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00:08 Bathing Once a Year (If You Were Lucky)
01:40 Chamber Pots and Flying Waste
02:57 Dentistry Without Anesthesia
04:14 Hair Washing? Try Lice Combing
05:31 Perfume as a Bath Substitute
06:59 Bedbugs and Filthy Bedding
08:16 Shared Bathwater — the Family Soup
09:36 Medieval Tooth “Care”
10:39 Washing Clothes in Urine
11:52 Bloodletting as “Cleansing”
00:08 Bathing Once a Year (If You Were Lucky)
01:40 Chamber Pots and Flying Waste
02:57 Dentistry Without Anesthesia
04:14 Hair Washing? Try Lice Combing
05:31 Perfume as a Bath Substitute
06:59 Bedbugs and Filthy Bedding
08:16 Shared Bathwater — the Family Soup
09:36 Medieval Tooth “Care”
10:39 Washing Clothes in Urine
11:52 Bloodletting as “Cleansing”
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LearningTranscript
00:00From bathing once a year to washing clothes and urine, these are the most filthy, bizarre,
00:04and downright horrifying hygiene habits of the Middle Ages.
00:08Number 10, bathing once a year if you were lucky.
00:12Let's start with the obvious.
00:13Medieval people were not bathing champions.
00:16In fact, depending on the time and place, people might bathe once a month, once a year,
00:21or not at all.
00:22Some of this was because hot water wasn't easy to come by.
00:25You had to heat it over a fire, drag it into a tub, and share it with the entire family,
00:32often in descending order of importance.
00:35Yes, that meant dad bathed first, mom second, and the kids last in the murky human soup.
00:39The baby often got the dirtiest bathwater of all, which is where the phrase
00:43don't throw the baby out with the bathwater supposedly came from.
00:47But things got worse in the late Middle Ages.
00:49Public bathhouses, which had once been popular in cities, started to be associated with
00:54immorality, disease, and even sin.
00:56By the time the plague swept through Europe, people genuinely believed water opened the
01:01pores and let disease seep into the body.
01:04So many just avoided bathing altogether.
01:07The cleanliness solution was to change shirts or rub yourself down with a dry cloth.
01:12Spoiler, that did not work.
01:14Royalty wasn't exempt either.
01:16King Louis XIV of France famously took only a handful of baths in his entire life.
01:21He bragged about it, as if smelling like a cheese shop on fire was a sign of health.
01:26Imagine attending court in layers of velvet and fur while marinating in years of accumulated
01:32sweat.
01:32So, if you've ever thought your roommate was gross for skipping showers, just remember.
01:37At least they don't believe bathing will literally kill them.
01:40Number nine, chamber pots and flying waste.
01:43Now let's talk toilets, or rather, the lack of them.
01:46Medieval people didn't have bathrooms the way we do today.
01:49Instead, they had chamber pots, portable buckets that you kept under the bed or in a corner,
01:54and when it filled up, you simply dumped it out the window into the street below.
01:59That's why medieval streets were often described as rivers of filth.
02:03Imagine walking to work and getting hit with a surprise splash of medieval rain from someone's
02:09second floor window.
02:11People carried long cloaks not just for warmth, but also to protect their clothes from flying
02:16waste.
02:16Even castles weren't much better.
02:19Royals had garderobes, essentially holes in the wall, that emptied straight into the
02:24moat.
02:24That means the picturesque moat you see around a medieval castle was often more of a giant
02:29sewage pit.
02:31No wonder they smelled like open graves.
02:34Cities did try to regulate this horror show.
02:36Some laws banned dumping waste at certain hours or required people to shout guardy-loo before
02:42tossing it, but let's be honest, hearing a warning yell right before being pelted with
02:46airborne feces isn't much of a consolation.
02:49So the next time you flush a toilet, be grateful for plumbing.
02:53Medieval folks had to dodge falling projectiles of human waste just to make it to market.
02:57Number eight, dentistry without anesthesia.
03:01Dental hygiene was not a thing in the middle ages.
03:03Toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, none of it existed.
03:06People sometimes chewed herbs or rubbed ashes on their teeth, but mostly they just let them
03:11rot.
03:11Cavities, infections, and toothaches were so common that they were considered a normal part
03:16of life.
03:17And when a tooth hurts too much to bear, the solution was brutal.
03:20Barber surgeons, not trained dentists, but the same guys who cut your hair, were usually
03:25the ones yanking teeth.
03:27Their tools included pliers, tongs, and even hammers.
03:30There was no anesthesia, no numbing agents, nothing.
03:34You sat in a chair, someone held you down, and the barber ripped the tooth out by brute
03:39force.
03:39If the tooth didn't come out cleanly, they kept digging until it did.
03:43Sometimes the jaw broke in the process and infection was almost guaranteed.
03:47But wait, it gets worse.
03:48If people couldn't afford extractions, they turned to folk remedies like applying live
03:53worms, dog teeth, or frog parts to the sore spot.
03:57Spoiler, these did not work.
03:59People often died, not from the toothache itself, but from the raging infections it caused.
04:04So, next time you complain about waiting for your dentist appointment, remember, it's
04:09better than having your molar hammered out by the same guy who shaved your uncle's beard
04:13that morning.
04:14Number seven, hair washing.
04:16Try lice combing.
04:17Forget luxurious shampoos or conditioners.
04:21Medieval people rarely washed their hair, and lice were a fact of daily life.
04:26Fleas, ticks, and other critters also made themselves comfortable in both hair and clothing.
04:31To manage this problem, people used fine-tooth combs to scrape out lice and knits, or they
04:37shaved their heads entirely and wore wigs.
04:40These wigs themselves often became infested with lice too, so it was basically a never-ending
04:45cycle of scratching and combing.
04:47Perfumed powders and oils were also used to mask the smell of greasy hair, but they didn't
04:52stop infestations.
04:53Monks often shaved their heads in the famous Tantra style, the bald spot with a ring of
04:58hair, partly for religious reasons, but also because it was easier to deal with pests that
05:04way.
05:04Some cures for lice were downright bizarre.
05:07One remedy recommended smearing garlic and butter on your scalp, which probably just made
05:11you smell like an Italian kitchen while the lice kept partying.
05:15Others burned herbs or fumigated clothing, but results were mixed at best.
05:20So yeah, medieval hair care was less about shine and volume and more about survival.
05:24If you've ever complained about dandruff, just be glad you're not living in a century
05:28where your scalp doubled as an insect Airbnb.
05:31Number six, perfume as a bath substitute.
05:34If you didn't want to stink, but you also didn't want to risk death by bathing, what
05:39could you do?
05:39Enter perfume.
05:41Medieval nobles and royalty practically drowned themselves in scented oils and powders.
05:46Instead of soap and water, you covered the smell of sweat, grime, and old food particles
05:51with roses, lavender, musk, or whatever concoction the apothecary had on hand.
05:56Essentially, people walked around smelling like a flower garden on top of a barnyard.
06:01Perfumes weren't just for the wealthy, though.
06:03Herbal sachets and pomenders, little balls filled with spices and flowers, were carried
06:08around by everyone who could afford them.
06:10They were thought to protect against disease, especially during the plague.
06:14The theory was that bad smells, called miasma, carried illness, so if you sniffed something
06:20nice, you were safe.
06:21Spoiler, they were very, very wrong.
06:23The obsession with perfume became so strong that some nobles were described as reekers of
06:28scent.
06:29They weren't exaggerating.
06:31They could smell certain members of the French court before they entered the room.
06:34Instead of fresh laundry or soap, you got waves of musk and sweat, marinated in fur-lined
06:41clothing.
06:41It's kind of ironic.
06:43They believed perfume kept them healthy, but all it really did was make their unwashed bodies
06:48smell like a potpourri factory caught fire.
06:51At least it gave later centuries the concept of cologne and perfume, but back then, it
06:56was less Chanel No. 5 and more eau de decay.
07:00Number 5.
07:01Bed bugs and filthy bedding.
07:03Medieval beds may have looked fancy in castles and manors, with carved wood frames and heavy
07:09curtains.
07:09But don't be fooled, most were crawling with bed bugs, fleas, and lice.
07:14Feather mattresses and straw stuffing made the perfect homes for critters.
07:18Add in the fact that sheets were rarely washed, and you've got yourself a biohazard disguised
07:23as a bed.
07:24For peasants, it was worse.
07:25They often slept on sacks stuffed with straw directly on the floor, sometimes sharing them
07:30with family members and animals alike.
07:32Dogs, chickens, and even pigs sometimes slept in the same space, which meant your bedtime
07:38lullaby was squealing, clucking, and scratching, not exactly restful, and good luck staying
07:43warm under blankets that doubled as flea resorts.
07:46To deal with infestations, people beat their mattresses with sticks or left them in the sun
07:51to purge the bugs.
07:53Of course, this did little more than annoy the pests temporarily, some even sprinkled herbs
07:59like rosemary or wormwood in their bedding to deter insects.
08:02Did it work?
08:03Not really.
08:04So, while today you might complain about changing your sheets, medieval folks would have killed
08:09for a fresh set of bug-free bedding, for them, bedtime wasn't sweet dreams, it was survival
08:15of the least bitten.
08:16Number 4.
08:17Shared bathwater.
08:18The family soup.
08:20When medieval families did decide to bathe, it wasn't exactly the relaxing spa experience
08:25you're imagining.
08:26Water was scarce, and heating it took effort, so everyone used the same tub of water.
08:32The father of the house bathed first, then the mother, then the kids, in order of age.
08:37By the time the baby was lowered in, the water looked like a stew of grime, sweat, and floating
08:42hair.
08:43Again, this is where the saying, don't throw the baby out, with the bathwater supposedly
08:48originated.
08:48Public bathhouses work the same way, but on a larger scale.
08:52Multiple strangers shared the same tubs, sometimes for hours.
08:56The water quickly turned into a cloudy soup of dirt and oils, and since these bathhouses
09:01often doubled as hangout spots, and in some cases brothels, the cleanliness factor was
09:07questionable at best.
09:08Eventually, many towns banned bathhouses altogether because they were seen as sinful dens of disease.
09:14Ironically, this made personal hygiene worse.
09:17By the 16th century, people believed they were healthier if they just wiped themselves down
09:22with linen cloths and skipped bathing entirely.
09:25Spoiler again.
09:26They were not healthier.
09:27So next time you complain about someone taking too long in the shower, be grateful you're not
09:33standing in a line to reuse their water after they're done.
09:38We already covered dental torture, but what about prevention?
09:42Well, medieval tooth care was almost non-existent.
09:45Toothbrushes hadn't arrived in Europe yet, so people relied on twigs, cloths, or just their
09:50fingernails to scrape gunk off their teeth.
09:53A common tooth powder was made of crushed herbs, ashes, or even ground-up animal bones.
09:58Yes, brushing your teeth with burnt deer bones was a thing.
10:01And breath?
10:02Oh, that was a whole different battlefield.
10:04Without toothpaste or mouthwash, most people walked around with dragon breath.
10:08Some chewed parsley or mint leaves to mask the odor, but it didn't help much if your
10:13teeth were already rotting out of your skull.
10:15Bad teeth were such a problem that people made jokes and songs about them.
10:19Having blackened, stumpy teeth was so normal that it wasn't even considered unattractive.
10:25In fact, in some medieval love poetry, a tooth smile simply meant the person still had some
10:30teeth left, a compliment in its own way.
10:33So yes, medieval romance was basically, wow, she still has molars.
10:39Number two, washing clothes in urine.
10:42Here's a fun one.
10:43Urine wasn't considered waste, it was seen as a cleaning product.
10:47That's right, medieval laundry sometimes used human or animal urine to bleach and clean
10:53fabric.
10:53Why?
10:54Because urine contains ammonia, which actually does break down stains.
10:59Buckets of collected urine were left to ferment before being used on clothes, making laundry
11:05day smell like a chemical toilet.
11:07Fullers, people who specialized in cleaning cloth, literally stomped on fabrics and vats
11:13of stale urine to soften and whiten them.
11:16They did this barefoot too.
11:18Imagine spending your entire workday ankle deep in what amounted to medieval Febreze.
11:24It was backbreaking and disgusting, but it was one of the most important jobs in textile
11:29production.
11:30Ordinary people sometimes soaked their own clothes in weaker urine mixtures, then rinsed
11:35them in rivers or wells, which of course spread contamination to the very water sources people
11:40drank from.
11:40And you wonder why the disease was rampant.
11:43So the next time you throw your laundry in a modern washing machine, whisper a little
11:48thank you to science.
11:49At least your socks aren't being stomped on in week old pee.
11:53Number one, bloodletting as cleansing.
11:55Finally, let's talk about the ultimate medieval hygiene fail, bloodletting.
12:00The belief was that illnesses came from an imbalance of the body's humors, and one way
12:05to fix it was to drain blood.
12:07Basically, people thought losing a pint or two was the equivalent of a health cleanse.
12:12Fever?
12:12Bloodletting.
12:13Headache?
12:14Bloodletting.
12:15Acne?
12:15Definitely bloodletting.
12:17Doctors, or sometimes just barbers, used knives, leeches, or special bleeding bowls to drain
12:22you.
12:22And of course, this cure often made patients weaker, sicker, or dead.
12:28Unsanitary tools spread infections, and excessive bleeding caused shock.
12:32But hey, at least your humors were balanced, right?
12:34This wasn't just for commoners, either.
12:37Kings and queens submitted to bloodletting regularly, George Washington was bled so aggressively
12:43by doctors that it likely sped up his death.
12:45In the Middle Ages, people swore by it so much that bleeding out was considered a respectable
12:50form of medical care.
12:52So while modern cleanses involved juice and yoga, medieval cleanses involved draining half
12:57your body's blood and hoping for the best.
13:00Honestly, give me overpriced kale smoothies any day.
13:03Thank you for watching and sticking till the end.
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13:11See you in the next one.
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