Spyke
piefed.social

Explanation: Despite having a great many features which seem positively modern to our eyes, like public restrooms and clean water supply, other practices of the ancient Romans were less... intuitive to our eyes. Swishing fermented urine, for example, was used as a method of whitening teeth.

Worst part is, it works, though not nearly as well as any modern methods. It's the ammonia.

59
ChicoSuavereply
lemmy.world

I don't know what's worse, someone swished fermented urine around their mouth for fun or they did it enough to see their teeth whiten noticeably.

27
lemmy.ca

They collected piss to dye textiles white so it's not that big of a leap to think some guy was like: I should do this to my teeth

2

At least weekly, I remember that pirates stowed barrels of piss away so they could make detergent. Human urine has many uses, and all of them are horrifying

46
lemmy.today

"Cabbage is the most medicinal vegetable."

"If you save the urine from a habitual cabbage eater, heat it, and bathe a man in it, you will quickly make him healthy with this cure. This has been tested. Also, if you wash babies with this urine they will never become sickly!"

-Cato the Elder, inventing golden baths before golden showers were a thing.

37
crank0271reply
lemmy.world

I think Cato was on to something. If every time I said I was sick someone tried to bathe me in cabbage urine, I would no longer say I was sick.

34
poVoqreply
slrpnk.net

Fermented cabbage is actually very healthy 😅

12
JoeBigelowreply
lemmy.ca

I don't think they had the water pressure for a good shower.

6

hmm almost like organic compounds break down into other compounds over time or with certain processes?

10

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The past is a funny place | Spyke