WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF PERSONAL HYGIENE? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The elements of personal hygiene are objects and habits that are related to the concept of personal hygiene and are used to keep the body clean. For example, brushing your teeth and brush, or washing your hands and soap.

The concept of personal hygiene encompasses the entire body and is associated not only with the state of body cleanliness, but with the way this affects self-esteem and the perception that others have of one.

With the aim of keeping your body clean, the human being has developed numerous products and elements that have become an essential part of different cultures around the world.

Today, there are certain personal hygiene items whose use is unavoidable when the goal is to have good personal hygiene (Johnson, 2017).

Currently, numerous items and personal care products can be found on the market. However, the list of essential products for good personal hygiene is short.

These products are essential because their use has a highly noticeable impact on the physical presentation of people when they use them.

Essential personal hygiene items include soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, toilet paper, feminine hygiene products, antibacterial fluids, and nail clippers.

You may also be interested in these rules of personal hygiene.

What are the most important elements of personal hygiene?

Soap

Today, there are three different types of soap that are commonly found among personal hygiene items: hand, body and face soap.

However, historically, soap used to be a fat (mainly a by-product derived from animals) that was cooked with an alkaloid such as potassium carbonate, to create a liquid or solid substance useful for removing dirt.

Soap is not always made the way it used to be in the past today, as some modern petroleum-based ingredients and synthetic surfactants are commonly used.

However, many companies continue to make soap with natural ingredients, such as oils, to replace animal fat with a vegetable base of coconut or palm (Boehlke, 2014).

Although different types of soap are currently used to wash specific parts of the body, only one type of soap could be used to keep the entire body clean.

Shampoo

Shampoo is a type of soap that is used to wash hair. Technically, the soap that is used to cleanse the body could be used on the hair, since the notion of using a dedicated soap only for hair care only emerged from the year 1860, when people did not even have the habit of bathe (Smith).

The shampoo that is used today is different from the soap that is regularly used to wash the rest of the body.

It contains ingredients designed to remove dirt and excess oil, dandruff and any by-product derived from the environment.

On the other hand, the shampoo should also help to have healthy-looking, soft, shiny and manageable hair.

Deodorant

Sweating is a natural function that the body requires to regulate temperature. Socially, the function of sweating is considered unpleasant, therefore, it is about controlling its visible effect, since it is easily associated with the lack of personal hygiene due to the bad smell that it implies (Channel, 2011).

Thanks to the presence of sweat glands in greater concentration in the armpits, the products used to control perspiration and its odor are applied directly to this area and are known as deodorants.

Deodorants are a mixture of antiperspirant with elements that mitigate the smell of sweat.

The first patents of the modern version of the deodorant were registered around the year 1888, since then this product has been considered one of the most important personal hygiene items.

Many deodorants today use aluminum compound to close the pores in the armpits and prevent sweat from escaping.

Toothpaste

Unlike many other personal hygiene products that regularly flood the market, toothpaste plays a very important role as it helps clean teeth.

Some variants of this product also help keep breath fresh and whiten teeth (Inderpreet, 2017).

Culturally, cavities, bad breath, and yellow teeth are unpleasant. For this reason, brushing your teeth is vitally important to prevent any of these situations.

The earliest records of humans using any type of toothpaste or toothpaste date back to the Roman Empire.

In Ancient Rome it was common to use abrasive ashes from seashells and animal bones. However, the modern version of toothpaste was not introduced to the market until the 19th century.

Toilet paper

It is one of the most intimate and necessary personal hygiene items. Before it was made of cellulose and on time, for its use today, people used the pages of old magazines and newspapers instead.

The need for its use, regardless of the materials, has always been present in culture.

The earliest versions of toilet paper were sponges, corncobs, brushes, or leaves. It was only until 1890 that the Scott Company launched rolls of paper specifically designed to fulfill the functions of toilet paper.

Currently, an ordinary person can use up to 20,000 boxes of toilet paper per year (FREEMAN, 2017).

Feminine hygiene products

These products are specifically designed for women and help with the absorption of fluids during the menstrual cycle.

In the past, it was common for absorbent fabrics and materials to be used to fulfill the purpose of what are now called sanitary napkins.

However, with the passage of time, the use of textile materials was replaced by other synthetics, gels and absorbent fibers.

Today, feminine hygiene products include tampons, panty liners, sanitary pads, and other items associated with a woman's anatomy and needs.

Each category of these products in turn is divided into multiple types designed to serve smaller market niches, such as adolescents or women who are breastfeeding.

References

1. Boehlke, J. (February 6, 2014). Live Strong. Retrieved from The Meaning of Personal Hygiene: livestrong.com
2. Channel, BH (June 2011). Better Health Channel. Obtained from Personal hygiene: betterhealth.vic.gov.au
3. FREEMAN, S. (2017). How Stuff Work. Retrieved from 5 Essential Personal Hygiene Products: health.howstuffworks.com
4. (2017). Glamcheck. Obtained from List of Personal Hygiene Products: glamcheck.com
5. Johnson, J. (May 26, 2017). Retrieved from What is Personal Hygiene ?: hygieneexpert.co.uk
6. Smith, V. (nd). Clean: A History of Personal Hygiene and Purity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.