I believe most men wore an undershirt, so the collar and cuff would have seen more wear on the overshirt.

I believe most men wore an undershirt, so the collar and cuff would have seen more wear on the overshirt.

Still do - barring unfortunate coffee spills, aren't the collars and cuffs the first places likely to get grimy?

This book is fascinating. It recommends washing your hair once a month. Practically every chapter has a section on how to avoid constipation. (So far, he's recommended exercise, eating vegetables and whole grains, and avoiding smoking.) And his warnings against tobacco:

All of these interruptions stop the boy's growth, and he becomes a weakling, stunted in body and mind, though per- haps with the appearance of brightness. Diseased in body and mind, is it a wonder that his moral sense also becomes perverted? Irresponsible and with no interest in sports, studies, or honest work, a cigarette fiend may soon drift into crime. The record of fifteen boys recently sentenced for crimes showed that ten of them had stolen to get the means of buying cigarettes.

People steal to get money?

Huh.

I thought undershirt sales plummeted when Clark Gable revealed he wasn't wearing one in some movie with Claudette Colbert.

Most of the men I know wear tshirts, so I'm not up on proper male fashion.

Considering how hard it was to get sufficient reliable hot water and the lack of central heating, regular head soaking would not have been recommended. Plus most modest hair styles were confined, so hair wouldn't have been visible. Plus hats.

Did anyone see 1900 House on PBS?

edited to correct year

I watched it, connie. Pretty interesting.

I watched it with great interest, as my house happens to have been built in 1900. However, it always had electricity, central heating AND indoor plumbing. (We even have the original basement sink still in place.)

Thank you, Barb!

When you wear a suit coat all the time, the only thing that shows is the collar and cuffs, so they could be removed and washed and starched, while the shirt was maybe washed once a week. The celluloid collar was kind of the social equivalent of the clip-on tie. It didn't have to be washed at all, being similar to thin plastic.

My grandmothers were both fairly obsessed with regularity, in the case of one to a degree that would probably be diagnosed as obsessive-compulsive. Laxatives were a general cure-all for centuries. I once did a paper on the herbs Chanticleer's wife prescribed for him in "The Nun's Priest's Tale," and if Chanticleer were a person, he would never have left the bathroom.