3 ms·

I don't even believe people bathed once a week in 1950, or at least that's the first I'm hearing of it.

• Deestan 6y ago
  It's true, and I've seen it in a lot of old school books on hygiene, and conversed about with with the older generation. Though the alternative wasn't "do nothing", it was to scrub your face, neck, ear, armpits, and crotch with soapy water and a washcloth every morning.
• voisin 6y ago
  Are you saying you think they bathed more or less frequently?
• dspillett 6y ago
  May vary by where you are and your background (we weren't fabulously well off, and heating water isn't free) but even in the 80s here there was an agreed concept of "bath night". While I had a full bath much more than once a week it certainly wasn't every day, the other days it was a standing-at-the-sink "pits, bits & face" wash. I'm guessing this is what people were said to be doing in the 50s and earlier. These days I tend to have a shower or bath most evenings, but didn't have the shower option growing up, and sometimes a p & b wash in the morning (particularly if it has been a hot humid night).
• emptyfile 6y ago
  Probably plenty of places in the world where its still the norm.