The History of Baths

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Care of the Self

In Greco Roman culture, the practice of bathing represents an element of self-care as part of the regimen of everyday life. Communal bathing was a regenerative practise, rather than a cleansing ritual. The body was thought of as fragile and the environment had a detrimental effect on it.

More generally, during the nineteenth and twentieth century the body and self became a primary object of government intervention. Public health acts became preoccupied with the bodies of all the population rather than the wealthy that had the luxury of caring for their bodies in the early hydrotherapy clinics.

Now our bodies are perceived to be at risk from chemicals, toxins, additives, and thus require continual self-monitoring and maintenance. The concepts of make over and reinventing the body has become embodied within modern consumer culture aspiring towards health and fitness, with a life work balance. The body requires relaxation, invigoration, good nutrition and exercise to protect it from degradation.

In accordance with these sociological changes, we regard bathing not so much as a getting rid of the grime of the day, but as a symbol of freshness and fitness. To `be fit’ signifies flexibility it means a “ready for anything” attitude. Modern hydro showers sometimes fitted with seats and have built in facilities for aromatherapy are relaxing as well as a shower being invigorating.

Modern showers within the privacy of ones own bathroom mean it is possible to reduce the amount of time spent on specific tasks such as washing. It can be accomplished in minutes, which mean that it can be fitted into a period in which time is limited they are convenient. Despite this contemporary forms of showering are the inevitable result of converging technological, cultural and social conditions; for bathing to become an acceptable practise it required technological and cultural changes. These cultural changes clearly took far longer than the mere technological changes.

Most cities built water pipes and sewage system in response to those that could pay and the rich received these technologies long before the poor. As late as the twentieth century sanitary conditions varied greatly within each city. In the late 1880s, there were many types of baths available steam baths, rain baths, saunas and the electro chemical bath which induced toxins to leave the body, but as piped water became more available, what we now know as the bathtub prevailed as the technology of choice.

The earliest baths were made of one piece of metal to reduce leaking, rarely were made of the very expensive porcelain. One of the reasons that baths were luxury items for so long was not the availability of piped water but the production costs were very expensive due to the fact they were manufactured from one sheet of metal. A few of the bath tubs were copper or wood lined with zinc to prevent leaks.

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