World War II changed hygiene practices around the globe
When World War II began, more British homes had outdoor privies than inside toilets. In America, the outhouse was a common sight in rural and poorer areas. Hotel rooms with private baths typically cost extra. Daily bathing, except among the wealthy, was still relatively rare. Except for the wealthy, men didn’t bathe every day, didn’t shave every day, didn’t change their clothes every day, not even when they typically wore a suit and tie to work. Then came the war. For millions of men around the globe, military days, at least during training, began with a shower and shave, clean pressed uniforms, well-scrubbed hands and faces scrutinized by sergeants eager to find a speck of grime which would render the unfortunate presenter “filthy”. Bathrooms and showers (latrines in the army, heads in the navy) were scrubbed and scrubbed again.
Even in the field, men were required to maintain levels of cleanliness, and the military went to great lengths to ensure the means were available. Lectures and films on personal hygiene and the means to attain it began in boot camp and continued throughout one’s service. Following discharge many veterans found the practices too ingrained to shake. They also found the women in their lives had been through similar indoctrination working in war industries or when maintaining the home. The role of personal hygiene and good health had been a focus during the war, and not only in the United States and the British Empire. German industry introduced new types of soap during the war, and German propaganda stressed the need to maintain levels of personal hygiene unheard of a century earlier. By 1940, cleanliness had truly become next to godliness.