1940’s UK. Working class. Newspaper torn into squares. I know, it was my job to tear it up.. We had an ‘outhouse’ toilet in the back yard, so at night, we children had a chamber pot under the bed. I remember my ‘all in one’ pyjamas had a buttoned square panel at the back. When I was 10 we went to Australia, so still an outhouse,, or dunny (sp) . I was 14 before i had access to an indoor bathroom/toilet. In the interests of transparency, I am now. 80.
I know that you can still see outhouses (dunnies) on the properties of older houses here in Australia, especially in the country. The idea of them terrified me as a child- snakes and spiders LOVE a dunny! And we also call the indoor toilets dunnies too, even though it originally referred to outhouses. But those wooden outhouses would be filled with spiders (red backs love hanging about in wood), and the song about finding a red back on the dunny seat is no joke! Same with the snakes- it’s a lovely safe place for them to curl up, so one would have to be very careful indeed! No thank you! I’m very glad we have indoor plumbing these days!
We need to all chip in and get Isabella a magic wand for buttons! 😂😂 As a history fan, I love your videos, as it brings the everyday costumes to life. As an American, your lovely RP accent is so charming!
Hey, this is great preparation for when that one time traveler comes along and asks you to go with them to meet the greatest poets and inventors of history.
As a child I was brought up with the outside toilet and newspaper and not forgetting the sanitary belt . We are very lucky living in the this time .we use to have a bucket In my parents bedroom and for the young this was back in the time before mobile phones and only three channels on the TV
Wonderful remake! Also you know that the chamber pots were useful for doctors to sniff and sift through the waste urine and stool to make diagnoses of illnesses (YUCK). Chamber Pots made it easier for doctors to access the waste.
We still use chamber pots at hospitals and especially in elderly care. Very convenient for elderly that can't get out of bed at night! And as you said, very useful for doctors!
@@TheRadioControLEmma Yes very true still used today in hospitals. Of course they use urine bags from catheters and can measure how much a person urinates and send samples to the lab for testing. :)
In Georgian times, and probably before, a shaped chamber pot a little like a gravy boat called a bourdaloue was simply held under the lady’s skirt to pee, in a discreet corner in a theatre box or a nearby room, not particularly privately.
"Picking flowers" will be my new euphemism for peeing. Thanks for this. These details of living are so interesting. I feel like getting into the nitty gritty of how exactly people functioned makes history come alive.
This might be how the tradition of female relatives going to the bathroom together, they needed to help each other with buttons, holding things up and out of the way.
Accounts of the Lizzie Borden murder trial provide rare contemporary reports of Victorian-era waste and hygiene practices. On August 4, 1892, in Fall River Massachusetts, USA , wealthy but unpopular banker Andrew Borden and his second wife, Abby Borden were found violently ax-murdered in separate rooms of the house, Andrew in the front parlor and Abby in the upstairs guest room. Andrew had been struck 10 or 11 times and Abby was struck by 17 blows! Andrew's 32 year-old daughter, Lizzie Borden was accused of the crime. Despite Andrew's wealth, the house did not have indoor plumbing. Police stationed around the house the night after the murders reported that Lizzie made two trips to the basement, once taking down a "slop pail". It also came out at trial that Lizzie was menstruating at the time of the murders, which gave her an excuse for having bloody rags in the slop pail in the basement. Lizzie burned a relatively new dress in the kitchen stove a few days after the murders. She claimed it was because she has brushed it against fresh paint earlier that summer. Despite her documented dislike of her step-mother, family tension about Andrew's disposition of property, a good deal of suspicious behavior on Lizzie's part and a lack of other suspects who had access to the locked house at the time of the murders, she was acquitted by the all-male jury. It is thought that they couldn't believe that a genteel, church-going lady was capable of such violent murders. Lizzie never confessed, and also had very good lawyers and the police investigating the crime did not build an air-tight case, allowing room for reasonable doubt. It could also be that the jury didn't want to inquire too closely about the icky details of Lizzie's menstrual period hygiene.
Can't raise them from the dead and retry them .if there was reasonable doubt, their was. And circumstantial evidence takes a backseat to evidence of other. kinds. So the best one can do is offer up the two or more possible theories objectively. Oh you can have an opinion ..but being so far removed the time period and its context it's all supposition ..
My Grandparents had a small cotton farm with orchards on the side, here in East Texas. I knew my Great Grandmother who was born in 1888. She told me that when the ladies were out in the fields they would slip off into the woods at the edges of the field, spread their legs apart, grab their skirts to pull them slightly frontwards and backwards, ...and do their #1. My mother tells of trying to do this as a little girl...and >never< being successful: always wetting her dress...and getting a spanking. Yes, I admit to trying the same. While I never told anyone what I tried...I would have been spanked, too. LOL There is definitely a skill that goes with this mode of tending to "personal needs" without the advantage of a chamber pot.
If anyone is interested, Abby Cox here on youtube has done a whole video about how women of the past dealt with periods and she actually tried one of the methods while on her period.
As someone who lived through the crinoline fashion of the 1950s I have personal experience with managing lots of skirts. Although our skirts were not as long, coming to about shin-length, there were plenty of petticoats. (At one time I wore seven! My excuse is I was in 7th grade at the time and kids are like that.) I developed a technique for keeping my skirts clean and out of the way that worked very well. I would take hold of the innermost skirt on either side, using both hands, and use it to form a sort of bag to contain the back portion of the outer petticoats and skirts. This kept the fabric out of the way and clean. When I was ready to wipe I would hold both ends with my left hand, leaving my right hand free. If I were using a public restroom I wouldn't drop the skirts back in place completely until I was out of the stall. It's difficult to describe, but it worked well. I have shown the technique to several bridesmaids at weddings and it worked for them.
For 18th century period management, check out Abby Cox's video! She even tests out using an apron herself. Also women would have had less periods than now with the age of getting your first period probably more like 15-16 back then vs around 12 now, no birth control leading to more pregnancies and time spent breastfeeding, and probably earlier menopause (unsure of the data there)
The late age of menarche (average of 15) that occurred during the industrial revolution was largely caused by malnutrition. Today's average age of 12 is actually more normal for humans, as it was the normal prior to the industrial revolution and in cultures other than those of Europe and the US
Talking about reusing old clothes reminds me of my great-grandma. She would remake an old dress into a shirt/dress for one of the children or great-grandpa. Then when it was too used for that, it would be taken apart and made into a tea cozy, hot pads, pieces for a quilt, rag rugs... And she kept the buttons/zippers/hook & eyes. I have her 'button box's. I've found many treasures there!
I have a sewing book from WWII, that includes instructions for turning a man's trouser suit into a woman's skirt suit. This was a very useful skill when clothing and fabric were rationed, and the men of the household were away at war, leaving closets full of suits behind.
I almost choked to death on my lunch laughing when you called us weirdos. I should know better than to be eating when I start watching with your added commentary. I can't wait to see what we find for you to explain from a historical perspective next. The list of weird subjects (child birth, doctors/medicine for women, even dare I suggest murderous women) you might cover will definitely keep us coming back. Come to think of it I would like to hear more about murderous women while you're making a mourning gown. Maybe next Halloween please?
I was raised as a Mennonite, which is a shake and a shiver away from being Amish. A great deal was not talked about until you were "aged" enough, usually around 12 or 13 as a very underage girl. We used a rag, literally made for menses which was dark, soft, and hooked easily on a belt that went around the legs kind of like a harness that held the rag in place. Since a woman was considered to be unclean during menses, I wore dark clothes and an apron that was longer and covered the back too usually black in color. When menstruating, women washed their own rags in a pot kept just for boiling water to soak the rag and the harness and both were kept in the ladies room to dry overnight in the summer and be placed on the ember bedwarmer in winter. Young girls had to keep a pair of harnesses one dry and one wet, and often change them during the day and if possible often into the night. A thick pad like brushed wool that was soft was what kept a girl from staining the bed and it was always black. Cleaning them required a lye mixture that is also the way all soaps were made to wash it to prevent stench. Also a pot that looked like a flower watering pot was in the outhouse and filled by the last person in there or kept by the door in cold icy months. Very interesting that there was split drawers as I was only introduced to the ones that just let your bum not covered requiring a proper sitting on a usually godawful cold ring of metal that protected you from falling into the latrine as that had happened to a boy I knew and he was so ashamed that no one talked about it after it happened. Thank you for your answers to questions we ask about the uncomfortable topic...in more ways than one...of doing one's toilet.
Thank you so much for sharing..I always wondered.."stuff.". I tried to copy to share with my granddaughter...but I couldn't. Probably a disguised blessing? I was in store recently in "that " isle...I was looking for shampoo...oh my word all the "New n improved " ..things. GURL...WE WERE LUCKY! kind of, sorta'...my mom told me nothing. I ..um..a lady..much later than friends. Heard lots of scary stuff. Came home from school & mom put some sort of strap with a hook on it & a pad. Gulp. Earlier I had seen a "thing" drying on shower rod. Oh..that must be "it". I tried it on. Weird...had a pouch on it. Like a kangaroo. Lol...now that I think back...wha tha..that thing don't look right. Then when in hi school..put on that thing. Pulled it up way high. Sitting in choir..shifting left to right..darn hook hurt!!! We survived by God's grace! Glad I'm old. At least we knew we were & are females! I weep for many confused ladies. Thank you again for sharing.
Short of traveling back in time to try this ourselves first hand, I don't think we can ask for a more thorough demonstration than you've given here.Thank you!
I remember even back in the 1960s we had pads with belts we wore around our waists. The sticky pads that stuck directly to your underwear didnt come around until the 1970s.
And after the belt, we had pants with loops in front and behind the crops and the pads had extensions to tie or knot it to the Loops. Did not work very well especially at night. In Germany for a long time one could only buy pads named „Camelia“ at a drugstore, where the package was wrapped in white neutral paper. So nobody could imagine what you bought. 😊 Until the late 70ies the use of tampons was not recommended to girls. Then there was only found Tampax with a paper applicator which I found hygienic. Nowadays in Germany most found Brand is o.b. (it means Ohne Binde) without applicator what I regret.
Im only fifty one but i started my perion in 5th grade. One monrh i started while at school. The nurse gave me a pad and i had no ideah how to use it because i had the self stick kind. I had opened box and out came SAFETY PINS. The pad had long strips at front and back. After a few minute i figured out that i was supposed to pin it in place. That was 1981!
The sticky pads didn't come until the 2000 in my home country (Eastern Europe), can you ever imagine that? I was 13 and I was pretty worried about those horrible pads with belts but thanks for the progress I was fortunate to avoid them.
Back in the 1960s, when I was a little girl, I remember finding my mother's sanitary belt that got into my drawer by accident and she had to explain to me. But by the early 1970s, they had underpants than had a little elastic fore and aft to hold the pad in place. (Crikey, I feel old.) When the self adhesive ones came, it was a revelation!
In case anyone is interested in what the german Ad says at 05:55 (the one from the 1880s, that is edited into the corner): New Odorless Closets with automatic scattering device, Germanys R-Pat. Nr 19428. Instant selfdesinfection of the excrements after each sitting, exactly measured and therefore not useless wasted sprinkling powder. The sprinkling appliance is in the Closetbox (not like in other closets, and those of older construction, in the lid), which prevents the contamination of the closetseat. Easy transportable, comfortable emptying. In the Bedroom, especially infront of sick beds, without disturbance. Lightpolished 30M*, with armrest 36M* [it then says "Price-Courant Franco" which I don't know what that is supposed to mean] Louis Hirschberg, Jägerstr 22, Berlin. *Mark, the German currency from 1871 ro 1923
Yeah that combination with the flap... I don't think I would have liked it if I were a victorian lady. I'd probably have chosen the split drawers or a combination with split drawers. They seem so much more convenient. I'm sure ladies did choose their underpinnings according to preferences then as they do now. The tea gown tho... It's stunning! Their sort of lounge wear at home sure looked nice. These days it's a hoodie and fabric pants or trousers.
My mother was born in 1916, and when I asked her how she coped with periods, she said they used rags that were later boiled. In the kitchen, since that was the only place where they had a stove.
Did you see how the whole set of lower body garments folded up in the back? All you had to do was raise them far enough, which is easy. I don't wear historic dress, but I do wear a lot of modern skirts and dresses, including long full ones. I don't remove them ... just lift them up, lower my knickers, an everything is good to go.
Dear Isabella, thanks for the up date. Living with my grandmother taught me a lot. When ladies had their menses those "rags' were discretely hung on the clothes line. The ' out door privey ' had a bucket of ashes by the door. After you did your business, you put a large scoop down the hole. It helped somewhat with odors.
Probably TMI, but I basically use a chamber pot (a large plastic jar with a screw on lid) in my semi truck. Only for liquids. I then smuggle it into the truck stop and dump it down the toilet, or find a sewer grate. I also wear bustle skirts and corsets while driving my truck, and have no issue with using my "chamber pot" lol. I have plenty of hand sanitizer and clean the jar with Lysol daily. *If your wondering why I don't just use truck stop bathrooms, it's because there are a lot less places to stop then you think, it takes a minute to park then forever to walk in (if you can find a spot) and if I'm out west in the US I might be parked out in the desert somewhere.
Loool I'm Somali who live in the other side of world watching this video about how Victorian ladies were using the toilet 🚽😂😂 but I feel sad for them it must have been difficult for them specially if you have your period 😩😭 I thanks God everyday that I was born in this modern era 🙏🙏
I am so grateful for indoor toilets. We have four in my house. At 3.00 am with a storm raging I’m so glad it’s not a dash to the outhouse or freezing in my bedroom as I hover over a chamber pot
And surprisingly public toilets are a great renovation too. Even though they can be filthy, when you gotta go you gotta go 😅 and that's what the LADIES room is for
Watching this and seeing how the layers worked, it makes me laugh at the cluelessness of most historical romance writers and how they would approach access and undressing
It's very akin to what brides do now - just pull everything up by the undermost layer and wrap it around to your front to hold it out of the way - whether by hand or by the cages that were in fashion.
When my friend got married her bridesmaids had to go with her to the bathroom to help hold her clothes out of the way. You know something's unpractical when you need help to urinate.
I think of being out on a through hike and squatting to try not to pee on my shoes... not being able to see at all would make me nervous but if you wear these gowns every day you have likely learned a technique I guess. It is a tragedy that we don't know more about menstruation in history. In case there was any doubt that history was written by men... *sigh*
I pee in the woods regularly as a hobby hiker and still splash all over my boots unless I'm in the perfect position. Forget about peeing in petticoats while picking flowers.
@@oliviaspeciale1455 Maybe that's the trick; the position. I wouldn't know exactly though; I am a man. I also read somewhere that if one presses on the spot just above the urethra, it would not splash on one's legs.
Just thought of this now too bad that women in the 20’s didn’t ask their grandmothers what they had to use for their periods. I’ve actually asked mine. Lol but too bad 20’s women didn’t pass that info from their Victorian grandmothers/mothers. Then we might have an answers
My family used "family cloth" for years. Nicer, "cleaner" feeling than dry paper. Also, sea sponges for tampons...also very pleasant! (Sanitize with a bit of H2O2 in water overnight- or vinegar) The old ways are not gone. Just not discussed. During that whole TP madness recently, i had to roll my eyes....just a little bit.
This particular outfit you are wearing is just spectacular. So attractive and dressy! I'd give anything if I had cause to wear something like this. It's beautiful.
Possibly TMI but here we go: I was so grateful to have watched your old video when visiting a friend of mine a few years ago. I slept in her very young son's bedroom on the trundle bed. Said son was at the stage where he was frequently sneaking out of his bed at night to bother his parents, who had resorted to locking him in at night (no judgement -- parenting is super demanding and you make the choices that make sense for you). I awoke in the middle of the night in desperate need of the bathroom -- only to remember that the door was locked. I had left my phone charging in the living room, my hosts were asleep, and I couldn't call for help without waking the whole house. Then I saw it -- the potty! The boy in question was also being potty trained, and while I couldn't fit on the seat (it being designed for a very young child) I knew how to use a chamber pot thanks to your video. I went back to bed relieved, and we all had a good laugh about it in the morning.
You need to develop a Patreon support level. Let those os who enjoy your videos regularly support you . Your time and expertise are valuable. Thank you for sharing with us.
While dressing in my "modern" layers for winter in Canada, (multiple bra hooks, under wires, under shirt, turtle neck sweater, knickers, knee high sock, fleece leggings, jeans that need a belt because they creep down over the leggings) I wonder if some enterprising young woman will be putting on reproductions of all that for fun a hundred years from now. when people will choose their clothes on a screen as one does for an avatar and then they are applied as fully supportive and warming or cooling garments, in an instant (like Ironman's costume.)
Look up NorSari. It’s a warm over wrap for your legs made by a small company in Northfield, Minnesota (about 30 minutes south of Minneapolis/St. Paul and home to both St. Olaf and Carlton Colleges). They’ve been popping up in my Facebook feed (probably because I live in the area) and actually look like a neat idea.
Well Heat and cooling vests Do exist and have for a while, they are issued to tanks crews to keep the Tankers working in the heat of summer in inside the tank and warm in the cold armor of the tanks in winter. So maybe the tech will make it to us civilians soon.
Why does these videoes attract the oddest sort of comments? Half of them haven't seen the video (or just didn't pay attention) before commenting and the rest are all highly insulted on behalf of all of womanhood, because how could they ever have, like, survived in those clothes! Just, there are some really strange opinions thrown around here...
Victoria's Secret has *nothing* on late Victorian underthings! I had to use a sanitary belt (elastic) until after 1979 when we could finally get 'stick-on' pads.
I remember the old sanitary pads with the belt. I recall being shocked at the first Modess commercial I ever saw on television. Such immodesty! Such natural bodily functions were NOT talked about.
We used old catalog pages for toilet paper (which we softened in our hands while seated over the hole) in the out-house. Newspaper was used for toilet paper when we had to use the chamber pot inside the house late at night or when we were to sick to go to the out-house. For pads Mom and I used folded rags that we safty pinned into our underpants (when we could not buy Kotex pads that were held in place by a belt). Our soiled Rags and pads were burned to hide the fact that we were "on the rag."
My aunt (first to hit puberty) was taught by my grandma to used old bed sheets torn up and made into a makeshift belt, luckily within her first couple years she got a real deal belt and told my mom about that. They also grew up with an outhouse and my mom hated going out in the dark or when cold so she kept a Mason jar under her bed.
Very interesting video! Funny to see how some things seem to go 'full circle', like cloth pads and sponge tampons being all the hype again... Let's see if split drawers are next year's fashion!
After making a pair of split drawers, I wore them as my underwear for a day under a long sundress. I'm quite tempted to make versions with shorter legs to go with my shorter skirts and dresses, because they're quite comfy and convenient! Way more comfortable than any modern underwear I've tried, and I have tried a lot of different styles!
I’ve heard that there were references to ‘period items’ in Elizabeth I’s wardrobe accounts- ‘vallopes’, or ‘wallops’ (linen envelopes packed with absorbent materials; wool waste, rags, moss- whathaveyou) & some buckled belt-like arrangement...
About peeing in crinoline I actually heard lots of records of countryside life of old, by witnesses, that granted it was definitely the way of the common women, as long as the skirt remained..long. my gran-gran was one of them. You know, whatever they had to do, be it going to the fields or to the market at the nearby town, they had long distances to cover everyday, on foot. And without public toilets available that was the easiest way. On the go. Of course their skirts were mostly dark dyed, almost always black, so that possible stains were likely to be less noticeable..🙄
thanks for clarifying everything! I never tried a chamber pot but my wedding dress had a hoop skirt under it instead of the more common crinoline, and it was not as difficult to toilet as I'd thought it might be, I just grabbed all the hoops and held them up! My current problem is wearing historical garb and trying to use portapotties at outdoor events without brushing up against icky things left by people with bad aim... and right now when I wear long full skirts or dresses, I just bunch them up and toss the resulting fabric over my shoulder to keep everything out of the way... Full plate armour however... let's just say I time how much water I drink with when I can get out of it again. There is no halfway with my suit.
My great grandmother, Ma, never wore underwear. When outside she would pause slightly separating her feet and pee straight down then walk on. She continued to wear angle length skirts all her live. She was wonderful. I miss her still. Effie Vaughn 1882-1965.
.... for the amount of times I've had to gather up various elabourate ballgowns in my hoop and pull them over my head to pee.... sitting on the loo backwards has NEVER crossed my mind?? GENIUS.
I have one question though, how did people stopped their clothes from getting dirty when doing their business? Like, when they're having.... intestinal problems, which I imagine must have been much more common back in the day considering the lack of sanitation and access to treated water. Your tea gown is amazing though
You wore your shift (and or whatever underclothes) only, and stay at home. (Cough) And when you’re done being sick you wash your linens, cleaning cloths, and shift (and the floor lol). And people weren’t as “ooked out” by the processes of the body; by death, birth, illness, cooking, raising, caring for and cleaning animals for food and wool, (etc etc) all were part of daily life. Including preparing your own family members for their wakes and burials. Family (and others) helped care for one another’s bodily needs without losing it over the “soil” of life. Clothing was highly durable and washable. Though this is a very generalized statement without the nuance for all the various cultures and time periods.
That dressing gown! Those sleeves! The rustling! Fabulous! Like music to my ears... 🎶🎼🎶 Oh. What? This was about going to the toilet? I had to rewind and really concentrate. Bravissima!
Izabela: it wasn't hard! Look, you just lift up the skirts and hold them out of the way! Easy peasy. *literally does it in like 2 seconds* Everyone in the comments: omg it must've been so awful back then, taking ages to move everything out of the way and getting pee all over your clothes
My dad fled Hungary in '56 but after I was born and my dad was pardoned I spent my summers with my grandparents and I still remember that we had to use cotton, not the cottonballs btw, when I had my period and use newspaper when going to the toilet. And that was in the late 70s, early 80s...😁🇭🇺❤️🇳🇱
Yes! There’s even less information about what women did for their periods in the 18thC and easier than there is in the Victorian era. So Abby’s video is fantastic for dealing with 18th century, and Karolina Zebrowska also has a video on what women did for their periods during the 19th century. Obviously, she has a lot of the same information that Izabela talks about here, but she does go a little more in depth, as that is the video’s only topic. Highly recommend both videos.
How on earth did you make the subject of going to the toilet so adoreable? You are such a treat to watch, and I was totally entranced with you the whole way through! ❤️🇦🇺
Thank you for making this video. I am planning to endeavour into making combinations and was quite stressed about going number 2 in them . All of the videos that I have watched don't address it and I had never before seen the "butt flap" . This has relieved my anxiety and explained the process.
I was having the same problem! I was worried about how I could efficiently and comfortably go to the bathroom in combinations. I know butt flaps exist, I had no idea they used them on combinations
My great aunt was born in 1928. According to her mother and grandmothers it varied from person to person when it came to periods. Some girls used old rags while others used fancy contraptions like pantie holders. They also cleaned their teeth by twiddling down tooth picks and just scraping the residue off their teeth.
I could feel the sympathetic anxiety build in my chest as she worked that button. I'd probably have had my back panel widened to button on the side just for that situation.
Your teagown is stunning. You made me smile watching this new video, I saw the first one, too. When we are at weekends in living history we are, mostly from woman, very often asked how to use the loo with all these long wide, slime or heavy skirts on. And realy in an Natural Form dress it sometimes can be job 😉
After a few babies every woman would have peeed herself before she got the buttons undone!!! Those petticoats have a lot of gruesome stories to tell I think!! I love all these details
