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Thread: how did women wash their hair before shampoo?

  1. #11
    Member SimplyLonghair's Avatar
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    This is interesting, my DDad and I were just talking about this the other day. He grew up in the backwoods of Arkansas and at a time that they were dirt poor, and yes that did mean that they had a dirt floor in all of the rooms, except the kitchen. He said that they used the ACV that his mom and grandma put by, as well as lye soap. But the lye soap was not an every week thing. But he said that this was only in the summer, in the winter, they just didn't do anything. Ummmm, errr, yuck! He did say that IF there was a great need to bathe then they did have a big tub that could be used, but that the only ones who did were the woman in the winter. He said, that they bathed in the creek when they did. Boy the things that we take for granted.

    My great grandma was native american and they used wood ashes and water, or yucca root, that was also available in Oklahoma and Texas where they lived. I have used yucca and it works if you grind it finely enough.

    I was talking to my DDad about this because that hair that you find in old pics is soooo much better than the hair that you see today. Anyway my family is getting used to me being hair obsessed.

    On the edge of my forest!

  2. #12
    Member Sarahmoon's Avatar
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    Maybe with beer and egg?

    Or maybe their hair just got clean by using water only? They dit not wash themselves as often as we do, so I guess their hair did not get oily so fast.
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  3. #13

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    in my region i know they used to use olive oil soap! which by the way is extremely great for the hair..

  4. #14
    Curled all around Starr's Avatar
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    Practices of hygiene and hair washing have existed for more than 3000 years as most early tribes had some form of ritual bathing and in fact in the highly developed ancient cultures of egypt, japan, greece and rome washing was fairly common (I use the term loosely, because although it was common it was not the same as everyday washing that we have in Western societies.) It wasn't until the fall of the Byzantine empire to Christian crusaders (the era of the crusades) that a decline in hygiene occured as bath houses were up until that point not only a place to bathe, but also "pleasure" houses, which did not appeal to early Christian crusader's sensibilities. However the bath houses and bathing survived the crusades (in some parts of Europe) and into the early middle ages until about the 14th century when of course plague and syphilis spread through Europe on and off for next 300 years or so and hygiene was all but abandoned (after all a wet bath/pleasure house with no filtration system was a prime candidate for spread disease and STDs) due to the fact it was believed that the black death was spread through water (partially true)- thus the rational became no water=no plague (although I wonder why no one thought it could be all the rats, lice, fleas, garbage or squalor?), also as water was to precious a commodity in some European towns, to be used only for cooking or drinking, it was considered frivolous to bathe anyways. Thank heavens though that around the 19th century people started to bathe again for utilitarian purposes, as more and more homes began to have wash tubs, and by the 20th century hygiene once again became common place.

    In the non "Western" world people always bathed. In India things like soapnut and shikakai were used. In the Americas native tribes used Maidenhair fern, yucca, prairie willow, coyote melon, false pennyroyal, malva, sage, globe mallow or a variety of other plants. In other places they made their own soap. Society has always been able to get with out commercial shampoo- even if they didn't smell like a fruit, a flower, or a cookie.
    Last edited by Starr; March 30th, 2008 at 05:01 AM.
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  5. #15
    Tiny Teaser tiny_teesha's Avatar
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    starr i like how you put that! I wonder how my parents bathed in their poor self sufficient farm they lived on. Probably a tub once a week with soap.... Soap lasts pretty long.
    ...Our hairs are just like the rings of a tree, they tell a story of what they have been through
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  6. #16
    Mi-chan
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    Quote Originally Posted by getoffmyskittle View Post
    Just women?
    Yeah, I wondered about that O.o what about the men??

  7. #17
    Member dancingbarefoot's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Starr View Post
    Practices of hygiene and hair washing have existed for more than 3000 years as most early tribes had some form of ritual bathing and in fact in the highly developed ancient cultures of egypt, japan, greece and rome washing was fairly common (I use the term loosely, because although it was common it was not the same as everyday washing that we have in Western societies.)
    At least for ancient Japan, while washing and purification were very important (particularly for Shinto rites), people didn't wash their hair often. Well, not the nobility, anyway (the written records don't tell us about other social classes). It was common for the noblewomen to wash their hair 2-4 times a year. Probably the same for the noblemen, too, but I just don't remember; the women's styles were often knee-length or longer hair worn down, while the men's hair wasn't quite so long and worn in topknots most of the time. They used a variety of plant materials, including rice bran, to wash their hair.

  8. #18
    Lunatic Fringe rubyann's Avatar
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    Very interesting thread and some great insights into the past.
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  9. #19
    Member Yari's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hrimfaxi View Post
    I read somewhere that some of the more American Southwest Native Americans used yucca root (saponin/sudsy, at least), but I believe it was in a historical fiction piece, so I do not know if there is any factual basis for this.
    I think this text could be helpfull. Tradition Today: Time Among the Navajo

  10. #20
    Member Iylivarae's Avatar
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    I also think that people just didn't wash that often, they took about one or two baths per year, it was sometimes even thought that bathing caused illnesses and wasn't good for the health. That's why rich people used loads of perfume, so noone would smell the sweat.



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