Were The Vikings *Really* Cleaner Than Us?

You may have heard stories about Vikings being clean freaks, and tall tales of the Old Norse bathing so frequently they seduced the women of all Europe. Early medieval raiders who bathers who combed their hair, wore makeup, washed and changed their laundry, and were so clean and hygienic that they were hated by the Anglo-Saxons just because they were so darn hot.
But how much washing did the Vikings actually do? How were Viking teeth? Did they really wash and look after their appearance that much?
Let's find out! And don't forget to pack a towel!
Some reading:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of...)
intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue42...
journals.plos.org/plosone/art...
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[@TheWelshViking]

GUYS I FORGOT EAR SPOONS AND LICE. THEY HAD TINY SPOONS FOR EARWAX AND I LOVE THEM, I’M SORRY. ALSO LOTS OF LICE, COMBS ARE ALSO GOOD FOR LICE. ALSO SMOKE AND RAZORS. AND THEY HAD INTESTINAL PARASITES LITERALLY OUT THE WAZOO I’M SORRY!

[@sarahwatts7152]

I'm sorry they had intestinal parasites too! :D

[@luc9766]

IT'S OKAY JIMMY

[@lillia5333]

It's ok. I forget things too. Even though I'm norse. We have showers now and less lice. Very few ear spoons I think. There are none in my (long) house. And we have forgotten about blood eagling people😮

[@thebratqueen]

The earwax spoon was one of my favorite things to see the first time I visited the Museum of London. That and the Roman bra.

[@Jack-je1zt]

I guess you'll just have to make another video!

[@ursulamckean4187]

And remember that while baths were always a challenge to provide before plumbing (except in Iceland where the geology does the work) , it was a lot easier to wash from a bowl of water with a rough cloth. You can get pretty clean that way and exfoliate at the same time.

[@m_d1905]

Definitely. They do it that way in the hospital and it does a good job and is pretty refreshing.

[@dees3179]

I’m pretty much still doing that apart from about once a week during the winter. My house is far too cold to take all my clothes off at once and get in the shower. I completely sympathise with my past brethren…..baths lose their appeal when the ambient temperature is too low, even before we talk about getting the water there and back again.

[@sirseigan]

You can do it with pretty small amount of water as well. I think I use about 3 liters (1,5L boiling and 1,5L cold mixed) all in all at one point. It is nicer with more but one do not need it do get the job done 😊

[@susiemeadows9838]

Jimmy “…that doesn’t take a PhD…” Me, who works with PhD candidates and faculty with PhDs “… I mean you’d like to think so but according to my lived experience…”😂

[@azteclady]

Thank you so much for this! Menstruation: it amazes me that people forget that commercially available disposable menstrual products (sanitary/menstrual pads) are a very recent development; even when they were commercially available in the West (from the 1880s on there were rudimentary forms), they were too expensive for the vast majority of people. Well into the 1930s, women in rural ares (in the U.S. and Europe) were more likely to use pieces of cloth stuffed with some absorbent material (from wool to grass to ash and so on), that could be washed and reused--just like diapers, people made do with what was available to them.

[@butternutsquash6984]

Eli Yoder has an interesting short about Amish bathing and (lack of) tooth brushing when he was raised. He noted that they didn't notice their smell but the worldly people they hired as drivers would sometimes tell them they stank. He had to learn what a shower, toothpaste/brush, and deodorant were AND that stinkiness is not tolerated after he left the Amish religion and joined the dominant society.

[@TastingHistory]

Love the cap, Jimmy!

[@TheWelshViking]

Thank you! It keeps me snug and is large and floppy :3

[@Valdagast]

We come from the land of the baths and combs From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow

[@sierrakaufman1868]

“Slats of antler, cut from….antler” Had me rolling 😂

[@kimjongmill4445]

Interesting thought on these "hygiene kits". As someone who works on historic sailing vessels a lot I keep a "splinter kit" handy, who's contents are near identical to this Norse hygiene kit. Getting splinters from older wood decks can sometimes be a daily occurrence and although not debilitating a splinter sure makes finishing the rest of your work more difficult. So I always keep tweezers for sticky outy splinters and a needle for deep or broken splinters. One time I had an accident that left me with over 20 large splinters in one hand all jagged and bloody!

[@elizabethmcglothlin5406]

Very interesting.

[@alisonhenry820]

I love that you said sticky outy splinters, my kind of lingo lol

[@QueenMegaera]

I've been joking for years (probably because I heard it somewhere) that the reason that Saturday is the only day of the week that has a different name in English than in the Scandinavian languages is because the English heard of having a weekly Washing Day and were like "heck no". 😂 That said, I don't know when we up here in the north started calling it Washing Day.

[@JWRogersPS]

I tend to believe that people washed (at least a sponge bath) often because you feel better when you are clean. Personally, I hate the feeling of dirty hands, and would still wash them frequently even if germs weren't a thing.

An interesting fact is that today in Denmark it is called Saturday "lørdag", which means "bathing day".

[@hjalmarrsviakappa9666]

In swedish, we call it pretty much the same thing - "lördag", which is a worn down form of "lögardag / lögardagen" :D

[@doobat708]

When it comes to body odor, it helps to remember that wool (and, to a certain extent, linnen) inhibit the bacteria that produce the kind of smell we associate with cotton button downs and polyester sweatshirts. Unless you get actual stains on your wool jumper, it suffices to air it properly in an outdoors space.

[@TheWelshViking]

Yes, or a little spot clean, or a wee brush, or a rinse through the sweatier bits, because it’s only a bit anti microbial, and these people were often wearing wool next to their profusely sweating skin, as was the norm in Europe for poorer and hardier folk until the 1950s www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8950207/#:~:text=Wool%20showed%20good%20antibacterial%20effect,and%20two%20strains%20of%20A.

[@73North265]

Might be worth mentioning parasites in relation to this subject. I did my Masters thesis on the insect remains from the GUS (Garten unter sandet or Farm under the Sand) site from the Western Settlement in Greenland. The conditions were very good for organic preservation and the samples from the living quarters were full of lice (Pediculus humanus) - whether crabs or knits (body or head hair) we couldn’t tell. It might be that the combs weren’t just for cosmetic reasons but to remove the lice and their eggs (like a present day knit nurse).

[@rainydaylady6596]

Ick. Lol That's the part of archeology/anthropology that I couldn't deal with. Well done, you.

[@TheWelshViking]

I forgot the WORMS! I knew I’d forgotten something!!

[@johannageisel5390]

@@TheWelshViking The worms, the lice, the fleas, the bedbugs... The Cathedral Museum in Magdeburg has the contents of the coffin of Queen Editha, the first wife of Otto I., and there were a lot of different bug species in those contents that allow to draw inferences about the situation surrounding her death. Among lice there were also wax-eating beetles and things that probably lived in the straw of her pillow and some bugs entered the coffin later to eat the grain that had been given to her as a funeral good. I sadly cannot remember all of them, but there were definitely a few bugs that were on and around the body and the grave goods even before she was put into the coffin and even before she died.

[@73North265]

@@TheWelshViking Funnily enough on that site we didn’t find any evidence of intestinal parasites, but that was unusual

[@m.maclellan7147]

​@@73North265hmmm, very unusual. Were they growing a plant that naturally discourages parasites !?

[@elizabethmcglothlin5406]

I believe that people always stayed as clean as they could under the circumstances because it felt better and was more comfortable, even in the cold. It wasn't easy, and sometimes impossible. In Islam, the cleanliness rules were very strict, so he may have been exaggerating. Same for some of the other later critics. That sounds like snark to me.

[@wanderingspark]

On the subject of laundry, it's worth noting that linen and wool (ie what the Vikings wore) are better at resisting bacterial growth, and therefore take longer to smell bad, than cotton and polyester (ie what most of us today wear).

[@TheWelshViking]

Yes, but everyone please do please clean wool and linen! www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8950207/#:~:text=Wool%20showed%20good%20antibacterial%20effect,and%20two%20strains%20of%20A.

[@aurevoiralex]

Canadian person here. Minus three, eh? Piffle. We enjoyed a crisp - 27C in Montreal last night. Not too many germs, lice and other bothersome critters survive in that kind of cold. But I digress... I visited Iceland on three seperate occasions, and I adore their hot-pot culture, especially the fact that there's a mandatory shower enforced immediately before you hop in for a soak. So you can truly relax and enjoy the naturally warm waters. Just beautiful.

[@lailafranklin9044]

Minnesotan being like even in Celsius -3 cannot be that bad

[@TheWelshViking]

I mean if we’re competing I did -35 in Calgary once and my hair snapped off. Yeah, love that aspect of the bathing culture there!

[@aurevoiralex]

@@TheWelshViking Oh, for sure it gets stupid cold in the Prairies. I believe lower than -30C is called "minus f*ck you" in local parlance.

[@sarahtaylor4264]

Abby's menstration video was one of the first i saw on her channel. When she said people consider freebleeding as a legitimate historical solution my brain broke a little. From personal experience in that subject that sounds awful. Why would anyone choose to stain their clothing and funiture, smell bad and feel grimy for a week? We may not know exactly how people of the past dealt with cyclical body fluid leakage, but they would have used their resources and ingenuity to do better than that.

[@lenabreijer1311]

It is a trickle, you can wipe it off easily. Your personal disgust at blood is not a valid argument. Remember they wore a linen chemise which could be washed frequently. What with a chemise, wool over dress and another wool tunic/apron dress for warmth you would need to do a hell of lot of bleeding to get it on the furniture. Furniture which was bare wood and could be wiped clean.

[@kyerin]

@@lenabreijer1311 Not everyone's menstruation is the same, and certainly not always a trickle. I've bled around a modern pad, through several layers of clothes and onto furniture more than once. I agree that freebleeding could be an option for some, but I don't think I would use it myself.

[@dees3179]

You’ve also got to add in the statistically lower volume levels of blood that was potentially around from reasons including: malnutrition, frequent pregnancy, early menopausal age, lack of hormones added to the environment synthetically, higher levels of exercise, etc which overall could have reduced the amount of people bleeding a lot and every time compared to what we suffer now. Some people would definitely have suffered, but it wasn’t ubiquitously for once.

[@sierrakaufman1868]

@@lenabreijer1311that’s a lot of assumptions there. I’m not discomforted by blood, been dealing for decades and I try and sell all my friends on a cup and reusable pads/undies. I definitely would not be able to free bleed without attracting every predator and scavenger in a 3 mile radius. It’s not reasonable for all bodies.

[@lenabreijer1311]

@@sierrakaufman1868 wearing rags won't help with that, in fact it would attract more because you are nicely heating the blood and allowing things to grow to make the scent stronger. No diva cup available in viking era Scandinavia.

[@cadileigh9948]

not having synthetic textiles would help prevent a lot of unpleasant odours

[@rickardberglund1564]

Hi Jimmy. A little funny thing about Viking hygiene. It's that they had a day when they liked to wash themselves so much, that they started calling that day washing day(Saturday). And that day is still called that in the Nordic languages 🇸🇪 lördag 🇩🇰 Lørdag 🇧🇻 Lørdag 🇮🇸 laugardag

[@frostflaggermus]

Thank you for this, I was about to mention it as well. The Norse literally had Laugardagr - all while most of the other days were named after gods. The linguistic evidence is there, so I do think it's fair to assume that weekly baths were expected and mattered to them.

[@ivan55599]

What comes to changing clothes and washing them, they likely knew, that sweat will eat through clothes, if you don't wash them regularly.

[@lindsaydrewe8219]

I bet Viking teenage boys honked to high heaven as much as ours do!! Entering an Aussie classroom after a load of 14-15yo boys was nearly enough to knock me off my feet!😂 And most Aussies shower daily . Good vid Jimmy, now go and warm up with a nice glass of mead❤❤

[@pumpskin]

"don't come at me with the sunglare protection, it's a load of horsekack" please jimmy I'm crying on the floor it's too funny

[@swatson1190]

I washed our clothes by hand for four years. I had two children in cloth diapers. And I washed towels and bedding. If you wash them in the morning and hang them right away they can be dry in a couple of hours in Summer and 8 - 12 hours in Winter. It depends on humidity and temperature. I had a wash day. I washed our clothes on Saturday so I could have everything ready for my husbands first day of work and Sunday church. I am sure they did the same especially if they were bathing on Saturday. We did our big "groom" day on that day then as needed for the rest of the week. It makes perfect since because of the work involved to get clean when you have a well and no pump. Luckily we have a well pump.

[@Rallarberg]

A bit of clarification/trivia in regards to the mentioned Saturday for washing: In Scandinavian languages today, the name for Saturday ('Lørdag', 'Lördag') stems form Old Norse 'Laugardagr', lit.: "washing day". :) In the Norwegian 'nynorsk' written form, in Icelandic and in Faroese, it's even closer to the Old Norse original version, with 'Laurdag', 'Laugardagur', and 'Leygardagur' respectively. It is possible that the 'Laug(ar)' for 'washing' shares an even older Uralic etymology, together with Sámi, Kven, Finnish, etc.

[@lillia5333]

I was thinking about lørdag too. The laugedag. Saturday.

[@sirseigan]

The proto-germanic and proto-norse "au" diphtong evolves to "ey" in Icelandic, ø and øj in Norwegian, ø in Danish and ö in Swedish. Some words "fossilize" down the road and kept the "au" though. But yea all Scandinvian languages have their equvalent of "washing day" as their name of Saturday evolved from the same old Norse rootword. The word "laug-" is also found in cognated names for a certain type of lake called laug/ lauk/ lök/ lög/ lok/ log etc. These are small bodies of water with seemingly still water no visible inlet or outlet - basically a pool of water. The word laug is in Swedish (at least) also related to the word for "pickle juice"; lag (as in saltlag, ättikslag etc). From that it has been theoretitized that the washing done was most likely primarly done by soaking in water (and perhaps herbs as well). I personally belive it was done in combination of a sauna bath as well (at least where they got no hot springs). In some dialects, like Scanian, the word "Löga" is still used as a word for washing.

[@njb1066]

My favourite way of avoiding camp chores at a show is to just sit there brushing my beard

[@KestralWolfe]

Also! Combs with close-set tines were used all over for helpingto pull out oils, dirt, lice, to help keep the hair clean between washings. The same reason people used to cover the hair with linen cloth to help keep dirt and dust out of the hair. =)

[@OldManFerdiad]

I have no historical evidence for this, but as someone who's spent time wild camping in the woods and slept in the occasional longhouse and roundhouse, I think woodsmoke would have had a role in reducing general stinkiness. A combination of the smoke smell masking odours and perhaps the smoke killing off odiferous bacteria.

[@TheWelshViking]

A tiny effect in terms of biocide yes, but the trade off is smoke inhalation and stinking of woodsmoke, which I like, but apparently many find distasteful!

[@OldManFerdiad]

@@TheWelshViking I think the overriding effect is not being able to smell anything but the woodsmoke. (I'm trying not to think too much about long term effects of breathing in smoke from campfires and hearthfires.)

[@marcusfridh8489]

Bathing once a week, on Saturday, Saturday is even called Lördag (laugar dagur) in the Scandinavian languages

[@dagnolia6004]

i have my towel! with a wink to hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy....

[@kate_m.]

If you have straight, long hair, it *will* mat if you don't comb/braid it. Matting is unpleasant, so it stands to reason that combing would be a big deal--just based purely from the lived experience of having straight, long hair (and talking to other people with straight, long hair). But, like, it's especially important if you don't want to get your hair wet to clean it with water and soap, y'know? Because it takes several HOURS to dry, and is objectively uncomfortable. Especially in the cold (when it takes longer).

[@jujutrini8412]

It gets matted even quicker if you have any kind of waviness or curliness to your hair! You’re talking to a mum who decided her eleven year old could finally look after her longer than waist length hair when she started “big school” - after less than a month she had one dreadlock! Blo@dy nightmare! 😂😂😂

[@nola281]

I've had long hair all of my life and absolutely, if you don't brush or comb your hair every day it gets matted, tangled and just a hot mess. It hurts so bad to get the tangles out too. My daughter has really curly hair. It's all the way down her back when wet but just over shoulder length dry. I've taught her since kindergarten that every morning and evening brush because a couple times she didn't and it was painful for her to get it detangled.

[@ah5721]

this is why people wore linen caps and head scarves . linen wicks up extra sweat of your head , and the 1700s used fine starch ot powder their heads like dry shampoos

[@connormilton9701]

With regards to washing, is there any evidence of them having soap? Basic soap is just wood ash and animal fat, and has been around for quite a while.

[@cypriennezed5640]

Almost ran away from the teeth pics, but I'm glad I stayed... jaunty cap is jaunty.

[@lordofuzkulak8308]

4:43 - speaking of Cadfael, I’ve been listening to the BBC radio dramatisation on Audible lately (where Cadfael is played by Welsh actor Philip Madoc), and was thinking how nice it’d be to see you do some vids on Cadfael’s historical accuracy if that was something that’d tickle your fancy. 😉

[@erinrising2799]

I would love to see this as well

[@sonipitts]

Yes! That'd be an awesome video, or series even!

[@AngryTheatreMaker]

Yes please. I love me some Cadfael.

[@Poohze01]

I'm a winter person too, and here in Australia it's the middle of summer, so I really appreciate your chilly scene! I was wondering if they used earspoons, so thanks for the addendum in the comments! 😆 And "parasites out the wazoo"? Well done, sir! 👏

[@Naggstek]

Hope the viking centre gets back to you about that hot tub idea.

[@TheWelshViking]

I think it has legs, honestly

[@KanonBlack13]

Abby cox's Video is amaizing! I love that she even went and wore "historically acurate" hygine products in the name of science. You always quoute the best!

[@estergrant6713]

"theyre made of slats of antler cut from... antler"

[@Malekh]

It's worth mentioning that the word for Saturday in Scandinavian languages means "hot water" or wash day. Also I've heard that one of the tools on their little tool ring was probably an ear spoon for digging out earwax.

[@edj8008]

Lördag. Lödgaredagen. Soap day. I don't know if there were soap or if they wached with ashes.

[@user-xw9uh7xu6k]

Lördag in swedish of the old norse Laugardagr translates to bathday

[@andreajim1000]

My great aunt and uncle moved to Arizona in the 1920’s early 30’s to try to make Uncle Andrew’s TB better. I don’t know that it helped. While there they ran a general store in a small town. Saturday was the big shopping day and my Aunt a story about a small farmer’s wife who would come in every Saturday to buy things and chat. She always started with ‘well’m I had my bath, MB (her husband) had his bath, Joe had his bath…’ and she would go down the list of her 10 children. All bathing in the same water as she and MB. The recital was unusual but the fact of a family or at least multiple people bathing in the same water because there was no running water and you had to haul it in and heat it was not unusual in the very recent past in the US and probably many other places.

[@gypsydonovan]

I just love him. Well researched, factually history. The current need to reduce our abuses of natural resources. And sending people to the amazing Abby Cox for possibly the best video I've ever seen on historical menstruation. On top of that, a man who can bring up menstruation without squirming is refreshing. Then there's his openness about mental health [which I have no doubt has inspired people who'd felt shame and stigma to get the help they need]. He's just wonderful.

[@lillia5333]

He definitely is❤

[@yensid4294]

If you live in an alpine region the fresh water will be very, very *cold* I lived in the sierra up on Donner Summit & our water was so cold coming out of the tap you couldn't drink it. You'd have to let it sit & warm up. There were times we lost power during winter storms & you bet your boots that water required being heated in the fireplace just to wash your face. & the water in the toilet tank froze. I can imagine how challenging full body immersion bathing would have been before indoor plumbing & heating.

[@SeleneSalvatore]

They have bath houses similar to sauna too. In some historical book about Finland was written that women give birth in sauna probably because was the warmest place and with easy access to warm water heated up on stones.

[@clairemullin249]

I enthusiastically second the recommendation of Abby Cox's video. Linen is the thing!

[@pacman1386]

You can also use tweezers to build imperial guardsmen!

[@BigRoofus999]

CADFAEL MENTION I loved those books!!

[@margotmolander5083]

They're so good! I love Derek Jacobi as Cadfael!

[@CollinMcLean]

One of the primary items I carry in my belt pound when I'm wearing my norse garb is a nice little comb made from bone and antler. Why? Because if I'm playing the role of a norseman I should have a comb. And because my Dad's ancestry is gaelic so I've got a very thick full head of brown hair that I want to take care of. Organic materials have natural pores to them that retain oil for helping to keep the hair healthy and hydrated. I want to make sure I keep my hair for many years to come.

[@mallus1001]

Hi, thanks for y’et a great video, but😮…. In danish we still call Saturday for “Lørdag”. The word “lørdag” comes from the Scandinavian/Norse word “laugardagr”. First part of the word, "luag" means "bath" or "bathing water". So “Lørdag” is bathing day, or washing day, when you have washed and bathed. Not to sat that is an infinite prof of that the Danes did bath every Saturday…… but…. It strongly hints to it 😊or at least that that day one normally was expected to bath.

[@WelshAmericanChannel]

Hello from the Welsh American Channel. Just want to let you know that we Welsh Americans are also interested in what is going on in Wales. and with the Welsh Viking. Cymru am byth!

[@TheWelshViking]

Diolch i chi, braf yw clywed rywbeth o Gymry’r Byd Newydd!

[@WelshAmericanChannel]

Cofion gorau@@TheWelshViking

[@PerfectBrEAThER]

Old Norse laugardagr From laug (“pool”) +‎ dagr (“day”) Descendants 🇮🇸 laugardagur 🇫🇴 leygardagur 🇩🇰 🇳🇴 lørdag laurdag (Nynorsk) 🇸🇪 🇦🇽 lördag Gutnish: laudag → 🇫🇮 lauantai - Florinus 1702 -Joca laisca lauwantaina, se on musta sunnuntaina. Kven: lauvantai ⇒ 🇪🇪 laupäev

[@ladykarolyn1]

Hygiene practices of Ye Ölden Tymes is honestly among my very favorite historical topics to learn about. I also like experimenting with practices gleaned from various historical eras in my own regimen. It's weird to admit, but I find it comforting when my hair smells faintly reminiscent of my wool or alpaca hand knits rather than smelling of tropical fruits or vanilla. I like being reminded that I am in fact a human animal.

[@sillyjellyfish2421]

Same! I dye my hair purple because pretty, but i try to keep the general washing to the minimum to keep the colour as long as possible. Usually, i only wash my hair once every 10-14 days and combing with boar bristle brush is doing wonders to it! Plus lile you said, they smell like human. It's very comforting. If anything, then past few years it feels weird when i actually shampoo and condition them, resulting in me smelling like a coconut and banana 😂

[@ah5721]

I don't bathe my children in the winter often maybe 2x a week & they don't stink, and my kids hair does smell like wool.. if find it odd it smells like wool, but I dont mind it. wool is warm and comforting

[@Graham_Rule]

That walk into the sunset was even better than Tom Scott's helicopter ride. Glad to see that you came back for your camera.

[@alexandersarchives9615]

“I went to the gym today” good on you man! Now the real question is how many pull-ups can you do while wearing a hauberk?

[@TheWelshViking]

So far? Five at the start of a session post-warm up.

[@alexandersarchives9615]

@@TheWelshViking nice! So far I’ve only been able to do five as well, though I did them in the middle of a workout.

[@Ace-Lee]

Use of the word ‘womble’ I approve 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@EA-History]

With Woolen you don't need to change clothes twice a day because of smells. Hanging them to air into the wind would often suffice.

[@TheWelshViking]

I mean… also wash your woollens sometimes because it isn’t magic and *will* become disgusting to wear if you never wash it. Source: every reenactor who “doesn’t smell sweaty” or thinks laundress wasn’t a real job.

[@EA-History]

@@TheWelshViking yes, it needs to be washed from time to time, but not nearly as often as some synthetics and cotton clothes like t-shirts you might want to change even twice a day.

[@darthbee18]

It's hard to imagine Icelandic Vikings _resisting_ the allure of natural spring *hot* tub, but then again I am a hot spring enjoyer, that certainly colors my view 😅😂🙈 Also, if they could file teeth, surely they'd have had been able to devise a tool to file nails? 🤔

[@andersnygaard909]

Fun factoid - it looks like a version of the shared bowl serial washing thing actually stuck around in Scandinavian culture until today - as a kind of hazing/group formation/seniority/casting off ritual among sailors and soldiers. It turns up in sources that seems unlikely to have had access to ibn Fadlan. Which might mean it's a more general style of group forming game that was not specific to norse or rus cultures, but much more widespread in European popular culture.

[@DietrichvonSachsen]

I admit, I was *not* expecting a Warhammer 40k reference out of you. Though I'm also entirely here for it. :D

[@Raua12]

The weekly bathing seems reasonable to me, as our name for Saturday is lördag, or wash-day. But then again I don't know if they were using the same time counting system. Probably not. (måndag, tisdag, onsdag, torsdag, fredag, lördag, söndag | moonday, tyrsday, odinsday, thorsday, freyasday, washday, sunday)

[@wingthorn]

another thing the Vikings didn't have that we do was a muscular cosmetics industry exhorting them to Buy Products...

[@maryellencook9528]

"A load of horse cack"; I LOVE it, Jimmy! Excellent video, by the way. Blessings from the Texas Hill Country. ❤🙏❤️

[@BuzzBee86]

Oh look, another youtube creator recommended for me to go follow *skips off to binge watch some Abby Cox & continue confusing the algorithm* Metal toothpicks just made my own teeth actually somehow cringe just imagining the scraping :/ Hope you hurried indoors after this to warm up with a cuppa.

[@nyella]

THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING MENSTRUATION!!!

[@ivechang6720]

Yes, thankful for his awareness and willingness to stand against oppression.

[@NicklasForesti]

Jimmy, you have the absolute most beautiful pronunciation of antler I've ever heard in my life! It's like music to my ears!

[@TheWelshViking]

That’s very sweet of you!

[@ivanbager]

Perhaps it was mentioned, and it does not contradict your main points, rather it adds to them. But I do believe that Saturday (lørdag) stems from the Norse Loghdag (ap) which means washing day. That would indicate a more systemic and culturally significant place for hygiene in society? Me thinks...

[@lillia5333]

Old norse laugrdagi, or someting. Today it's called Lørdag, meaning laugedag - washing day. Onsdag - Odins dag - Wotan in german, I think. I also read that Britain had a kind of Odin too. That's your Wednesday. No bathing on Wednesdays!! 😂

[@ah5721]

when you say wash day I think clothes washing

[@frauleintrude6347]

Lice don‘t tell us anything about cleanliness. Lice are doing fine in well washed hair. They tell us more about people living very close together. The only way to get rid of them, without chemical substances, is to shave the hair off and very fine combs to remove the nits. So the hygiene of medieval people may include washing the hair on regular base, combing daily and wiping down the body with just a bit of dry and wet cloth or taking a dip once in a while. I don‘t think anybody loves greasy hair and build ups of died skin flakes on their itching head. I have seen a documentary about Anglo Saxons telling they were a dirty stinking bunch because they followed the teachings of Paula of Rome: no bath because you shall not tinker with your naked body and keep your clothes on, always…therefore nice Viking men were very attractive for the Anglo Saxon girls. But would Viking men be interested in dirty, stinking girls, probably a made up story. There were enough early monasteries with bathing facilities or washing facilities so the whole Paula story seems to be questionable.

[@DAYBROK3]

lice also dont like greasy hair, they need clean hair to hang on to

[@ksbrook1430]

Good topic to bring up. Your sense of humor was in good form in this video. I think helicopters are cool, too. Overall, I enjoyed this session

[@leighsweet6846]

Mad shout out for Bro Cadfile refrence.❤

[@clairemullin249]

I was obsessed with Cadfael as a teenager. 30 years later, I still love those books

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

But they mostly wore clothes of wool. Wool is naturally antimicrobial and doesn't smell much even if you wear it for several days.

[@TheWelshViking]

Sure, to a degree, but it still needs a wash with heavy use, especially under layers. That’s why laundresses were a job. You get sweaty as hell working farms even in wool, which is magic, but doesn’t prevents all microbes ever.

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

@@TheWelshViking true. But, as an example, I live in South Georgia. Summers here last months & regularly get to 95°+ F(35°+ C) heat with high humidity. I have a wool kilt I have worn for months, nearly daily, in the summer sweating a lot...and it never has had any bad smells.

[@xpictinaki]

I love wool and came here to say same. In the military I always wore wool socks. They kept my feet dry and comfortable even in summer and no smells, unlike my cotton wearing buddies.

[@ah5721]

they wore linen underneath and changed those regularly then probably boiled the hell out of them

[@TheWelshViking]

I have bad news about your no smell kilt ;)

[@chrish2277]

"my feet were honkin' " - love your work Jimmy!

[@valentinaivorciuc8319]

i really like how jimmy explains stuff

[@TheWelshViking]

Thank you for saying so!

[@lucie4185]

New Jimmy and Abby Videos 🎉🎉🎉

[@1One2Three5Eight13]

Minus 3 is beautiful, because it's no longer DAMP so the cold doesn't creep in through all your non-woolen clothes. My husband agrees with you about the hot tub. One of this long term goals/dreams is installing solar on the shed and using it to run a hot tub.

[@m.maclellan7147]

I loved that "tunnel to the hot tub" line. New Life Goal unlocked! 😅

[@PrimaryLateralSclerosis]

Their hygiene practices sound a lot like myself, as I work from home. BTW, I really enjoyed your video about returning to Wales. It very much looks like my home state of Tennessee.

[@mione3690]

I love how you kept the footage in of you walking back XD

[@andholiday]

Thanks for appreciating the cold, you have no idea how frustrating it is to see everyone hating on the cold when I live in Brazil where it's summer 365 days a year and I hate the heat, I like winter people.

[@fionaellem4379]

First comment! What are you doing up at this time, sir?

[@TheWelshViking]

Wot, 9pm? I was drinking tea and going to a folk music gig! 🤣

[@larsfredriksson2218]

satherday = lördag in swedish / lögardag = the bathday

[@AnnAnonyme]

Thanks for the very interesting video, as always.

[@howardrisby9621]

The Danes had a really bad habit of NOT stinking to high heaven? The rotters!!

[@indigosaek]

idk what's going on with your hat but i love it 😁 nice video!

[@janetmackinnon3411]

Always good to see you and to learn a little more.

[@SvartMisseKatt]

Don't know about the viking age, but in rural sweden, pre-toilet paper, they apparently used sticks to scrape off the worst bits and cloth (like the hem of your skirt!) if you were "uncomfortable wet". Some mosses might work, but anyone who has tried wiping anything with leaves knows they are really not good for the job.

[@wanderingspark]

Yes, from my experience doing leave no trace backpacking, sticks and snowballs are more effective than leaves.

[@EA-History]

Magical properties with linen? One thing that I discovered when I got my very bright blue legwraps really dirty with brown dirt when stumbling into a muddy puddle, was that when I was going to wash them a couple of hours later, I couldn't find much trace of the dirt left on them. Do linen have some kind of repellant properties?

[@Loweene_Ancalimon]

Sounds like the mud dried and then flaked off ?

[@sillyjellyfish2421]

Linen is antibacterial and dirt resistant in general. It has to do with the specific microscopic structure of fibers being smooth enough to repel dirt dirt but also having tiny tiny fragments and points that quite literally pierce and kill bacteria that would like to grow there. It's amazing

[@TheWelshViking]

Sounds like the mud dried and flaked off.

[@TheWelshViking]

Tell that to my mudstained and utterly disgusting undertunic following a day of boat work!

[@sillyjellyfish2421]

@@TheWelshViking :DDD skill issue No but seriously, that sounds like well loved and worn clothes just doing what they do with age. I kind of love that. My old bedsheets are the same. They haven't been white white in at least 5 years but i don't mind that at all. They feel nice and they smell amazing after being dried on the line on my balcony and i couldn't give two piles of poop about whether they have some colour spots or not.

[@Skooby59]

Half expected Boss to just keep walkin lol love the content man

[@katiechronicpainqueen]

Thank you Jimmy for this gem of a video 💙 .... in particular the "The Bum Area" bit 😅

[@Pinguinpullover]

bloody freezing man ... loved it. Thanks for the interesting facts!

[@RowanWiccae]

Always very happy to see a video up by you. I love learning about this era in history and it's not often a subject discussed in the states so I sometimes feel like I'm in my own little microcosm of anthropological wonder when I'm listening to ya. Also yay for the Brother Cadfael shout out!! I own the entire series (and watch it frequently) and most of the books!! What a wonderful series of historical stories AND they reflect so much Welsh culture alongside English it's almost like a history course on its own 😊

[@caspenbee]

The daily hair-combing goes all the way to the Little House on the Prairie books, where I remember they brushed their hair 100 strokes every evening! They were scandinavian I believe. Anyway the practice continued in my mom's norwegian family all the way to me. :)

[@DavyRayVideo]

Dr Ruth Gordon has studied this relative to medieval England. Hygiene without having to heat water or disrobe in the small living space.

[@tiffanytomasino335]

This is educational and hilarious, as I've come to enjoy. Thank you, Jimmy

[@kelseylogas1580]

Excellent video as always! I hope I don't sound weird but you could do voiceovers, you have a great voice. I always learn so much from you! I really appreciate your reliance on actual evidence rather than making stuff up. Til the next one!

[@canucknancy4257]

That was fascinating. Thanks again for another wonderful video.

[@TheWelshViking]

And thank you, Nancy!

[@UKfeath]

heya Jimmy, looking for some education. I am a neanderthal inthusiast. Your thumbnail caught my attention, due to the slant of the wear on their front teeth. I found most neanderthal's teeth to have that wear pattern. I asked people what they thought caused that wear, and as far as I remember, they ALL said they were holding hides in their teeth, and using a scraper to de-hair it. I think that unlikely, as they'd just be filling their nose and mouth with animal hair. you say its a dental procedure to stop pain. Would neanderthals and vikings come up with the same medical procedure? (neanderthals did attempt to fill cavities with 'stuff') What common thing would neanderthals and vikings share that could cause that wear? it's a thing that has bugged me for years.

[@johannageisel5390]

Huh, I had thought they use it to hold other things. Maybe sinew or small twigs. Maybe they scrape the bark off small twigs... But yes, it would be interesting to know where this comes from and why the teeth shown in Jimmy look the same.

[@UKfeath]

@@johannageisel5390 good ideas! it would fit for neanderthals, but would it fit for vikings?

[@johannageisel5390]

@@UKfeath It's really a conundrum. I would love to know myself what leads to those patterns.

[@lillia5333]

There were some neanderthal dna in vikings from Scandinavia so I'm sure they did the same things since dentists was not invented😊

[@jackori6685]

Thank you Jimmy. Everything you said is really common sense. By the way, my dentist advised against bleaching my teeth, said that our teeth are essentially ivory, and will discolour with age...and good tea!

[@experimentallytheoretical3116]

Very minor nitpick: pretty sure, technically, Brother Edmund was the infirmarer in the Cadfael books.

[@TheWelshViking]

Not in all of them, but yes!

[@experimentallytheoretical3116]

@@TheWelshViking well, that's what I get for not having finished the series yet! Something to look forward to.

[@millymollymrst3537]

Such an interesting video, thank you😊

[@thomashammel7633]

The walk into the sunset 👌

[@timeastwoodbagpiper]

Thanks, useful historical daily life snippets. I know lots of people live the clank of mediaeval weapons but I love the daily living history more. Especially the music. I'm surprised I didn't see more North Americans in the comments telling you how cold it is there.

[@kerriemckinstry-jett8625]

I mean... It's about -8°C here (New England) right now. Tomorrow's high temperature is forecast to be about -12°C. There you go, a North American commented with how cold it is now. 😂

[@ladyliberty417]

Always appreciate your setting us straight on facts and things, thanks so much Jimmy❣️ Cleanliness is next to godliness as they say😇!!

[@marcusdire8057]

Wait! The picture at 0:51, is that JIMMY on the far right!?! 🤣

[@TheWelshViking]

👀👀👀

[@08andylee]

I was the hundredth like on this video!