Wash Day Blues, Sore Hands & Hand Cream

I've been posting about washing and laundry recently. Here is a little 10 minute snippet from The 1900's House, which shows the ladies of the house on washday.  It gives a  good feel of what  washday was like before washing machines were invented. At the end of the video the girls make their own hand cream for their ruined hands, and then start on the ironing.

After centuries of home made preparations, hand and body creams began to be commercially manufactured in the late 1800's. Early ingredients came from plants and animals, such as olive oil, bees wax, whale oil and lanolin from sheep's wool, and from the 1860's formulas took advantage of mineral oil (baby oil) and petroleum jelly (Vaseline) created in the production of gasoline.  The basic assumption was that fats and oils helped make the skin soft and supple, although in truth mineral products do not absorb into the skin, although they  can keep moisture in the skin by making a barrier.

 

           Old Vaseline Ad, c. 1890s source and glass jar, c. 1910 source

Glycerol, or glycerine, was added as a lubricant and humectant, to enable to the creams to be absorbed into the skin.  Glycerol is also a component of glycerin soap, like the famous Pears soap, first produced and sold in  London in 1789 by Andrew Pears, which was advertised as a complexion soap and for babies, as well as for "soft, white hands" as it's moisturising properties help prevent excessive dryness compared to some other soaps.

  

Pears is still available today, although I fear it is much an inferior product.

Cold cream was also commercially manufactured by the late 1800s, although it had been invented centuries earlier by a physician named Galen, in second century Greece. Galen's cold cream was based on beeswax and water, with olive oil and rose petals for softness and scent, respectively. From the 1780's whale oil was used instead of olive oil, and later mineral oil and then from t he 1970s, thankfully, jojoba oil.  Borax was also added early on to give the cream it's white appearance. 

Cold cream, and Vanishing cream, another popular product in the early 1900s were both used a a healing cream great for chapped hands, before they became popular complexion creams.  American scientist Theron T. Pond (1800–1852) invented a medicinal cream in 1846 which contained healing witch hazel, which he named "Golden Treasure." In 1846, the "T.T. Pond Company" was formed, and when Pond died in 1852, the company named his cream "Pond's Extract."  

When the children hurt themselves, 1913, source

 From 1886  the company advertised nationally under the name of Pond's Healing . By 1915 Ponds moved from healing to beauty,  and so "Pond's Vanishing Cream" and "Pond's Cold Cream" were created.  Both products are still available today.

  

      Vanishing Cream ad, 1912 source and How to relieve chapped skin in one application, 1916, source

Vanishing creams are called that because they seem to vanish into the skin (not the other way around).  Another early vanishing cream was introduced by Burroughs Wellcombe under the name Hazeline Snow. Also made with witch hazel, it was first marketed in the 1890s as a medicinal cream,and was included in first-aid cabinets that the company produced for sale around the world. Hazeline is also still available today.

1912 Burroughs Wellcome first-aid cabinet
 containing Hazeline products, source

   


In 1900 German Dr Leifschuz patented a smooth ointment he called Eucerin "the beautiful wax", and sold from 1903 under the name Paul Beiersdorf und Co.  Dermatologist Professor Unna wrote in 1907 that it was a cream "easily prescribed by the doctor", "sold by the pharmacist" and "creates a good feeling for the patient due to its smoothness and cooling effect." It was available in the US from the  1920s under the name Eucerin Original, and is still available today.

My favourite hand cream is a balm I buy here locally, made with beeswax and olive oil and essentials oils of lavender and rosemary.  I call it Mum's special cream, and the kids ask for it as soon as they have a scratch, a mozzie bite or even a headache.  One day soon I will make my own - I found a nice easy recipe here.  

Have you made your own cream? Any good recipes or pointers?

Deb xx

Doing the Laundry Vintage Style

From a vintage point of view, I have been posting backwards. I have looked recently at irons and ironing, but of course washing has to come first!  One hundred years ago the weekly chore list would have been something like this:

Monday - laundry
Tuesday - ironing, mending, sewing
Wednesday - baking
Thursday - grocery shopping
Friday - cleaning, dusting, sweeping
Saturday - cleaning, baking for Sunday dinner
Sunday - church, large family dinner, go visiting

I would love to stick to a schedule like this, but I would need to buy the children more school shirts - I also need to sweep every day, a downside of living near the beach. In the late 1800s and early 1900s laundry was the housewife's most dreaded chore – really, I mean, a whole day of washing - clothes, sheets, cloth, all by hand. And many women had big families - I have five children and can't imagine washing all their clothes by hand.  No wonder they called it Blue Monday.

 

Underwear was  washed frequently of course, but thick top clothes tended have to last with just dirty spots being sponged off – that's why aprons and smocks were popular to keep clothes clean. How people managed here in Mackay and other tropical climates I don't know.   Often just one sheet from each bed was washed weekly - last week's top sheet became this week's bottom sheet.  Wool blankets were washed once or twice a year in good drying weather, as were woollen garments. Often the washing would be taken in still damp and rolled up on a Monday evening, and then ironed the next day. I do try and get the shirts in from the line still damp as it really does make them much easier to iron.

Girl wearing a full length apron, 1911, Good Housekeeping Magazine

So even one hundred years ago women knew they had to do laundry, not just because of pride and wanting their families to look nice and fit in, but because of hygiene.  The ordinary person may not have known about germs and bacteria, but they knew enough to know that boiling the water for washing was a good idea.  Mum still talks about how clean clothes got in the old copper she used when first married in the 1960s. The copper was like a deep metal bucket with a lid, built into the corner of the laundry room, or outside, with a space underneath for the fire. (For a great look at washing in a copper, head to 1900s.org.). You would move some water from the copper into a tub for the dark washing, and then boil the' whites', usually sheets and underwear and shirts, in the copper, while stirring.  The darks clothes in the warm water would be scrubbed, by hand, and sometimes on a washboard. Then more water was added to rinse in.  Sounds fun don't you think! I remember helping mum ring out the clothes by hand, before pegging on the line, and I always got my own little tub to wash my dolls clothes in, or sometimes the socks, which made me fell really grown-up!

Mary in 1913, playing laundry.

With early washing machines, the water still had to be heated in the copper or on a stove, after being hauled in from the pump or sink, and poured into the machine. To force water through clothes there was a wooden dolly, basically a stick with prongs, which you moved back and forth and up and down, or some sort of metal grate, like a washboard, that you could move with a leaver. A wringer or mangle with two rollers, mounted on top or next to the washing machine, squeezed excess moisture out of clothes as they were fed through.

Although the first English patent under the category of Washing and Wringing Machines was issued in 1691, the "compound rotary washing machine, with rollers for wringing or mangling” was not patented until 1862, when it was shown at the 1862 London Exhibition. The first United States Patent titled "Clothes Washing" was granted in 1797 and in 1843 a Canadian inventor patented a "Clothes Washer With Wringer Rolls."  John S. Lash of Pennsylvania also patented a wringing and washing machine in 1862. The machine was modified by Gunn & Amidon, who put their own patented wringer on it, and marketed the result as “The Washing-ton Machine.” Advertised as the “cheapest, simplest and most perfect machine in the world,” much was made of the fact that the unit’s Amidon wringer operated without the use of cog wheels and could be trusted to be gentle on clothing.

Washing-ton machine c. 1863, source

At the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia Margaret Colvin exhibited her Triumph Rotary Washer that she had patented in 1871.  Her husband made and marketed the machines, and by all accounts they were quite useful, unlike many designs of the time.  Between 1862 and 1894 at least 48 American women patented washing machines or related items such as wringers, drainers and strainers, and at least 2,000 patents had been issued in the USA alone.

Patented in 1904, the wonder washer, source

In Australia in about 1879 an unusual washing machine marketed as the "Compressed Air" model was made in Melbourne by Echberg, Wolter & Co. Dirty clothes, soaked in hot water, soap and washing soda (sodium carbonate), were placed in the "torpedo-shaped" tub which pivoted on a stand. The lid was sealed and by rocking the tub for about five minutes the washing was said to have been completed. I have seem a modern rotating compost bin that is similar too.

 
Wolter & Echberg Washing Machine - Compressed-air manual (c. 1870s-80s)


From about 1904, the job of moving the dolly could be done an electric motor placed beneath the tub, or a gas powered engine, but you still had to heat the water separately.  The first electric-powered washing machine is said to be the drum shaped  “ Thor”, introduced in 1908, by the Hurley Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois and invented by Alva J. Fisher.  However there was mention of electric machines in newspapers a few years earlier.  The mangle could also be powered by electricity, which was a little dangerous, especially for little fingers.

Maren Christensen washing with her new Thor washing machine, source

Thor was so successful that by 1920 there were in excess of 700 American companies producing washing machines, including Maytag, Bendix and Whirlpool.

Advertisement for the Happy Day washing machines, 1910

 
Ad for Bluebird Blue Bird Washing Machines, 1910, and an alternate 1910 model

    
Time Saver Electric Washing Machine,1919, and Maytag electric washer, 1916 source

In 1928 there were 913,000 electric washing machines sold in the United states. During the 1930s washing machine design greatly improved, and more attention was paid to electrical and mechanical safety. Spin dryers were introduced to replace the dangerous power wringers of the day, although not all machines had them.

   
Miele Washing Machine, 1930, with mangle source   Twin tub 'Easy' c. 1930,patented in 1912, source.

Twin-tub washing machines also represented a major advance in washing-machine design -  One tub is the agitator tub and the smaller tub acted to rinse and spin the clothes.  The Syracuse 'Easy' , above, featured vacuum-cup technology, which helped force soapy water through clothes. I remember that one of my grandmothers used a hand powered wringer with her electric washing machine, and my other grandmother preferred her old twin-tub model, which you had to fill with a hose.  Even in the 1980's they would never let us get them a modern machine.

In 1937 the Bendix Corporation introduced the first automatic washing machine in 1937, a front loader, with spin dryer. It had to be anchored to the floor to prevent "walking" as it lacked drum suspension, but wow! what an advance.

Early Bendix washer, source

Even into the 1940s most people were using top loading tub type washers such as this one.

A woman with an electric washing machine, 1945

While this machine still required lots of attention from the woman, it required much less manual exertion, so that instead of a whole day to do your laundry, you could have it done by mid-day, leaving you "fresh"  - now you might have the energy to also do the ironing on Monday’s as well. These machines were much cheaper than the fully automatic washers, but even so many couldn’t afford even one of those.  $39.95 seems cheap now, but in the 1940s the average wage was under $2000 a year. So now we have automatic washing machines that do the hard manual labour for us, and we spend money on going to the gym instead - some crazy world.

"Easy" c. 1940s source

 

Most women in Australia had to wait until the 1950s for their first electric washing machine, when there was greater prosperity and the ready availability of electricity (and water). If you want to cut down your greenhouse emissions, go vintage!  As for electric clothes dryers – well -my mother still doesn't’ have one! And they were invented in 1915.  Washing detergent though, that’s another story…..

Enjoy your washday Monday! And as usual, lots more washday images on tumblr.

Deb xx

A Vintage Valentine 1913 Style

Happy Valentines Day one and all !

I am back at work a few days a week now, and helping at school when I can, so my posts may be getting a little shorter, or maybe less frequent, for a while.  So today, just some Valentines Day images from 1913.

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The above images are what I imagine of 1913 - dreamy, romantic, pretty.  This sculpture, The Kiss, was made by Konstantin Brancusi in 1913, one of his series of sculptures from  “The Kiss” series that he did from 1907 – 1925. Looks like it could have been carved today, don't you think?

Don't you love this romantic ad for Pet Milk, also from 1913. Mmmm, I wonder what's its made from?!

source

Oyster fritters, there's a lovely suggestion for a valentines day treat! And lastly, some words of wisdom from 1913 - The Dos and Don't for husbands and wives, by Blance Ebbut. You can find the books here, but to sum up:

source

Don't s for Wives reminds women not to flirt with other men in case they succeed "better than you want to. It is like playing with tigers and edged tools and volcanoes all in one".  I'll try and remember that!

 Have a wonderful day, whether you're eating oyster fritters, flirting, spending time with your loved one, or sitting on the couch with your favourite ice-cream or the cat,

Deb xx

Vintage Technology & Kitchen Inspiration

I have been looking a lot at vintage technology lately, and I mean a LOT (see my previous posts if you haven't already).   Materials used 100 years ago for building telegraph receivers radios and telephones are what I love today – timber, brass, copper – traditional, long lasting and beautiful.

At present I have very little brass and copper in my home – these days stainless steel and aluminium seem to have taken over, especially in the kitchen – but I would love more traditional materials, and a look that is rustic and comforting, rather than modern look or a clean, sanitized reproduction of the old.  Maybe in my next home! 

Meanwhile, here is some inspiration to go on with…..sources are at the end.

       

 

  

 

Sources:
JH Blog – brass bucket sink
1900 Farmhouse – pot rack
Ask Home Design
New Collector – French farmhouse light
Ruby Lane – coffee grinder
Flicker – Kitchen at Beamish
Antique homestyle – Kitchen piano
Hoosier Kitchen Cabinets 1900 to 1930
Culver History – Mess Kitchen c. 1913
UK Science Museum - Dry-air syphon refrigerator c. 1900
Museum Vic – copper kettle
Etsy – scales c. 1906

If you find a copper fridge, please let me know!



Deb xx