17 interesting facts about common hygiene items (8 photos)

This is not to say that normal hygiene practices did not exist in the past, but they were certainly unusual. In this post you will learn interesting facts about hygiene objects that have become commonplace in the 21st century, but were previously rare or used differently. Take a look!





Shampoo



1. 100 years ago, people washed their hair so rarely that at first the proposal to wash their hair once a week seemed as strange to them as washing their hair once every month and a half. 2. In 1934, radioactive shampoo appeared. The manufacturer assured that thanks to it it would be possible to avoid gray hair, preserve hair color and make it 20 years younger.





3. Astronauts use a shampoo that was originally developed for children and hospital patients who had difficulty taking a bath. It's not a dry shampoo, but it also doesn't require rinsing.

Soap



4. As soon as doctors began washing their hands with soap before operations, patients began to die less often. For example, in maternity hospitals, the infant mortality rate has dropped from 50 percent to 1 or 2 percent. 5. Antibacterial soap is harmful to the immune system and makes a person less susceptible to antibiotics. Regular soap does not kill all bacteria, but it does get rid of most of them. 6. Only about 20 percent of people wash their hands after using the toilet. Of these, only every third uses soap. This significantly increases the risk of contracting stomach flu and dysentery.

Toothbrush and toothpaste



7. Pumice stones and wine vinegar were previously used to clean teeth. 8. Dental crowns were used as early as ancient Egypt, while tooth extraction was widely practiced in the Middle Ages. But at that time, anesthesia as we know it today did not exist, and patients died from blood loss or infection. 9. To remove a tooth, a person in the Middle Ages went to a hairdresser. Blood draws and simple surgical procedures were also performed there. 10. While developing a cure for Alzheimer's disease, scientists accidentally discovered a long-awaited drug against tooth decay.

Contact lenses



11. Contact lenses were invented by Leonardo da Vinci, but only 380 years later their glass prototype was released. 12. The first contact lenses appeared in 1888 and were similar to artificial eyes because they were made of glass. Only 90 years later they changed their shape and changed the material, the lenses became softer. 13. Patients with respiratory infections are advised to remove contact lenses so that the virus does not enter the mucous membrane of the eye.

Deodorant



14. Previously, people did not often take baths. To avoid unpleasant odors, they burned coal next to their clothes, washed them with the same “coal,” applied acidified water to their armpits, and carried fresh apple slices with them. 15. The first deodorant came in cream form in 1888 and was called Mum, which comes from an Old English idiom meaning “not a word to anyone.”

Toilet paper



16. The first roll of toilet paper replaced book pages, fiber-filled wooden sticks, and satin rags. 17. Developing a toilet that could work on the International Space Station, where there is no gravity, cost NASA $23 million.