What Your History Books Didn't Tell You About Lice

[@oomflem]

Going a bit further back, but nothing drives me more insane as a historian than the myth that medieval people just emptied chamber pots onto each other's heads. DO YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE CLOTHING USED TO BE? A basic set of clothes could be as expensive as a fancy car in modern terms and represent more than a year's labor. And laundry took days. Do you really think people were ok with their neighbours dumping shit all over their most expensive possessions/the majority of their personal wealth?

[@AbbyCox]

...how wars really started... 🤣🤣🤣

[@fakehistoryhunter]

YES. I wrote a whole chapter about this in my book, it's such nonsense. Google medieval myths bingo and you'll find my article on it. This myth infuriates me.

[@kathyjohnson2043]

The humorous, satirical drawings of the time of dumping chamberpots into the streets were popular because they were gross (pun?) exagurations.

[@ah5721]

I watched a video were some one said there was a law that you had to cry out before pitching the chamber pot and look .

[@lenabreijer1311]

Urine was bought from people for use in the dye industry and laundry, you didn't just throw money out of windows. There were municipal ordinance about keeping the roads and sidewalk clean with large fines.

[@dumdumlikespie]

Normally I'd distrust someone who tells me essential oils are a cure to anything, especially in place of prescribed medicine, but when the problem is bugs and these oils are coming from plants that have spent millions of years evolving ways to not be eaten by bugs, that actually makes sense.

[@SingingSealRiana]

Those crazy people die essencial oils a massiv disservice sinze there are actually proven effects to some of them!!! But acting Like they could heal everything have them a really Bad Rep . . . . Lavander for example repels Bugs and moths and IS shown in clinical studies to ease anxiety, and through that Help with sleep and Stress headaches. But No IT the fuck will Not cure cancer!!! Rosemary IS shown to Help with concentraition and memory Retention, but IT will Note cure alzheimers . . . . Many have slight psychological effects and yeah, If you are Not stressed Out AS hell your Body has an easyer time to heal, but that does Not make them a miracle cure . . . I am so angry about that . . .

[@skully6223]

I don’t want to be “that” person, but be very careful using essential oils-this depends on the person of course, but most essential oils are highly concentrated (more so than what you’d get if you actually extracted the oil from the plant yourself) & can cause hormone imbalances, allergies, multiple skin issues, & can be very unsafe if ingested. I’m sure you’re aware of this, but thought I’d throw it in for folks reading the comments. Most folks don’t do research on the products they use (or the things they eat), & don’t realize that it’s affecting their health!! Take care!

[@GallifrAngel]

As soon as I got to that part of the video I was like “oh no the huns are gonna love this”

[@EsmereldaPea]

​@@skully6223- as someone who uses essential oils medicinally, I concur. I've encountered way too many people who use them incorrectly and suffer real consequences. Or who think natural remedies are a REPLACEMENT for Western medicine. They should complement each other. I've been a practicing herbalist for 40 years but I take regular meds like other Muggles. As to the comment above yours that pooh-poohs the idea that plants can be medicine - where do you think a lot of our synthetic medicines come from?? Folk remedies/indigenous knowledge - aspirin (willow bark), digoxin (foxglove), morphine (poppy). Between 1981 and 2006, 155 anti-tumor drugs were approved by the FDA, with half of them coming from or derived from plants. Yes. You have to know what you're doing. Yes, calculating dosage is absurdly difficult. Yes, you can OD or undertreat your malady. This is why I rely on herbals for more minor things, and on Western medicine for major concerns and things for which herbals are ineffective. But I have 40 years of experience and a Master Herbalist certificate. So I hope that people will become more open to plant medicine BUT learn how to use it properly. They shouldn't rely on random videos from self-professed experts.

[@latedala07]

Many modern pharmaceuticals are synthetic or semi-synthetic, highly concentrated forms of compounds found in plants (or plants covered in certain fungal molds) that have been used medicinally for thousands of years. A great example is willow bark or meadowsweet tea, both of which is particularly high in salicylic acid. People drank those teas to manage chest pain and headaches. We know that today as Aspirin!

[@Turquerina]

I understand that while this video primarily focuses on European and American hygiene as it relates to lice and other ailments, I want to remind everyone that various people have different ways of dealing with hygiene. For instance, many Sub-Saharan Africans don protective hairstyles or wrapped their hair in clean cloth while Asians in the East would've worn their hair up too and use rice water, which is really good for hair care. No matter where you are in the world, people have always cared about staying clean and washing themselves frequently. Especially the closer you are to the equator, the more you cleaned yourself (which is still true today). Lice is everyone's enemies!

[@SingingSealRiana]

Absolutely! People all over the world dealt with IT and each culture came Up with ITS own solutions based on what they Had and what their hardships were! I use rice water for my Hair to get the Most use Out of my rescources! Also an the topic of protectiv Hairstyles, there IS a reason why for a good Portion of human History headscarfs in some way shaped or Form where a Thing and while modern people tend to only Connect them to Islam now, going Back headcoverings where worn Just as much by Christians and jews plain for pragmatic reasons Like keeping your Hair Clean and direct sun of your head . . .the religious and cultural meanings where added to that. Braids AS in Most Common one or two where also very common too keep the Hair togeather and Clean and more easely contained by whatever haircovering even when how exactly they where worn or pinned Up or whatever changed. Different hairstrucktures result in different Styles but the concept of protectiv Hair Styles trancends still plain because IT makes sense

[@Call-me-Al]

Interestingly, the beautiful scented red ochre clay and fat paste that the Himba of Naminbia used (and if I understood it mostly just the women use these days) is not only a sunblock but also antiparasitic.

[@vanessamvarela]

Yes, Aztecs bathed twice a day plus had floral infused hair tonics

[@_oaktree_]

Great points! Another one to add to your arsenal: among Jews, there is a requirement to immerse your whole body in a ritual bath called a miqveh once a month (for menstruating married women) and it's considered ideal to immerse once a week (for all adults) prior to the beginning of the sabbath on Friday night. And before you immerse, you have to be completely clean. Today people take a very thorough shower (as well as brush and wash their hair, and clip/clean under their fingernails and toenails) but in the past they would have washed thoroughly with whatever means were available to them. This is partly for ritual reasons, but also because the miqveh is a communal space and the water has to be clean enough for everybody. So in many non-European cultures, just as you say, cleanliness has always been considered important! (There's also a theory that Jews in Europe suffered less from the Black Plague than their non-Jewish neighbours because of this washing, but it isn't actually true. They experienced illness and death in the same proportion as Christian Europeans did.)

[@ambds1975]

Yes! The Romans used to cover themselves in oil and then scrape off the oil (and dirt) with a scraper called a strigil. There are lots of ways to keep dirt free without a million gallons of water.

[@gadgetgirl02]

"A slattern is a woman who doesn't keep things in their places" (Glances around my apartment with growing unease)

[@EsmereldaPea]

I'm thinking a tasteful tattoo. . .

[@kikidevine694]

All the best people....😹

[@grandmasgopnik9642]

I know 😂 I was thinking 🤔 looking at the mess I created in my prep for a child’s birthday. I think I will likely be a huge slut my entire life 🤷‍♂️ it is my nature what can you do? 😅

[@carameldare]

Yeah I'm the world's biggest slattern

[@erinrising2799]

I took it to mean a litterbug...cuz like if your things are in your home, they are in their place

[@AurelUrban]

Busting historical myths that demean people from the past is one of my fabourite genre lf content

[@jessicahart1159]

One thing that I think we forget to think about with the whole "oh people didn't bathe bc they thought it would make them more sick" thing is just how many WATERBORNE illnesses there are. Some are even resistant to our modern water treatments (see Milwaukee Cryptosporidium outbreak of '93) so... Yeah... I dont blame people for not wanting to go to bathhouses bc we still havent worked that shit out for public pools. 😬😅

[@merriberri845]

Something I haven't appreciated enough when thinking about history. Most of us have had access to filtered/treated water for all of our lives and don't think often about how people did and in some places still do have to worry about it being a potential health risk.

[@laurenarigo3894]

As someone who has worked at pools, OMG the amount of money and work we do to keep it safe is a lot.

[@user-ko9bn3fw2e]

I wish we as a society wore linen undergarments under our bras. Bras are so expensive and hard to clean and it would make so much more sense to not let all of our chest and underarm sweat seep into it and instead have a layer between.

[@MR2spyder100]

Amen!!

[@SillyTeacherLady]

That's such a good idea!!

[@cluckcluckchicken]

It's easy to just put a tank top under your bra! I used to do it all the time, when it wasn't too hot outside. (Now I've actually switched to wearing historical corsets lol)

[@lajoyous1568]

I have experimented with wearing a layer under my bra and it helped with the humidity, but altered the fit a bit. It started as a cheat; I didn't have a slip the right length, so I wore a long one high under my bra to keep it from slipping down and showing 😂

[@ah5721]

I've done such a thing on top of a undershirt . It can be uncomfortable when the bra moves with the undershirt.

[@RabidChild82]

It took me two years to completely get rid of bed bugs. I got them from an order from eBay. I think I have some sort of minor PTSD from the experience.

[@brendanowicki3821]

No literally after I had them my therapist told me I had symptoms of minor ptsd. I would randomly wake up in the middle of the night to search for them for months.

[@ah5721]

I had bed bugs once. Moved into college town where there is are many multicultural people who travel a lot here and there. I'm very allergic to bed bug bites. I swell at the bite site and cant stop itching . Our apartment complex had to spray for 3 months to get rig of them. I had to disassemble my bed and rip the bottom off my sofa , took all of my husband and I's clothing out to our van that was 120F to kill them off in black bags. Boiled my sheets and bedding . Bed bugs scare me !

[@AbbyCox]

Oh my gosh what a nightmare 😰 I would have been traumatized too

[@dumdumlikespie]

As a nurse I would literally rather deal with a C-diff explosion than anything remotely related to bedbugs or lice. You are right to be traumatized.

[@Lili-xq9sn]

I am having the same experience with moth infestation. Inherited them when I moved into a rental. 1 yr fight. Thought they were gone, but saw 1 yesterday... it's the season for them to reappear again. Ugh!

[@alejandramoreno6625]

Essential oils are the plant's defenses against insects, that's why they work. Turpentine comes from conifers, and the most potent poison comes from a plant, the same plant castor oil comes from. This is to say, "natural" doesn't mean harmless.

[@ah5721]

caster oil is very safe , essential oils especially tee tree and peppermint need to be diluted

[@SingingSealRiana]

​@@ah5721yeah, but still the tree IS insanely poisenous . . .which was the Point, Natural does Not mean harmless!

[@dharusiokay9426]

My favourite answer to these claims that "Natural=healthy and Safe" is to ask the people if they want to eat a death cap mushroom. "It's all natural, come in!"

[@amd57432]

When my son was young, I would add an ounce of tee tree oil to a bottle of shampoo. As long as I did this he had no problem with lice even when there were outbreaks in his school.

[@DawnShipley1977]

​@@amd57432is nice if you are not allergic to Tea Tree. Paul Mitchell hair systems has three Tea Tree shampoo and conditioner sets.

[@Mrs_Homemaker]

Re: lice and lard. A common "grandma remedy" for lice is to slather all the hair and scalp in mayonnaise and wrap in plastic wrap and let it sit for a couple hours. Because it smothers the lice and loosens the nits! Then just wash and nit pick. Lard would totally have the same effect.

[@philurbaniak1811]

👍👍 yep I did this with coconut oil last year 😊👌

[@alelysafina]

When i got lice im High Schhol 🙈😱 after i washed with the medicated shampoo, my mom submerged my hair in olive oil had me wait like an hour and then she took a lice comb and meticulously combed my hair section by section getting as much out as possible. We did the olive oil thing like twice and then the medicated shampoo followed by the olive oil again and it took care of it.

[@bionicwoman3166]

totally works !!!

[@mortifera123]

When I had lice and went to a professional lice remover, they advised coating hair in coconut oil and wrapping up in a shower cap overnight (then wash out in the morning) for a few weeks after treatment in case any straggler lice in the living space tried to re-infest. Apparently thick oils make it impossible for the lice to move on the scalp and between hairs and will either smother or starve them. Lard, mayo, etc. all work well but coconut oil smells a little better! It also helps to lubricate nit combs.

[@dorothypierre754]

I remember this on an episode of Arthur :)

[@catherinezenovich5483]

Is anyone else's head itching every time Abby says lice! When my son had persistent head lice 20 years ago, nothing seemed to work. I talked to the public health nurse and she said to get some cheap conditioner and then smother his head and comb it with a lice comb. I did this every few days for about 10 days and it worked brilliantly. Yes, I was like a chimpanzee de-licing my child but it was so much more effective than the fancy treatments I had previously used. She said the conditioner would smother and stun the lice and it did.

[@e.urbach7780]

The nurse at the school where I work talked about using an electric comb if we caught lice from the students (every year some of the kids get lice and all the staff get an e-mail to look out for them). I never heard of an electric comb, but now I want to get one since I have long hair!

[@robin-tainebrownell1491]

Conditioner works brilliantly. I also used heat after, a hairdryer if the kid could stand it. Last time I dealt with lice, I used a straightening iron which nuked the eggs. No chemicals needed.

[@Lili-xq9sn]

Dr. Bronner's doesn't kill the lice, but when used undiluted, the lice jump off you hair and scalp. (Do it outside.) Then use the oil or conditioner to smother the eggs.

[@majken643]

Yep, conditioner, essential oils (we used eucalyptus and tea tree) and a proper metal nit comb to get the eggs. Both times we had lice we only needed to treat once.

[@llassahllassah3983]

We had a girl who was consistently covered in lice at school, and I had long thick hair. I'm old as balls so statute of limitations applies, but my dad was a vet and parents got so done with combing my hair they dead ass stood me outside and sprayed flea spray on me. Worked a CHARM.

[@fakehistoryhunter]

THANK YOU for this, I've been combatting myths about hygiene for ages, much appreciated. The idea that sex happened at medieval bath houses is probably a bit of a misconception, the church was clutching pearls over mixed bathing but most bath houses were places where families gathered and often didn't even allow prostitutes to use them, let alone look for customers there. There were some brothels with bathing options but bath houses don't deserve their naughty reputation. Plagues did often start in bath houses and/or spread from there but mostly just because these places were so popular and taking off your clothes might make fleas move from one set to another. Many of the texts about avoiding baths were about avoiding bath houses, not bathing per say, people continued to bathe even after bath houses were (temporarily) closed during outbreaks. Also, yes, people keep thinking they're better than their ancestors, you may like the term 'Chronological Snobbery' I recently found :) Oh btw, shared your video on twitter where I have a few followers.

[@rickansell661]

Jo is Dutch, but sometimes she sounds so British. "A few followers" is "Well over a quarter of a million followers" That loud hiss you can hear is the merged sound of multiple thousands of fingers clicking 'Subscribe' to your channel.

[@Stephanie-hr9mk]

I used to follow you on Twitter before deleting my account. You were everywhere correcting people. It’s awesome! Keep up the good work!

[@MossyMozart]

@fakehistoryhunter - Oh my! I remember you now. I must not have subscribed. I will rectify that now.

[@ivywells2909]

The essential oils mentioned should be used with caution and always patch-tested. They can cause anything from a mild rash to severe blistering, which could be made much worse by sun exposure. Anyone considering using them should do a lot of research from reputable sources about dilution rates before applying them to their skin and especially their scalp!

[@ah5721]

especially strong ones such as tee tree and peppermint both should be diluted with almond oil .

[@Winter_hatt]

And be aware of allergies!

[@becpennington7470]

These are very potent and dangerous chemicals, so it's important to know what we're doing here, yes, and we also need to beware of the companies that are producing and selling them. Are they ethically running a company with a product or a structured scheme where the product is the mere carrot? Are they selling the real thing or something else? Are they treating their employees with dignity and respect, or are they taking advantage of free labor through loopholes in the law?

[@itsnotrounditsapyramid]

​@@Winter_hattand also overuse of any essential oil can cause an allergy you didn't previously have 😅

[@MossyMozart]

Yes - due diligence.

[@lenkamaresova4116]

The point about people being more concerned with hygiene reminded me of something my mom said abuout bed bugs. My gradma came from poor working class family, where such things were concern and when my mom was young, she still performed the expected monthly clean which considered also of stripping all the beds in household to the frames, wiping the frames, airing the mattressess and then assembling them again. This dissassembling, cleaning, putting together was also for closets etc. All those furniture pieces could be cleaned like that, from solid wood, then. It was a measure against bed bugs and such. You cannot do it today, and if you get a bed bugs, you are screwed.

[@RychaardRyder]

I change my sheets weekly and my parents have always viewed me as incredibly strange as they change theirs every month or so, hell nah I'm sweaty, AND 18th century people prove me right apparently! clean bed linens gang unite!

[@emmarichardson965]

Yes! My sheets get changed weekly too! And I'd do it even more if I didn't have to use a laundromat!

[@Nellymynell]

Every Sunday! It makes the start of my work week a little less sad.

[@MossyMozart]

I love the nights when I shower and get into bed with fresh clean sheets. Ahhhh.....

[@ah5721]

All the talk of lice and bed bugs makes me itch !

[@Kate-the-Curst]

My mum, who grew up very very poor just post WWII in Australia, became a bit of a hedgewitch out of necessity. She ALWAYS has rosemary and lavender growing, and a rosemary tea rinse was always our first line treatment for lice.

[@m.maclellan7147]

That sounds lovely 😍

[@m.maclellan7147]

P.s. "Hedge-witch" isn't common term in the USA (NorthEast, anyway!), but I MAY start identifying as such ! 😅

[@Kate-the-Curst]

@@m.maclellan7147 It's much more pleasant than other treatments, I honestly don't know how effective it is though. We would generally find the lice after the chemist had closed, so it was more of a stop gap measure until the next day.

[@niamhfox9559]

I remember raiding nana's lemon tree (Australian too so we had so many bottles of eucalyptus oil) when my little sister brought nits home.

[@SusanYeske701]

​@@m.maclellan7147 SE United States has hedge-witch in common use :)

[@grammaurai6843]

Hey Abby! Sailor here. Forecastle is pronounced "FOKE-sul." Why? Not a clue! Probably because we're as illiterate now as then 😅

[@AbbyCox]

lol one of my patrons was in the navy and they commented on my pronunciation 🙊 i'll do better next time...maybe...we'll see...i could forget by then 🤣

[@grammaurai6843]

@@AbbyCox 😂 it's just one of those things we compulsively correct. Next time you cover Navy hygiene you'll sound like a shellback!

[@ariftintime]

Huh, the Dutch word for foresail, fokzeil is pronounced pretty similarly to forecastle, so maybe there's a link there? Not sure about the etymology and all that, so that might also be a coincidence, and the pronunciation for forecastle just comes from contracting the word or something. Either way, interesting to know it's pronounced like that!

[@Rodja.]

Just yesterday on a game show I saw a question about how people didn't bathe "back then" and everybody laughing their asses off at those stupid people from the past. 🙄

[@missanne2908]

I wore a plaster body cast for six months when I was twenty. Baths and showers were out of the question, and I had to make do with soap and a washcloth. I had a pan to soak my feet. It wasn't emotionally satisfying given that I was used to daily showers, but it did keep me perfectly clean. The sweat and oil glands of the skin under the cast stopped working so that the skin became desiccated, so wearing a cast wasn't that gross.

[@m.maclellan7147]

Wow, didn't know about sweat & oil glands stopping working !? That is wild. How long before they returned to normal !?

[@missanne2908]

@@m.maclellan7147 Skin returns to normal very quickly, in less than one day. My main problem was that I spent 90 minutes in the tub the day the cast was removed scrubbing the dead skin cells off. I had a fourth degree sprain about a year ago and was given a boot that acted like a cast but that you took off while showering and sleeping. That little bit of freedom kept the skin from becoming desiccated.

[@m.maclellan7147]

@missanne2908 Now, I am wondering about the poor souls in "Iron Lungs!"

[@cristyg1836]

Bagnio sound so much like "baño" (Spanish for bathroom) that I wonder if that's where it comes from

[@kuromi_pink77]

It's a loan word from Italian that originally meant "bath"! It's supposed that since bath houses became known for prostitution the word took on the meaning "brothel". So since spanish is a fellow romance language "baño" came from the same Latin root "balneum" as Italian "bagnio".

[@Lili-xq9sn]

In Italian, its bagno.

[@teenyweenykiwi]

I was also wondering if the Russian word (баня) is also etymologically related. A banya is a Russian bath house/sauna.

[@highlorddarkstar]

@@teenyweenykiwiI seem to remember Russia importing a lot of French language under one of the Tsars, so it wouldn’t surprise me.

[@ComatoseCupcake]

In the 90s when I was in 2nd grade, my elementary school had a very persistent lice outbreak. Like a bad one. We kept passing them around. My best friend and her sister had to have their heads shaved because they got them so bad. Eventually the school actually closed for a few days and they like fumigated the whole building and it finally stopped. Anyway, the chemical treatments were super harsh on me and burned my skin. Someone told my mom to use mayonnaise. So she slathered like half a jar of Mayo on my head and I had to keep it under a shower cap for like 2 hours and then she washed it out and combed the dead lice and nits out. It worked every time and it wasn't painful like the lice products from the store. If my kids get them I'm definitely trying that before the store bought stuff.

[@sapientisessevolo4364]

Learning historical hygiene is a funny thing. One the one hand, linen underwear, combing, frequent cleaning, on the other hand doctors didn't wash hands between patients until despite washing their hands before eating But I think we can agree that some historical methods are still great (rotating clothing, combing as a part of hair cleaning not just styling, etc). Even sustainable and economical (sustainomical?)!

[@oomflem]

I think part of the problem is we equate accounts of terrible hygiene in medicine to whole societies. Surgery was considered already inherently unclean, so they didn't bother. Which is terrible, but that doesn't mean that applied to everyone everywhere. If people had been as reckless as that in all contexts, no one would have lived longer than five minutes.

[@eldara3]

@@oomflem I mean, in a world without germ theory, I can kinda... see their point? The thinking'd go something akin to, well, if I'm gonna get dirty anyway, then what's the point of getting clean *before* I do this work? You're not gonna go wash your hands before doing some gardening, are you? At least most people wouldn't. Also, no germ theory would means no awareness of the dirt that you can't see. You look/smell clean? Then you're clean. That is not to say that they were completely unaware of the importance of wound cleanliness. Washing out wounds with boiling water or wine was a well-known idea.

[@jackiedaytona2434]

@@oomflem another thing to consider with surgery, especially then, was that speed was thought of as paramount. If I’m not mistaken, some physicians like Joseph Lister even began viewing the speed of their surgeries (especially amputations) as a sort of competitive endeavor. So, if as a surgeon, you’re wanting to bust out as many procedures as fast as possible, I can see where sterilization of the theater, tools, patient, and surgeon fell by the wayside.

[@MossyMozart]

@@jackiedaytona2434 - I think the speed thing was to limit shock and blood loss to the patient. Today, we have anesthesiologists to monitor the patient (and the monitors themselves), routine oxygen, IV support, minimal, even "bloodless" surgeries, scopings instead of cuttings, and robotics. Early on, the longer a surgery took, the lower the survival rate.

[@Anna81Louise]

I got an email from the school today. A child in one of my boys' classes has headlice. I will check my son everyday and keep my fingers crossed.

[@jillybean624]

Best of luck

[@liv97497]

In case you need it (hopefully not) - vinegar really is the best treatment. You can soak the hair and put some cling film around it, making a sort of cap, and leave it for an hour or so, it's more efficient than just running it through the hair. Best of luck they won't need it!

[@sammalsikuri3828]

Hurraa for correcting historical inaccuracies!! These types of things annoy me so much as well, ty for the video (wanted to comment also for the algorithm, hope as many people as possible see the video)

[@bonnielundholm5535]

My first grade teacher in 1973/74 got her hair washed and set every weekend. Her hair was in a big pile of curls on the top of her head on Monday, then would be smaller/flatter each day. When I asked her about her hair, she told me this and that she wore a cap to bed to keep the curls in place. (Asking things like this is probably one of the reasons she didn't like me.) My mom said it was a common practice in the 1950s. Just an interesting tidbit.

[@kikidevine694]

Boudoir cap. Nora Murrell has a video on how to make one. They are amazing and really effective for keeping your hair less tangled They were used for a long time in Europe

[@vickilim1644]

I grew up in the 50's/60's. My mother and aunts would use a satin pillow case to protect their hairdo or sleep on their rollers. The ritual was to wash and set your hair on Saturday so that it looked good on Sunday.

[@MsKainui]

Sulfur as a skin treatment for rosacea works as an anti-inflammatory and exfoliant, so could help with the itching of lice and possibly breaking down the lice glue. It smells so bad, though! Even a pricey sulfur mask I’ve used leaves the bathroom smelling like rotten eggs after I wash it off.

[@somewherenicefarmstay6146]

You brought back the horror of my personal experiences with head lice. I was teaching at one school for a few years, and honestly, it got beyond a joke! I would come home - okay guys, I have head lice again start stripping the beds, the couch covers, the towels, whatever has had your head near it! My kids would groan and we would start the delousing process. The very first time I had lice, I went to the doctor as I thought I had some rash behind my ears. I did but it was caused by lice!!!!!!!! The horror, I slunk out of that doctors office feeling dirty and unclean. After that first episode, I never had that reaction again but it was all so time consuming. The best treatment that I was advised to do from a hairdresser was to wash my hair and then slather the conditioner on and start combing with the lice comb. Wash and repeat. Had to do this everyday for about a week. No nasty chemicals just normal conditioner. I also had to put conditioner on my dry hair each morning, rub it in and then comb with a normal comb, then tightly braid my long hair. Having the conditioner in my hair meant the hair was slippery for the lice and they found it difficult to 'stay on'. Anyway that all worked, until I get reinfected a few months later by the next kid as it was a non-stop lice infections at school. Thankfully I haven't had it since.

[@Lili-xq9sn]

I've had lice twice. I accidently used dr. Bronner's without diluting it on my hair after my gym class. In my next class lice were jumping off my head onto the desk! Omg! It was horrifying! I also slunk out of the doctor's office in shame. It was easy to be rid of them then, because most of them bailed trying to escape Dr Bronner's soap, so I just had to kill the nits (eggs) and comb them off my hair.

[@soteira8241]

I distinctly remember my mother washing my hair with vinegar when I had lice as a child, unfortunately I had already scratched so that shit HURT 😅

[@Kairi98503]

I think the idea of hair being set for a week can come from mistaking our current common experience as always being the same if not worse. Like our grandmother's getting their 'helmet' hairstyles set for the week, since people tend to have this condensed idea of the past, they probably assume that the more complicated hairstyles were set like their grandmothers used to do as they don't have a concept if it being done in another way. Similar to where I think the myth of corsets being torture devices come from, because the experience within living memory is an unpleasant fashion over function disaster it is natural to assume it has aways been like that for people if not worse. Since people don't really look into things, they just kind of make guesses based on knowledge of the modern world and taking anything they find at a cursory glance at face value without putting it into the context of that era (like someone looking at a satire cartoon and claiming the events depicted in it literally happened.) Though fun fact, in edo Japan it was common to have your hair set for the week by a hair dresser or doing it yourself at home. If you want to know about more then I recommend watching Geisha getting their hair done and talking about their experience with it as they still wear those hairstyles daily. Infact the trainees (Maiko) are required to wear the hair while they are trainees but once they graduate to profesional geisha they can opt for wigs, wearing more modern hairstyles, or keep getting their hair done but potentially getting the 'geisha badge of honor' a bald spot. Which older geisha used to wear with pride as proof of their dedication to the arts, but the newer generations of geisha prefer to avoid.

[@lajoyous1568]

I watched several of these videos after I read Memoirs of a Geisha. It was good to see how they get their hair to stay in that shape. 😊

[@margaretschaufele6502]

That's how the bidet was used/was for????? I have been wondering that for YEARS!!! I couldn't understand how it worked. Thank you, Abby! I got lice once in middle school. I don't remember how they felt, but the process to get rid of them was one of the worst times in my life. My mom had to wash my hair in the bathtub 3 times and between each wash we combed out my hair (I had long, thick hair. Kinda wish my mom had cut it to shoulder length while we were dealing with it, but I was so attached to my long hair back then), then she was washing all the sheets and stuff. On top of all the lice treatment, I was super sick at the time with a fever and an ear infection, then I had an allergic reaction to the medication I was taking for the ear infection. I remember that during the treatment all I wanted to do was go back to bed, but my sheets weren't done washing so I had to use a sleeping bag and a pillow on the hard living room floor (obviously my mom didn't want me putting my head on the sofa).

[@crow-jane]

Your hygiene videos are a superb, accessible educational resource and I recommend them whenever I find myself in certain corners of the internet. You know the ones.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

The whole chamber pot emptying in the street as someone walks feels like a gag like how people take the caricatures of women with extravagant hairstyles literally rather than satire.

[@homsa_tofta]

I liked how in Bernadette Banner 's video they mentioned that we kind of overcorrected ourselves that we are also kinda wierd, cause we don't allow like normal human scent anymore. Not speaking of specific sweat scent or something else naturally unpleasant, but just regular human scent. And also, it is not really healthy to take shower twice a day or even every day

[@megmcguireme]

I don't think most people realize how much they smell! I don't use scented products, and whenever I'm out I'm struck with the perfume, cologne, laundry detergent ect..

[@crystald3655]

​@megmcguireme yes, people stink so badly due to their products. I usually can't breath in public these days. I don't understand how anyone can think they smell good and it's OK to go out in public wearing basicly a whole bottle of perfume.

[@ambds1975]

I also find it to be too much. I use unscented products for the most part. When I started sending my laundry out instead of doing it myself, I was nearly bowled over by the detergent scent on the clean clothes. It's not *bad*, just a lot.

[@peggedyourdad9560]

@@crystald3655 I can actually answer this! The reason why they can apply so many scented products to themselves, and not notice, is because the brain does not register your own scent. Even the smell of something like perfume will eventually be ignored by the brain. Because of this, people keep applying more products to smell it again. Eventually, this battle between people and their brains ignoring smells coming from their bodies leads to someone wearing an excessive amount of scented products that they cannot detect.

[@reallyseriously7020]

I don't know about other places but here it's 100+ everyday for 5 months a year. With spikes to 110-112. There is nothing natural about BO in these kinds of conditions. Deodorant soap, antiperspirant and lots of bathing helps but you are still going to smell, it just can't be helped.

[@sarahwatts7152]

I have this talk with people a shocking amount of the time, it makes people feel so good to be better than people in the past

[@NicoleRudolph]

Ok, but what about the rat cages and scratching sticks? 😂

[@m.maclellan7147]

Hey, @NicoleRudolph is that you with the crimped hair in the video ? I think it was around minute 27 !? Almost didn't recognize you !

[@AbbyCox]

How did you know I cut out that part of the intro loolllll

[@NicoleRudolph]

@@m.maclellan7147 'twas many a moon ago, but yes! I was the first victim/experiment of trying that hair method out back in Williamsburg days.

[@NicoleRudolph]

@@AbbyCox Because I'll never be able to forget that day. Sigh.

[@terrywall-e7111]

But what about the cages though? I think I remember a museum tour where they told us they were rat cages... After this video I assume they weren't...???

[@StapledArsonist]

i was having this conversation with my mum just yesterday. she refused to believe me that people did wash regularly

[@Shibouu59]

Even though we no longer have washing stands/shaving stands, the routine of freshening up in the morning is still with us. Most people's morning starts with a trip to the bathroom sink!

[@ah5721]

My friend had the brightest whitest teeth I've seen ! She came from southern India where she told me about the neem tree and how in India were the first peoples who used tooth brushes as we know them today and had been using it for time immortal ! . Taking a neem twig of the tree about a fingers width across you peel the bark off and then chew on it until it becomes soft and bristle like and brush your teeth with it. The neem kills germs and protects teeth from decay and of course the scrubbing action descales plaque. I cant get neem sticks so I buy the powder from the Indian store near me. then brush with the powder. its bitter and gross looking in a toothbrush but naturally whitens and helps my teeth look better.

[@Indira-minuaga]

You can also use powdered brick and teak tree charcoal but be careful with the brick because it can grind your teeth smooth the charcoal doesn't have this effect it has a unique texture that really cleans your mouth

[@ah5721]

@@Indira-minuaga Neem powder doesn't grind down Your enamel.

[@MazHem]

@@Indira-minuaga charcoal is still a bit too abrasive for the mouth, it won't wear your teeth down like brick will but charcoal should be used at most - sparingly

[@Indira-minuaga]

@@ah5721 no it doesn't,i'm taking about the brick powder

[@Indira-minuaga]

@@MazHem yes,most people use it just like that

[@applepieporridge]

Great video Abby! The mix between well researched history, sass and popculture references are the things that make you channel one of my favorites

[@sammypsychosis1674]

Abby, I’d like to suggest a video idea. Since you have such a nice collection of historical clothing, I thought the history of buttons would be a great topic to cover. The history behind the evolution of them is really cool, but finding them still on the clothing to be sure of the time period is so hard. I would really value your expertise on this because I collect buttons, I don’t have the finances to collect historical clothing so buttons are a much more affordable way to explore 18th and 19th century clothing. Sorry for the long comment and thank you if you read it ❤

[@kalka1l]

Suddenly want a t-shirt with the Slattern kaiju in a bubble bath. Time to go make it.

[@fionaedge5332]

You are amazing your commitment to providing primary resources and studies should be an example. I believe two points help spread perceptions about the past. One is that people like to think the past was worse to make the present look better. Two, people online only using other online resources that don't use primary information but is repeated from "common" belief. You see circular information loops where bloggers quote Wikipedia that then quotes the bloggers and no real information is sourced. No one will read this, but again thank you.

[@SkyeSalindar]

My sister's kids dealt with lice all school year on and off up until they went remote because of covid. The public schools did not check kids for lice. When I was a kid, the nurse would periodically check all kids for lice, then sent notes home to at least the entire grade if anything was found warning parents to keep an eye out or check their kids. They did it so there was no chance of anyone knowing who it was too. I never got lice as a kid. My sister found someone local who made some kind of line of natural lice sprays and shampoos and that stuff was amazing. As long as the kids got their hair sprayed down every morning it kept them from getting reinfested. The person did treatments too to shampoo and comb everyone out and did several rechecks where she combed through everyone's head as part of a bundle. The sprays and stuff worked great, but it was still a nightmare, everytime I had an itch I panicked (so lucky, I never got infected somehow despite them living with me)

[@johnshepard629]

Your hair is ADORABLE!!! It suits you perfectly!!!

[@AbbyCox]

Thank you!

[@Rozewolf]

A great video. When we lived in England, my sons got head lice. It happens. The schools would have lice parties. Everyone came in, treated their heads, and had a dinner while we waited for the treatments to work. Best advice we ever got was to comb your hair daily. Most of us started out with vinegar rinses. And somewhere in a drawer, I probably still have a nit comb.

[@madhonib]

Is that why folks used to brag that "Washington slept here" Meaning, we have clean linens!

[@iollankmurphy4496]

my head started itching halfway through this video

[@Bailee-hf1ul]

We love to see another informative video!

[@heatherhoutz4136]

Omg! ABBY, THAT WALLPAPER!! ❤❤❤❤

[@maryhildreth754]

I always used mayonaise on my kids hair when they got loce from school almost every spring. Coat dry hair with tons of mayo, wrap it up with a plastic cap and a scarf on top of that. Keep it on for about 12 hours. Get a nit comb and comb everything out, and wash the hair until the mayo is out. This smothers the lice. Its always worked on the first time.

[@grammaurai6843]

That's what my mom did, too. And bonus, it always resulted in silky smooth hair.

[@rebekahellenburg8369]

My mom used Duke's in my hair

[@ojiilemon]

yep!! i had lice exactly once in the 90’s as a kid. Mayonnaise did wonders but I refused to eat it again until I was an adult ugh so gross. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for my sister. she has insanely corse and curly hair (were very irish lmao) and it was months of hell and stuffed animals in plastic bags. It’s not very effective on people with textured hair. at least not by itself

[@itssteph263]

My mom did the same thing to me, it does make me wonder if maybe that's why I still to this day hate the taste and smell of mayonnaise.

[@inthewindago]

I used nothing but Teatree oil to treat my daughter for lice, and used it exclusively for household items that could not be easily washed. It worked so well I had the problem gone in half the time as previously. Also used a few drops in her shampoo from then on, with no further issues again. (Anecdotal I know). You do need to be very careful to not get any in or around your eyes. It is very uncomfortable! It can almost make your scalp feel uncomfortable, so caution is required!

[@ADHDqueenB]

There is a company called Lice Knowing You. They were a godsend the summer my poor kiddo got lice from camp twice.

[@annacatherinesendgikoski1965]

Another informative video from Abby! Thank you!!

[@heatherwilliams3308]

I used some of your hair guide videos when I was recently cast in Cinderella to argue that I did NOT in fact need to wear a wig (and worry about it shifting while waltzing) that I could do a periodish style in the time that I had between acts!!

[@therewillbecatswithgwenhwyfar]

I'm gonna have to watch this three times so I can read the texts and also go find all the shade thrown over censorship of female nipples.

[@therewillbecatswithgwenhwyfar]

Nit Free Terminator comb is amazing!

[@nickyclarer]

I wonder sometimes why headlice are so common in primary school (elementary) but not pre-school or childcare? I probably got them at least once a year in primary school but my daughter has not had them from childcare (yet - she hates hairwashing so I'm hoping that we can get over that before we have to deal with headlice). My mum used to mix some teatree oil with ordinary conditioner and put a really thick layer on the hair to sit then combing with the fine-toothed comb. It seems like the best method is some sort or oil/fat that can suffocate the lice and assist with the combing and an insecticidal oil.

[@pauladavitt7554]

Oh I do enjoy a history lesson from Abby.

[@BlackDawnYaoiLover]

On a COVID note I literally had a customer take the box of wings I delivered to her, pick it up by a corner, and spray it with Clorox I'm like ma'am, those are sauced-

[@jazziered142]

Movie theatre seats. 😮 (I more worry about bed bugs at theatres.)

[@mmeggnn]

since i first discovered ur channel ive been dying for this video topic!!! i use clove (and other herb/spices) to help with mouth sores, something i only thought to try after watching u lol.its the only thing that doesnt hurt them. cloves are really something!

[@hannahep5148]

so the reason why there might have been so much fear of bathing and water in public places is most likely (unknowingly) catching water born diseases (typhoid, cholera, and polio which didn't paralyze people at that point in history, it was endemic.) it's very easy to catch stomach bugs/diarrhea and vomiting and if you bathed publicly its almost impossible to be in sanitized water even if it is boiled in batches and added to the pools after.

[@paulamiller8386]

Why is my head itching? 🤣 Very interesting video. Thank you.

[@thehomeschoolinglibrarian]

I am so glad my daughter didn't get lice when a girl in the morning preschool class got it. It sounds like such a pain to deal with. I am crossing my fingers we can get through childhood without lice.

[@xandraeon]

Absolutely loved this. My favorite dress historian myth busting QUEEN. But I have been DYING to know...how different are armpits treated in historical garments vs modern garments? Modern tshirts, especially for women are so tight in the armpit, that, for me at least, they are physically painful (even looser mens shirts) and I wonder if our ancestors had different seam options that were more comfortable!

[@xandraeon]

Idk I just keep having these weird thoughts about clothes as a person who was living through the 2008 recession and the change in textiles, and I feel like we lost so much of our clothing culture and heritage. They're things you've talked about before - undergarments, but like slips, camisoles, chemises, things that we wore to protect our finer clothes from our body oils. Where did they go? Why did they stop? Because of Victoria's Secret? 😂 Everything - shoes, gloves, hats, scarves, we have such a different relationship with them now. Why don't we wear gloves anymore? I really hope to see more discussions around this.

[@jordanh468]

My head has never itched so much while watching a video 😅

[@niamhfox9559]

Did you get your washing line yet? Drying linen sheets on the line is the best.

[@katwitanruna]

I’ve dealt with a head lice epidemic when my long haired daughter was young. Finally stopped getting them once I added tea tree oil to her shampoo (just a few drops). Also have had bedbugs coming out of the ceiling at an apartment. Yeah. No fun. Bought a sprayer and the good stuff.

[@krysab6125]

The 'tansy' thing - a very similar flower here in the UK is pulicarea dysenterica - Common Fleabane. Guess what our ancestors used THAT for!

[@cluckcluckchicken]

The fashion historian Serena Dyer did another great myth-busting video, too!! Like this one, a bunch of the myths she talked about just boiled down to "Eww, people in the past were gross and stinky."

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I loved the 18th Century caps. Reminds me of Jane Austen and the period dramas based on her books.

[@WhatWouldDaraWatch]

Love your content, Abby! Keep being awesome! 👑😃

[@PokhrajRoy.]

13:52 Standing ovation for wordplay

[@saraa3418]

My kids have had lice multiple times, one of the common non-pesticide treatments is to do a mayonnaise mask which suffocates any active bugs and loosens the nits from the hair for an easier removal.

[@elizabethsommer7248]

A lady I know says it worked better than over-the-counter products!

[@saraa3418]

@@elizabethsommer7248 We did the mayo in combination with several days of combing and it was awful, but it worked. I'm getting so itchy just thinking about it!

[@jennivamp5]

Eeeeee! This video made me itchy! 😬😂 When I was a kid we would use an olive oil mixture with clove and tea tree oil, repeated treatments every other day for a week or so would deal with the problem.

[@ColorJoyLynnH]

Thank you, Abby. I appreciate you. Great episode.

[@Musicwarmsmysoul]

Subbie moonlighting as a terrier at the end made my day! Enjoyed this historic perspective, too.

[@dagnolia6004]

i loved all the images and research for this fun vid. triple A plus!!!

[@merivial8661]

my friends: omg I would NEVER live in the 18th century! people were sooooo dirty!!! me: um no, and why would you think that's the biggest problem there?

[@AbbyCox]

Yeah peoples’ hygiene would be the least of my concerns lol

[@KaliTragus]

There are still older folks in my town who don't have a shower or bath in their home - they wash with a sink! (I live in Canada!)

[@m.maclellan7147]

My Grandmother's house in Nova Scotia had a lovely pitcher and bowl in every room. The wood stove had a large metal "box" attached to the side where there was warm water (passively heated).

[@AmericanBeautyCorset]

Ruth Goodman has an episode of garment washing in Mideaval time. They used to Pound the dirt out..Really intense. Then lay out everything on the grass, in the sun to dry!

[@orthicon9]

Isn't there a trope about "hunting for fleas", being a pretence for couples to partially disrobe and feel each other up?

[@PokhrajRoy.]

27:01 I remember listening to accounts by Jane Austen when she was living with her brother that there were dedicated hairdressers on site.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

27:05 (channelises Kirsten Dunst) “It’s not too much, is it?”

[@m.g.4446]

I've been to several slums and rural villages in a very poor country and I never really thought about it at the time but now that I think of it, I never noticed any BO. They lived near open sewers, and had very small homes with dirt floors and few windows. One home that was shared by four families didn't even have a window in every room. The only running water (if any) they had was a communal pump. The children were often filthy but not the adults. The only times I ever noticed a bad smell (associated with someone's hygiene or living conditions) was if I was standing near a sewer, or if I was in a particularly claustrophobic room. And in the case of the room, it was really more of a very mild, stale, this room doesn't get a lot of airflow type smell. The only times I notice a smell coming from a person was if I was near a rickshaw driver (someone who was actively sweating) and even then, it was not bad in comparison to the rancid smells I sometimes get off people in the US. I have no idea why I notice more odor coming from people living in the US than I ever did from people who sleep on pallets and don't take showers, but whenever someone is talking about how bad people smelled before modern hygiene, I always think of this. In reality, the hygiene practices of the poorest people in the 18th century and the poorest people living today, probably weren't all that different.

[@MazHem]

I saw the mary rose and one thing which was really interesting is even on a tudor boat, there were so many combs!

[@nabreu1]

I love your videos and I also love your taste on sponsor- the linen sheets omg!! I was like yes girl!! we got the same taste. This is why I make money to buy things of good quality that make sense. Thank you. I never thought I would enjoy marketing added to videos but what you are sharing is helpful.

[@antonia8382]

On a tour in Madrid recently the tour guide told us that one of the Habsburg kings (sorry can’t remember which he said) didn’t take a bath for x number of years. I tried to say, of course not, he was probably sponge bathing…but I’m not an expert so he kinda ignored that.

[@lapoppy4801]

Very informative. Also, your hair looks great!

[@kathycrager4222]

Another great video! I love seeing the historical artwork. You have such a great delivery.

[@EsmereldaPea]

Excellent video as usual! Just one little note : the proper pronunciation of Potawatomie is a little different than yours. The stress is on the "wa". Because of course I had to double check, I discovered that I'd been pronouncing it wrong as well since the Google pronunciation pronounced the first syllable as PO but the written pronunciation was POW. I'd learned to pronounce it PAH. So off I went into that rabbit hole. I watched several videos by Native people, and true to what I'd been taught by my ex's family who was from the tribe, contrary to Google and EmmaSays, the correct pronunciation is: pah-tah-Wah-toe-me. So you just need to change the stressed syllable. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!

[@dora1829]

22:31 Hi 10 years experience in vegetable oils field here 😊 What really matters regarding the "suffocating" effect of the carrier oil/fat is the fatty acid profile. Lard and tallow are very high in saturated fats, which are solid at room temperature. Most vegetable oils will have much much lower saturated fats content, so they are liquid at room temperature. I believe that your hypothesis makes sense, that a carrier higher in saturated fats would "coat" the lice better and suffocate or at least disturbe it more. Therefore, if animal products aren't your thing or are not available to you, any oil (or mix of oils) high in saturated fats could be used here: coconut, palm, cocoa, shea, etc.

[@lilykatmoon4508]

I loved this topic. So many modern people like to think we’re so superior to our ancestors when problems just evolve with time rather than go away. It’s exactly like how you were saying we evolved super lice and fleas and ticks resistant to treatment. As a former world history teacher, I can say that our curriculum where I’m from perpetuated these myths. I think we also tend to devalue the medical efficacy of herbal treatments. They may not have understood why things worked, but they definitely did have very effective treatments for many ailments and diseases from plant remedies. All modern pharmacology derives from this. As an aside, not related to the topic, but I’ve been watching Franklin on Apple TV and would love a costume review! Gorgeous 18th century France setting! Take care ❤

[@bexbergh4295]

My grandma (in the 1950s) got live at the movie theater & used gasoline to kill the lice. She turned 97 this year. 😅

[@moonbasket]

Thanks for all the info! One day I will have the money for Brooklinen sheets.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

30:01 Human rights with the most ginormous asterisk

[@maebhryan3040]

OMG "This is the skin of a killer Bella. " DEAD!

[@cirylkershy]

Okay, I cannot stop looking at your lipstick! Such a beautiful colour, I just cannot stop thinking about it

[@elizabethclaiborne6461]

I bought Abby’s book and put my hair up in a hedgehog in about five minutes. Most of that was deciding which socks to use for a cushion. The hair is not hard.

[@DisneyboyB]

Hey Abby! Watching your latest video, and I heard you reference the Potowatomi! I actually work for that very band of the tribe at one of their casinos. Just wanted to help with the pronunciation, the tribe themselves actually pronounce it Pah-tah-wah-tah-me, or if you will, padda-wadda-me. Hope that helps! 😊love your videos!!