It's not just for health and safety, it's also to avoid inconveniencing others with body odors. And there is a lot to be said about looking "good" too. I have v

It's not just for health and safety, it's also to avoid inconveniencing others with body odors. And there is a lot to be said about looking "good" too. I have very oily scalp (dry skin) and annoyingly thin and stiff hairs, if I don't shower daily, I'll look unpresentable pretty quickly. I wouldn't be dirty or unsafe but that's the image people would get... I think you should have social status in your theory. Having access to hot water daily in sufficient quantities to fully bath yourself was not something most could afford, so it definitely made a very obvious class distinction at some point. I'm pretty sure this is why people used a lot of perfume at some point; if you can't bathe to remove the stinks, you can try to cover it with a stronger and (hopefully) more pleasant smell. But as much as I dislike body odor there is a lot to be said about strong perfumes. Some people find it reasonable to cast their odor of choices to a 2-3m perimeter around them; they might be worse because at least in their case we know for sure they had a choice...