this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
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Explanation: While medieval hygiene was far from great by modern standards, especially amongst the non-elite, it was about normal for pre-modern societies. People took baths - if not always in tubs, then at least in the local rivers and streams. The 'medieval people didn't bathe' myth is actually more accurate to the Renaissance period, when a mixture of urban culture in bath-houses making them suspected as places of 'sin', and a strange variation of miasma ('bad smell') theory caused ~150-200 years of anti-bathing sentiment. Bathing never entirely went away, but became less popular.
Miasma theory was normally used to encourage cleanliness, but in the Renaissance, a prominent variation of the theory was used to discourage bathing - as bathing would open up the pores of the skin, and let the 'bad air' in to the body. As long as the 'miasma' was on the outside, it was safe!
The "ill repute" of bath houses wasn't entirely undeserved. One factor that made people shun them in the early modern period was also the spread of syphilis which you could easily get from visiting a bath house of ill repute. Also, wood was getting more scarce due to wide spread deforestation. And that bath houses needed a lot of wood.
Don't let the bad air in through tiny fucking skin holes!
Multiple much larger holes on face sucking in "miasma" every few seconds to live:
I'm going to divorce my wife so that I can start dating again, just to ask their opinions on miasma during first dates.