Etiquette in Regency Times Part 1

Most people are aware that there have been some bizarre expectations of women in the past. How was a woman expected to behave? How did she keep her person clean? Here are a few excerpts of some of those principles.

                   

In the Regency period - from 1790 to 1820 - women's fashion was dominated by short, puffed sleeves worn with long gloves, and moderately placed necklines which displayed no décolletage. In this era, the exposure of women's necks and often bare elbows were considered acceptable and very alluring. It was graceful slender necks and soft, supple elbows which were the traits that fueled men's desires.

That’s right ladies, elbows were considered sexy. Though, with the recent version of sexy I'm not sure I consider this a bad thing, just very, very odd.

Earlier in the nineteenth century the hands, feet and face were regularly washed as in previous centuries, and the rest of your body every few weeks or longer.

Teeth Cleaning in the Regency:
* Rubbing teeth with the ashes of burnt rosemary.
* Powdered sage rub used to whiten teeth.
* Vinegar, wine and alum mouthwash
* After dinner comfits were eaten to freshen breath
* A letter from Lord Chesterfield to his son urges the use of a sponge and warm water to scrub the teeth each morning.
* The recommendation of using one’s own urine in France was widely flouted by Fouchard, the French dentist.
* Gunpowder and alum were also recommended.

The one interesting thing I learned from watching Lost in Austen is when Jane gives the girl a bunch of sticks to brush her teeth with.

Using the Bathroom:
Even during Regency times sewage and waste could bring about illness. Some London homes had toilets, not like the standard toilets that we have today, but they did include piping, however these pipes frequently backed up causing fumes to carry throughout the house. Some people had “earth closets” that would periodically drop dirt into the pipes to flush out the waste. The poor had privies in the backyard that were emptied into a cesspool. “Night soil men” would come by and empty the muck. All the pipes from homes and the wagons full of muck were dumped into the Thames River. This led to plenty of epidemics until emptying waste at certain times and away from the water supply was developed.

Would you have been able to cope with those conditions? I must say it makes it a little strange to think of a man being attracted to my elbows and then being expected to kiss him (after marriage of course) when neither of us has very attractive teeth.

Stay tuned! More to come.

Happy Reading!