tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post1799244185341906499..comments2023-10-20T11:17:47.246-04:00Comments on Two Nerdy History Girls: Annals of Bathing: Episode 1Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-1658810930124397562011-04-21T07:48:55.238-04:002011-04-21T07:48:55.238-04:00Ladies, your blog is a delight to the senses and s...Ladies, your blog is a delight to the senses and so well researched. Love it.<br />RosaThe Victorian Timeshttp://thevictoriantimes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-56359786978649020242009-10-06T15:01:35.304-04:002009-10-06T15:01:35.304-04:00My dad was born in the UP of Michigan around the t...My dad was born in the UP of Michigan around the turn of the century. He bathed every day, every day of his life, taking a sponge bath. Rarely did he get into a shower and never in a tub. His mother was a very proper Englishwoman who insisted her family always be clean (and she was born in the 1880's-go figure) so I'm thinking it wasn't just a cultural but also a regional and class thing (they were a fairly wealthy family whose father squandered their money).<br /><br />It always irritates me to read people's comments on any historical novel where they insist people didn't bathe. Quite obviously they did, and often! :-)theohttp://www.altheapreston.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-17080098806125169642009-10-06T14:03:18.220-04:002009-10-06T14:03:18.220-04:00Elizabeth, I agree about bathing scenes. I love t...Elizabeth, I agree about bathing scenes. I love them and use them in most of my books--which is why I've accumulated so much material on the subject. That and prurient interest, of course.Loretta Chasehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02170060214285828433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-56573187248767374912009-10-06T13:59:18.853-04:002009-10-06T13:59:18.853-04:00I spent part of my honeymoon at a farmhouse in the...I spent part of my honeymoon at a farmhouse in the mountains of Virginia. An outhouse. A bathtub in the kitchen, but the running water was the spring outside the house. It takes a long time to heat up enough water for even a shallow bath--and that's using an electric stove (yes--no plumbing, but thanks to the Roosevelt electrification projects, there was electricity). So I keep coming back to the idea that you have to be highly motivated to bathe daily and you need to be in the right environment. Michelle, an expensive courtesan in nice digs could bathe daily. But we have to acknowledge that it's easier for the highly privileged classes, and to theorize that public baths were more common and more commonly used in hot climates. One might wish to recreate the practices of the east, but it's not going to be easy in early 19th C London. Still, that gives a writer lots of leeway, and I think I can keep my protagonists clean and decent without being historically incorrect.Loretta Chasehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02170060214285828433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-16188536865938417332009-10-06T13:48:09.081-04:002009-10-06T13:48:09.081-04:00Wright's book mentions that in the U.S. in the...Wright's book mentions that in the U.S. in the 1950s, TVs outnumbered bathtubs. But in all times and places there are going to be variations, and this is the point Susan and I hope to get across this week. As Margaret mentions, there were public baths. Some in London dated to Roman times and were still in use in the Victorian era. Regarding Brummell: "his 'ablutions,' it was said, 'would have gained him a reputation for sanctity in a Mahomedan country,'" according to the Kelly book.Loretta Chasehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02170060214285828433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-55729043764446655722009-10-06T13:21:55.867-04:002009-10-06T13:21:55.867-04:00Michelle, three brothers and an older sister - one...Michelle, three brothers and an older sister - one bathroom to share.Vanessa Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14571549124283013391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-54842280426674558922009-10-06T11:11:12.667-04:002009-10-06T11:11:12.667-04:00This is so disturbing at breakfast. Yet I'm r...This is so disturbing at breakfast. Yet I'm reminded of that Roman habit of bathing by rubbing olive oil, then salt or sand and scraping the residue from the body. I'm sure I'd rather go w/out bathing than do the oil/salt thing before hanging in the Italian climate. Unless it was more like a spa treatment. <br /><br />Loretta, were courtesans expected to bath more often? Did the Eastern bathing habits influence the preparations, perhaps, in effort to be more exotic once Europe became all agog over things Turkish and the seraglio, etc? I'm assuming the harem women were very clean because they'd have followed a religious tradition?<br /><br />Nessa, as a kid, I'd have loved growing up in your house if it meant bathing less often. :).Michelle Buonfigliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06518257512285810829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-31129480772856497332009-10-06T11:04:00.490-04:002009-10-06T11:04:00.490-04:00I love reading this blog because I get so much use...I love reading this blog because I get so much useful information. I think authors need to include more bathing scenes in their books. I remember reading a Roberta Gellis where the heroine prepares a bath for the hero, who is not her husband, because it was apparently the custom in medieval england. I think she even helps to wash his back.Elizabeth Kerri Mahonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07763642809052430107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-56275002793903597152009-10-06T10:09:46.312-04:002009-10-06T10:09:46.312-04:00Queen Mary II had a large bathing room in the Wate...Queen Mary II had a large bathing room in the Water Gallery, her private retreat, at Hampton Court, in the 1690s. A boiler boiler provided running hot water.<br /><br />In my research on the 17th century bagnios I've read detailed descriptions of the hot and cold taps. It's clear that the spa treatments of today (massages, steaming, various forms of exfoliation) were practised then, available to men and women.<br /><br />These bagnios were the precursers of the 18th century hummums, all of which were inspired by the Turkish baths and bathing practises.<br /><br />Time for me to hit the shower!Margaret Porterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16202290659191790984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-89366997878094844192009-10-06T09:50:02.061-04:002009-10-06T09:50:02.061-04:00That is a terryifying quote from Lawrence Wright! ...That is a terryifying quote from Lawrence Wright! I do remember as a child, though, only taking two or three baths a week. Five kids in my house, and only one bathroom. Lots of competition.<br /><br />I love the illustration of King George taking a bath, especially the orchestra in the water with him!Vanessa Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14571549124283013391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-55676491119044949082009-10-06T08:50:14.616-04:002009-10-06T08:50:14.616-04:00It wasn't just England. Around 1950, two of my...It wasn't just England. Around 1950, two of my aunts on Long Island lived in houses with an outhouse, and for another, in Queens (NYC), indoor plumbing consisted of a hand pump at the kitchen sink.Jane Onoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-54516973604473753442009-10-06T03:33:55.605-04:002009-10-06T03:33:55.605-04:00And there is of course the famous story that peopl...And there is of course the famous story that people who did have bathrooms in Britain, kept coal in the bathtub.<br />I don't know if it's true, but it's a good story.Ingridnoreply@blogger.com