Old western days hygiene

circedbychoice

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I got to thinking about old western days when water was not as accessible as today when we can turn on faucets and take a bath or shower. I'm thinking most men were not circumcised. It must have been a problem for men with a foreskin to practice cleanliness of their penis to wash the smegma from their penis with any regularity. How did they keep their uncircumcised penis clean, especially on the trail? I also wonder how prevalent was circumcision back in the old wild west days?
 

Uncutsouthernboy

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This is a really interesting topic and have often wondered the same. I would agree with you that circumcision was probably not very common.

In my grandparents youth days, no one took a tub bath until Saturday night. It took too much to heat enough water on the stove to fill the tub. Water was carried in from the well or nearby creek and a fire was built in the wood burning cook stove to heat the water. This means wood had to be chopped at some time also. When there was enough hot water it was poured into the tub. The tub was in the kitchen. The man bathed first, then the lady with the children following by size and the least one last. The water was then thrown out. Through the week enough water was heated to fill a large bowl, usually in the bedroom. A sponge bath was then taken from the bowl.

On the trail, when a bath was deemed necessary, enough water was heated or cold was put in a bowl or whatever was available and the bath was on. A tub bath was waiting at the end of the trail. There were public baths where a bath was ready for a small fee.

Americans are too clean. A daily bath is not necessary and in some ways detrimental.

Circumcision was rare in the US until the 1940s. Foreskins are not a "high maintenance" as cut men believe. When it starts to smell the owner will find some way to get it clean. Many male animals never clean under their foreskin. They get along without problems.
 

long_uncut

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A bit unusual but not heard of when I was growing up in a very rural area. There was no bathroom in the house until sometime in high school. I have faint memories of being grabbed and scrubbed behind he ears and "down there" before I was old enough to take care of it myself. Believe it or not I was able to snare a beautiful intelligent city girl (who always had running water and a bathroom indoors), marry her and keep her all of these years :). Men in the family weren't circumcised and never had any problems insofar as I know. I asked my parents about it when I found out all of the other boys I knew were circumcised and they told me it wasn't natural or necessary and thought it was an odd thing to do to a perfectly good penis.
 
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1141702

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Seriously guys, It’s not like water and wash cloths didn’t exist. Stop over analyzing everything. It was never an issue unless you were overtly dirty like in any other time period, and if that’s the case, being cut or not wouldn’t matter, you were filthy.
 

bonerbrew

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What we take for granted today likely would have been a real luxury then. The old timers helped paved the way to todays modern conveniences. The smells among many must have been overpouring by todays standards. Just not as noticeable to them because everyone smelled that way I suspect.
 
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IntactMale

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I think the idea of water being scarce in the old west is not accurate. Water wasn't scarce, but potable water was, that's (part of) why people drank so much alcohol, because parasites and whatever else is much less likely to survive in alcohol.
 

sodominsane

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I got to thinking about old western days when water was not as accessible as today when we can turn on faucets and take a bath or shower. I'm thinking most men were not circumcised. It must have been a problem for men with a foreskin to practice cleanliness of their penis to wash the smegma from their penis with any regularity. How did they keep their uncircumcised penis clean, especially on the trail? I also wonder how prevalent was circumcision back in the old wild west days?
Doesn't really take much water to wash a wiener.....for a guy who was in army and lived in the field for months....wet damp was much worse than dry......
 
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sodominsane

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I think the idea of water being scarce in the old west is not accurate. Water wasn't scarce, but potable water was, that's (part of) why people drank so much alcohol, because parasites and whatever else is much less likely to survive in alcohol.
I would disagree.....water is pretty scarce in parts of the West....particularly parts commonly associated with "romantic world of the cowboys West"....I grew up in Texas and Kansas.....not a ton of rain....and you got to dig pretty deep for a well......many historical instances of pioneered dieing of dehydration.... Screenshot_2019-02-04-18-59-08.png
Screenshot_2019-02-04-18-59-08.png
?
 
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gobigold

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Oh come on. Think of those old movies you watched, secretly lusting after the dude and not the buxom whore. He went into town got into that tub all hairy chested and with his feet hanging out. He joked around with the whore and then they fucked. Fade to black.
 

IntactMale

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I would disagree.....water is pretty scarce in parts of the West....particularly parts commonly associated with "romantic world of the cowboys West"....I grew up in Texas and Kansas.....not a ton of rain....and you got to dig pretty deep for a well......many historical instances of pioneered dieing of dehydration.... View attachment 1516012 View attachment 1516012 ?

I'm not saying that there was a lot of water in the old west. I'm saying that people lived near water sources, otherwise they died away from water sources. The water that they got from natural springs usually wasn't safe to drink. They could bathe with it safely, but in order to drink it they would have to boil it, and to keep it for more than a short time they would have to put it in a disinfected bottle, and I'm sure you can imagine that disinfecting a glass bottle wasn't the easiest thing to do. Other they could use that water and whatever else they had in a still and make alcohol, then they wouldn't have to disinfect the bottle because the alcohol would kill any bacteria or parasites.

Those are maps of modern rainfall. The amount of rainfall probably hasn't changed much but I don't think we really know that for certain. But rainfall isn't reliable enough for larger populations of people, they would need a water source like a river, a spring, or a well if the aquafer held water closer to the surface.

If they didn't have water then how did they maintain their crops. How did they keep those horses hydrated, not to mention themselves. The amount of water in the area is a more significant problem now because people are spread out all over the area and water has to be trucked in. If there were fewer people living there, and only around the natural water sources then it wouldn't seem like such an arid place.
 

Mogluver

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One of the best portrayals of life on in the west and out with critters is the film Brokeback Mtn. From living in tents with the critters or in camp, the scenes are quite realistic. Washing out of a hot water pot with a wash rag was the method, with the cold water of the nearby creek as the back-up. It was not until after the second world war that there was an effort to bring the city comforts of running water, electric light, and indoor bath rooms to rural America. I remember visiting with my Dad, he grew up in the 1920's, and up until he entered the service (he broke horses on ranches into his late teens). I never asked him if he got cut as a child or when he went into the Navy. He trained as a pharmacist mate, today the equivalent to a nurse practitioner, in his training he mentioned they did a lot of circumcisions in training for the field. He said they asked for volunteers and there was never a shortage. Learning procedures and such. My guess is being cut was promoted as a way to stay clean when in the combat, and the trend carried over after when the boys returned home after the war.
 

circedbychoice

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One of the best portrayals of life on in the west and out with critters is the film Brokeback Mtn. From living in tents with the critters or in camp, the scenes are quite realistic. Washing out of a hot water pot with a wash rag was the method, with the cold water of the nearby creek as the back-up. It was not until after the second world war that there was an effort to bring the city comforts of running water, electric light, and indoor bath rooms to rural America. I remember visiting with my Dad, he grew up in the 1920's, and up until he entered the service (he broke horses on ranches into his late teens). I never asked him if he got cut as a child or when he went into the Navy. He trained as a pharmacist mate, today the equivalent to a nurse practitioner, in his training he mentioned they did a lot of circumcisions in training for the field. He said they asked for volunteers and there was never a shortage. Learning procedures and such. My guess is being cut was promoted as a way to stay clean when in the combat, and the trend carried over after when the boys returned home after the war.
I've read that our Astronauts have to be circumcised for hygienic reasons to go to space.
 
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1141702

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I've read that our Astronauts have to be circumcised for hygienic reasons to go to space.
Bet you cosmonauts don’t. Can you post an article or something that talks about this?
 
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sodominsane

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I'm not saying that there was a lot of water in the old west. I'm saying that people lived near water sources, otherwise they died away from water sources. The water that they got from natural springs usually wasn't safe to drink. They could bathe with it safely, but in order to drink it they would have to boil it, and to keep it for more than a short time they would have to put it in a disinfected bottle, and I'm sure you can imagine that disinfecting a glass bottle wasn't the easiest thing to do. Other they could use that water and whatever else they had in a still and make alcohol, then they wouldn't have to disinfect the bottle because the alcohol would kill any bacteria or parasites.

Those are maps of modern rainfall. The amount of rainfall probably hasn't changed much but I don't think we really know that for certain. But rainfall isn't reliable enough for larger populations of people, they would need a water source like a river, a spring, or a well if the aquafer held water closer to the surface.

If they didn't have water then how did they maintain their crops. How did they keep those horses hydrated, not to mention themselves. The amount of water in the area is a more significant problem now because people are spread out all over the area and water has to be trucked in. If there were fewer people living there, and only around the natural water sources then it wouldn't seem like such an arid place.
I would agree with just about everything in this post.....

I'll add a bit....mainly cause I'm a bit of a wild West ethusiast......

People definitely lived near the water....hence the sparse populations in those areas today......

Exceptions to the near the water rule....when a resource is to be extracted.....good rushes....railroad construction....cattle drives.....and interestingly when the resourse as been extracted.....often times the people move out......hence the littering of ruins of towns you see over the West (it's really cool....your driving along and out of nowhere a ruined town....not on any map)

Now this part is anecdotal story.....when no was in medical school i did a rural rotation in western Kansas.....very dry...very sparsely populated....
One of my patients was an old farmer....he was talking about weather(a favorite farmer topic)....he said..."it's been a very dry summer....good thing there was that 6 inches of snow last year.....or we would be in trouble".....
That kinda shocked me....so evidently they guys are really good at getting the most out of little

Horses.....no clue.....I have owned horses.....they require a shot ton of water.....careful planning?

Now we are way off topic...back to topic....
I got to thinking about old western days when water was not as accessible as today when we can turn on faucets and take a bath or shower. I'm thinking most men were not circumcised. It must have been a problem for men with a foreskin to practice cleanliness of their penis to wash the smegma from their penis with any regularity. How did they keep their uncircumcised penis clean, especially on the trail? I also wonder how prevalent was circumcision back in the old wild west days?
I don't think lack of water...has anything to do with circ status

1...doesn't take much water to clean a wiener
2...when you don't have water...cleaning a foreskin is really low on prodigy list
3...life on trail is not a fuck fest....your concerns are....keeping cattle together....attacks (people and animal)....getting food....water...a bit of shut eye...
4.roll into town get a bath problem solved

Anacdotally.....in was in the army....we were often inn the field for weeks or months....no shower or bath...you clean up when you can....I have no idea who in my unit was circumcised or not....sooooo it must not have made to much difference.....we were all a group of smelly mother fuckers