How Ancient People Did Their Laundry

Written by: Anna Pafenberg

For as long as humans have had clothes, they have needed a way to clean them. In times of hard labor caring for animals and hunting, the delicate and natural clothes got dirty fast. The best way to clean them is of course in water, but the techniques used to clean have adapted and evolved and centuries went on. 

Like many other household tasks, laundry was the work of a woman. The first clothing items were made of leaves or animal pelts and did not need washing due to their delicate nature. As humans went on to weave animal fibers and other soft materials, needs became different. While this was similar to the delicate original items, they took an immense time to make, which made them a reusable option for less strenuous labor. Before common tricks to wash clothes, women would rub the garments on rocks or pound them with them to dislodge any tough stains. Depending on the area, there are some plants that offer some help. Some plants have soap-like features that help people lather their garments to get a better wash. In Europe, there is a plant called soapwort and in America, the yucca. In India people wash with a plant called reetha and in China Chinese Honeylocust. Lye is also a material that people use that is made by mixing ashes from a fire and then straining it. This works wonders to wash clothes. Many soaps feature lye as their sudsing agent. It is not as widely used anymore because it can cause chemical burns on the skin.

The first soap appeared in Babylon in 2800 BCE. They mixed lye with animal fat to make soap! In the Roman period, people had come upon a blessing and a curse. With more cities and expansion, more people could live in cities. However, this meant more clothes and less easy access to water to wash them. To solve this problem, some women would get their family's laundry professionally done! These Roman launderers were called Fullers. Similar to a modern dry cleaner, someone would drop off clothes at the front desk of their shop and they would clean them in tubs in the back with chemicals and water. The chemical they used was urine and sometimes aged urine. This works because urine has ammonia which is something that can be used to clean. It was so good at cleaning that sometimes urine was collected straight from the streets and inside the Fuller’s shop. 

When the Roman empire fell, many people went back to the old ways of washing. Pounding or scraping clothes on washboards or washbats. Later in history, washing machines and quicker ways of washing were invented, but overall went back to the bare basics that were invented thousands of years ago.