How We Laundered Clothes, a Hundred-and-Fifty Years Back - Essay Example

How We Laundered Clothes, a Hundred-and-Fifty Years Back Today, I can load my clothes into a fully automatic washing machine, and press a few buttonsto set it either for a full load or a light one (if I can't decide, there's always the fuzzy cycle which makes the decision for me), or for a gentle wash or a heavy cleaning. I can get the water heated or at normal temperature. Give it about an hour, or more, and the washing comes out, near dry. I then plug in my steam iron, adjust the temperature according to the material, and hey presto! In a few minutes, I have my clothes ironed and ready to wear. Sometimes I feel that, even doing this is quite a chore! Well can you imagine how it must have been a hundred-and-fifty years' back, when there were no washing machines, no detergent powder (only cakes of soap) and no electric irons Well, let's cut back to 1858 Monday used to be weekly washing day. The washing process being a long one, it was necessary to allot a full day to it. Most homes tried to keep enough linen to keep them going through the week. (Old and Interesting) The Process: The coloured and the whites are separated the previous night, and the whites are soaked in water to loosen the dirt. On washing day, the clothes-both coloured and whites-are sorted out again. Those which are really dirty, oily or sweat-stained, including those whites which have been soaked the previous night, are soaked again in a large tub of a solution of soda bicarbonate (washing soda) and water. (WiseGEEK). Hot water was used if the clothes/ household linen were really dirty. Soda bi-carb was available in a powder form (it is a white powder) from the local grocery store. Alternately, some housewives boiled the clothes in a large metal pot, in water containing soda-bicarb. The pot was stirred with a long stick, and a large fork used to be used to handle the boiled clothes. Next, the clothes were individually washed with cakes of lye soap, by being beaten onto a serrated washboard, by hand, or sometimes a flat wooden bat was used to beat the clothes. (Old and Interesting) Homes which didn't have a washboard, just used a flat, wooden board or a hard, flat stone. Collars, cuffs and hems (dresses were long then) needed special attention to get dirt out; likewise delicate clothes with lace had to be handled gently. After this, the clothes were rinsed out in clean water. Several rinses had to be done in tubs of water kept alongside in a row, till the water ran clean from the clothes. Then the whites had to be 'whitened'. For this, washing blue (made of indigo) (Old and Interesting) was used. Washing blue was bought from the corner store, in little blue chunks. A chunk was tied in a linen cloth and dipped into a clean bucket of water. The water turned blue from this. To this was added starch and mixed well. Whites dipped into this came out starched and sparkling. As more and more clothes were dipped into the starch-blue solution, the solution itself had to be strengthened by adding more starch and blue. Care had to be taken to mix the starch well into the water so that the solution was not lumpy. Starch was not always available in the market, a hundred years back. It could be prepared at home by cooking corn flour in water, which yielded a sticky, viscous liquid, which was added to the water to prepare the starch water. The coloured clothes received the same starching as the whites did, except that the starch solution did not contain the blue. Personal linen (underwear) did not need starching, of course. After the starching, the clothes were wrung out (if too heavily wrung, they would lose all starch) and hung out on clothes-lines to dry. Wooden clothes-pegs were used to ensure that the clothes did not fly off the lines. While hanging them out, care had to be taken to see that they were sufficiently 'spread out', for one layer of wet starched cloth could get stuck to another. White clothes could be hung out in the sun, but not the coloureds, at least not in strong sunshine. Warm weather helped in drying out the clothes faster. In extremely rainy weather or humid climate, wet clothes could get a sprinkling of fungus (this appeared in the form of small black dots), which spoiled their appearance, and was difficult-nearly impossible-to remove. Then for the ironing. This was best done when the clothes were drying out, but not completely dry. Completely dry, starched clothes are difficult to smoothen out. (Think, today we use a steam iron to moisten clothes while ironing). The irons used were of different kinds. Some persons even used heated stones! The iron was in the form of a heavy container, with small window-like openings all around to allow the air in, with a flat brass bottom. It had a wooden handle to enable a person to hold it safely. Glowing pieces of coal or wood charcoal was put into the iron, and this was used to press clothes. (Old and Interesting) A person who ironed had to be skilled to know when the heat was just right for a particular type of material. Therefore, ironing was always done, only when there were a large number of clothes. The heavier materials were first ironed, when the iron was hot, and the lighter materials, which needed less heat, were done towards the end. If it was felt that a particular item was too delicate and could be burned, then a piece of light cotton cloth was kept on it, before pressing the iron down. Most homes did their washing themselves, although some had washer-women coming in once a week to supervise the process. Here it would be in order, to note how our lifestyles are affected by physical compulsions and constraints. Since laundering clothes was essential, but time consuming, a full day had to be allotted to it. The whole household revolved around the washing process on this day. They were other implications as well. Perhaps we didn't change clothes as frequently as we do now (hygiene depends also on convenience, and access to the means), perhaps we shared towels with others, perhaps we were more careful about not getting clothes soiled while we went about our daily activities-it is interesting to speculate Works Cited Wash on Monday from Old and Interesting, , retrieved 28th July, 2008 What is Washing Soda From WiseGEEK, , retrieved 28th July, 2008 Read More