The human race has come a very, very long way in the past century when it comes to bathing and personal hygiene.
In fact, it could even be argued that we bathe ourselves too much these days. Even though that may be true, I'm sure being too clean is much more pleasant-smelling than the alternative.
As unpleasant as hygiene practices from the past may be, I am still extremely curious about them.
What did people use before they used shampoo? And more importantly, did it work?
I was curious to see if, just maybe, our foremothers were onto something. After all, every Victorian woman seems to have had a cascade of long, luxurious locks. Maybe modern shampoo was a step in the wrong direction.
According to Our Heritage of Health, a book called Hints on Health, published in 1852, states, "To cleanse the hair, there is nothing better than soap and water … the soap, of course, should be mild, and well and plentifully rubbed in, and afterwards thoroughly removed with an abundance of tepid water."
I decided to give it a shot and find out if I have what it takes to bathe like a Victorian.
Basics Of Victorian Hair Care
For this experiment, I decided to go with very mild Castile soap similar to the type they had in the 1800s.
I also swapped out my ordinary brush for a natural boar-bristle brush, also similar to the type they used back in the day.
My plan was to ditch shampoo, conditioner, and my regular paddle brush for a week and use the supplies above instead.
I would also use only "tepid" water, which I interpreted as slightly warmer than room temperature.
Above, you can see what my hair looked like before I started the experiment. I wondered whether skipping conditioner and replacing shampoo with soap for a week would change the texture.
The Experiment First Shower
I gave my hair one last good brush to say goodbye and went to turn on the shower.
As someone who usually enjoys taking a hot shower, the tepid water requirement was not something I was thrilled about.
Still, at least it took less time for the shower to warm up. In other not-so-shocking news, the Castile soap smelled like a whole lot of nothing.
Day 1
In the shower, I followed instructions to lather up the soap and to really rub it in.
At first I was expecting the soap not to suds and lather as well as it did. I was expecting it to feel squeaky in my hair and to make my hair feel harder.
However, the soap lathered fairly well and I was able to actually get a good motion going with my fingers.
Day 2
The soap may have felt OK when it was in my hair, but rinsing it out and drying is another story entirely.
My hair felt stringier and more dead, and began falling out much more easily. I will admit that I shed a lot of hair even when I'm doing my normal routine.
But this was different, because the hairs themselves felt sticky. Of course, this is also when I discovered that there's a reason I don't use a round or natural bristle brush — it doesn't work on my thick hair.
Day 3
Hair was still feeling stringy and not very nice at all to run my fingers through.
I do have a bad habit of playing with my hair, and I definitely noticed it more because it felt tangled and my fingers would quite literally get caught.
By this point, I was starting to understand why Victorian women always braided their hair or coiled it into an updo.
Day 4
Welcome to grease city. I skipped a day of washing, hoping that the natural oils would sort themselves out so I could extend the wash.
As you can see, my hair was incredibly greasy (yet oddly puffy) after a few rounds of boar-bristle brush. Needless to say, I missed shampoo.
Day 5
On Day 5, I went on vacation and of course brought my trusty Castile soap in a little bag.
Using the soap felt very fitting in the outdoor shower, but I was once again very nostalgic for the shampoo and conditioner feeling I know and love.
Day 6
PSA: Salty, tangled, and slightly dreadlocked hair after the beach does not mix well with soap or a boar-bristle brush.
In this case, I had to give in and reach for my good old paddle brush. It was honestly the only thing keeping my hair from becoming a cozy nest for rats.
Day 7
On the last day of the experiment, my hair had pretty much never felt worse. The photo on the left is proof of that.
Of course, it didn't help that the photo was taken immediately after a high-speed boat ride that had taken a major toll on my hair.
I once again had to brush it out properly with my own paddle brush. The photo on the right was taken after my last wash and brush.
Conclusions
Was I happy to end this experiment? I had never been so happy to see my shampoo and conditioner. Interestingly enough, I had never realized just how well conditioner works to soften and detangle your hair.
After using it blindly for about 23 years, you begin to forget just how miraculous the creamy substance really is.
What would I have done differently? If I had to give advice about this experiment, it would be to not schedule it during a beach vacation. The messy beach hair definitely threw a wrench into things.
Would I recommend this to a friend? I think that just using Castile soap might work really well on some people's hair and textures. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them.
I can't wait to go back to my 21st-century routine and to (almost literally) bathe in conditioner from now on.
Were Victorian women onto something? I think the 1890s routine was probably the height of bathing sophistication at the time, but if Victorian women were around today, you can bet your pantaloons they'd be using every modern product they could get their hands on.
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