Although there is no current washing powder used to wash clothes in ancient times, there are other alternatives, because in ancient times it costs a lot of money to buy a dress, and ordinary people of course hope that their clothes can be worn longer, and they also hope to wear cleaner, and it is necessary to use some items to clean dirty old clothes. According to relevant records, the earliest historical record of washing clothes is grass and wood ash, because the ancients found that dirty clothes contaminated with grass and wood ash would be rinsed in clean water to make the original dirty clothes become less dirty. Secondly, for ordinary people who have no money, the cheapest way to wash clothes is to take a wooden stick to the river or pond, take out the dirty clothes and beat it, through such continuous beating, the dust and stains on the dirty clothes can be reduced, and after the washing of the running water, the clothes will indeed be much cleaner than before, but this method can only deal with ordinary dirty clothes, if there are wine stains or oil stains on the clothes, it is difficult to remove the grass and wood ash and beating. For rich people, there is a better way, that is, the use of natural plants to clean dirty clothes is the soap horn, which is the fruit of the soap pod tree, which was accidentally discovered and had the function of cleaning clothes, so it was used on a large scale in ancient times. I'll talk about a few things:
The ancient people had dirty clothes
In ancient China, the general people worked all year round, most of the clothes worn were made of cotton and linen, because the price of this material clothing was low, in many places in the Ming and Qing dynasties there were customs of planting cotton, after harvesting they made cotton into cloth, although the color of these cloth is not good, but it is very strong, generally called native cloth.
These native cloths are the most purchased clothing products by the people in the Ming and Qing dynasties, mainly because they are cheap and relatively strong, which can make people work in the fields without worrying about the problem that clothes are easy to crack.
In ancient times, the general wearing of clothing is mainly two functions, one is to keep warm and one is to cover the body, of course, it is also to distinguish seasonality, but for some very poor people, it is generally to wear cotton and linen in the middle of the clothes in winter to fill some cotton or other willow wool for thermal insulation, as long as they are taken out in the summer, there is not much attention.
Therefore, after considering the price and practicality, the average person will choose clothing with relatively rough fabric materials and not a lot of materials to wear, on the one hand, it is convenient for them to work, on the other hand, it is because it is cheap.
Most of the people live on farming, and when the clothes are working, they will be stained with some dirt and dust, and there is no other stain that is difficult to clean, just take these clothes to the river and rinse them with wooden sticks. So this kind of cleaning activity is not too much of a problem for the people.
Dirty clothes of the rich in ancient times
Ancient rich people's clothing production is relatively high-grade silk and animal fur to make clothes, these clothes because it is not easy to make, the cost is relatively expensive, so after the rich people's clothes are dirty, it is natural to use better cleaning items to clean it, so that it can be as clean and tidy as before.
In the ancient Ming and Qing dynasties, rich people generally did not choose grass and wood ash or water washing and beating methods to wash clothes, they more used special cleaning items such as soap horns, rice water or later pancreas and other items that specialized in cleaning clothes.
Among them, the most used is to grind the fruit of the soap tree (soap horn) to make an orange-like shape, which has a very good decontamination effect on the cuff neckline of clothing, in addition to special cleaning items such as soap imported from the West and other countries in the late Qing Dynasty.
In summary, in ancient times, because the clothing of ordinary people and the clothing of rich people are different, the material of clothing is very different, so the cleaning methods are also very different, and the more expensive the clothes, the more expensive the cleaning items.