The word " hygiene " came to the Russian language from the Greek, it means "healthy." In today's world personal hygiene, its rules, regulations, requirements are aimed at strengthening and maintaining the health of each individual.

But in the history of mankind it was not always so. In the old days of the development of hygiene, the rules were affected by the price of water, its availability in sufficient quantities. Besides, the weighty opinion on the development of personal care was expressed by the dominant religion, philosophy, folk traditions, customs and even the style of dressing. Even monarchs and popes did not bypass the issue of frequency of bathing and changing clothes of their vassals and composed special decrees and the whole rules.

Personal hygiene was developed to a high level in the ancient cultures of Egypt and southern Greece.The Egyptian legislation obliged the citizens to bathe daily, regularly change and wash their clothes, be sure to protect food from flies by covering it with a thin cloth soaked in salt water.

The obligatory attribute of each prosperous ancient Greek was a bathroom. Ancient rules of hospitality obliged to receive their dear guests in the bathroom, bringing wine and sweets there. In the cities of Ancient Greece a great care was paid to the drinking water and its clearness. Those were the ancient Greeks who for the first time in the history developed and built an aqueduct of clean water from the mountain springs to the city. Since the days of Ancient Greece its people have enjoyed the fresh air in their cities. To achieve this they have developed a special system of underground channels, which now we call the canalization, to output the sewage outside the city limits.

Ancient Rome also left in memory the love of purity and healthy lifestyle by its remains of an aqueduct, the Roman water supply, which was inundated by the mountain water to Rome. The Romans developed even the first water filters for their aqueduct. They offered to pass water through a layer of sand or porous rock. And the name of the Roman baths — therms, became a household word. Each emperor tried to built more luxurious and sophisticated terms than his predecessor. The Baths of Diocletian covered an area of thirteen hectares! The range of services of the therms fascinate even a modern man: several steam rooms with the scent of various herbs, contrast bathing in the hot and cold water, warm relaxing shower, massage and rubbing the body with aromatic oils. The Romans went to therms with their entire families. Visiting of the therm could last the whole day. After a pleasant water treatment, rested, recovered and relaxed, the ancient Romans loved to spend time with their friends holding leisurely conversations under the murmur of fountains in the setting sun.

The ancient Slavs preferred bath houses. Their beliefs stated that the body wash helped to expel the diseases and prolong their lives. Even in pre-Christian times public baths existed in the Slavic cities and the smallest settlements. As a rule, they were built on the waterfront. A visit to the steam room and washing the body was a collective procedure of the Slavs: men, women, children. The steam room accommodated as many people as could be set on special wooden benches. Having steamed out the body, people flogged each other with brooms made of birch or oak branches. After that they ran out of the bath house and plunged into the open water. The procedure ended with a swim in the water after each visit at any time of the year. In winter, before entering the steam room, the men made a hole in the ice. The Slavs plunged there or rubbed themselves with snow. The city rules required all residents visit the bath once a week at the expense of the guild treasury.

In the Middle Ages Europe abruptly abandoned body hygiene. The Christian martyrs considered those who cared about the purity of the body to be sinners. Lice that tormented them were considered a part of suffering that the humanity destined to atone for sins. The canons allowed to bathe only before the biggest holidays, 3-4 times a year. The monasteries had special rules of washing: once per week it was allowed to wash the feet, and four times a year it was permitted to bathe in a tub. The secular rule was a common belief that water was harmful and the body wash weakened the health.

The Great Enlightenment contributed to the palaces of luxury and expensive toilets, which replaced a usual bathing in clean waters. The hygienic procedures included only wiping eyelids with fingers soaked in rose water. The unwashed body was covered with an incredible amount of blush, powder, perfume. But every aristocrat had a big collection of combs for his back and head, special hammers to kill lice.

Only the nineteenth century returned to Europe the lost care of the purity of the body. This process has to thank... fashion! Deep décolleté dresses of airy fabrics demanded strict and frequent hygiene procedures to maintain the body's spic- and- span. Gradually, the innovation content of clean clothes and bodies became an ubiquitous norm.

Modern requirements for personal hygiene include not only daily bathing, hair shampooing, teeth brushing, but also a number of other rules relating to individual parts of the body, clothing, food, organization of living space and lifestyle in general. In today's world there is a scientific direction — Personal Hygiene, which daily offers the improvement of the body care to every individual and the whole society.