The expansion of the American West is a very important piece of America's history and culture. You may have played cowboys and Indians with your friends at school or dressed up as a cowboy or cowgirl for Halloween. The impact of the western pioneers can still be felt today.
When we think of the Wild West, we usually assume that the habits of the people living there would have reflected the standards of hygiene typical of the modern Victorian. However, when it came to washing, our ancestors were about as rough as the terrain they rode over. So here are some things you might not have known about the hygiene habits of pioneers.
Tobacco has been used for many purposes throughout history. In addition to its pacifying but addictive properties, chewing tobacco was also commonly used by farmers who chewed it to help dispel the dryness of their mouths while they worked in the fields.
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Spittoons could be seen in bars, pubs, stores, and banks during their peak in popularity at the turn of the 19th century. Originally made from porcelain, they were later fashioned from metal and glass. They were certainly unsightly, even during their heyday, and they have been somewhat rehabilitated in modern times by antique dealers who find beauty in their sculptural qualities.
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Imagine sleeping on a straw-and-hay bed with no frame—an arrangement we think would be less than comfortable after a long day of riding. But in those days, folks were not concerned about the lack of comfort or hygienic issues—it was better than sleeping on the cold ground.
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Keeping up with daily hygiene was a challenge. The possibility of changing straw bedding as often as needed just wasn’t feasible. That meant it was common to see bugs or lice in straw beds, and worse, straw beds emit mold and dust that can compromise a respiratory system.
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Nowadays, you can buy a variety of different soaps at the grocery store—from brands like Aveeno and Dial to Dove and Olay; the list goes on! Of course, back then, people didn't have as much choice as we have today, but that doesn't mean that soap wasn't used.
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During the late 1800s, however, soap was a much simpler product. Most soaps were made by boiling fat with lye and herbs in water, although some were made from just fat and lye. People in the Southwest used to make soap lathery by drying out the leaves of “Soap Plant,” also known as Chlorogalum pomeridianum, or “amole.”
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Many of us are eager for summer weather and look forward to spending our days at the beach or by the pool, getting a tan, and showing off our bronzed bodies. But that was not the case back in the day. Traditionally, women liked to present themselves as pale-skinned beauties.
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In the years following the Industrial Revolution, women began to take steps to protect their skin from the sun and sought out to work indoors instead. They tried to cover their skin with clothing that hid most of their bodies and avoided getting a suntan.
The need for sustaining clean water began in the early 1800s during the expansion of the United States to the western region. By that time, adequate irrigation and filtering systems for water existed. Yet transporting these systems to uncharted territory was difficult.
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The western regions had ample mountain streams and rivers for fresh, clean water; however, the desert states required a new solution to their water needs. Catching rainwater was one option during the rainy seasons, but it wasn’t an ideal long-term solution.
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The biggest problem the early settlers of the American West had with keeping themselves clean was that they lived in dusty, windy desert lands. During dust storms, stronger winds blew, meaning that more sand was blown all over the place.
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Because of this, they were careful to make sure their faces and bodies were covered from dust—especially since they could contract respiratory diseases or suffer other health issues if they inhaled too much sand or got any in their eyes. Yikes!
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The history of personal hygiene is a long and storied one. The first toilets were nothing more than small wooden sheds built to cover openings into shallow pits. Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of using these primitive toilets was that they didn't have any privacy.
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And not only were the outhouses dirty and bug-ridden, what’s worse is that it took many years for toilet paper to become a popular commodity in the Western world. Thus people were left to use leaves, corn cobs, and grass instead.
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Nowadays, most people have experienced that great feeling of freshly washed hair. With a little shampoo and conditioner, you can get fresh feeling hair that smells amazing. Now, imagine being out in the sun all day. You're hot and sweaty, and your hair is sticky and messy. Not the most comfortable feeling, right?
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Well, in the wild west, this was a daily reality for both men and women. Back then, people used a scentless bar of soap made from lye and lard to wash their hair. Others cleaned their hair using whiskey mixed with castor oil! Some women even used heated pencils as curlers to style their hair.
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Women of the old west were cleaner and more hygienic than men. In the Wild West era, water was a rare commodity in most places, so people didn’t get to bathe very often. Some people didn't wash more than once a week!
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Women did work like cooking and cleaning at home, where they were mostly shielded from the dust and the sun, unlike men, who did outdoor jobs in the fields or on the road, where they were constantly at risk of dust-borne illnesses.
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