Hygiene

 

 

Frequent hand-washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds is recommended by health experts to help prevent exposure to COVID-19. That is exactly what many people do these days. But while washing hands and bathing signifies personal hygiene in our time, it was not always the case.

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.

Gradually, the concept of cleanliness changed, beginning with the upper class, and spreading to the emerging middle class. By the end of the 18th century, bathing was gaining acceptance among the wealthy as a new form of personal care. In upper-class circles everywhere, men and women began to see a new value in being clean, and bathing as a new pathway to cleanliness.

In the 19th century, body care became something people thought distinguished them from the lower classes. By the middle of the century, periodic bathing had become common. Advancements in industry, plumbing, architecture and science helped spread the practice of bathing and hand-washing. 

The manufacture and promotion of soap played a huge role in promoting cleanliness as a desirable, appealing lifestyle. Clean bodies and hands came to represent social inclusion. In the late-19th century, people began to realize the relationship between cleanliness and good health.

In the 1880s, French scientist Louis Pasteur discovered the link between microbes and the transmission of diseases.

Washing hands was common in most western countries by the 1920s and 1930s, though generally speaking, the personal cleanliness ‘revolution’ came later in rural than in urban environments. And in those countries where rural ways persisted longer, hand-washing and other cleansing routines were adopted more slowly.

These days, as frequent hand-washing has become a widespread practice against the spread of COVID-19.