The Future of Personal Hygiene: The Key to Learning from the Past

Personal hygiene has been anything but a squeaky-clean record in the history of our society. As stated in my previous analysis, the practice of hygiene has been used to perpetuate racial hierarchy.  People with lighter complexions were seen as cleaner than those who appear darker, despite one’s inability to control the color of their skin.  Ideas of this nature have been around since the Europeans settled in America.  Ever since this time, the color white has been used as a symbol of purity and cleanliness.  The color brown is often associated with filth and grime.  Although it is unfair to judge people’s cleanliness based on physical appearance, society has based the idea of hygiene on these exact principles. 

In my last essay, I cited a NPR interview with author Carl Zimring who wrote a book called Clean and White which discusses the parallels between race and hygiene practices in the United States. In the interview, Zimring describes what inspired the book and how early soap advertisements kick started racially motivated ideas of cleanliness. 

This was only the beginning of a long-standing practice of using race to uphold standards of cleanliness.  While the David’s Prize Soap Company is no longer in existence, there are many modern skincare and beauty products who have made the mistake of incorporating racial stereotypes into their advertisements. 

Zimring said these types of ideas have been “normalized in our culture…About four or five years before we were taping this, both Dove and Nivea got into trouble for sequencing ads to basically uphold that whiteness, including white skin, would be pure. For example, if – you might have a Black woman taking off a dark shirt, suddenly revealing an Asian woman in a yellow shirt, suddenly taking off that shirt and revealing a white, pale skinned woman…in a white shirt” (NPR, 2021). Modern examples of this practice are often disguised as harmless advertisements. These commercials were approved to be aired on television stations across the country before receiving backlash from viewers. The fact that these concepts were approved in the first place proves that we have forgotten how these stereotypes were created.  Another important idea the interview mentioned, was how Black people are combating racial stereotypes by spending more money on hygiene products than people of other demographics.  

Radio host Sam Sanders said, “You know, we as Black people held on to being clean so much because of those stereotypes. And even to this day, I’ve read some reports that Black people, as a demographic, we spend way more on beauty and hygiene products than would be expected for our share of the population.  And I think it’s because we’re still fighting these stereotypes.” (NPR, 2021) I believe this is an important factor in this situation because in my own experiences, I have noticed how my relatives and friends have spent extensive amounts of money on soaps, fragrances and lotions, myself included.  Growing up, I always believed it was important to look and feel your best, but somehow this belief translated into thinking I needed multiple beauty products in order to accomplish this.  Even today, I tend to be quite excessive with the amount of beauty and hygiene products I purchase. In addition, the author notes the hygienic practices of African Americans in the early 19th century. He writes about how African American people exceeded hygienic expectations, more often than White people. Zimring describes Booker T. Washington and his mission to help freed African Americans assimilate into American society by teaching them the practices of caring for themselves and their environments. 

“One of the examples that I give is Booker T. Washington.  In his autobiography, in 1901, “Up From Slavery” he talks extensively about how he instilled elevated hygienic practices amongst the pupils at his Tuskegee Institute, in particular saying that the gospel of the toothbrush was a civilizing force for freed Black Americans…And if, again, hygiene is conflated with you’re a danger to society, you can, according to this rationalization, try to fight that by being as clean as you and your community can be.” (NPR, 2021).  This idea is crucial for people to accept people of color into their communities.  Unfortunately, it was important for Black Americans to make themselves as acceptable as possible during the Jim Crow era.  I believe Booker T. Washington wanted to give White people, especially in the South, more reasons to include people of color in American society as opposed to keeping them away. Although these individuals were doing everything they could, to be accepted by their society, they were still being discriminated against because of their race.  As a result, there is still more for our country to learn about the use of race to justify cleanliness.  Lastly, people in our society should know how access to washing facilities and the ability to purchase hygiene products is also based on privilege. 

In 2021, there was a wave of prominent White celebrities who decided to tell the public about their personal hygiene practices.  Actors like Ashton Kutcher and Jake Gyllenhaal said in interviews that they do not bathe themselves every day.  While actresses Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell went on to say that they do not bathe their children regularly if they did not see dirt on them. According to MIC Media, while these discussions may have seemed harmless to some, others saw it as a blatant example of White privilege.  As mentioned before, people of color have been subjected to having poor hygiene practices since the beginning of American society.  However, when notably rich and successful celebrities openly discuss their ability to choose whether or not they bathe is very problematic. 

Consider a homeless person, of any ethic background, struggling to find access to a shelter with running water to take a shower.  This person may not have a choice to bathe every day even if they are visibly dirty.  Meanwhile, a celebrity, who most likely has multiple bathrooms and showers in their home, is choosing not to bathe on the premise of not wanting to or not feeling like showering.  While most people are not sure why these people offered this information to the public, in the midst of a global pandemic, it was completely unnecessary.  While there are always going to be people who need more help and attention than we do, if we have access to basic necessities there is no need to brag about our aversion to caring for ourselves or our loved ones.  We must do better in what we express in the media and move forward in our perspectives of cultures and people who are different from us.

In conclusion, in order to truly move past our ideas of who and what is clean based on color, we must consider how these thought processes make people feel.  At the very least, we should remember to treat others the way we would want to be treated and choose kindness above anything else.  If we are ignorant toward another person’s culture, it never hurts to ask them about it, instead of spreading false information about their personal hygiene.  Remember, a stereotype is an idea used to describe an entire population of people without considering the fact that everyone is different.  Accepting and practicing these ideas will help our society move past these racially motivated standards of personal hygiene for good. 

References

Kumamoto, Ian. “Bragging about not bathing your kids is a blatant act of white privilege.” Mic, 6 August 2021, https://www.mic.com/life/bragging-about-not-bathing-your-kids-is-a-blatant-act-of-white-privilege-82757199. Accessed 10 April 2022.

Sanders, Sam, et al. “Climate Change Report Explained; Jake Gyllenhaal And Not Bathing : It’s Been a Minute.” NPR, 13 August 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/08/13/1027500750/hygiene-debates-skipping-showers-and-climate-change-oh-my. Accessed 10 April 2022.