Bathing is the washing or cleansing of the body in a fluid, usually water or an aqueous solution. It may be practised for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes or as a recreational activity.
Bathing can take place in any situation where there is water. It can take place in a bathtub or shower, or it can be in a river, lake, water hole, pool or the sea, or any other water receptacle. The term used to describe the act can vary. For example, a ritual religious bath is usually referred to as immersion, the use of water for therapeutic purposes can be called water treatment or hydrotherapy, and engaging in recreational water activities can be called swimming.
The intentional immersion of the body in any agent may be considered bathing, for example sunbathing is the "immersion" in sunlight.
There are towns which have become famous for their public baths, such as Bath (known during ancient Roman times as Aquae Sulis), a Roman city in England famous for healing hydrothermal springs. It was a popular resort town for the wealthy from Elizabethan to Georgian times.
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The main purpose of bathing is for personal hygiene. It is a means of achieving cleanliness by washing away dirt and soil, and a preventative measure to reduce the incidence and spread of disease. It also reduces body odors. Bathing creates a feeling of well-being and the physical appearance of cleanliness.
Bathing also serves several other purposes. It may be practised for religious ritual or therapeutic purposes or as a recreational activity. Therapeutic use of bathing includes hydrotherapy, healing, rehabilitation from injury or addiction, relaxation. The use of a bath in religious ritual or ceremonial rites include immersion during baptism in Christianity and to achieve a state of ritual cleanliness in a mikvah in Judaism.
Bathing in a bathtub or shower are the most common ways that people bathe in most western countries owing to the climate and dampness factor that does not allow water to dry up fast and at times a basin or other water receptacle may also be used. In tropical countries like India, using a bathtub is not very common. Bathrooms usually have a tap, and a shower if it is a modern home, and a huge water heating pot. People take water from the tap or the water-heating pot into a large bucket and use a mug to pour water on themselves. A soap and loofah is used to clean the body after, and then rinsed again using the mug.
People most commonly bathe in their home or use a private bath in a public bathhouse. In some societies, bathing can take place in rivers, creeks, lakes or water holes, or any other place where there is an adequate pool of water. The quality of water used for bathing purposes varies considerably. When water is in short supply or a person is not fit to have a standing bath, a wet cloth or sponge can be used, or the person can wash by splashing water over their body. Normally bathing involves use of soap or a soap like substance, such as shower gel. In Southern India people more commonly use aromatic oil and other home made body scrubs.
Bathing occasions can also be occasions of social interactions, such as in public, Turkish, sauna or whirlpool baths.
Normally, in private baths, whether in one's home or a private bath in a public bathhouse, people bathe without any clothing. In public bathing situations, the social norms of the community are followed, and some people wear a swimsuit or underwear. In some societies, some communal bathing is also done without any clothing.
Babies can be washed in a kitchen sink or a small plastic baby bath, instead of using a standard bath, which offers less control of the infant's movements and requires the parent to lean awkwardly or kneel.[1]
In Western culture, it is typical for people to shower in the morning before starting the activities of the day or meeting with others outside the home or to bathe at night. Arriving at work without having showered may be seen as a sign of unprofessionalism or slovenliness. In contrast, people in Asia and Eastern Europe customarily bathe twice a day especially during the evening or the night, the rationale being that after a day's work one should remove sweat and dirt, in order to be comfortable and clean, thus keeping the bed clean. One should also note that the humidity in some Eastern Asian countries such as China can be quite high. As a result, frequent baths or showers are needed to remove the sticky sensation from sweat.
Throughout history, societies devised systems to enable water to be brought to population centres. Ancient Greece utilized small bathtubs, wash basins, and foot baths for personal cleanliness. The earliest findings of baths date from the mid-2nd millennium BC in the palace complex at Knossos, Crete, and the luxurious alabaster bathtubs excavated in Akrotiri, Santorini. The Greeks established public baths and showers within gymnasiums for relaxation and personal hygiene. Ancient Rome developed a network of aqueducts to supply water to all large towns and population centres and had indoor plumbing, with pipes that terminated in homes and at public wells and fountains. The Roman public baths were called thermae. With the fall of the Roman Empire the aqueduct network fell into disrepair and most of it ceased to be used.
In the Middle Ages, bathing commonly took place in public bathhouses. However, public nudity was frowned upon by liturgical factions of the period. Public baths were also havens for prostitution, which created opposition to the public baths. Rich people bathed at home, most likely in their bedroom, as 'bath' rooms were not common. Bathing was done in large, wooden tubs with a linen cloth laid in it to protect the bather from splinters. Additionally, during the Renaissance and Protestant Reformation, the quality and condition of the clothing (as opposed to the actual cleanliness of the body itself) were thought to reflect the soul of an individual. Clean clothing also reflected one's social status; clothes made the man or woman.
Additionally, from the late Middle Ages through to the end of the 18th century, etiquette and medical manuals advised people to only wash the parts of the body that were visible to the public; for example, the ears, hands, feet, and face and neck. This did away with the public baths and left the cleaning of oneself to the privacy of one's home.
The switch from woolen to linen clothing by the 16th century also accompanied the decline in bathing. Linen clothing is much easier to clean and maintain - and such clothing was becoming commonplace at the time in Western Europe. Clean linen shirts or blouses allowed people who hadn't bathed to appear clean and well groomed. The possession of a large quantity of clean linen clothing was a sign of social status. Thus, appearance became more important than personal hygiene. Medical opinion supported this claim. Physicians of the period believed that odors, or miasma, such as that which would be found in soiled linens, caused disease. A person could therefore change one's shirt every few days, but avoid baths - which might let the 'bad air' into the body through the pores. Consequently, in an age in which there were very few personal bathtubs, laundry was an important and weekly chore which were commonly undertaken by laundresses of the time.
Public opinion about bathing only began to shift in the middle and late 18th century, when writers argued that frequent bathing might lead to better health. Large public baths, such as those found in the ancient world and which were a common fixture of the Ottoman Empire, would revive during the 19th century, and the germ theory of disease would eventually lead health authorities globally to urge people to bathe regularly, to rid the body of harmful germs. The great water projects of the 19th century thus had a lot to owe to the assurance of vast quantities of water obtained for the general health.
Before the late 19th century, water to individual places of residence was rare.[2] Many countries in Europe developed a water collection and distribution network. London water supply infrastructure developed over many centuries from early medieval conduits, through major 19th century treatment works built in response to cholera threats, to modern large scale reservoirs. (see also Water supply and sanitation in France)
The weekly Saturday night bath was much the rule in Christian industrialized lands in the 19th and early 20th century. A half day's work on Saturday was the norm for factory workers allowing them some leisure to prepare for the Sunday day of rest. Following a Saturday bath one's Sunday best clothes could then be put on a clean body for church the next day. The workers' Saturday half day off allowed time and leisure for the considerable labor of drawing, carrying, and heating water, filling the bath and then afterward emptying it. (Servants, indoor plumbing, more especially with hot water, were the luxury of a very few.) As an economy of effort, bath water was shared by all the immediate family members. Precedence in bath order could lead to contention since the first user enjoyed the cleanest and warmest water. Indoor plumbing became more common in the 20th century and commercial advertising campaigns pushing new bath products began to influence public ideas about cleanliness and the daily shower or bath then became more the rule.
A bathing scene has been a popular setting for many artists for their art nude studies, including the following. Biblical and mythological themes which featured bathing were depicted by numerous painters. Especially popular themes included Bathsheba and Susanna in the bath. In the 19th century, the use of the bathing scene reached its high point in classicism, realism and impressionism. Edgar Degas, for example, painted over 100 paintings with a bathing theme.
Well-know paintings with bath scenes were painted by:
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