Even at the highest ranks of European society, personal cleanliness as we define it was somewhat lacking. For instance, the royal palace at Versailles had no ...ah... restrooms as such. There must have been chamberpots in the bedrooms, but the hordes of nobles, servants, etc. at the palace couldn't and didn't spend all their time in and near their sleeping places. I'm a member of that age cohort who hit the teen years in the early '70s. I remember how odd our parents thought we were for washing our hair _every_ day! "Older ladies," for instance, usually had their hair washed and set once a week at the local "beauty parlor." Elizabeth Whitaker Melinda Skinner wrote: >>From my readings and research about colonial Virginia and 16th and 17th-century England, > most people were pretty filthy and smelly. I would think that any household slaves/servants > would be about as clean as their employers/masters. > > -- > Melinda C. P. Skinner > Richmond, VA ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html