The History of the Shower Bath - Bath & Showers - Home Improvement

The shower bath is something we take for granted and although it is relatively new to our bathroom it has origins leading right back to the early Egyptians.

The shower bath was a revelation to our homes when first introduced giving us the choice to either take a shower or bath whenever we preferred. However the early Egyptians as we know were extremely advanced with the creation of the pyramids and their society in general. One of the greatest assets was their wealth which was only matched by their extravagance and the cleanliness they were famous for. The Egyptians would frequently bath and indulge in luxurious fragrances and cosmetics.

Other great civilizations also prided themselves in their cleanliness. The Greeks were extremely proud of their health which meant a good diet, plenty of exercise and keeping themselves clean. They were famous for bathing in a pedestal type of wash basin known as a louterion, whereas the majority of the wealth actually had their very own bathrooms. The Greeks were also very inventive and actually devised a shower system that actually sprayed bathers with water.

The Romans were another famous civilization renowned for their cleanliness with the significance propagated against disease. They actually went to such extent to make sure their society was clean that they constructed elaborate aqueducts to carry the water to their cities and built large baths for the public to freely use. These bathing areas became not only a location for cleaning but for socialising. It was an area where the old could reminisce and revive their aching limbs and where workers could release the tensions of the day.

Many of the Roman baths would be built on the site of natural springs and would be formed around three central chambers, a cold room (known as frigidarium) a warm room (known as tempidarium) and a hot room (known as caldarium). The Romans were also one of the first civilizations to use soap as an ointment to help with cleansing the body of grime and dirt. Whereas the women would use razors and tweezers to remove unsightly hairs and pumice stones and creams to beautify their bodies.

It is widely believed via myths and stories that in the Middle Ages people were smelly, unclean and unkempt, but this is very wrong. People were extremely sensitive about their appearances just as they are today. During this age there was a vast selection of bath houses where for a small fee people could take daily baths. People throughout Northern Europe would utilise sweat baths and by the fourteenth century homes began to install tubs in their own bedrooms. It was not uncommon for people to actually make their very own soaps and it was not long before several large soap manufacturers became established in Britain which made a very lucrative trade from selling soaps.