Innumerable literary works, movies, and television shows produced in the past century
that allude to the Victorian era idealize the period.
Exquisite dresses, wealthy homes, and passionate romance characterize the age.
If we were to dig beneath the layers of silk and lace,
we would uncover that the Victorians were, in fact, quite unhygienic.
Bathing weekly was rare, and for some, even a daily wash was unheard of.
It is, therefore, unsurprising that the Victorian era
was plagued with frequent bouts of disease.
Furthermore, women bore the brunt of peculiar trends in hygiene.
So join me now as we embark on an enlightening journey
and unravel the facade of the supposedly immaculate
Victorians, albeit while holding our breath.
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In the past,
Victorians used various methods to clean their garments besides soap.
For instance, when dealing with oil and grease stains,
they often resorted to rubbing chalk into the fabric,
whereas kerosene was known to be effective at removing grass and blood stains.
Milk was a popular choice among Victorians
to eliminate the odours and stains caused by urine.
They also used urine to whiten their clothes since it contained ammonia.
However, washing clothes 150 years ago
was an arduous task that took hours to complete.
The washing machine, a modern electric wonder, was widely available in the 1880s.
Yet even then, the device was a far cry from today’s current models,
requiring a woman with strong arms to operate it all day.
Many women avoided using the washing machine
until the 20th century due to its tendency to rip clothes or leave rust marks.
Moreover, the washing machine was only one aspect of the laundry process.
The clothes had to be soaked, rinsed multiple times, boiled, starched,
blued or bleached, wrung out, hung up to dry, and ironed.
And as for unwashable clothes, it was a problem that needed to be solved.
“Washing,” stated Mrs Julia McNair Wright in her 1879 book,
The Complete Home: An Encyclopedia of Domestic Life &
Affairs, “...is a great burden, and often a family bugbear.”
Her book went so far as to suggest that laundry was such a burden
that clothes were often left unwashed for weeks,
prompting her to recommend that women do their laundry
every week.
During the 1800s and early 1900s,
tooth decay was an unpleasant reality that plagued people’s lives.
However, the only remedy available at the time was extraction.
Those who suffered from toothache often found themselves in the hands
of local barbers or blacksmiths, who also served as surgeons.
Unfortunately, thousands died from the botched treatment,
infections, and other complications.
In Britain, dentistry was a back-alley nightmare
for most of the 19th century, except for the middle and upper classes,
who could easily afford toothbrushes and toothpaste.
However, most working-class people had to concoct their toothpaste
from materials such as soot, chalk, or powdered cuttlefish.
Toothbrushes of the
time often had abrasive bristles and wooden handles.
For those who couldn’t afford a toothbrush, celery was believed
to be a suitable alternative for cleaning teeth while eating.
Although oral hygiene was minimal,
dentistry was even worse.
The Dentists Act was enacted in
1878, restricting the titles
of “dentist” and “dental surgeon” to registered practitioners.
Eventually this legal action brought a degree of order and professionalism
to dentistry, which had been sorely lacking
for many years.
During the 19th century, London
was the capital of the world’s most extensive and well-known
empire, yet it was infamous for its horrendous conditions.
The city was plagued with thick, sooty fogs that permeated the atmosphere,
while the Thames River was contaminated with human waste.
The streets themselves were perpetually coated in mud,
and in the 1890s, the city was home to around 300,000 horses,
producing a staggering 1,000 tons of dung daily.
To address the issue, the Victorians resorted to enlisting young boys,
aged 12 to 14, to dart between moving
traffic and rapidly scoop up the animal excrement from the streets.
Even though the first public lavatories were erected at the Great Exhibition
in Hyde Park in 1851, the early indoor
water closets presented numerous amenities that preceded indoor plumbing.
As a result, human waste was frequently dumped
into large cesspools in buildings’ basements.
Although this seemed like an ideal alternative to unsanitary chamber
pots or outhouses, the cesspools ultimately reached capacity,
and their putrid odours often permeated the living spaces above.
Consequently, the practice of “night soil men” arose,
representing a cottage industry responsible for emptying cesspools
and selling the waste to farmers as fertilizer.
As per the laws of the time, emptying cesspools
could only occur during the nighttime, as the task was deemed too disturbing
to undertake during daylight hours.
Innovations in plumbing have revolutionized people’s approach
towards personal hygiene, significantly reducing unpleasant odours.
A round of applause for the marvellous invention
of indoor plumbing and sewage systems!
During the early stages of the Victorian period,
the primary purpose of bathing was to achieve therapeutic benefits.
Sponge baths were all the rage, and cleaning your face, feet,
armpits, and intimate areas once daily sufficed.
However, taking a bath for your entire body every day was deemed
a terrible idea.
When full-body bathing became more common, publications that provided Victorians
with explicit details about what to expect
during the experience were circulated.
One book even presented a collection of “Toilet
Recipes” for the curious uninitiated.
Like the urban myth of swimming, people were warned
against bathing for four hours after a substantial meal.
Victorian citizens were advised against washing their faces when travelling
unless they could sanitize the water with alcohol or ammonia beforehand.
One of the most popular beauty treatments suggested was the “Russian bath,”
which entailed washing your face with boiling and then icy water.
All this to stave off wrinkles.
In the 1930s,
commercial shampoo ushered in a new era that changed the world.
However, this development raises an intriguing question:
what did people use before shampoo?
Did they rely solely on water, soap, or some other substance?
During the Victorian Era, the streets were flooded with thousands of
doctors who extolled the health benefits of bathing to the masses.
The Victorians were renowned for their fascination
with novel industrial products and health crazes.
Although washing hair with lye a highly concentrated
solution of potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide
remained a widespread practice.
A challenge emerged in the form of the unassuming egg.
Women would crack several eggs over their heads
approximately once a month, work up the slimy egg into a lather in their hair,
and then rinse it.
While the Victorians were obsessed with hair, modern shampoo was a far-off notion.
Diluted vinegar was another popular option for hair washing.
Numerous other cooking-related products were commonly used
as hair-washing alternatives before shampoo’s advent.
Rosemary, black tea, and rum were suitable substances
for cleansing hair.
During the Victorian era, the concept of foul
odours was not merely unpleasant but believed to be hazardous.
The miasma theory, often called “night air,” claimed that various illnesses,
such as chlamydia and cholera, could be transmitted via unclean air.
The Victorians attributed the poor health conditions
in London’s impoverished areas to the street stenches.
Not even the esteemed nurse, Florence Nightingale,
was immune to the influence of the miasma theory;
she believed that clean air was crucial for patient recovery.
The lack of sanitation in industrial areas led to diseases,
which resulted in unpleasant smells.
Modern medicine and sanitation practices have since been discredited
Though even
modern cities may have a distinct scent during the summer,
nothing compares to the disgusting odour that once
plagued London in 1858.
The River Thames, which is now picturesque, used to be the city’s
sewage system, and its citizens would dispose of their waste in the river.
The Londoners’ grievances regarding the river’s putrid smell
were not unfounded,
as physicians attributed it to the spread of diseases across the city.
The summer of 1858 will always be remembered as “The Great Stink.”
Only when the unpleasant smells wafted towards Parliament from the River
Thames did lawmakers take action.
Within 18 days, a bill was passed to establish a modern sewage system in London.
In the era of Queen Victoria, women’s clothing was accused
of being the culprit behind the rampant spread of tuberculosis.
According to medical professionals, the extended skirts that dragged on
the ground acted as carriers of the disease, and consequently,
women unknowingly carried the bacteria into their homes.
Corsets, the constrictive undergarments that were mandatory for women to wear,
were also accused of being responsible for the spread of tuberculosis.
It was because corsets
compressed the lungs, making breathing difficult for the wearer.
To mitigate the ailment’s proliferation, women’s attire transformed,
with higher hemlines and less restrictive corsets being adopted.
The prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) was high.
Though frowned upon, escort work was a common occupation
for women in the impoverished areas of London.
As contraceptives were not easily accessible, sex workers frequently
transmitted STDs to their clients, who then went on to infect their wives.
In due course, the outbreak of STDs
became a public health crisis, which the government eventually addressed.
Female escorts were apprehended and subjected to compulsory medical treatment,
whereas their male counterparts faced minimal
or no repercussions.
During contemporary times,
we are equipped with a vast array of amenities to suit our every need.
Our homes have dependable heating systems and indoor plumbing
to facilitate our daily hygiene.
Nonetheless, our forebears were not as fortunate.
In the Victorian age, individuals who occupied the lower rungs
of the social ladder seldom took baths.
The poverty that many families were engulfed in during the 19th century
prevented them from making progress and left them with conditions
that were akin to the gloomy and obscure era of the Dark Ages.
No regulations were dictating what constituted a basic home.
As the Victorian era approached its end and Queen Victoria passed away in 1901,
However, their perceptions of hygiene still differed significantly
from ours today.
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