In Ancient times? Toilet paper, sanitary pads, women's depilatory needs?

Seeing how much we depend on products such as toilet paper, women's monthly hyegiene needs, and a hair free body in order to appeal to the "stronger" sex, how was this achieved in ancient times (Roman, Medieval, 16th Century etc)? Does anyone know? I've pondered this strange dilemma since my teens? Did women just use rags? And what about the poor who only had RAGS as clothes and wouldn't even be able to afford rags for "other" things? And did ladies just allow the amazon of their bikini line, underarms, and legs just go wild??

Very good question, but a few things to note....

Through the ages, and in times before globalisation and mass international media there were different expectations and fashions, and this is not limited to a certain era like the 16th century but also regional, for example there would completely different expectations in Italy than there would be in Ming China for what a women would look like.

Men and women were also on the same boat when it came to hygiene in the old days. So lets say in Britain in the Dark ages, men would have beards and be hairy. This was due to both getting a scary look and a lack of efficient shaving utensils. So woman would be the same, not that they had beards....though some probably did, but rather a women would shave rarely and bathe rarely...as was expected. So on a level there was the same gap between male and female hygiene in those days as there were today. But body hair on women was regularly trimmed and shaven, but depending on wealth and status usually dictated the neatness and regularity of when the de hairing took place.

On the subject of Bikinni lines and all that heres your answer..... most people are not blue blooded and so work hours on the fields, usually wearing cloth, so the skin very rarely felt the sun, but if it did the tan line was usually covered by cloths. For blue bloods, a tan was not the option, being pasty white was a la mode in the centuries following the Renaissance, so no problem with tan lines. Also bras did not exist, nor did bathing which severely reduced the risk of bronze skin.

To answer the various female products...here's your answer. Each region and class and indeed individual had her own way of dealing with periods. Some would just have the period and be done...no fuss just mess and pain letting nature do her bit. While others would use rags for the blood and others. Also some women were continuously pregnant, so periods probably never really was a problem experienced until menopause, (if they survived that long). Toilet paper was used in Rome and throught history, not in the clean and bum friendly material we know but more in the shape of leaves, washable cloths, washing the bottom or not bothering to wipe the bottom at all.Perfume and odres as we know them only came into fashion really after the renaissance as simple fragrances. Before and indeed after .that a majority of the populous just were left to smell and occasionally like in Medieval Europe certain spices or resins were burnt like incense or frankincense. In Louis 16ths Versailles they had pots filled with perfume and sweet smelling herbs, flowers and goodness knows what to compensate for the odour of the palace and its inhabitants.

hope this answers your question sufficiently and if not, look up social history websites for the answer. A good place to start would be HTMLCounter.com SocialHistory.co.uk or HTMLCounter.com social history hygiene.com.