The Chinese nation has a deep-rooted "hair plot", "Filial Piety • Kaizong Mingyi" said: "The body is skinny, by the parents, do not dare to destroy", which means that everything on the human body is given by the parents, there can be no damage, love your body, is equivalent to loving your parents.
However, with the entry of the Qing army into the customs, Dorgon issued the "Shaving Order", which said: "Wherever the Qing army goes, regardless of the officials and the people, within ten days, shave their heads, cut their hair and braid, and cut those who do not obey." Many ordinary people were resistant to this provision of the Qing government, and in some places they also raised the banner of resistance, and for a while there was smoke and smoke.
Because the rulers of the Qing Dynasty were from nomadic backgrounds, they did not have a tradition of growing hair in order to facilitate hunting and movement. In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the Qing Dynasty issued a "Shaving Order", stipulating that "wherever the Qing army goes, regardless of the officials and the people, within ten days, shave their heads, cut their hair and braid, and cut those who do not obey." The purpose of this decree was also to strike at the self-esteem of the Han chinese and to promote Manchu rule. It is also true that by the time of the Qing Dynasty, almost every man had a big braid.
According to historical records, people in the Qin and Han dynasties loved to be clean, so they basically washed their hair about three days. Later, when it came to the Han Dynasty, the cycle of washing hair became longer, and officials basically washed once every five days, took five days off, and took a day off to bathe.
But the bathing cycle of poor families is longer, and the subsequent dynasties are becoming more and more free, the whole person looks dirty, and when it comes to the Tang Dynasty, there are clear regulations on bathing, and people begin to pay attention to personal hygiene. By the time of the Qing Dynasty, the cycle of popular hair washing became incomprehensible, and even the royal family washed their hair once a month.
It is said that when Empress Dowager Cixi washed her hair, she would use the best bird's nest to wash it. And ordinary people, for bird's nest, there is no chance to eat, let alone use it to wash their hair. Many times it is only possible to jump directly into the river and wash directly without any shampoo.
Sometimes, it was very common for ordinary people in the Qing Dynasty not to wash their hair for several months. For ordinary people who are already working hard to make a living, they themselves need to take care of personal hygiene in time. And because they don't have the conditions to wash their hair, plus sometimes they don't bother to wash it, how dirty their hair is, I believe you can already make up your brain.
The time they braided their hair once was not short, and in that society, men simply did not have enough time to "dress up". Therefore, ordinary people in the Qing Dynasty would only wash their hair once a month when the weather was warm. They will untie the hair braids, choose some soap horns, shou wu and other materials, rinse the hair with hot water, dry it and then immediately braid it into a braid, if people see the appearance of the shawl, they will be punished by the government.
First of all, it takes a lot of time to braid such a braid, and if it is scattered and washed once, it will often take a long time to dry. However, they must not be clothed and distributed, otherwise they will be easily punished if they are seen by the official uniform. Before it is dried, it is easy to tie a braid, and it is easy to smell bad. Therefore, many people simply do not wash, especially in autumn and winter, when the weather is cold, they will wash it almost every six months. A British female reporter once reported on the braids of the Qing Dynasty, saying that 10 meters away it was smelly and disgusting.
The big braids that will not be untied for a long time have accumulated too much dust and mud in the process of people's life and labor, and secondly, there will be too many stains left in the braids. In addition, such a tight braid is not convenient for the usual care, and the dust and debris accumulated in the process can only be left in the braid. Ordinary people are also busy with their own labor, coupled with the constraints of the living environment and ideological concepts, they naturally have no time to take care of it. In this way, this long braid is naturally unbearable.
So, how dirty were the braids of the Qing Dynasty? A woman from Britain who came to China to work as a businessman once said that their braids were very disgusting, smelly, and unacceptable, and even when passing by, they could smell pungent smells. What do you think about that?