Buzz
We often overlook the everyday comforts we now enjoy. Many of the modern conveniences we take for granted, like toilet paper, toothbrushes, running water, and electricity, are so embedded in our daily lives that we rarely stop to think about how life would be without them.
However, there was a time when these essentials didn’t exist. People had to find alternative ways to perform the daily tasks we now consider simple. Life was a lot more challenging back then. And no, we’re not just talking about having to rewind VHS tapes before returning them to Blockbuster.
The situation was much more difficult—and even stranger—than that.
10. Before Refrigerators, People Used Frogs to Preserve Milk
Before the invention of refrigerators, people’s eating habits were quite different. Many foods that we consider staples today simply weren’t practical without refrigeration. For instance, milk spoils quickly without a fridge, so it wasn’t something most people drank regularly.
But the Russians had a unique workaround. Instead of giving up on milk, they found an alternative. They dropped frogs into their milk.
In some regions of Russia, people would place frogs into buckets of milk to prevent it from spoiling. It might sound odd, but strangely enough, it actually worked. The frogs' skin was coated in an antibiotic peptide that kept bacteria at bay, extending the milk’s freshness and making it safe to consume for a longer period of time.
Of course, the Russians didn’t know this at the time. It wasn’t until about five years ago that scientists discovered the reason behind the frogs’ effectiveness. Those who were using frogs in their milk had no clue they were preventing spoilage—they were simply following a practice whose origins remain unclear.
9. Before Toilet Paper, Corncobs Were the Go-To Solution
Long before the invention of toilet paper, people had to get creative with their hygiene habits. We’ve already told you about the Romans using a sponge on a stick and the Greeks wiping with shards of pottery. But the odd practices didn’t stop with the ancient civilizations. They continued well into the 19th century.
When settlers arrived in America, they didn’t have luxury toilet paper rolls from the mill. Instead, they made use of what was available—often using leftover corncobs.
Later on, the Farmer’s Almanac began sending out copies of their magazine with a hole punched in them. The hole was there so that people could hang the magazine in their bathrooms and use the pages for wiping.
It wasn’t until 1857 that toilet paper was mass-produced, and even then, it wasn’t exactly a comfort. By 1935, toilet paper manufacturers began promoting their products as “splinter-free.” Before that… well, let’s just say it was a painful experience.
8. Before Alarm Clocks, People Had to Risk Wetting the Bed to Wake Up
There were various ways to wake up before the invention of the alarm clock. Townspeople had the church bells to rouse them, and farmers had roosters crowing at dawn. But not everyone kept their morning routines so simple. In some places, waking up became a much stranger ritual.
Native Americans had a rather unconventional method of ensuring they woke up early—they’d drink as much water as possible before going to sleep. The idea was that their bladders would fill up during the night, eventually making them so uncomfortable that they’d have no choice but to wake up early. Either they’d start the day on time—or they’d risk an unfortunate accident.
In England, waking up was a little less extreme. You could hire a “knocker-upper,” whose job was to wake you up in the morning. The knocker-upper would arrive early and knock on your window with a long stick. To earn their shilling, they’d keep banging until you woke up and gave them your usual morning curses.
7. Before Automated Messages, People Worked in Booths Telling the Time
Speaking clock hotlines—those phone numbers where you can call and hear a voice announce the current time after the beep—are still around today. But when they were first introduced, they were quite different—and working at one was even stranger.
In 1933, the first speaking clock hotline was launched in the United Kingdom. Anyone wanting to know the time could dial a number and hear someone tell them the current hour. But back then, you wouldn’t be connected to a recording; instead, you were linked to a live person who sat in a room, staring at a clock and reading the time aloud—24 hours a day.
For some strange reason, people viewed sitting in a room, reading the time aloud from a clock as a prestigious job. So much so, that phone companies held contests to find “the girl with the golden voice.” The winner would be sent to the clock room, where she’d spend hours alone in a booth, repeatedly reading the time to callers—and she’d receive a whopping 10 guineas for her trouble.
6. Before Artificial Lighting, People Slept in Segments
Before we had constant light in our homes, people slept in a different way. One theory suggests that human sleep patterns drastically shifted when we began illuminating our homes with torches and light bulbs. This change in lighting also brought about changes in our daily lives.
Instead of sleeping through a solid six to eight hours—or if you’re a freelance listicle writer, maybe 12 to 14—people used to sleep in two chunks of about four hours each. They would often wake up in the middle of the night, use the time to do some chores, or if they were from the upper class, engage in journaling and deep contemplation. Then, they’d return to bed for more sleep.
The theory suggests that this segmented sleep could actually be beneficial. For instance, waking up after four hours triggers the release of a hormone called prolactin, which is linked to increased libido. This could offer a clue to what people did during those hours of wakefulness.
5. Before Computers, Humans Were the Calculators
Before the invention of personal computers, we still had “computers”—but they weren’t powered by electricity. In the 17th century, a “computer” was simply a person you could hire to solve mathematical problems for you, ideally someone with an immense amount of patience.
Astronomers and mathematicians would hire entire teams of people to work in an office, performing long, monotonous calculations for hours at a time. They typically worked in shifts to avoid exhaustion.
It wasn’t exactly exciting math. Their tasks included calculating mathematical tables for trigonometry and logarithms. They filled books with the answers to complex questions so that others wouldn’t have to tackle the same tasks.
However, this work had a profound impact. Human computers were responsible for filling out early logarithmic charts before calculators were even invented. They were also used to compute the trajectory of Halley’s comet through math that would seem impossible to complete today without a machine.
4. Before Toothbrushes, People Scrubbed Their Teeth with Crushed Pots
Before toothbrushes were invented, people had to get creative when it came to keeping their teeth clean. Numerous methods were attempted. The Chinese used pig hairs to poke at their teeth, the Sudanese chewed on flavored plants, and the Spaniards rinsed their mouths with a refreshing splash of their own urine. But for most cultures, things tended to get a bit more uncomfortable.
Ancient tooth cleaning was much more like carving a piece of wood than the routine we follow today. People resorted to extremely abrasive powders to scrape the grime off their teeth.
For instance, the Greeks and Romans used a gritty powder made from bones and oyster shells. While that sounds harsh, at least they added flavors to make it more bearable. They could choose from a hint of sweet charcoal or the delightful taste of tree bark.
It only got worse from there. By the time the Industrial Revolution rolled around, people were grinding up bricks and porcelain pots and scrubbing their teeth with them.
Other cultures, however, took a simpler approach. Take the Elizabethans, for example, who just gave up on the whole idea of tooth brushing and decided that having black, decayed teeth was simply a fashionable, edgy look.
3. Before Nail Clippers, People Just Let Their Nails Grow
Fingernail clippers didn’t come into existence until 1875. Prior to that, maintaining neat nails required some creativity. For example, Romans who cared about their appearance would carefully trim their nails using knives, almost as if they were peeling the skin off an apple. Those who didn’t care probably just gnawed their nails off.
But that was just the case in Western societies. In China, the approach was a bit different. They simply didn’t clip their nails. Poor Chinese workers were so busy that their nails would naturally snap off when they grew too long and got in the way. So clipping wasn’t really a necessity for them.
As for the wealthy, they let their nails grow as long as possible. In China, nails that spiraled out to 0.3 meters (1 foot) were a clear sign that you were rich enough not to work. This turned into a fashion statement. Soon, nothing said ‘style’ quite like having enormous, unsightly claws extending from your fingers like something out of a horror movie.
2. Before Cologne, People Used Nosegays
In medieval Europe, people had a unique way of gifting each other nosegays. These were small flowers that could be carried in hand or worn on a lapel, serving as a colorful, delicate accessory while also helping to mask the unbearable odors that permeated the air from the people around them.
During this period, people weren’t as keen on regular bathing as they were in other times in history. In certain parts of Europe, people might only bathe once a month. Almost everyone was walking around emitting such foul odors that they had given up on trying to smell pleasant. Instead, their primary goal was to avoid the stench of others.
This is when nosegays came into play. People weren’t shy about their practical use either. An 18th-century book specifically suggests giving nosegays as gifts, with one passage advising: “When you are in a crowd, smell to [the nosegay], and you shall pass through without difficulty.”
1. Before Trains, People Didn’t Care What Time It Was
Clocks have been around for centuries, and before them, there were sundials. However, that didn’t mean people were constantly checking the time. It wasn’t until the advent of railways that precise timekeeping became crucial. Before that, knowing the exact time wasn’t particularly important, so people generally didn’t worry about it.
There wasn’t any standard timekeeping until trains were introduced. People had a rough idea of the time, but it could vary greatly between different towns. The standard was usually the local sundial, meaning you might be a few minutes ahead or behind your neighbor without anyone being concerned.
The obsession with time didn’t really begin until the arrival of the railroad. The Great Western Railway in England was the first to synchronize its clocks to a standardized time, marking the start of an era where people became fixated on whether it was one minute to nine or five minutes to nine.
Before that, the time wasn’t much of a concern. Shops would open around certain times, but nobody would fret over the fact that the hardware store hadn’t opened exactly at eight o’clock, even if it was five minutes past.
