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Posted: 5/26/2022 8:50:56 PM EDT
[#1]
The Army doesn't do 30 day field training anymore with the Infantry?
They sent us out first two weeks, got a few days in the middle of the month to clean equipment, wash clothes and shower in a field tent. Then went back at it for another two weeks. After a couple of days, you could smell the freshly washed 100 clicks out. /s |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 8:53:53 PM EDT
[#2]
Join the military, find out.
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Posted: 5/26/2022 8:54:53 PM EDT
[#3]
I'm gonna have to ask my mom, she had 3 sisters and 6 brothers. They didn't have electricity or running water until she was 17. I do know they hauled water from a neighbor's in milk cans.
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:00:45 PM EDT
[#4]
Being involved in the renovation of an 1890's home and having access to the lady of the house's diary, I can tell you
that even with indoor plumbing, they apparently only bathed once a week or so. What is uncertain is whether the basement quarters for the servants had any running water. There may have been an outhouse for them that's been lost to time. |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:06:02 PM EDT
[#5]
Around here we have significant numbers of Schwartzentruber Amish. These are often considered the most conservative of the various Amish 'sects', or so I've been lead to believe...
Really simply, they DON'T wash with any real frequency. How can I tell? They frequently smell so damn nasty , they'd knock a buzzard off a shitwagon... I've been nasty with sweat and grime. And smelled a bit ripe too. However, there is a noticeable difference between "been working all day" stink and "haven't touched soap or water in a week" stink. I suspect, but can't prove, that Saturday night is bath night. It gets everyone a bit more presentable for Sunday worship. Monday aint bad. You do NOT want to be downwind of a hardworking Amish man on a Friday afternoon... I'm not picking on Amish. They simply have worked to retain the lifestyle that most agricultural country families would have lived during the 1880's and 1890's. Baths were a LOT of work... haul each bucket from the well pump, carry it to the house, warm some of it up, pour it in the big ol tub, and have at it... We had an off grid summer camp on an island in the St Lawrence. Bathing was simple in summer months: Bar of soap, and the river. No issues. But that was only doable May to Sept. Not a viable option in the off season (but we didn't stay there during the off season). So, to answer, they simply DIDNT wish as much. And yes, they smelled. It makes me wonder how we survived as a species... |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:14:46 PM EDT
[#6]
 Hygiene In The 18th Century |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:15:41 PM EDT
[#7]
I lived in a house with a hand pump in the kitchen and no other plumbing until I was 5. There was an outdoor outhouse. The bathtub was galvanized steel and we hung it on the wall when done. It worked just fine for me.
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:20:18 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Around here we have significant numbers of Schwartzentruber Amish. These are often considered the most conservative of the various Amish 'sects', or so I've been lead to believe... Really simply, they DON'T wash with any real frequency. How can I tell? They frequently smell so damn nasty , they'd knock a buzzard off a shitwagon... I've been nasty with sweat and grime. And smelled a bit ripe too. However, there is a noticeable difference between "been working all day" stink and "haven't touched soap or water in a week" stink. I suspect, but can't prove, that Saturday night is bath night. It gets everyone a bit more presentable for Sunday worship. Monday aint bad. You do NOT want to be downwind of a hardworking Amish man on a Friday afternoon... I've experienced the Schwartzentruber Amish. Most Amish I was around weren't too bad. Not them. One Mennonite told me, "Schwartzentrubers stink". In countries where bathing isn't as frequent and deodorant doesn't exist, everyone just smells like sweat. A few stink like butt, but most just smell like sweat. It isn't great, but it just is. Rural Kentucky was a little primitive in the middle of the 20th century. Outdoor toilets were still a thing well into the 1980s, but were on their way out pretty quick for the most part. Some parts of Kentucky still used cisterns well into the 1980s, but it was the exception as city water finally expanded throughout counties. City water is more important in areas with high livestock concentrations, as there are a lot of fecal coliforms in surface water and even ground water. Lack of acces to plentiful clean water discourages bathing. I've watched Africans take baths in water that was filthy before they ever started. |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:39:32 PM EDT
[#9]
It's weird, in the Army we would go weeks without and I never really noticed any of us smelling too terribly bad. Uniforms would get stinky once you took them off and let them stew a while. Air drying would make them fairly bearable
Either my sense of smell became immune or something happens that levels out your funk after a few days. |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:43:22 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just imagine eating a gal out back then.  I’d stick to the front if possible. |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:46:01 PM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I went 10 days without showering once. What I learned is the first 6 or 7 days I felt progressively more gross. And then something strange happened: the gross feeling went away and I felt normal, good even. Although I'm sure I smelled. I believe it has to do with our skin's microbiome. When we shower daily we radically disturb our natural skin microbiome. Once we stop showering some microorganisms recover quickly and take over. That "feels gross". But given some time our biome finds an equilibrium, a balance where no one type of microorganism dominates. And that balance feels pleasantly normal. I went 15 days during the 2021 ice storm. But I was wearing wool longjohns and the humidity was low. Neither me nor my clothes smelled bad after. |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:46:45 PM EDT
[#12]
ITT we learn who was never submerged on a submarine with showers secured because the water maker was broke or you were rigged for ultra quiet.
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:48:11 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Join the military, find out. My dad served in the Army during the Korean conflict. He told my mom they didn’t shower or bathed during the winter months. Guessing it was pretty ripe. He also said the Turkish army across the road would catch locals stealing from them and hang them from their fence until their bodies fell apart from rot. |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:50:02 PM EDT
[#14]
I think about soldiers in the field
Start maybe with the civil war. Bathing? Maybe in a river in summer. Think about marching in summer conditions, day after day WWI? Trench warfare? The filth and mud And them WWII Again into Korea Outposts in Afghanistan in Iraq didn't have showers either It must have been miserable |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:50:17 PM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Hell, I'm an old fart. I remember going to my grandmothers house as a kid. They had a two hole outhouse and no real running water besides a pitcher pump at the kitchen sink. We got a bath in a wash tub outside when we went there. Needless to say, we didn't go there often in the winter. |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 9:52:39 PM EDT
[#16]
My great-grandpa took 2 baths a year, and only then because my great aunt harangued him.
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Posted: 5/26/2022 10:10:58 PM EDT
[#17]
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Posted: 5/26/2022 10:11:45 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Wiping ass with dried corn cobs was a thing. I was under the impression the corn cobs were soaked in water to soften them up, per my grandmother who grew up in rural Oklahoma. |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 10:14:23 PM EDT
[#19]
Both of my parents grew up on farms without electricity or indoor plumbing. Water was pumped from well into a elevated cistern by a windmill. That gave you some running water if the wind blew hard enough long enough. Toilet was the outhouse out the back door or the nearest tree/bush. For the boys, if you had to pee in the middle of the night you just hung it over the porch rail.
Bathing was either a washtub in the kitchen with water heated on the wood burning stove. Usually in the winter only. During the warmer months they would run a hose to a shed for a shower while you stood in a washtub, or you had a pipe coming off the cistern with a pull chain shower head. My grandfather didn’t believe in spending money on frivolous things like plumbing and electricity so it was still that way when I was a kid. Every time we’d stay on the farm it would take a few days to get used to it. Although, being able to just piss over the rail on the porch felt a bit “freeing.” ?? |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 10:16:39 PM EDT
[#20]
We are not "spoiled", we are advanced.
Civilization is about making survival so easy, you have time for making things better. |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 10:28:03 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I think about soldiers in the field Start maybe with the civil war. Bathing? Maybe in a river in summer. Think about marching in summer conditions, day after day WWI? Trench warfare? The filth and mud And them WWII Again into Korea Outposts in Afghanistan in Iraq didn't have showers either It must have been miserable I have a buddy who was in Afghanistan as a Marine. He hates the hear, cold, standing around, and being unwashed. His words, “I’ve spent enough time cold, sweating, dirty, and standing around bored. It’s time for me to be comfortable.” Can’t really argue with that. |
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Posted: 5/26/2022 10:50:17 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I lived in a house with a hand pump in the kitchen and no other plumbing until I was 5. There was an outdoor outhouse. The bathtub was galvanized steel and we hung it on the wall when done. It worked just fine for me. Indoor hand pump? Fancy!  I had a couple of uncles' and aunts' homes in the '70s that had outhouses, and we drew water from the well with a bucket, pulley and rope. Washing in a washtub that held 5 gallons of water plus another gallon or so hot off the wood stove, wasn't to bad in the winter. We usually bathed twice a week in the winter. Washed face, hands and pits in a two quart wash basin every morning in cold water. Summer is when you get real stinky working outside. But a bar of soap and the creek at the end of each day took care of that. You don't have to stink, and it takes less water than you think.
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Posted: 5/26/2022 10:51:42 PM EDT
[#23]
What would you do if the water stopped coming out of the faucet?
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Posted: 5/26/2022 11:12:51 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I have a buddy who was in Afghanistan as a Marine. He hates the hear, cold, standing around, and being unwashed. His words, “I’ve spent enough time cold, sweating, dirty, and standing around bored. It’s time for me to be comfortable.” Can’t really argue with that. Due to the nature of our operations, I'd get one solid week of showering every other day and the rest of the month without showers. Good times.
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Posted: 5/26/2022 11:14:09 PM EDT
[#25]
Get in the stream or pond and use the muck as soap.
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Posted: 5/26/2022 11:15:17 PM EDT
[#26]
We all might find out fairly soon.
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Posted: 5/26/2022 11:20:41 PM EDT
[#27]
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Posted: 5/26/2022 11:51:50 PM EDT
[#28]
Went 16 days without a shower on a fire crew, and only changed socks/underwear a few times. Hard, dirty work every day but the sweat was actually kinda cleansing. After a few days it wasn’t so bad. They sent extra wet-naps with food that got flown in so hoarded those and did a little wipe-down every day. I do remember showering in the trailer back at the ICP when we got released, I had to soap up 3 times before the water stopped beading up on my skin. That was a long time ago. Even today I regularly go a day or two with no shower, can go 3-4 days out camping without feeling too gross. A little baby-wipe bath now and then helps. It’s nice to find a creek to bathe in after 5 days or so.
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Posted: 5/26/2022 11:53:39 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: What would you do if the water stopped coming out of the faucet? I would just wait y til it rained……..oh yeah I’m in New Mexico I think it’s been more than 3months |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 12:00:18 AM EDT
[#30]
Quoted: How did people before indoor plumbing and access to clean water bathe? In a foreign land, I quickly learned that with a 5-gallon bucket of water and a large cup, you can shower yourself pretty decently with some practice. If you're lucky enough that the water is warm, you can wash decently with about 3-3.5 gallons, so you have a gallon or so of warm water to just pour over yourself at the end to warm up a little before drying off. |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 12:01:12 AM EDT
[#31]
Baths are human soup.
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Posted: 5/27/2022 12:07:57 AM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: When everyone smells like ass you don't notice. This. ^^^^^^ 
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Posted: 5/27/2022 12:29:01 AM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I went 15 days during the 2021 ice storm. But I was wearing wool longjohns and the humidity was low. Neither me nor my clothes smelled bad after. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I went 10 days without showering once. What I learned is the first 6 or 7 days I felt progressively more gross. And then something strange happened: the gross feeling went away and I felt normal, good even. Although I'm sure I smelled. I believe it has to do with our skin's microbiome. When we shower daily we radically disturb our natural skin microbiome. Once we stop showering some microorganisms recover quickly and take over. That "feels gross". But given some time our biome finds an equilibrium, a balance where no one type of microorganism dominates. And that balance feels pleasantly normal. I went 15 days during the 2021 ice storm. But I was wearing wool longjohns and the humidity was low. Neither me nor my clothes smelled bad after. I'd guess those are not-too-bad conditions for well a balanced skin biome [shrug?]. My experience was camping 3 days in sand dunes then 10 days in hospital with a broken back. I showered a few days before leaving hospital. I said "I'm sure I smelled"......now I wonder what DID I smell like? |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 12:29:01 AM EDT
[#34]
double post
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Posted: 5/27/2022 12:29:18 AM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Whore baths. Every smart soldier knows about this. Freezing or scorching, there are body parts that must be cleansed on a regular basis. |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 12:33:58 AM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: What did they wipe their ass with? Corn cobs soaked in water, Sears or Montgomery Wards catalog. |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 12:44:02 AM EDT
[#37]
Remember the song, spish, splash I was taking a bath on a Sat. night. People used to bathe once per week even into the 50's. It was mostly kids though but the bath was usually Sat. night. You know, church next day.
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Posted: 5/27/2022 1:05:00 AM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just imagine eating a gal out back then. Google sootikins, I DARE you. |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 2:16:00 AM EDT
[#39]
When I was in college, in the 1980's, there were a lot of middle easterners studying petroleum engineering. I overlapped with them because my major required lots of math and chemistry.
These people did not bath. And they stunk. Not sure if their hygiene has improved, but they could knock out a skunk back then. |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 2:33:59 AM EDT
[#40]
Ever hear of the phrase "shit end of the stick"?
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Posted: 5/27/2022 2:36:29 AM EDT
[#41]
Some of y'all are gross. I shower every two weeks whether I need it or not.
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Posted: 5/27/2022 2:39:38 AM EDT
[#42]
If I was somehow transported back to the 1800s or earlier, I’d definitely invent a shower. It’d be a bitch to fill up the giant barrel every week, and the water would be cold as fuck, but at least I’d be clean.
I could probably even make a business out of it if it caught on. |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 3:00:43 AM EDT
[#43]
This is a great show if you want to see how dirty people can be.
 Curiosity: World''s Dirtiest Man | Sunday 10/23 @ 9pm e/p * |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 3:15:59 AM EDT
[#44]
You dig a small hole with your entrenching tool and line it with a plastic garbage bag, stand in the hole, get a washcloth wet and soapy. Use hot water from your steel pot/canteen cup/trioxane tab. Lather up. Rinse off. Enjoy the warm water on your blistered feet. Shave using the mirror on your ambulance so that you don't look like a rag bag.
You are now clean and motivated. Drive on. |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 3:17:08 AM EDT
[#45]
Steambaths/sweatlodge. for natives and Norwegian,Finnish and Swedish people.
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Posted: 5/27/2022 3:24:23 AM EDT
[#46]
I think it depended on where your culture lived in ancient times. Romans and I think Greeks had lots of public baths. "heated"
  Rome had running water available for most of its citizens. Toilets with running water under the holes. You had to drop some silver coins to use these facilities.  |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 3:26:11 AM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just imagine eating a gal out back then. Sootkins for everyone! 
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Posted: 5/27/2022 3:26:56 AM EDT
[#48]
Quoted: Maybe we are spoiled in the modern age with indoor plumbing and access to clean water and soap. I shower once a day at least, If I go more than a day I start to feel filthy. In the past I have been through hurricanes and had to go a few days without a shower or clean clothes. Most of the time I could take a sponge bath of sorts. That would work for awhile and was better then nothing. How did people before indoor plumbing and access to clean water bathe? From my reading of history, it seems that bathing was not done that often. Once a month was average. In the 1800's the average was increased to once a week. In some parts of the world bath day was a all day long household affair. One tub would be filled with water and the oldest person would go first. Everyone would get a turn in the same dirty water (gross) according to age. From oldest to youngest. I wonder if the term "don't throw the baby out with the bath water" came from. I can't imagine living like that. Maybe we really are spoiled today. I think if you want idea of this, go visit a place where there are Amish people. I used to live close to some areas that had those folks and would stop in at some of the roadside stalls they had and some of them stank to high heaven. |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 3:32:41 AM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryQuoted: If I was somehow transported back to the 1800s or earlier, I’d definitely invent a shower. It’d be a bitch to fill up the giant barrel every week, and the water would be cold as fuck, but at least I’d be clean. I could probably even make a business out of it if it caught on. Paint the barrel black and place on top of roof. Sun will heat up the water and use gravity for shower. During exercises in Africa we would so something similar ie 55 gal drum on a platform and install shower head below. Hot showers at end of the day. CD |
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Posted: 5/27/2022 3:53:34 AM EDT
[#50]
Wells and outhouses. Not a big deal.
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