These Vintage Hygiene Practices Are the Very Opposite of Clean

We put together a list of some old hygiene facts that would make anyone thankful they're living in the modern age — even though some of these old hygiene habits are still in use! Check out the bizarre ways people used to get clean and overcome illnesses: some of these are gross, some of these are morbid, and all of these will surprise you.

Know that feeling you get in the back of your throat when you're getting a sore throat? Nowadays to maintain our health, we'll reach for mouthwash, cough lozenges, or even Dayquil - but do you also know that nasty, gluey goo that snails leave behind? People used this to treat sore throats and, in fact, still do. If you ever are in Germany and buy over-the-counter Shnecken cough syrup, you should know that snail extract is the active ingredient.

While it may be gross to us now, people haven't always been so put off by pee and poo that we refuse to use refuse. Traditionally one of the most readily available raw materials used to make things like gunpowder, aged urine (called lant) was also used to clean floors, remove stains, and more. You might wonder how people managed to step inside a recently-cleaned room, but note that they also used aged urine, which has heightened levels of ammonia, to whiten their teeth and wash their face. So they probably didn't mind the smell.

We infuse the scents of flowers into perfumes and cleaning products because they smell so good to us. While scientific understanding and industrial manufacturing techniques have dramatically improved our ability to stimulate our olfactory glands with the touch of a spray or lighting of a candle, the love we have for these floral scents is nothing new. Ancient peoples, for example, used to use flowers to mask their unpleasant body odor with a bouquet held or tied close to their bodies.

While the rich and famous today all have gorgeous tans that show that they can afford to wallow around in the sun all day long, back in the day pale skin was a sign of wealth, as it meant you didn't labor out in the sun. People would color their skin with makeup that would often poison them for the lead content, but also try to induce paleness by eating chalk. Even though it probably won't work unless it makes you sick and you get pale, at least chalk's less toxic!