What did people wipe their butts with before toilet paper was invented...?
Old cut-up newspapers, rags, leaves. In the Middle Ages, when most people could not afford to use even rags, it became good etiquette to use one's left hand. The hand was then wiped off on a tree, a rock, etc. This is the origin of the custom that it is rude to greet another person with your left hand (unless you are a leftie, of course). Ancient Romans used sponges in communal latrines. The sponges were communal too. In other words, there was one sponge on a stick soaking in a bucket of water, and latrine-users would take turns wiping themselves with it. As disgusting as it sounds to modern people, this was a big improvement over what people used before.
How did people wipe their butts prior to the mass production of toilet paper?
I have been reading all these answers and thinking how disgusting the bottoms of most people in the world must have been and still are. I am an Indian and we have the long standing tradition of cleaning our bottoms with water after nature's call and not wiping it with tissue. We use water and the non dominant hand to clean the butt hole so that any residue is cleaned and not wiped. To better make those people who sneer and giggle at Indians because the wash their bottoms with hands ( which we clean with soap afterwards), imagine you spill some sauce while having spaghetti onto your table. You decide to 'wipe' it off with a tissue and do it. But look again and you will see that the sauce is not cleaned. Its just smeared away and I can guarantee that the smell will still be there. It will smell and it will feel sticky to the touch. Maybe the volume is gone, but the sauce is still there. Just in a less apparent way. Alternatively you can 'clean' it with water. If done properly you wouldn't even know that the surface had sauce on it a while back. Use a bit of cleaning agent and it even smells good. Apply this in your toilet. Would you care to have faeces smeared along your butt (albeit in trace amounts) , sticky and smelly or would you rather clean it with water leaving it clean and neat. I cant help laugh at the irony when idiots make fun of the way Indians clean their bottoms all the while standing there in a stinking underwear caked with their own shit while people they poke and try to degrade are having a clean bottom and neat underwear. And no there are no points for guessing whose butt will be more hygienic. Cheers!
How often should you clean a septic tank?
Some people say if you put Septic Life in your tank regularly you won't need to get it pumped out at all, I was told when I had mine done this summer that it should be done about every 5 years. It also depends if all of your drains go in the septic tank. I also found out that you can use a cake of baking yeast in your septic tank instead of Septic Life. They both do the same thing but, the yeast is cheaper.
How can I clean my G1000 screens?
The Garmin range of avionics are extremely well built and I am pretty sure any wet wipe designed for computer monitors would be adequate. I don't have the G1000 but I have - and have had - several Garmin products in my Kitfox and never had any problem with the screen. I even had a Garmin M5 PDA+GPS touch screen that felt from the cockpit and onto my ski (winter flying!) and even after a dent in the screen, it was working perfectly. Incidentally, anything else that is acryl or lexan, is cleaned using Johnson's Pledge furniture polish. I have done it for years and it is amazingly good. I even use it to clean my propeller for death insects. (EDITED) I stand corrected. Please ignore the above! Follow CHECKSIX instructions.
Before there was shampoo, how did people wash their hair?
Hi Linda S, thankyou for your answer - you have certainly done a lot of research into this! However not all 'natural' ingredients are harmful. For instance the coconut oil beloved of women in the tropics, the olive oil in the mediterranean, both of which are not harmful and which can be very nourishing to the skin and hair. I think a lot of people refer to 'natural' as being good for you, and 'chemicals' as being a bad thing, when these are broad generalisations, seeing as all matter is made up of chemicals and yes, lead and arsenic are natural! (And elemental chemicals too!) However I do think that you've focused a bit too much on Western societies. I must also point out that a lot of our modern products contain petrochemicals and known carcinogens. Parabens are often found in removed tumours. Many brands of lipstick still contain lead. And why would you buy a product that "contains all the goodness of rose hip oil!" when you could just use rose hip oil??
How did people take care of their hair before the era of shampoos, conditioners and other cosmetic products?
There are various natural conditioners. Vinegar is a good one. It works as well as any shop bought product.If you are adventurous urine also works. Desert nomads apparently swear by camel urine although I can't give a personal recommendation.In earlier ages wigs were a lot commoner.Most secrets to healthy hair are not about the shampoo, but diet. Your hair is healthy if you are.Soap is pretty ancient and not so hard to make. (Animal fat and Alkali--though olive oil is better.Scented oils were popular too. Annointing with oil is what this is about.Hair is actually self cleaning if you leave it long enough, though lice has always been a problem. Combing has always been around. A lot of the things that damage hair are due to modern life. The air quality is worse in places. Certainly industrialisation plays a part.Any Acidic liquid will strip the grease out of your hair. Vinegar, Citrus Juice etc. Beer isn't bad as a thickening agent. You can add things like beeswax, or tallow (scented) and comb it through.Historical fact: How did Helen of Troy become the most beautiful woman in the world? She dyed her hair blonde. Showing that peroxide blondes have been around 2500 years.One of the Earliest civilisations had no problem with Women in charge: Egypt has been around several thousand years. The Egyptians were into cosmetics and beauty products.
Can a man's smegma cause repeated gynecological infections for the woman?
Is it possible that smegma of a man can cause repeated gynological infections for the woman? How dangerous is this to the health of a woman in the longterm? The first being abstinence, and the second being wearing a condom are obvious ways to avoid gyne infections, but for a married couple when smegma is possibly the issue and there are no other sexual partners involved, what can a couple do to avoid the spread "smegma infection" for lack of a better term.
How did people wash dishes in medieval times?
To answer this question remember that peasants and nobility would have at times greatly different diets, and so would use different methods of food preparation.Although people in the Middle Ages had no idea of how disease was truly transmitted, almost all people lived in close proximity to their food when it was still alive and realized that clean fresh food was better than anything that was allowed to decay.Food was a strong indicator of class in the Middle Ages, and peasants were often banned from eating elaborate meals by a number of sumptuary laws. So, for peasants, cleaning dishes was relatively easy. Most of the peasant diet consisted of a thick porridge (or ‘potage’) consisting of cereals such as rye, oats or barley with vegetables and whatever source of protein such as fava beans or occasionally meat from small animals or songbirds was available to be thrown in (‘game’ was reserved for the nobility). Served in wooden bowls, a wash to remove visible food waste and all was clean. Spoons would be made of horn (cow horn) or wood and could be simply licked clean, and knives were personal items that could be cleaned with a simple wipe on the trousers. Forks were not commonly used in Northern Europe until early modern history, and in southern Europe were mainly reserved to the upper and middle classes.Preparation of the food would typically be in a pot suspended over the fire, and the pot would be cleaned when required with sand and rinsed with water.Nobles had a diet much higher in protein than the peasants, primarily as venison, boar and fowl with their attendant grease. They also more access to imported foods which could withstand the rigors of time and travel. So beyond the universal bread, they would also have pastries and pies (often with meat).The pots these were prepared or served in would take much greater care than the peasants wooden bowl. For this bakers and women may have employed a ‘hard soap’ prepared from the tallow of animals. (‘soft’ soap was made from saponin producing plants such as soapwort but was used for bathing, as its detergent properties were weak). Soap making was smelly, unpleasant work and was usually forced away from centers of population.Like the peasants, pots exposed to the soot of fires would need to be cleaned manually by hand using abrasive sand.tl;dr peasants had simple dishes and used sand and water. Nobles used more sophisticated food preparation and used soap.