So every once in a while for fun, I will go onto Google and just start typing, did tutor people or did the tutors?

And I'll see what the auto suggestions are. And it always kind of gives me insight into what people are wondering about the tutors at any given moment.

And so I just did that. And out of the top 10 things, the suggestions,

half of them had to do with bathing and hygiene and did tutor people smell and did tutor people

bathe and stuff like that. So I thought it would be fun to just chat a little bit about that. So if you're

down with that, let's get started. People love to joke that Tudor England must have been one long

cloud of dirt and bad breath, as if nobody bathed and everyone walked around with teeth like old fence posts.

The funny thing is the Tudors actually cared a lot about staying clean.

Not in the modern two showers a day way, but in the I need to look presentable so people don't

think I smell like a barn kind of way.

They had routines and tools and tricks, and once you look closely at the evidence, the picture

gets a lot more interesting. Bathing in Tudor, England didn't always mean climbing into a tub

of steaming water. For most people, the day started with a basin and a linen cloth.

Hands, face, wrists, and neck were washed with plain water or a light herbal mixture.

This wasn't a half-hearted splash of water either.

Manuals from the period describe fairly brisk rubbing to lift dirt from the skin.

They called this practice a dry bath when they didn't use water,

and many people believed that a fresh linen cloth was

just as effective as a full bath. Linen absorbed sweat and oil, so rubbing it across the body

counted as cleaning. Full immersion baths did happen, but they required a lot more time and resources.

You needed a wooden tub. You needed fresh linen to line it.

And a small army of people to haul and heat the water.

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