We’ve come a long way as a society when it comes to personal hygiene but it hasn’t always been that way. The generations before us had to get pretty crafty when it came to keeping clean and staying healthy.
Just think about it. Before we had fancy face wash infused with kale extract, our ancestors had to try out some pretty gross ways to keep their face clean, like using their own urine (ew!). Check out some of the most disgusting—and sometimes dangerous—ways our ancient ancestors kept clean.
You might not hate using 2-ply when you find out what humans used to use as toilet paper.
1Entire Families Reused The Same Bath Water
In the Middle Ages, bathing was emphasized by Christianity as a way to show off your cleanliness. While the upper class could afford to heat a bathtub of water every night, the lower class couldn’t. Families would instead end up sharing the same bathwater.
They often bathed from oldest to youngest, so if you were the baby of your family you ended up in some pretty dirty water. Bathing has evolved a lot over time, but it used to be a pretty gross affair.
