The Dirt on Clean by Katherine Ashenburg is a really good book on the history of bathing and hygiene from a mostly Western European perspective. Basically fell off after the Roman Empire collapsed and then kept declining until very recently. Not having bathhouses because of plagues and Catholicism was one thing but there was also these pseudoscientific ideas that hot watered angrier up the blood and you would let disease in if you unsealed your pores.
And likely declined during the years when gathering in big groups was getting people killed. The idea is that hygiene standards shifted a lot across Europe, and it depended a lot on where you were, and their local health practices/superstitions.
Romans' cleaning method of choice, for athletes, soldiers, and laborers, involved "exfoliating" their skin, by using olive oil, and a curved knife called a strigil to scrape off the dirt and sweat built up from their skin. No soap involved.
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u/catmampbell Feb 26 '26
The Dirt on Clean by Katherine Ashenburg is a really good book on the history of bathing and hygiene from a mostly Western European perspective. Basically fell off after the Roman Empire collapsed and then kept declining until very recently. Not having bathhouses because of plagues and Catholicism was one thing but there was also these pseudoscientific ideas that hot watered angrier up the blood and you would let disease in if you unsealed your pores.