Roman Laundry

[P.Clodius]

I know we all may of heard how they did it, but here it is! Next time I need to wash my jeans I'm gonna piss on em...Yeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaa

[M. Porcius Cato]

Here, we must confess, the Gauls had one up on the Romans: they used soap, instead of urine, to wash their clothes.

[caldrail]

It is remarkable the romans never thought of something better to use. However, they used urine for practical purposes - it was a cheap resource and had a bleaching action. To our sensibilities of course its all a bit smelly and unhealthy, yet they used this method for century after century with no apparent problem. Fulleries were commonplace and reasonably successful commercially, since everyone needed clean toga's and tunics and the raw material was cheap, plus it wasn't a skilled job so any old slave could be employed to wash clothes.

[Lost_Warrior]

Yuck, but apparently it worked.

 

I do wonder how they got the smell out once the clothes were clean?

 

Or else they didn't mind the smell...

 

Urine is actually sterile (provided there's not something else in it). It's uric acid. I don't know for sure, but it could have antibacterial properties as well.

[caldrail]

I've wondered about the smell too. Surely though the use of water could offset that to some degree, and in any case, I doubt living in a roman town was all that agreeable to thei sense of smell.

[cornelius_sulla]

I find this topic quite amazing. I was previously unaware what Romans used to wash their laundry.

They built aqueducts, bridged the unbridgeable, conquered the known world but couldn't figure out anything better than urine with which to wash their clothes?

The smell must have been pretty rank. Unbearable for any of us, I'd imagine. I guess that if you're washing your togas in weewee, you're not going to be too worried about the smell.

Perhaps Romans were so accustomed to the stench that they didn't notice it. Much like young men living together these days don't notice the stench that comes out of their lodgings until it's pointed out to them by their girlfriends/female relatives.

Edited April 18, 2008 by cornelius_sulla

[Nephele]

Even if the fullers, for the final stage of cleaning, rinsed out their customers' garments with fresh water to remove the urine odor, one gets the impression from Pliny that the smell of urine was something that the ancient Romans took in their stride.

 

In Book 28, Chapter 18 ("Remedies Derived from the Urine") of his Natural History, Pliny wrote about how people liberally rubbed urine onto their bodies as a liniment, as an anti-itch ointment, and for various other cures, including centipede bites: "...the person who has been injured has only to touch the crown of his head with a drop of his own urine, and he will experience an instantaneous cure."

 

Pee-pee had a lot of uses in ancient Rome, in addition to laundry purposes.

 

-- Nephele

[Faustus]

Even if the fullers, for the final stage of cleaning, rinsed out their customers' garments with fresh water to remove the urine odor, one gets the impression from Pliny that the smell of urine was something that the ancient Romans took in their stride.

Perhaps the odor was less a problem than we imagine. Could their diet have ameliorated it? Not wanting to make observations that are too personal, those of us who (are or) have been parents and used cloth diapers could attest, we didn't detect the pp by odor, but by touch. And all "dirty" diapers were soaked in a pail of some water and white vinegar which neutralized the odor (we did this after dipping in the commode, freshly flushed with clean water in it, to dilute out pee or poo), and:

 

(Vinegar Institute) "By about 3000 BC, the making of homemade vinegar was being phased out and, in 2000 BC, vinegar production was largely a commercial industry . . .(Used) to freshen baby clothes (think urine here) The addition of 1 cup of white distilled vinegar to each load of baby clothes during the rinse cycle will naturally break down uric acid, deodorizes . . .Clothes will rinse better if 1 cup of white distilled vinegar is added to the last rinse water. . . (Oh and) wine spots can be removed from cotton (and other) fabrics if done so within 24 hours, apply white distilled vinegar directly onto the stain and rub away the spots . . ."

 

Pee gets stale, but maybe they found a way to manage that, because they didn't find such odors anymore appealing than we do. These were people who prided themselves in their cleanliness, notwithstanding their teeth cleaning methods.

 

Faustus

Edited April 19, 2008 by Faustus

[Lost_Warrior]

In Book 28, Chapter 18 ("Remedies Derived from the Urine") of his Natural History, Pliny wrote about how people liberally rubbed urine onto their bodies as a liniment, as an anti-itch ointment, and for various other cures, including centipede bites: "...the person who has been injured has only to touch the crown of his head with a drop of his own urine, and he will experience an instantaneous cure."

 

As strange as this sounds, it's actually logical. Urine does contain something which neutralizes the poison from insect bites (and jellyfish stings!!!)

 

Ammonia is more commonly used for that now though.

 

Pee gets stale, but maybe they found a way to manage that, because they didn't find such odors anymore appealing than we do. These were people who prided themselves in their cleanliness, notwithstanding their teeth cleaning methods.

 

You know, I had thought of vinegar. I haven't seen its use mentioned anywhere though, it DOES make sense. Vinegar is commonly used to remove pet stains from carpets, too. Or at least, to remove the odor. Vinegar mixed with various herbs does even better! (though I can't remember off the top of my head WHAT it was that my mom mixed with her vinegar. I just know it wasn't baking soda! )

[Faustus]

Pee gets stale, but maybe they found a way to manage that, because they didn't find such odors anymore appealing than we do. These were people who prided themselves in their cleanliness, notwithstanding their teeth cleaning methods.

You know, I had thought of vinegar. I haven't seen its use mentioned anywhere though, it DOES make sense. Vinegar is commonly used to remove pet stains from carpets, too. Or at least, to remove the odor. Vinegar mixed with various herbs does even better! (though I can't remember off the top of my head WHAT it was that my mom mixed with her vinegar. I just know it wasn't baking soda! )

Hydrogen peroxide? Borax?

 

Probably irrelevant but historically, many ancient people found valuable uses for borax. The Egyptians used borax in mummification while the Romans used it for glass making. Marco Polo's caravans transported it from Tibet to Europe in the 13th century.

Borax is sodium tetraborate. It dissolves in water forming an alkaline, antiseptic solution that is used as a water softener, disinfectant, detergent and welding flux.

 

Faustus

[Lost_Warrior]

Hydrogen peroxide? Borax?

 

No...herbs or oils. Rosemary I think.

 

Borax is used in forge welding.