Bathroom

BATHTUB

ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND THAT BASIC PLUMBING systems date back more than five thousand years: Copper pipes were found beneath an Indian palace from around 3300 BCE. The ruins of the ancient Romans' thermae (public baths) indicate that bathing was a public activity in a society that did not consider nudity exceptional, particularly during public sports and recreational events. Although the ancient Romans were the first to use baths for physical cleanliness, some anthropologists feel that human bathing originated from religious rituals. Plumbing and the installment of bathtubs in individual homes did not come until as late as the nineteenth century.

Although there is still controversy about the modern bathtub's true origins, John Michael Kohler seems to hold the inventor's reins. Kohler's bathtub began as a four-legged, enamel-lined horse trough, but evolved into a claw-footed bathtub. There are also tubs that use pedestals rather than claw feet. On the island of Crete, an ancient five-foot long pedestal tub was found. Fast-forward to the high-style tubs of today, some of which are recessed into the floor or a platform.

Descriptions of past cultures mention times when bodily dirt and body odors were masked with perfumes and cosmetics, rather than being removed by washing. That's not the case today, as most Americans subscribe to the notion that "cleanliness is next to godliness." Lucky for us, bathtubs abound.

CAT LITTER

KITTY LITTER FIRST ENTERED THE LEXICON OF CAT LOVERS in the 1950s when entrepreneur Edward Lowe, whose family owned an industrial absorbents company in Minnesota, provided a neighbor with absorbent clay called Fuller's earth to replace the ashes she was using in her litter box. He went on to make a fortune under the brand name "Kitty Litter."

Fuller's earth is any fine-grained, naturally occurring earthy substance that has a substantial ability to absorb impurities. Its name originated with the textile industry, in which textile workers (or fullers) cleaned raw wool by kneading it with a mixture of water and fine earth that absorbed oil and other contaminants from the fibers.

Before 1950, most cat boxes were filled with sand, dirt, or ashes, so the advent of a highly absorbent substance that also didn't leave a mess throughout the house was a great boon for cat owners. However, odor remained a problem, particularly if the litter wasn't replaced in a timely fashion. The bacteria found in the cat's feces converts the uric acid in cat urine into a noxious ammonia odor that is all too often associated with cleaning out the litter.

The advent of clumping materials, more effective in moisture absorption, helped solve this. In the 1980s, Thomas Nelson, an American biochemist, developed a commercially viable clumping litter from bentonite clay.

CURLING IRON / PERMANENT WAVE

IN 1872, A FRENCH HAIRDRESSER BY THE NAME OF Marcel Grateau came up with the idea of using heated tongs to wave hair to create the Marcel Wave. This clever invention would later be known as a curling iron.

In 1906, a permanent wave machine was demonstrated for the first time in London. Its purpose was to make a woman's hairstyle last longer. Specifically, Karl Ludwig Nessler, a hairdresser from Germany, was able to use his device to set the Marcel Wave more permanently, using a combination of borax paste and electrically-heated curlers. It was known as the Nestlé permanent wave.

Nessler's method worked, but was expensive and uncomfortable — the brass curlers weighed more than a pound each and the technique took many hours. Yet, in spite of its problems, the permanent wave machine became the rage in America after Irene Castle (1893-1969), the famous ballroom dancer, used it for her high fashion curled hairstyle during her dancing career in the 1920s. Curled bobs became a symbol of affluence in popular movies during this time period.

As technology improved, hair curling irons became sleeker and easier to use. You can now buy them in the local drugstore for less than $20.

DEODORANT / ANTIPERSPIRANT

WHEN DID MOST PEOPLE BEGIN WEARING DEODORANT The answer, my folk-song singing friend, is blowing in the wind. In the animal kingdom, odors are used to attract or repel. The advertising world does not want word of this leaking out, though! Body odor is whole-heartedly discouraged on our civilized streets.

Masking one unwanted scent with another more-appreciated scent has been the general method behind the first deodorants for more than five thousand years. Every major civilization has left a record of its efforts to produce deodorants. The early Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans relied on scented baths and perfumed oils.

Ironically, though human perspiration is itself mostly odorless, it wasn't until scientists discovered the true origin of body odor — when moisture is fermented by bacteria that thrive in hot, humid environments (such as underarms), it starts to smell — that we were able to virtually eradicate body odor. Deodorants are now usually alcohol-based and work at neutralizing the growth of bacteria in addition to the masking scent. Then the antiperspirant was born: aluminum-based salts, such as aluminum chloride, actively prevent our underarms from sweating in the first place.

The first deodorant was introduced in 1888. It was called Mum. Mum was not exactly what we're used to finding in a deodorant today. It sold by the jar, as a cream that you smeared on with your fingers.

It wasn't until the late 1940s that a researcher at Bristol-Myers unveiled Ban Roll-On. The inspiration came from another new invention with a completely different purpose: the ballpoint pen.

Aerosol deodorants were invented in the 1960s, obviously before we realized we were harming the earth's ozone layer. No matter. Sweaters are still staying cool and dry with today's variety of stick, roll-on, and non-CFC aerosol deodorants.

FLOSSING TOOLS

HAS YOUR DENTIST RECENTLY RECOMMENDED THAT you floss? He would not have been the first. It's been nearly two hundered years since Levi Spear Parmly, a dentist from New Orleans, invented dental floss from silk thread. It wasn't until around World War II that Dr. Charles C. Bass developed a nylon floss which was found to be better than silk because of its greater elasticity and resistance to abrasion. The first company to patent dental floss was Johnson and Johnson in 1898.

Generally, floss is dispensed in a small plastic container with anywhere from ten to fifty feet of nylon floss. Nylon floss is available waxed and unwaxed, and in a variety of flavors. Because this type of floss is composed of many strands of nylon, it may sometimes tear or shred, especially between teeth with tight contact points. Single filament (PTFE) floss slides easily between teeth, even between tight spaces, and is virtually shred-resistant.

Alternatively, one-hand flossers have been developed to allow for greater ease in flossing. These are small plastic devices with a short strip of nylon floss stretched between two small posts attached to a small handle.

HAIR DRYER

IN 1996, AN MIT SURVEY NOTED THAT THERE WERE AS many Americans who said that they "could not live without a blow dryer," as those who said the same about their personal computer.

The original concept for the hair dryer started as a secondary selling point for early vacuum cleaners. As advertised, not only would they clean your dirty floors, but if the flow of the warm air were reversed, the vacuum could also dry hair more efficiently. However, the large and heavy household device needed some tweaking to make it appropriate for hair care. Alexandre Godefoy invented the first electric hair dyer in 1890, but it was nearly as large and cumbersome as the vacuum-dryer. The first hand-held hair dryer was introduced in the early 1900s. Hollywood movies set in the 1920s sometimes used the hair blower, as well as the white telephone, as a symbol of a luxury only the leisure class could afford.

During the Roaring Twenties and up to World War II, many hairstyles did not need to be styled before the hair dried. The hooded dryers were popular in hair salons, but not in typical homes. A compromise for hands-free styling at home could be achieved by placing a hand dryer in a holding clip on a stand.

LOTION

ALTHOGH STYLES HAVE CHANGED, THE QUEST FOR BEAUTY has remained a consistent pursuit of cultures throughout the centuries. Methods for "enhancing" skin have been occasionally painful, soothing, creative, and ridiculous. In order to achieve soft, unwrinkled, and radiating skin, men and women used, and still use, lotion.

When he discovered Tutankhamun's resting place in 1922, Howard Carter found more than gold in the pharaoh's tomb. A little bottle of lotion lay beside the Egyptian king, presumably in order to keep his skin eternally smooth and healthy in the after life. But this skin remedy dates even beyond King Tut. Also in Egypt, preserved tablets dating as far back as 3000 BCE provide in depth beauty concoctions and tricks to avoid wrinkles, dry skin, and blemishes. For example, to combat aging, Egyptian women were encouraged to use a creamy paste of milk, wax, crocodile dung, olive oil, and juniper leaves.

Lotion continued to grace the skin of men and women throughout the centuries. In England during the Elizabethan era, women desiring a glazed look applied a paste made of egg whites to their faces. About 200 years later, during the Regency Period, the British considered pale skin to separate the wealthy from the poor, as the former had no need to labor in the sun. Women wore bonnets and powders, but also began using lotions and makeup with white lead and mercury to whiten their complexions. Unfortunately, these products were extremely toxic, resulting in illness and sometimes death.

As a result of the fatal effects of homemade lotions, women started to rely more heavily on marketed items. In 1880, the lumberjack Andrew Jergens formed a company with a soap maker. The two created a product that hit the market and flew off the shelves. In 1899, George Bunting formulated his own lotion. Originally marketed as "Dr. Bunting's Sunburn Remedy," his lotion was used by men and women to soothe burned skin and even treat conditions such as eczema. First referred to by satisfied customers as "No-eczema," his brand Noxzema still flourishes today.

Today, the lotion market is packed with "perfecting" products. With items claiming to de-wrinkle ageing faces, firm the butt, and provide healthy and glowing skin, women and men still rush to counters, looking for skin remedies with as much fervor as in the 1800s.

SHAVER/RAZOR

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, EVEN PRIMITIVE MAN SHAVED HIS stubble by using sharpened flint and shell (the original razors). Ancient cave drawings unearth images of both bearded and cleanshaven cave men.

Like many cosmetic developments and trends such as ghostwhite makeup or bound feet, hair and hair removal became a symbol of status and proper maintenance for many centuries and in cultures such as ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome.

The gradual discovery of metal allowed razors to evolve from stone to copper, iron, and bronze. These altered shavers had either wooden or thick metal handles.

By the sixteenth century, razors were individually fashioned by the local blacksmiths, and resembled hatchets. These were the first straight razors, which would dominate the market until the early 1900s.

In 1740, Benjamin Huntsmann of Sheffield England changed the razorblade forever. He developed a method to produce purified steel, stronger and safer than any of the previously used metals. Attached to wood and bone handles — or ivory for the classy shaver — these razors were used to remove men's whiskers until 1900. In the age of the straight razor, shaving was considered an art, perfectly accomplished by only the best barbers. However, thanks to the mind of King Gillette, the safety razor now resides in individual bathrooms, relatively knick free.

The royalty of the razor world, King Camp Gillette of Wisconsin, took the development of the shaver to the cutting edge. The new throw-away bottle caps inspired Gillette's imagination. He conceived of a safe and cheap disposable razor with a protective edge and thin steel blade, as opposed to the sharp edges of the widely used straight razor. Six years later, Gillette's razor was patented in 1901 and he was a millionaire by 1910.

Another man obsessed with a good clean shave, Jacob Schick patented the first electrical razor in 1923. He devised a handheld, motor-powered device for shaving, but the product inconveniently required both hands — one to hold the motor and the other to hold the attached razor. His invention needed work. Finally, after a motor small enough to fit inside the razor was invented, the first electric dry shaver was introduced in 1931 by Schick Incorporated in Stamford, Connecticut.

SHOWER

THE WORD "SHOWER" CAN REFER TO MANY DIFFERENT things, but in household parlance it is a shortened reference to the "shower bath." The dictionary definition for that phrase is "a bath in which water is sprayed on the bather from an overhead nozzle."

But the nozzle was not always necessary. In the past, servants filled up buckets with water, slowly emptying them over their wealthy masters. For centuries, this remained the most common shower. However, a few shower-like devices did exist. While excavating an ancient Egyptian tomb in the city of Tel-el-Amarna, researchers discovered a basin designed specifically for standing and showering. Servants still acted as nozzles, but this tub is considered one of the first showers. In ancient Greece, people would bathe under the spouts of public fountains, allowing the plumbing to do all the work. But the modern shower didn't develop until the nineteenth century.

The American Virginia Stool shower from the 1830s was one of the earliest forms of showers. Picture this: an all-wood contraption with a revolving seat, a hand-operated water pump, and a foot-pedal controlled scrub brush. That was the American Virginia Stool Shower. Not very luxurious, but it certainly got the job done.

Although Russian and Turkish bathhouses boasted hot tubs, showers, and steam rooms, the early standard American shower-er seemed to be content with a single showerhead.

The development of several shower accessories has helped showering become a safe and pleasant experience. They include hand showers, body sprays, shelves, radios, and even television devices, allowing you to boogey down while you wash up.

TEETH WHITENING PRODUCTS

THE CONCEPT OF TEETH CLEANING HAS BEEN AROUND since the first chewing sticks of 3500 BCE (see Toothbrush), but the pioneers of teeth whitening were the barbers of the Middle Ages. The barbers would file down their customer's teeth and then apply a coat of strong acid. Ultimately, this method caused the enamel to decay, ruining teeth, but boy did they look white right after the acid was applied!

As toothbrushes and toothpaste became increasingly common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the acidic wash used through the 1700s decayed in popularity. Ammonia, which originally entered the whitening department early on in the form of human urine, became a main ingredient in toothpastes, along with fluoride. Although urine is left out of modern toothpastes, the ammonia and fluoride remain.

Today, the teeth whitening business flourishes and there are a variety of different methods and products on the market. Not surprisingly, teeth whitening is close to a two-billion-dollar-a-year industry.

TOILET

THE DAYS OF CHAMBER POTS AND OUTHOUSES GAVE way to a more modern toilet in the eighteenth century in England. However, back in 1596, Sir John Harington, the poet and godson of Queen Elizabeth I, invented a toilet water closet that apparently had most of the basic features of today's restroom, even a flush toilet, albeit non-electric. Harington installed one in Richmond Palace, his royal godmother's home, but his invention was largely ignored by the rest of society.

The first mechanical indoor toilets seem to have made their appearance in the 1730s, but the first patent was granted much later (1775) to Alexander Cummings, a London watchmaker. Cummings improved upon Harington's flush toilet by adding a water trap (or "u-bend") that kept sewer gases from leaking into the room.

In 1870s London, water closets offered only on-off valves on their tanks, much as does a typical sink. Because huge amounts of water were being wasted, the local administration called for the introduction of a "Valveless Water Waste Preventer." Thomas Crapper heavily promoted a special flushing mechanism for the tanks (called a "siphon") which, unlike a valve, simply cannot leak. He manufactured tens of thousands of tanks, usually with the company name emblazoned on the front. The siphon soon became the only legal flushing device in Britain until 2001, when, under pressure from Europe, flushing valves were legalized. A pity really, as valves can leak and waste water if the seal fails. Thomas Crapper & Co. is still trading, now making exact replicas of its Victorian toilets, but on principle (and in honor of the founder) they never supply flushing valves-only siphons!