I Bathed Like a Medieval Person for a Month

If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. Their fee is free unless they win. For more information go to www.forthepeop...
Check out the video I mentioned about heat control in Victorian fashion here: • How Hot Are Victorian ...
Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/us...
Donate to my tip jar: ko-fi.com/part...
Follow me on Instagram: / jess_of_the_shire
Contact me: [e-mail]
Music by Epidemic Sound. Check out my referral link here: share.epidemic...
For more info, check out my references: docs.google.co...

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. Their fee is free unless they win. For more information go to www.forthepeople.com/JessoftheShire?s=86%3A3523

[@morrigankasa570]

To help use up the "Galangal", look up various Indian food recipes. Can use that as a replacement for Ginger in those recipes.

[@spongebobsucks12]

Holy cow do you live in PA too? I might subscribe just to support one of us.

[@haileeraestout5567]

I Have A HISTORY For No Showers Literally

[@haileeraestout5567]

And I Cant TOUCH Soap XD

[@zeusathena26]

Is there a video about the history of your pet rats? Maybe they're the roommates, I don't know. We'd like to know though! Great channel, thanks!

[@jimelliott8785]

I bathed like a medieval person for the first twenty-one years of my life. Weekly bath nights were not a myth in the 1960s and early 1970s.

[@andrewgood4230]

Yes, and what was worse for me was sharing a bath with my older brother, who never missed an opportunity to point and laugh at my child penis!

[@tgapete01]

yes, Sunday night was bath night.

[@jaclyn4098]

Oh dear. I was born in 98 and my mom bathed me like this as a baby/toddler 😅 she was a good mom just old school in some ways. Edit: And just like that, I realized I've turned into my mother because I do the same with my kid

[@sheep1ewe]

Oh, yes, saving on hot water, always had share the bath with my siblings and the water started to turn cold allredy whan the tub where half filled... Same thing for all the neighbors kids, luckily, unlike the neighbors my father did install a centralheater of industrial standard and he could cut firewood from the lefteowers from the timber that was marked for sale to the sawmill so we could bath twice a weak, i remember the neigbors little son told me how much he hated to take the baths because of the alwys crowded bathtub and a maximum of like a half foot of barely lukewarm water water because of he's babybrother and big sister wanted to wash a bit before so she could hawe the clean water... ha ha! In the summer one could skinnydip in the lake on the farmlands, all kids did, both boys and girls. I realy loved diving in the lake and the sea outside grandfather fishermans cottage, the water outdoor where of course always freesing could at first but once one get used to it it start to feel just like regular bathingwater and kids alwys move around so one did stay warm. It was tons of fun i remember! This was in the 80s so it was not that far away after all.

[@carlosdumbratzen6332]

@@sheep1ewe yes as a kid that was normal aswell. I still remember the times bathing with my sister fondly. Also my mother told me stories about how she would regularly go to the communal swimming hall, because she had no hot shower/bath in her flat (this was during the 90s in east Germany)

[@cindabearr]

So, just a mention for when your hair started to hurt from being braided/put up daily, without washing. That mixture you sprinkled in on your fingertips should have been *much* more generous. If you dampen your roots on the parts that are sore, it sort of resets your scalp, and takes away the soreness. I wet my roots with lavender water, in a continuous spray bottle, to keep it fresh between washes. I have an autoimmune joint disorder and chronic fatigue, so I very often just wash what needs washing, instead of full baths. Showers are rarer, because they take even more energy, with needing to stand and being pelted with water (sensory issues as well).

[@Moonsfire62]

Thank you for confirming just how difficult it is to take a shower. I have ADHD and also find taking showers draining on my bad days. So now I know I'm not the only one.

[@mikado_m]

Ooh im gonna try the roots thing- It happens occasionally and the hurt sometimes stays all day.. its not very comfortable exactly

[@CricketGirrl]

I have chronic fatigue as a result of ME/CFS, and showers are rare for me, too.

[@rgalarza2]

"The soap is not made from deceit." I laughed out loud 😆

[@talyrath]

It gives new meaning to "99 and 44/100 percent pure".

[@EveMizgala]

That line made me subscribe

[@NathanS__]

So much of our misconceptions of the Medieval world pop up during the """Enlightenment""" which hated everything before it and thought they invented thinking. But the crisis of the 17th century sucked so hard that it gets thought that everything before the 1500/1600s had to be even worse some how.

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

The Victorians also perpetuated a lot of this thinking. It's a real shame, but it's nice that modern academia is starting to take a second look at a lot of these misconceptions

[@RingsLoreMaster]

@@Jess_of_the_Shire Thank goodness for Tolkien and his fans. After all Tolkien has taught us about the Middle Ages :)

[@benjaminlammertz64]

Basically people in the 19th century looking at how horrible the hygienic conditions in the worker's slums of industrialization-era cities were and going: "Hang on a minute... we're the best, brightest, most enlightened, most advanced and most civilized people who ever walked the earth! If things are this horrible now... imagine how much WORSE it must have been during the middle ages!"

[@ChristopheStrobbe]

The negative view of the Middle Ages predates the 17th century. In the 1330s, Petrarch already regarded the centuries after Classical Antiquity as a dark age. Later humanists, such as Rabelais and his contemporaries, held a similar view.

[@prodigalfraudaddy]

​@@Jess_of_the_Shireshampoo wasn't a thing in medietime as it came as part of colonisation of india where europeans bought back the native champoo back to europe

[@CharlesLumia]

Agreed with the ending there. Medieval people wanted the best lives possible, just like us. We laugh about them using things like lead in everything, but even in modern times questionable and hurtful things are used and done.

[@senorahahn5651]

Right....we put florid in our mouth!!!😢

[@Alliebutt]

@@senorahahn5651 We also use plastic and have microplastic in our bodies because of our over-reliance on said plastic, to the point where it has invaded every part of our natural world an the ecosystems of our planet.

[@ryanj5993]

​@@senorahahn5651 If you mean "fluoride," that's actually good for your teeth, so not a great comparison.

[@jasonshults368]

Fluoride is a potent neurotoxin that has been used as a rodenticide for over a century. Modern people are not smart, and cannot even act in their own benefit.

[@grayzombie]

plastic is so toxic and terrible for the environment

[@chadnine3432]

I imagine a medieval person transported to modern day would be more amazed at our sinks and toilets than computers and Tee Vees.

[@FungusMossGnosis]

Definitely. Washing machines would impress them more than high tech stuff, because they'd have no reference for computers. But the myth that medieval people were on average dirtier or smelled worse than modern people is a largely Victorian era lie perpetuated by Hollywood fabrications.

[@martinsmith9947]

When I was a kid, we washed at the sink for 6 days a week, and me and my 3 siblings shared a single bath on a Sunday. This was 1963 in the UK.

[@tobyturcott]

We took a bath once a week whether we needed it or not. I was first, then my mom.

[@Beautybizz28]

Once a week?

[@roastedpepper]

Same. But in Russia in the late 80s-92. Washed essential areas daily, and bathed/showered fully once a week. I remember being super excited for daily showers upon emigrating to the US (I was 8).

[@thehomeschoolinglibrarian]

I can't remember when but Karolina another fashion KZbinr did a test on how warm I think Victorian clothes were compared to modern warm clothes. The historic cloths won and this was against a Polish winter.

[@PanBubel]

could You give me a link to video or chanel?

[@dees3179]

Karolina zebrowska. How did Victorian ladies stay warm in winter. She also did a summer version. Make a big cup of tea, if you get pulled into her channel and sense of humour you might be there all night.

[@chaklunkaparfum]

She also did a video about doing Victorian beauty routine a few months ago

[@panhradu]

Most importantly natural fabrics as linen, hemp and wool used by medieval people have significantly better termoregulation than fabrics made from oil, also are antibacterial so do not stinks so much from sweat and are more breathable.

[@AW-uv3cb]

I love Karolina's channel (bumped into her twice in the street here in Poland!). But I have to say that Polish winters these days are nothing compared to the winters of old (or even of 20 years ago haha). Which is not at all to knock down the benefits of natural linen, wool and furs, of course, so her point still stands! 🙂

[@farkasabel]

"There are historical accounts of soapmakers in medieval Italy working as part of guilds. One example comes from 8th century Northern Italy, in which King Ildebrand of the Lombards promised to provide 30 pounds of soap each year to the bishop of Piacenza that would be used to bathe the poor."

[@senorahahn5651]

Cool!

[@gisela1477]

Also Castille soap was made all over the Iberian peninsula, and different variations of Aleppo soap all over the Mediterranean. Bath houses could be found in cities during this period too. And other floral waters (melissa, lavender...) other than rose water were of common use, as most houses had a little herbal "garden", and perfumed vinegars like pomegranate vinegar, lavender vinegar were also of relatively common use for hair rinses and skin care. For the lips, olive or castor oil have always worked.

[@RyanControl]

Your comments on avoiding the sun and wearing lots of hats is interesting when taken in the context of historical fashion for women in many times and places which often involved wearing hats and more covering clothes than is common today. I've seen experts on historic dress say that this was as much to do with the lack of sunscreen as any notions of modesty.

[@silverchairsg]

In East Asian countries women do wear hats and wear sunscreen and hide under umbrellas to avoid the sun. They want fair skin.

[@Aelffwynn]

I believe this 100%. I don't care about "modesty" at all, but I usually cover up because it's the surest way to avoid sun damage. And with the right material (wool or linen, for example) it's MUCH cooler in the summer.

[@davidthedeaf]

Wearing gloves could prevent touching the flu germs and getting it into your mouth and nose too. Saves lives.

[@ah5721]

I've been avoiding the sun for 10 years. People think I'm a decade younger.

[@kevintaylor791]

I spent the last 3 months of 2023 bathing with a cloth and a pot that heated on the stove. I was broke, so was the water heater. It's fixed now. I would start with my hair, cold water, straight from the tap, but it's far to cold to do a whole body cold shower. This time of year the water comes in at about 3C. For my body, I dip the cloth in the pot, get all wet using that. Soap up. Soap the cloth. wipe all over. Rinse the cloth cold, wring, dip in pot of hot, wipe down until cloth was soapy, rinse it in cold, wring, repeat until out of hot water. Those were a crappy few months.

[@LonesomeCowgirl]

I spent a week in the country once, with only cold water. We'd heat up some water, mix it with cold water in a bucket so it was just the right temperature, then we'd stand in the shower with the bucket on the side, dip a bowl in it to "shower" with, soap ourselves, then rince off using the same bowl. Pretty efficient (and also cost-efficient). We also had our heater replaced here in the city and it lasted longer than expected (the new heater was not properly installed), so I used my solar shower--I heated the water myself, of course, but it was pretty convenient. I still use it sometimes to save on water..

[@mmurray821]

I love seeing these types of videos, especially from the female perspective. As a guy I can take a 4 minute shower and be out the door in 10. The amount of effort my wife does with modern blow dryers and such is easily an hour (and I appreciate it). Having to do the 100 strokes for each side of the hair, the other treatments you made and such really is a unique window into the daily life of the medieval woman and is absolutely fascinating. Whenever you can fit re-enactments like this in your schedule is highly valued for us.

[@TheP1x3l]

I'm a man with long hair that has a very coarse texture, and there is no universe where I can take a 4 minute shower. Taking a long time to get ready is absolutely not locked to gender. 😅

[@JohnGenericName]

​@@TheP1x3l I don't even have especially coarse texture, just some moderate curls, but it's easily touching my shoulders and very thick. Even if I blow dry it'll take several hours to be fully dry. Man I miss short hair sometimes but long hair is definitely worth it.

[@HrothgarTheSaxon]

​@@TheP1x3lreally? What's the problem? I can take a few minutes to brush my hair before I shower, but the actual shower doesn't need to take anywhere as long as 4 minutes...

[@TheP1x3l]

@HrothgarTheSaxon My hair gets super dried out and the stuff I put on it needs to sit a few minutes as per the directions. I also find it easier to untangle while it's wet. And then add some minutes for me just dissociating 🤣

[@hashtagmate]

Not every shower is a hair washing shower, i can also take a 4 min shower most days

[@KevinKitten]

I admire your sacrifices for the sake of historical research!

[@solangelalebron1348]

My grandmother from my mothers side washed her hair with soap until the other day. She washed it with soap then put oil in it. That's it. That's all she did. She used a stick as a hair pin.

[@michaelkelleypoetry]

This actually depends on where you were in medieval Europe. Medieval Norsemen actually bathed more than most of the others, bathing once a week. The Old Norse for Saturday actually means "Bath Day".

[@benjaminlammertz64]

The other europeans also bathed once a week. A late-medieval german priest heavily criticized husbands who left their wifes with so little money that the women couldn't even afford to visit the bathhouse once a week. Servants and workers got a "bathing penny" one day of the week so they could visit the bathhouse. And in addition to that, people washed themselves daily, with a cloth, a jug of water and a bit of soap or lye.

[@TheStefan37]

​@@benjaminlammertz64Hi, could You provide some additional info on that priest?

[@damienvalentine5043]

@@benjaminlammertz64 Like Jess says in the video, "medieval Europe" covers a lot of ground. Your German priest would have lived a century or two after the English monk John of Wallingford, the guy who wrote: "The Danes, thanks to their habit of combing their hair every day, of bathing every Saturday and regularly changing their clothes, were able to undermine the virtue of married women." That monk, in turn, lived a full 200 years after the Danish immigrants he was writing about, and those immigrants lived over a century after the pagan Vikings who invaded England and created the Danelaw. (John of Wallingford also happened to be a *Benedictine* monk. The "Rule of Saint Benedict" counsels against frequent bathing and clothes-changing unless you're sick, so portraying the Danes as evil decadent BATH-TAKERS -- and just as importantly, portraying his fellow English as non-bath-takers -- may have been his attempt at propaganda.)

[@silverchairsg]

Man I live in the tropics and everybody baths minimum once a day, usually twice. We think Westerners who don't bath every day are stinky and dirty 😆

[@C4nn15]

So you didn't watch the video, where she literally says that she was going to take her weekly full immersion bath? The Danes didn't bathe more then the other Europeans.

[@kinjiru731]

"This soap is not made from deceit." is the best sentence I've heard today.

[@christopherstrong150]

When my son was three months old, he suffered from bad cradle cap. I put this down to the shampoo. His mother is washing his hair in. As a hairdresser, I took over, stoped shampooing his hair altogether, just rinsed it every day. He’s now 34 and has never had shampoo on his hair since. He just has shiny, black curly hair, and it still smells like a baby!

[@missanne2908]

I was in a plaster body cast and could not take either a shower or a bath for six months. The first cast I wore was for two months and was from my shoulders to my knees. Then I was sent to the hospital where they sawed the front half of cast off, gave me a quick sponge bath (front only) and was recast, this time from under my armpits to my hips, which I wore for four months. My only recourse for cleanliness was soap, a washcloth, and a basin of water. It did the job, but it was not emotionally satisfying. For those of you who have never worn a plaster cast, the skin underneath stops producing sweat and oil and becomes desiccated. The night after the second cast came off I was in the bath for an hour and a half scrubbing off dead skin cells. I had to limit shampoos to once a week at my hairdressers. Braiding my hair in between shampoos was the only way I could handle having oily hair. I had a body cast for one month when I was eleven and went through the same bathing routine (my mother didn't figure out that I could have had my hair shampooed at the hairdressers, so I went without for the entire time). It was much easier to adapt to the routine as a child than it was as an adult.

[@CristinaMarshal]

I'ma sit back with a lovely cup of tea, and for you to know that this experiment was nary done in vain! - absolutely brilliant, Jess!

[@thomaskalinowski8851]

When thinking about people from the past it's always good to remember that the main differences between us and them are that A) we know more, and B) there are more of us. Otherwise, yeah, they were basically just like us.

[@Pippis78]

Showering every day and wearing deodorant isn't the only way people live even today. Not even in the "first world". To be honest Americans seem quite obsessed with cleanliness - along with really harsh chemicals ...Yet still you wear outside shoes inside 😱😆 I am a bit out of the norm though. Going a week without washing my hair is nothing out of ordinary. Once you get your hair used to not washing it too much it the scalp stops making oils like crazy. I've washed my hair mostly with water and rye flour for many years and am very happy with the result. Upholding basic daily hygiene doesn't have to mean taking full daily baths or showers. My skin would crumble and fall off me if I showered and washed with soap everyday. Armpits, face, neck, private bits and possibly feet is quite enough daily or every other day. In hot weather I shower daily, but soap I use only for actual dirt and grime.

[@KoopstaKlicca]

To be clear about wearing shoes inside it just depends on the part of America you're in. In the Midwest or any place that has a lot of snow we don't wear shoes indoors

[@Freaky0Nina]

​@@KoopstaKlicca just. Don't your feet start to stink ALOT when you wear shoes from morning to bedtime? And. What about wet dirt? It doesn't have to be snowy, it can still be dirty when it's raining or when you walked on the sidewalks/lawn. Think of dog and bird poo, cigaret stubbs and so on. And orthopedic foot health?

[@KoopstaKlicca]

@@Freaky0Nina Maybe this is a self report for you but I never had issues with stinky feet lol And I'm not saying that people only don't wear shoes indoors during snowy weather. Rather that regions of the US that have a lot of snow generally don't wear shoes indoors. For example in Iowa it snows a lot and year round they don't wear shoes indoors

[@mcstotti8691]

Personal injury adds have reached youtube. Entertainment truly has come full circle.

[@halfsourlizard9319]

When you're too poor to pay to not see ads and too lazy to block them but willing to spend time writing comments winging about them ...

[@BrysonCityDashCam28713]

@@halfsourlizard9319 she segways her script for the advert so. no avoiding it...even paying $15 to get ad-free KZbin, isnt ad-free.

[@halfsourlizard9319]

@@BrysonCityDashCam28713 Might want to invest in some better browser extensions, then 😜

[@alphamail8974]

​@@halfsourlizard9319 Goofy comment 😂 I pay for premium and I still saw the sponsorship and advertisement. Snarky jerk.

[@TheGabygael]

Sourced from 80% natural deceit Fun fact, french texts of the time and into the 16th century used the term lissive (which would turn into lessive nowadays) to refer to these. French speakers might know it as a the word we use to refer to laundry detergent and that word was used in both context interchangeably, it simply meant "detergent" at that time and both hair and laundry detergents were made out of wood or vine ashes steeped in water only the additives could be different

[@williampalmer8052]

I really appreciate the work you put in to researching these historical videos, and your dedication to medieval accuracy as much as is practicable. And I think anyone would agree that windowsill swampwater is a small price to pay for such an awesome and interesting housemate.

[@melenatorr]

Ruth Goodman wrote a couple of books on living and dressing in period and she agreed about how unexpectedly comfortable, cool and/or warm Tudor and Victorian period clothing turned out to be. The books are a breeze to read: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Goodman.

[@dees3179]

My house is really cold, so a proper shower about once a week is about my limit in winter. The rest of the time it’s just the smelly bits using a sink of hot water removing as few clothes as possible. I can’t imagine showering daily this time of year. I’d freeze!

[@silverchairsg]

I live in the tropics. If you don't shower daily you will stink to high heaven 😆.

[@pohle4632]

My house too. I preheat the bathroom with a space heater before showers.

[@iateyursandwiches]

Damn, how old/big are your houses? Perhaps invest in some insulation?

[@ottosalo4575]

Also the water quality has been different! Can say that when washing with lake water at my summer cottage my hair feels much better than with the regular shower water ^^

[@robertkoons1154]

The fine toothed comb was also useful for combing out hair lice.

[@ChristopherTheBanana]

Really fascinating video. Thanks for demonstrating! I especially appreciated the added realism provided by your rats, "Sorry for the sound, the rats are having dinner" - Italian woman, 1468

[@zeusathena26]

Corn starch is excellent as a dry shampoo. You can add it a bit of dusting onto, & comb, & brush it into your hair. You can add a few drops of essential oil, or perfume to it.

[@auroragazm]

honestly you my have liked the tartar oil so much for the pure fact that it was mostly olive oil. olive oil as a facial moisturier is fabulous (for me at least). sometimes with a small amount of tea tree and lavender oils added to the mix; for breakouts and redness, respectively. but i'm actually starting to see my skin respond better to just pure extra virgin olive oil more and more these days. it's so relatively cheap and accessible too, never have to worry about running out of facial moisturiser on trips haha. you could maybe experiment with continuing with pure olive, if you really liked the tartar oil but don't want the hassle of making it and the bad smell!!

[@StacyBaldwin-qv5cj]

As recently as the 50's there were places in the US where people bathed in a washtub. You packed the water in, heated it up on the stove, then filled the wash tub. Usually this was done in the kitchen. The father would take a bath first, then mother, then oldest to youngest child, all in the same water. My grandmother didn't live in a house with an indoor toilet until 1968. Ironically ahe fell in the bathroom, broke her hip and died from pneumonia six months later. There honestly are still places in the deep south where people still live in dirt floor houses, with no running water, and an outhouse.

[@MafiaCatNyoshi]

Vinegar is not only useful for refreshing the hair after normal soap, but I also find it to be pretty good before a wash, when the scalp is greasy, but also feels dry and flaky. Whenever my scalp feels dry, I use 50/50 apple cider vinegar and water on it a few hours before washing my hair or over night. Works really well, feels good and there is no smell after washing

[@fredkrissman6527]

As a retired MALE cultural anthro prof, I have a question and an observation: 1) how much more time (I'm assuming here!) did you have to spend on this medieval hygiene routine than your normal mod practices?; AND, 2) I loved watching this month-long experiment, in part cuz it reminded me of my "fellow" (female) members in a '70s commune (cult?) I belonged to for a yr in StaBarbara, CA! They had minimal use of mod hygiene products cuz of a strong "hippie" preferences for homemade applications and financial constraints. Thanx very much Jess!

[@motherlesschild102]

Does it even need to said (again) how useless and /or harmful so many "mod hygiene products" are, and the relentless brainwashing that's used to promote their sales?

[@merpius]

LOL, by about day 15 she was looking quite a bit like a hippie. 🤣Even in the late 90's there were plenty of girls with that look in, for example, Eugene, OR.... Not a terrible look, but there's definitely a noticeable difference from how women who take a more modern approach to hygene/cosmetics look, even without makeup.

[@fredkrissman6527]

Hey,@@merpius! I live in rural Humboldt county, where seasonally at least we get an influx of what's now referred to as "traveler" or "backpack" youngsters who look like they just got back from Woodstock '69... I personally am very fond of this "look" as I was a teen in SoCal in the late '60 to early 70s.

[@Makaneek5060]

This comment interests me because I'm unsure how best to request that you answer some questions to find out if you were in a cult or not.

[@kameljoe21]

WIth in the last decade or maybe more, I seen a news story air on a local station where a woman who wrote a book or something talked about how people often over bathed. I remember the reporter being a stupid woman ask the woman who wrote the book if she had bathed before coming to do the show. The person with I think distaste said yes only to please said reporter even after a lengthy discussion on how one should properly bathe. It goes something like this. Those who are inactive can bath every few days and some can just use hot water and a small amount of soap to wash away dirt and grime. Those who are active to work up a sweat should bathe daily with mild use of soap. Those who tend to be overall greasy should pay more attention to their hair and skin. Use only enough soap to clean your parts and use it as needed. Pretty much she said that each person need to bathe as much as they need to. I bathe every few days or daily when I am active. If I do not do anything for several days then I feel no need to clean what is already pretty clean. I do not get greasy, nor do I use skin care products and my skin is clear and in good condition. When I sweat or work hard and depending on what type of working hard I will rinse off and use a mild amount of soap. Some days I like to sit under the hot water and let that hot water melt away any little bit of oils on my body. I feel clean even when doing this. Not as clean as with Irish spring, yet feel fresh. One has to decide when to much is enough and when its not enough.

[@Pyrategalley]

The poison comment was just excellent.

[@hardywatkins7737]

This is child's play, haha. I haven't had a shower for over a year. My shower is all dismantled because i had a leak and had to cap it off ... can't afford to get it fixed. I went in the sea a couple of times in the summer. I wash with a flannel and bowl of hot water. You keep shaved, wash your hair, bath your feet, also and you can be clean. I just use a friend's shower when i can.

[@jesus_reigns]

You could also buy a gym membership like planet fitness for $10/month and get free showers there if thats something of interest to you

[@adcaptandumvulgus4252]

Lawyer ads I remember watching those on commercials late at night that's hilarious.

[@Lyrazel]

"Proper medieval veiling" is a little bit fiddly when one isn't used to it but being entirely covered in linen is a super effective way of not having to wash ones hair very often.

[@nicolakerrison]

Wow, those products are more effective than I thought they would be! Thank you for sharing

[@cameton_youtube]

This is honestly something I never thought about, cool video!

[@Ael666]

I think beer would helpful in these situations... just putting that out there 30 seconds in...

[@RingsLoreMaster]

Jess, did you know that the traditional Japanese bath involves pouring a pitcher of cool, or cold, water over your head and then zipping into a very hot bath? It is marvelous. FWIW, the traditional homes had wooden slates in the rooms the bath was taken in so as to drain the water. Maybe next year you might want to research the hygiene of spacefarers. An exemplary case of roughing it. Also, check out the toilets on ISS & the space modules used in the Artimis program. Of course, it would be a sight bit costly to install one in your abode.

[@silverchairsg]

Sugoi!

[@Jango1989]

To badly paraphrase the princess bride, I think that that pitcher is not pitching what you think it is pitching. It is hot water from the bath to acclimatise your body to the hot bath you're about to enter. They are still common in all public and private baths today. Source: 日本に住む中一千回ぐらいやった事ある。

[@うさぎテイラー]

"The soap is not made from deceit" 🤣

[@1Kapuchu100]

I was honestly surprised by how many different types of products a person from that long ago used. I had thought it was little more than water, rudimentary soaps, and water scented with flower petals or something. You learn something new every day.

[@damienvalentine5043]

Keep in mind that Jess is specifically imitating "a wealthy woman living in Salerno" during the 1100s. Presumably she means the wife of a fairly prosperous merchant, since she imagines her character "having to walk", and even a low-ranking noblewoman would have either owned a light horse like a palfrey, or had the means to hire litter-bearers. (Noblewomen had very little occasion to leave the house -- that's what servants are for -- and all those occasions would have obliged her to be wearing her Sunday best. She's not going to dirty her clothes with the filth of the street. Full of dust, and stray dogs, and...you know...*commoners*.) For the majority of people, even in urban environments like Salerno, hygiene would have been more simplified -- which is not to say "neglected".

[@DeniseSkidmore]

Today nobody uses every product in the store. People pick the parts their body needs.

[@NateFinch]

"My burning tartar is my agony" is such a good line. 😂

[@glacieractivity]

As a Scandi dude: We gave away Tyr, Thor, Frigg and Odin for your week. You skipped "laugardag" (Saturday). Many of our dialects and languages still use "lauge" as the term for having a bath. No wonder the Vikings were popular. Sure, we too celebrate the sun and the moon from the old. But more people should have dropped Saturn for a weekly bath. I do, and I effing love Saturn. On a more serious note - I have been lucky to do long periods of military stuff, expedition stuff and scientific fieldwork stuff in the Arctic with men and female colleagues - things that are known to cause some sweat. It works insanely better than going to work after that late night out. Trust the Vikings and respect the "lørdag, laurdag, lauantal, lávvardat, leygardagur (etc) of the Nordics and friends, denoting the day of Saturn (Saturday). Once a week - take a soak instead as they thought it important enough before medieval times 🙃 (Satirically, this has been pointed out for decades as the reason for how many people around Europe can claim some connection to Scandinavia - the Vikings could be a bit aggressive, admittedly, but they sure smelled pretty awesome since they celebrated a weekly bath rather than Saturn). I enjoy that thought as it allows me to think that no Viking raped, they were simply picked up by a local woman from the smell of freshness alone. Satirical fiction is fun :) I am getting ready for a shower tomorrow at the time of submitting this post 👍

[@timothyeveritt8375]

Very brave to do this openly and publicly - well done - please do more living history because you do it very well. I [man, 65] have not used any chemicals, soap or shampoo on my face or hair (which is thick and cut short) for 20+ years. The only comment I'd make about the video is that the first month is hard as your skin and hair adjust so you took us on the hardest part of the journey. Thanks.

[@marieroberts5664]

Jess, you can still tie all this in to Tolkien, with the comments about how rough and uncivilized Aragorn looked when he went about as Strider, or how good Sam and Frodo felt to be clean and eat with clean hands at Henneth Anun. Or even how at Crickhollow there were hot baths ready for all three of the hikers as soon as they arrived, not to mention a bathing song to go with the bath!

[@ghyslainabel]

You may like the Belgariad series from David Eddings. They are short books and there are periodic reminders to take a bath. Apparently, when riding horses all day, people took the smell of horses.

[@RingsLoreMaster]

Horses, our TRUE best friends.

[@marieroberts5664]

They are short books??? Sorry, as much as I like like the Belgariad series, "short" is not a descriptor I would apply to them.

[@ghyslainabel]

@@marieroberts5664 the Belgariad books are around 300 pages, which is on shorter side for novels. In the sequel, the Maloreon, the books are around 500 pages.

[@jenniferpearce1052]

@@ghyslainabel Those are short fantasy novels or average length any-other-genre novels!

[@MrDowntemp0]

Thank you for your sacrifice, this was entertaining and educational!

[@2Cerealbox]

When you casually mentioned the sound of rats feasting in the background, I was like "wow, what kind of squalor do you live in? You're getting way too into character if you live with rats."

[@larryrenzosaenz]

Jess, Love, no one can ever accuse you of taking the easy way out. You make a Pilgrim look a right Profligate in comparison! 🙏❤

[@kurtreese7408]

It’s like living on Grateful Dead tour in the eighties!

[@KohakuRyuKazes]

I would actually recommend you use a tallow based face cream. If you whip it, the balm becomes really very light. Even if you don’t it’s a good balm. Very moisturizing, a little goes a long way. I also use it on my dry leg, mostly because I have been known to scratch myself bloody and keep going because of dryness based itching. The added moisture of the tallow balm is very appealing. I will note that I had access to the leaf fat recommended as being the base for cosmetic purposes and so was able to make my own and control what went into my batch of balm. But the use of the balm also has eliminated that dusty layer of dry skin at the hair line I’ve had all my life.

[@PaintedButton]

Funnily enough, because I have fairly sensitive skin, my products are really similar to what you used during this. Minus the rose water, but that's just because I'm sadly allergic to it. The more things change, the more they stay the same I guess. Not willing to give up my showers though. 😂 I really liked your conclusion as well. People are people, no matter which time they live in. Their fundamental parts haven't changed.

[@Karenpayne47]

Do you make your own products? Is there a way you could possibly share how to do this? Synthetic fragrance and chemical sensitivity issues here 😅

[@PaintedButton]

@@Karenpayne47 I don't make my own, but there's a lot of artisan skincare around. I get mine from a small local manufacturer who started his business because of his own skin issues. They've been my holy grail for a while now. And sometimes less is just more. I literally use grapeseed oil as moisturizer and it works really well for my skin.

[@Karenpayne47]

@@PaintedButton I’ll try that…I’m in the Caribbean (Trinidad) and not many options available, but I can get grape seed oil 👍🏻

[@PaintedButton]

@@Karenpayne47 As weird as it sounds - and I don't know how helpful it is - a good source for soaps and stuff are monasteries? Or any equivalent, I assume. Since they make a lot of stuff for themselves and don't use any extras, it's usually a pretty good bet for sensitive skin. But, again, idk if that is helpful. In my experience, water, some light soap, and oil cover almost all bases that skincare brands always say you need like 50 thousand extra things for. Rosewater is pretty nice if you're not allergic to it (I use lavender instead but it basically works the same).

[@stefaninafla]

Orange water can often be used in place of rose water too.

[@Shadowace724]

Great video! This content in addition to the Tolkien discussions is the reason why I love this channel.

[@mattyladd]

You did amazing!!! Very cool. Happy Thanksgiving.

[@MrCounselor17]

Now that's dedication to your work. I salute you Jess. Happy Thanksgiving!

[@barnabymailed4184]

Fab experiment, quite the adventure! Thanks for cleaning up some popular misunderstandings of medieval life, truly most fascinating. Keep up the great work! 👍

[@krankarvolund7771]

"Public bathhouses cropped up everywhere" Well, the Romans probably left a lot of public bathhouses they didn't had to crop up XD

[@melinalicharowicz7332]

So glad I stumbled across this video and your channel! Very informative and definitely put to rest a lot of misconceptions I had about people in the middle ages. Love from York County. =)

[@AnnPMadera]

You know if you were doing it as a medieval Irish, highland Scot, or Manx, it would've been twice a week, and once with soap made from lye (derived from pork or cattle fat)? The Welsh, Cornish, and Bretons did that too. It derived from actually the Iron Age Celts, who were fastidiously clean. They shaved and plucked body hair away, with men just keeping mustaches or beards as signs of status, since to have either you needed servants, who were paid for keeping those up, or slaves, who you probably got as gifts or took yourself in raids.

[@RABartlett]

This is one way to keep weird dudes out of your DMs. Probably not as effective a way as one should think. Picturing bandits snatching swamp soup airing on the window sill.

[@GravesRWFiA]

Can I point out the hobbits had hot baths! before the 2 week mark I wanted to scream 'for the love of god find some ivory!'

[@Valdagast]

In a Swedish text from the Middle Ages, they recommended this for a wound that wouldn't heal. "Take a black dog and burn it, then spread the ashes on the wound. This 'bites' the harm out of the wound so it can heal." Oh, and hedgehog broth for depression.

[@Jess_of_the_Shire]

While I cannot attest to the first, hedgehog broth works every time 10/10

[@marieroberts5664]

The poor dog! The poor hedgie! Besides, everybody knows it's maggots!

[@satanicmuffin9309]

Informative, captivating, and beautiful from beginning to end. Lovely video. Thank you.

[@cooobiebooobie]

Really glad youtube showed me your channel! Such detailed and long videos!

[@christina3512]

I love that you did this! I do historical costuming focused on the 16th century, and am interested in medieval and renaissance beauty routines as an important component in what's going on with the fashions (see: medieval veils), and while I've never done an experiment this thorough, I switched from a product-heavy modern haircare routine with frequent hair washing to thorough combing, infrequent washing, and wearing my hair in braids all the time during lockdown in 2020. I've never gone back. The combing the hair out thoroughly daily works SO much better than I thought it would, and without tons of styling products weighing it down, my hair feels cleaner a week after washing than it did the day after when I was putting tons of stuff in it all the time. My hair is now the longest and healthiest it's ever been with very little effort. This is one of those areas where the 19th and 20th century desire to modernize caused us to abandon something that was working really well in favor of something that just doesn't, really.

[@camille_la_chenille]

I am very curious about the recipe for the wine-based deodorant. Also, as someone with chronic fatigue, I rely heavily on the medieval method of only one bath/shower a week and otherwise take sponge baths and carefully combs my hair twice a day. Showering and washing my hair is exhausting so, medieval method it is.

[@cindabearr]

Same. CF along with autoimmune joint problems (RA) means baths over showers, and even full baths are infrequent for modern standards. But my skin is in good condition, I don't smell bad at all, and I have slightly more energy to do other things in my day.

[@annelliott1384]

For deodorant, I am currently using a spray bottle of lemon and clove hand sanitizer. It can kill some microbes that modern deodorant sticks can’t reach, so it was exciting when I learned that just a little bit of alcohol fixed my smelly problem. Witch hazel works too, but I need a cotton ball to apply it, so something is a spray bottle is much easier for me.

[@MrCounselor17]

Does anyone else find it ironic that something that smells really bad when you make it helps you to not smell bad? I just find that funny.

[@James_Ford4815]

Just think of the video title though ''I Lived as a Medieval French Peasant For One Whole Month'' sounds like a 1 million view vid to me ;) lol

[@jeanninef2110]

Great vlog. Your are brave to put your skin through a change...as a commenter wrote below, the first month is the hardest as your skin needs to adjust. Anyway, just wanted to say, that any type of good, healthy fat is probably way healthier for your skin than petrole based vasoline! And we all know that taking long hot baths (which I love) and hot showers can be very drying to our skin, as it washes away the natural and good oils, not just the dirt. I like the idea of just washing with a warm (and perhaps a natural soaped up) cloth. I love your vlogs and am looking forward to our next one!

[@forteanmobius3272]

There is they hypothesis that medieval only stopped bathing during times of plague. Biting insects hate the acidic oils of the human skin. They may not have known that disease was transmitted by insects but they could observe that someone who had bathed recently was more likely to get sick.

[@BanazirGalpsi1968]

17 mins in. Gives a possible new meaning to your mother smells of elderberry.

[@afkoptk]

i literally just watched the food thingy, and this video popped up, youtube truly making sure i dont get my work done

[@angel8fingers]

I have found this video informative and entertaining! Well done, you earned my sub!

[@happyguy333]

That was a really interesting video. Thank you for sharing a look into medieval hygiene practices. I really hope that it does get to 100k to see how medieval clothing and physical exertion would influence the experiment.

[@jasonutty52]

I just watched the eating one the other day and looked on the channel for another video like it and was sad to not find any. Happy day.

[@mattslater167]

Nah, you didn't fry for art. You fried for knowledge, and that's much more noble.

[@odysyr]

The garlangal could be used in fried rice I think, I vaguely remember Uncle Roger mentioning it once

[@bestthingsinceslicedrice]

10min to the vid if someone just saw you doing these things they will be like "look shes doing witchcraft! Now lets carry her and then dunk her on the village pool so she confesses her sins!"

[@rickkarrer8370]

We used to have pet rats (9 over 5 years lol). Those sounds are bringing me back lol.

[@swatson1190]

I don't have a shower. I have a tub. I am not sure what the problem is. Homemade soap is literally lard, water, salt,and lye( ash and water). So I am not sure where you would get lead in that. Some women had essential oil added such as lavender, or rose. If you add olive oil or almond oil it will be castile soap. You can also use soap berries. They changed their underclothes twice a day. So they were as clean as we are.

[@TotalyRandomUsername]

Ancient skin care is not that bad. I allways had issues with dry body skin. After 15 years of trying all the creams that i could think of i looked up what did they do before all that stuff was on the market. The answer was obvious. High quality olive oil. So i installed a spender in my shower filled it with good olive oil and now after every shower i oil myself like an ancient greek. Skin looks and feels brilliant!

[@EricFeldmann]

as for 12th century pollution think of a city of about 50,000 people with each building with wood burning hearths to cook and heat the place. wood smoke first rises then it settles. so, the streets would be clogged with a haze of wood smoke ALL THE TIME.

[@ruthspanos2532]

Indoor air quality would have been pretty terrible, too!

[@alexandraperezdeagreda326]

This is very interesting! I saw something on "Modern History TV" (with Sir Kingsley, I think), where he explained about what "urban life" might've actually been like, in the middle ages... Def' one to check out. Also, I often get the sense (from watching his channel/content) that many of us fall into the trap of thinking about the "likely scenarios" of bygone times, from the lens of our own, modern convenience, and our own, current conceptions of "urbanism"... I mean that, for example; How was the wood sourced, for the stoves/hearths (would this have only been seasonally available, to preserve surrounding forests, for guaranteed winter-supply?)? How might it've been transported? Then payed for - and by whom (could the poor even afford it?)? Who would've gotten "first dibs" on the best wood? Who/how many would've actually had hearths at their disposal (possibly the richer "class") , and who/how many would've had the time and ability to cook, as well (I'm thinking of most "working-class" people, who were likely *very* busy)? There were likely professional bakers, inns, and charitable soup-kitchens, who'd get "second pick", after magistrates/ecclesiastical officials. And only *then*, might the rest have been made available to private/individual use...etc. How were the communes organized, in terms of how they imagined/prioritized the influx, service & supply of "basic" goods & necessities... These kinds of questions are all so interesting and mind-blowing, when raised. We often forget that the likely differences in *how* urban life was conceived of & dealt with, back then, would've greatly impacted the results of what *we* can imagine, their daily lives might've looked like. "The devil's in the details", as they say!😅

[@jennifermccrary1570]

I used to make and sell soap as a side hussell, using lye. If you do it properly there is no lye left in it. The way it works is the lye reacts with the fat, resulting in the soap (which is technically a salt). Soaps are harsh when there is not enough fat left in the bar to rehydrate the skin. If there were lye left, "hash" wouldn't be the way to describe it...

[@SavedJester]

This is the quality, wholesome content the interwebs need at this time

[@alannahwray8984]

The older I get, the closer to these bathing practices I get. I remember being a very oily teen and taking a shower every day. Now, I really only shower/bathe when I've gotten really sweaty/dirty or once a week if it's been chill. I wash my face every day, but otherwise I haven't noticed any smell or detriment to my overall cleanliness from doing this.

[@pendragon2012]

Oh your poor boyfriend, lol. Love the great content! As for not getting run over by a car: NOW you tell me!

[@williamblack6912]

I'm disapointed by the lack of gollum quotes regarding the sun....it burns us the yellow face we hates it.

[@skateboardist1686]

No bath for a month? A girl after my own heart. Heeeyyy there!

[@privateprivate404]

"The soap is not made from deceit" OMG I'm going to die laughing...🤣

[@djparn007]

Thanks for sharing this, Jess. You have some of the most interesting content. 💙💙

[@stephenfreeze4341]

the SECOND the sponsor was mentioned my brain could not stop with the morgan & morgan & morgan & morgan

[@dhawthorne1634]

Well made soaps are super-fatted. This means that they add more fat (lard, tallow, oils) than the amount of lye can saponify. This means your soap is actually going to be a fairly neutral pH, and will not directly react with the oils on your hair and skin. Depilatory creams then and now are both very harsh on skin. They all basically use the same formula: something caustic like quick-lime or lye mixed with whatever hot new cure-all was going around at the time; from cat feces to arsenic to radioactive salts.

[@davidsachs4883]

Several thoughts When you held the wooden comb I remembered that the basic black plastic comb that you can get at most discount stores was the most common type during the US civil war in the 1860’s Since you liked the rose water that’s a plus for your potential future use Since you reacted to the beeswax: when my daughter was tested for allergies the method used on her was far less unpleasant than when I was tested as a teenager. Depending on your health insurance coverage it wouldn’t be a bad idea to learn what else you might be allergic to.

[@talideon]

No, plastic combs are a 20th century+ thing mostly. I mean, there were some pre-bakelite plastics, but they were not remotely common. Before then, you're looking at wood, metal, or bone combs.

[@davidsachs4883]

I’ve seen them at more than one civil war museum. What type of plastic like substance they’re made of I don’t know but they look like the e basic black inexpensive comb

[@mahna_mahna]

​@@davidsachs4883There was an early form of plastic called Parkesine in the 1860s, and they did make combs out of it. But it had just come on the scene, and wouldn't have been the most common type. Carved bone combs were very common, and look incredibly similar to plastic. You can search for civil war bone combs and look at the images to see if it seems like that's what you saw.

[@AdmiralJota]

@@davidsachs4883 I wonder if they might have been celluloid? According to Wikipedia, it was invented in 1855 (before the Civil War), and I *think* it would be considered a kind of plastic. It also says that "celluloid's common contemporary uses are for manufacturing table tennis balls, musical instruments, combs, office equipment, fountain pen bodies, and guitar picks."

[@jbaidley]

When Cortés met the Aztecs they thought he smelled so bad they had people follow him around with incense burners to cover his stench.

[@damienvalentine5043]

"Incense, huh? It's because you think I'm a god, right?" "...Sure."

[@i.cs.z]

That's something what happens after months on sea.

[@alexandraperezdeagreda326]

Hey! As a non-professional History- & Cultural Anthropology-nerd, I'm quite curious to know; What kind(s) of incense, would the Aztecs have had/used? It's a very interesting question... Does anyone here know about that (I mean, from serious/reputable historic sources)?

[@carlcramer9269]

Here Sweden bathhouses (sauna) survived until the 18C - I guess the cold climate kept the habit alive. Veneral disease it eh common explanation for why this became less common, but bathhouses returned in the 19C, so if there was a break, it was short. A more general observation as a man is the effort women put into this - today or back then.

[@missanne2908]

The miasma theory of disease (the idea that communicable disease was in bad air) seemed to appear shortly after the epidemic of the great pox (syphilis) of the 1490s. The main conduits of these bad airs were the nose and mouth, but pores opened by warm water could also absorb these miasmas. Hence people stopped bathing. Of course the pores of the skin were also conduits of bodily toxins that could be reabsorbed if left on the skin. That is why wearing linen next to the skin was important to general health because it would absorb the toxins and could be washed (I wonder why nobody was concerned about the health of washerwomen, who would be exposed to so much hot water!). This was an early modern way of thinking; not medieval at all. It's interesting in Sweden the connection between bathhouses and venereal disease was observed so much later than much of the rest of Europe. Anyways, the germ theory of disease started to become popular later on in the 19th century and every started bathing again.

[@christy4114]

The HR lady commenting on you having your hair covered was a bold move.

[@sourisvoleur4854]

Hildegaard v.B. is also widely acknowledged as the maker of the first known conlang or invented language.