this custom still exists. However, Western beauty standards would call this taboo.

People Would Dump Their Waste in Moats

Usually, the sight of a castle is breathtaking, and the moat surrounding it appears to be a small serene, and beautiful lake. But there’s a secret that most people don’t know. The moats that surrounded castles weren’t just filled with water. It was common practice to dump human waste into the water, effectively turning it into a sewer. This resulted in foul-smelling moats you would want to avoid at all costs.

There was no proper drainage and sewer system during Medieval times, so the moats acted as one. Servants would even dump food and trash into them.

Wigs Gained Popularity Because Syphilis Was so Common

In the 1500s, syphilis, the sexually transmitted disease, had surged throughout England, and the side effects were cruel. People experienced sores, blindness, dementia, and even extreme hair loss. Many people were embarrassed to be bald, so wearing wigs became popular. Louis XIV went as far as hiring 48 different wigmakers to make him wigs, and it became the newest fad. The wigs would consist of human hair, and sometimes, hair from horses and goats.

Now the wigs could serve multiple purposes: hide the effects of syphilis and baldness and serve as a marker for being a part of the higher class.

Soldiers Teeth Were Used to Make Dentures

When wealthy people lost their teeth, they had the option of replacing them with dentures. But not just any regular dentures, ones made of real teeth. In the 1800s, they were dubbed “waterloo teeth” because most of the teeth from dead soldiers at the Battle of Waterloo were used. It was a pretty gruesome process; people would go around the battle scene and pick teeth from the corpses of soldiers and then sell them.

Real teeth for dentures, belonging to dead soldiers nonetheless, are disturbing and scary to think about these days. Yet the wealthy of that time had no problem taking them.

Rotten Teeth Were a Sign of Nobility

Many people flaunt their wealth with gigantic mansions, luxury sports cars, expensive jewelry, and designer clothes. But would you believe there was a time when a sign of wealth was rotten teeth? Believe it or not, rotten teeth were sought after and served as the ultimate status symbol. This was because it meant the person consumed sugar. Sugar was an expensive and rare commodity that had to be imported, and ordinary people couldn’t afford it.

Queen Elizabeth I was known to suffer from rotten teeth, and lower-class people began staining their gums and teeth to mimic her appearance.

Shoe Polish May Have Cleaned Shoes but It Was Also Deadly

Shoe shiners were everywhere throughout the Victorian era. You would often see them set up with a little block for you to plop your shoe up onto, and they would polish away, cleaning all the gunk from the streets off of people’s shoes and making them look brand new. However, the most popular and affordable shoe polish used was a strong chemical, Nitrobenzene, that could cause serious health issues, especially after repeated exposure.

Nitrobenzene was so poisonous it could cause people to faint and, for those who worked within daily, could lead to death—a considerable price to pay for clean shoes.

Mercury Was Used as Treatment for Syphilis

Syphilis was widespread in the 1500s, and doctors found what they thought would be the cure. Dosing people with mercury seemed to do the trick. Patients would be rubbed in mercury ointment several times a day despite intense side effects. The treatment would go on for years; however, it was known to cause ulcers, teeth loss, and kidney failure. The mercury treatment alone could kill the patients before the disease did.

It is madness to think that it was once thought to be a good idea to be slathered in mercury to rid of a general disease. What could possibly be next?

People Would Brush Their Teeth With Crushed Mouse Brains

Today it is not uncommon for people to wake up and head straight to the bathroom to brush their teeth, usually brushing with a minty fresh toothpaste and brush. However, Ancient Greeks and Romans were using crushed bones, charcoal, and mouse brains to clean their teeth. That’s right, mouse brains. Though repulsive and creepy to a modern person, this was a common practice used by many almost daily as a form of dental hygiene.

This discovery only leads to the thought that there’s no doubt their breath must’ve been rancid. This is a hygiene practice that should never come back.

Leeches Were Used to Treat Most Diseases

It was once common practice to use leeches to treat various medical conditions. There was an obsession with these bloodsucking worms, which would be kept in jars and seen as the most reliable and valuable medical tool. The leeches were put on a patient’s skin and left to suck the blood for long periods of time. Apparently, this would rid the person of the tainted blood and, therefore, free the person of the illness.

Doctors often prescribed leeches as a treatment; however, today, it’s known to cause more harm than good. Those were some very dark times, and the bizarre practices seem to never end.

Mika Ayla