The part of this science that applied to the domestic domain gradually introduced increasingly « intrusive » recommendations in the 19th century.
For the home, from simple aeration, to increased luminosity and the removal of manure, the recommendations then tackled dust and then microbial control with the discoveries of Louis Pasteur at the end of the 19th century.
In the same way, personal hygiene recommendations were applied to areas of the body that were first visible and then those that were hidden from view at the same time as these moments of washing were privatised in dedicated areas.
However, in rural and urban areas, it was only when water became more accessible with pumps in the 1880s and running water between 1920 and 1950 that personal and domestic hygiene improved significantly.
Illustrations :
– Cover page of the 1906 Aubert and Lapreste elementary hygiene course for public school teachers so that they could teach hygiene to their pupils. (©Musée André Voulgre)
– Advertisement for Cyrano toothpaste in the Petit journal agricole of 1920 ©Musée André Voulgre
– Advertisements for the Gillette razor and its blades in the Petit journal agricole in 1925 and 1929 ©Musée André Voulgre
– Lithography for the use of a mobile sketch shower tray
– Lithographed poster L’Hygiène moderne from 1885. The toilet became a separate room in bourgeois houses, and was furnished with dedicated furniture including the bathtub and its bath heater. Source gallica.bnf.fr /BnF ENT DN-1 (CHOUBRAC,Alfred/3)-ROUL