How Would Grandma Bathe?
I am amidittedly scared to face the answers to How Would Grandma Bathe? Awhile ago, the mother of one of my son’s friends nicely commented that I always look put together. I laughed and said, “It’s not vanity, it’s sanity.” And that is mostly true. I am a mother to three young children and it has been important to me to maintain a personal sense of style. Perhaps that sounds shallow. However, taking care of myself in this manner has been vital to my sanity. If I feel nice, I tend to act nice. The converse is true - if I feel crappy, I tend to act crappy. How Would Grandma Bathe? is not just about jumping in the shower. It is also about how I present myself for the day. I am curious to know, How Would Grandma Bathe?
It all starts with the water heater for the warm water it provides. My kids like to bathe in our claw foot tub. I prefer to shower. Shampoo and soap products are required to feel (and smell) nice and clean. Unfortunately, my hair does not look this way naturally. It takes some work and a good haircut. 
Thankfully my sister is a hairstylist because my attempts at cutting hair have produced some scary results. My husband and I both use styling products in our hair. Just look at my bathroom cupboard! It is full of disposable plastic products and tubes filled with chemicals I can’t pronoun
ce. I often use a 
blow dryer, a round brush, a regular brush and sometimes a flat iron. I wear makeup everyday. My makeup bag is full of more little, plastic containers.
There are additional items needed for personal hygiene. We use our sinks and hand soap a lot and all have a strong preference for toilet paper. Cotton balls and Q-tips come in handy too. I also have to deal with all of the feminine hygiene products which have 
changed a lot since my Grandma’s days. My husband and I both need razors for shaving and the products that go along with that habit. A spritz of cologne or perfume is nice once in awhile. Oh and it is summer - I like to paint my toes. I think you get the point. I am sure you could look in your own bathroom for some more ideas. So tell me How Would Grandma Bathe?
Thank you to everyone who took a moment to answer yesterday’s post: How Would Grandma Eat? You said Grandma ate food from her own garden or food that had been raised locally. I planted my first garden this year and I try to frequent the local farmer’s market. Grandma ate food that was in season and probably put a lot of food away in preparation for the winter months. I liked Drew’s comment that “anticipation makes everything taste better.” Grandma ate homemade food. Jackie pointed out that cooking from scratch cuts down on packaging. I plan to pay close attention to how my food is packaged, prepared and stored this year. I have found myself wondering, “How did Grandma manage without all of the plastic products I use for my food?” Some other questions I would like to have answered are “How often did Grandma go out to eat?” “Did Grandma eat any imported foods?” “Did Grandma buy food from a local cannery?”
Stay tuned tomorrow for: What Would Grandma Use To Get Around? If you are wondering what this is all about check out the post What Would Grandma Do?
honestly, I think that my grandma’s generation had their once a week bath and that was it. Of course, everyone else also had the same schedule so maybe they just got used to that level of dirt/smell. so, i think i’ll stick to my every other day schedule as to not freak out my friends.
my brother once tried to go for a long stretch of time (maybe 6 months to a year) without using shampoo or soap because he heard somewhere that they are not really necessary. I guess it worked out ok for him. Maybe you could do some research on that. Are shampoo and soap necessary or does plain water do the trick?
You are so brave! Some of my dad’s family did not have a bath tub for a long time when we were growing up.. I have a wonderful memory of one of my older cousins coming to our house to take a bath in our tub (we lived in town, they in the country) on her wedding day! My grandma had a big tin tub.. that we took baths in when we were there. We loved it! It say in the room with the stove.. The water was not very warm. I don’t remember how the water got into the tub!
Homemade soap is a good option..
Lots of natural things to do for your hair and skin care.. Your beautiful and I know your true beauty will shine through this whole experiment.
I hope you are documenting this with pictures.. so that when your boys are older they can share with their girl friends what their mom made them do!
It was the once a week bath, but what I remember best is the re-using of the towels. They were always damp and cold, since with five in the family there was never enough space to hang the towels to dry. My wastefulness now is that I very seldom reuse a towel, and I use two - one for the hair and one for the body.
It had to be a bath - not until I was much older do I remember a shower head installed, not sure what I would do without one today. Probably have to put a heater in the bathroom to keep warm taking the bath in the winter, just as I grew up with.
And the soap, Since the soap bars would get too little to use, like they do now, mother did not discard them, but melted them all together and ended up with the ugliest, misshapen “bar” of soap anyone ever saw.
Yes, the once a week bath! I still remember Saturday night baths when I was little. All 4 of us would be put in the SAME TUB WATER to save on water and then after our weekly bath, the girls would have their hair braided so that the next morning it would be “curly” for church.
I don’t know if I could go a day, much less a week, without a shower now!! Even camping tests my patience! for me, this is probably the area of most difficult challenge that you have blogged about so far
I think this is one area we really do have a leg up on Grandma’s generation! There really are a lot of great “natural” choices for hair and body care that they just didn’t have back then - although doing without anything is probably even better, greenwise….
I know some people wash their hair with baking soda and rinse with Apple Cider Vinegar… I haven’t tried it… but it’s supposed to be fantastic.
I remember my grandma talking about how my great-grandma always used only one (!!!) square of toilet tissue because when she was growing up they were so poor that was all they were allowed. Also there was something about using dried corn cobs to wipe with in the outhouse - I never really understood how that worked. Sounds horrid.
I also remember that my great grandma always saved her hair that fell out while brushing it and long after her death we came across several huge ziplock bags of it. I always wondered what she intended to do with it.
My great grandma always had long, long hair and I think she wore it in a bun or a coiled braid all the time. Seems practical for the kind of life she led - farming and caring for her family. I doubt she had any time or resources for anything other than staying clean. I imagine she never uttered the words, “personal sense of style.” =)
My grandma, on the other hand, got her hair “done” at the “beauty shop” every Friday, and sprayed with generous clouds of hairspray into what my family called “helmet-hair.” There’s nothing green about that, except the saving of 6 days of wash water…
As for me, I’m a wash and go kind of girl. I love being clean and smelling nice but I don’t spend a lot of effort beyond that. I am interested to see what you come up with in greening up this area of your life. =)
This is all about going shampoo-free. Interesting stuff!
http://babyslime.livejournal.com/174054.html#greasy
my grandmother..beppe.. died in 1917 giving birth to my mother… my beppe din’t take a bath.. in those days they washed themselves…. the water was taken out of the well… it was heated on the stove and they they washed up… hair was washed once a month, can you imagine that?
in the winter it was common not to bathe even once a week…. my mother told me a story of a man who injured his leg and had to go to the doctor so his wife made him wash the injured leg,, however the doctor wanted to check his other leg to compare the two,… the wife was horrificed that it hadn’t been washed all winter.
Okay, this isn’t exactly bathing, but it’s related to the beauty industry and having a gorgeous mane of hair:
Olive Oil
I use it to deep condition my hair. You don’t need much, and it’s natural AND much less expensive than the products out there that do the same thing. Rub in the EVOO, let it set for a few mintues (to half a day as a friend of mine does), then wash it out with your shampoo.
I don’t have a whole lot to add to the other comments, but do have to say I agree with enjoying the luxury of a fresh warm shower or bath as often as I’d like.