When most people think about the Great Depression that occurred from 1929 to 1939, their minds create pictures of unkempt streets with dirty houses and facilities. After all, poverty often goes hand in hand with poor hygiene. However, that’s not how things were in the Great Depression. Even though the economy was in shambles, historians explain that maintaining body hygiene and ensuring the home was clean symbolized pride during this time. Let’s delve a little deeper into how hygiene was during the Great Depression.
Was Soap Available During the Great Depression?
Soap, which is the key product needed to facilitate sanitation, was widely available during the Great Depression. If anything, soap was so cheap that almost everyone could afford it. During the 1930s, companies manufacturing this sanitation product invested heavily in advertising.
Interestingly, the entities came up with the concept of soap operas. These were dramatic forms of entertainment that were aimed mostly at female audiences. Back then, women were mainly associated with cleaning duties at home. So, soap operas aimed to create awareness by advertising various cleaning products to females.
For those who were unable to buy soap, they could easily make it home. The process of making soap using water, vinegar, and lard was in the public domain. This type of soap would then be used for various purposes, such as washing clothes, doing dishes, and bathing. Some families even started a business selling homemade soap during the Great Depression.
How People Took Care of Their Oral Hygiene During The Great Depression
During this period, toothbrushes became more affordable, as necessity is always the mother of invention. Before 1938, toothbrushes were simply sticks rubbed onto people’s teeth. However, that year, Dupont de Nemours created a toothbrush made of nylon bristles. It was sold under the brand name Doctor West’s Miracle Toothbrush. Not only was it more efficient at cleaning teeth than the traditional toothbrushes, it was cheaper.
Advertisers promoted it as a better solution for oral hygiene, and it became popular within a few months. During World War II, soldiers were given free toothbrushes, and they would later introduce these nifty tools to their families when they returned home. As for oral hygiene, it was not a problem during the Great Depression.
Still, on brushing teeth, bad breath was a serious condition during the Great Depression. Without fresh breath, women, in particular, would lead a lonely life of spinsterhood. It would not only affect your social life, but your odds of landing employment would be low.
How Women Maintained Proper Hygiene During the Great Depression
Period hygiene was significantly improved in the 1930s. For a long time, tampons have been the go-to solution for absorbing menstrual discharge. Women in ancient Greece would use tampons made out of fibers or wool.
However, in the 1920s, Kotex sanitary pads were introduced to promote female hygiene. They were widely received because they were a much better solution than rags. Also, these modern sanitary pads were ideal for use while working and traveling.
The modern pads were made of cotton before replacing them with synthetic rayons. It was not until the 1940s that tampons were introduced under the name o.b, which stands for ohne binde in Germany. It translates to “without napkins”.
To show how serious people living in the Great Depression were about hygiene, Lysol was used as a form of birth control. Lysol was portrayed as a disinfectant that was so strong it could wipe out sperm and render it ineffective.
As expected, this practice was discontinued because of the harmful effects of using Lysol as a douche. The harsh chemicals irritated the female reproductive parts. Moreover, it was not an effective approach to birth control.
Nearly half the women who used Lysol as a contraceptive in the 1930s ended up pregnant. Apart from Lysol, baking soda was used for multiple purposes besides promoting hygiene. Some companies used it in toothpaste and others used it as a painkiller. Back then, baking soda was recognized as a hangover cure.
How Men Maintained Proper Hygiene During The Great Depression
Women aside, men also took a keen interest in their personal hygiene. For instance, razor advertisers and marketers sold the narrative that men looked better with hair-free faces. This cultivated a habit of shaving amongst the men, which also helped in employment.
An unshaved man would have a lower chance of securing a job than one without facial hair. At a time when unemployment rates were soaring, most men did anything they could to secure a livelihood. As razors became more popular, Schick introduced an electric razor that was quicker and more effective.
As much as folk from the 1930s tried to live a hygienic life, poverty and unemployment led to the spread of diseases. People had to stay together in extended families. This affected overall hygiene in most houses. To worsen the situation, healthcare was unaffordable for many families. This made it challenging to confine diseases. Don’t forget that access to clean water was also a big challenge. However terrible the situation was, hygiene remained at the forefront for most people during the Great Depression.