In ancient times, don't say wash clothes, even bathing is more difficult, the ancients hung a bunch of sachets and the like, not only for decoration, but also to cover up odors. However, the ancients did not wash their clothes, and the ancients also had their own wisdom and methods.
The earliest used to wash clothes was grass and wood ash.
Whether it is Europe or China, the ancients have long discovered the washing effect of grass and wood ash, thousands of years ago, the Roman Empire, the use of grass and wood ash plus urine to soak and wash clothes.
The Book of Rites records: "The crown is hooked and the gray rinse is clear." ”
The meaning of this sentence is to use grass and wood ash and water to wash clothes, in the folk, the people will call this "gray water", grass and wood ash in a sieve with water, the leakage of gray water can be washed.
In addition, there are also mixed uses of grass and wood ash and ashes fired from shells, which can also play a role in strengthening cleaning, and the hemp fabrics unearthed from Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan Province, have such clean traces.
In addition to grass and wood ash, there is also natural alkali to wash clothes.
Since the Han Dynasty, whether in the Yellow River Basin or the Yangtze River Basin, there has been a tradition of washing clothes with alkaline soil in various parts of the north and south.
In the spring and autumn, the climate is relatively dry, people will collect alkali soil containing natural alkali, the Han Dynasty called this "halo alkali", the Tang Dynasty called "stone alkali", can play a role in washing clothes.
However, alkaline soil collection is not very convenient and difficult to identify, so the popularity is not as wide as grass and wood ash.
During the Ming Dynasty, artificial stone alkali began to spread and was widely used to wash clothes.
As early as the Two Song Dynasties, craftsmen soaked the two plants of Artemisia and Tateshina, then exposed to the sun and dried, and then poured with water and poured with water to make artificial stone alkali.
With the improvement of processing and manufacturing technology, the production of stone alkali has increased rapidly, and the gifts originally used to give each other have become the daily necessities of ordinary people at home during the Ming Dynasty.
Not only did the production expand, but at that time, many different varieties of lithophyl were derived, and various spices were added.
This stone alkali, which can not only be used to wash clothes, but also for fermenting pasta, was the most pure artificial alkali in the world before the advent of alkali in the industrial era.
Not only grass and wood ash and alkali, but also soap-like cleaning items in ancient times.
Unlike modern soaps, the ancient "soap" was made from the fruit of the soap horn tree.
After people grind the soap horns, they are made into the size of a fist, and then dried, and when they are used, they can be dipped in water, which is basically no different from the modern soap use method, and the decontamination effect is also quite good.
As early as the Han Dynasty, this kind of earth soap had appeared and was quite popular, and by the Wei and Jin dynasties, there was also a luxury version.
At that time, people ground the pig pancreas into a paste, and then added spice powder to make a special detergent, the so-called "pancreas", but it was used less for washing clothes, but for bathing.
With the development of technology and the passage of time, pancreas have become more and more popular and advanced.
In "The Legend of the Children's Heroes": The eldest sister rubbed a burst of incense soap, fragrant bean face, and made some osmanthus pancreas, rose pancreas.
The "pancreas" mentioned here is the ancient high soap, and it can be seen from here that the pancreas at that time also had various aromas and varieties, similar to modern soaps.
Pancreas contain a large number of digestive enzymes, cleaning clothes has a good decontamination effect, the stains on the clothes of the ancients are relatively simple and simple, so pancreas can basically fully meet the needs of cleaning.
Originally, the pancreas used by the court nobles in the Wei and Jin dynasties were very common in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and even shops and old brands specializing in pancreas appeared.
The difficulty of the ancients washing things is not that there is no soap washing powder, but the difficulty is water.
In fact, although there was no soap and washing powder detergent in ancient times, there were also substitutes such as grass and wood ash, natural alkali, pancreas, and soap horn powder that also had a cleaning effect.
The ancients cleaned clothes, the difficulty is not the detergent, but the difficulty of water sources, especially those who live in the city, water sources are actually more scarce, more rare.
In the era when there was no running water, the residents of the city needed to transport water from outside the city, and only a few people had wells, water sources that could be used for drinking, bathing and cleaning, and it was not so convenient.
It is true that the taste of the ancients is great, whether rich or poor.
As early as the pre-Qin era, people at that time developed the habit of wearing sachets on their bodies, in addition to elegance, one of the most important practical purposes was to cover the smell of the body.
Because the water source is rare, even ordinary nobles can not do bathing at any time, so in ancient times, "bathing and changing clothes" is quite a solemn thing, ordinary people can rarely bathe and bathe, so there is often a smell on the body, but it has nothing to do with washing clothes.
Overall, the smell of the ancient body is a relatively common phenomenon, as for the stain greasy, as long as the laundry is washed, it usually does not exist, and the ancients without washing powder have their own methods to wash clothes.