Five hundred years ago, the world was much darker, scarier, and more ignorant than it is today. It's hard to imagine, but the quality of life of our not so distant ancestors was so strikingly different from today that some of the daily habits of the inhabitants of the Middle Ages can terrify us. Hygiene in those days had slightly different rules, and so much so that the customs of those times deserve to be embodied in a horror film. A bathroom once a year, bedbugs in the pillow and a chamber pot under the bed are the realities of the not so distant past, in which most of the inhabitants of medieval Europe had to live.
Unwashed hands
It was only in the 18th century that wealthy residents of the Netherlands began to wash their hands at least once a day. Until that time, ordinary citizens ate with unwashed hands, which did not contribute to a long life at all.
Using water several times
It was rare to wash in clean water, which your entire family had not been in before you. A single shower was something of a fantasy for the people of the Middle Ages, especially for those who lived in a large group.
Promotional video:
Moxibustion instead of vaccination
Open wounds were most often treated with a red-hot poker, thus fighting infection. Sometimes after such interventions it was necessary to amputate the arm, but it happened that the poker helped.
Washing was not a regular thing at all
It was customary to wash clothes a couple of times a year at the most critical moments. Instead of washing powder, a mixture of urine, alkali and river water was used.
Washing with urine
Life hacks with the use of urine were not limited to the sphere of washing, but were also used in medieval cosmetology - they often washed themselves with urine.
Pot under the bed
A separate room with a toilet is the brainchild of the enlightened age. In the Middle Ages, a pot under the pillow was a great luxury. They were usually kept under the bed, from time to time pouring the contents out of the window.
Toilet paper didn't exist
The need for toilet paper and its similarity was experienced by our cave ancestors. For this, the Romans kept shared sponges in toilets, but usually our ancestors limited themselves to hands or an armful of leaves.
The floors were made of rubbish
An earthen floor, sprinkled with straw and abundantly fertilized with layers of debris, is as everyday a subject for a medieval inhabitant as parquet or laminate is for us.
Bed bugs
Not a single night was complete without a couple of bug bites until the illuminated twentieth century and laundries in every home.
Floral camouflage
Only perfume, which was abundantly poured over the hardened sheets, clothes, and in general everything that had not been cleaned for more than a couple of months, could disguise the terrible smells.
Unsanitary conditions in fashion
Hair styling with goose fat was extremely popular in those days and all kinds of parasites felt wonderful on this nutritious soil.
Pieces of animals on the face
Believe it or not, women used to wear fake mouse hair eyebrows on their faces.
Colds were treated with leeches
Leeches were used to treat cancer and colds, stomach cramps and headaches. Leech doctors flourished, and people died from blood poisoning.