June 10, 2025 • 42 mins
For most of us -- hopefully! -- dental care is a fundamental piece of the morning routine. There are few things quite as refreshing as starting the day with a fresh, minty smile. Then, of course, deodorant (please)! In the second part of the History of Morning Routines, Ben, Noel and Max give massive thanks to the many inventors of yesteryear who worked tirelessly to create toothbrushes, toothpaste, and deodorant. Along the way, the guys discover some immensely devious marketing, and invent a new insult: "you sweat-ridden child."
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous Histories, a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the show,
(00:27):
fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much for
tuning in. Now, a quick bit of housekeeping. You may
notice that we had a little classic coming in the
place of morning routines Part one and part two, right,
and that's just everything's fine. That's just a little scheduling.
(00:48):
We'd like to kick off our summer break our What
is taking a Thursday a summer break for us? I
think it is technically. Let's intro our super producer, mister
Max Williams. That's mister Noel Brown. I am Ben Bollen.
Previously on Ridiculous History. In Port one, we started talking
(01:08):
about just the concept of cleaning yourself up right, look
at you, humanity, wash yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Washing your ass. It's important. We did devote a lot
of that episode to some stuff we discussed in the
past in terms of the history of soap and the
impact of soap on that whole idea cannot be understated. Today,
we felt like this was beefy enough in and of
itself for a whole episode. We are moving into oral hygiene. Technically,
(01:43):
it's also supposed to be a midday routine and evening routine.
But most importantly, I would argue, and I think nine
out of ten Dennis might as well eight out of ten. Whatever,
morning very important, get a good start brush them teeth.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, if you have to choose one, right, is the
one you should choose. But it's also it's interesting because
it's like the question of how often you should change
the oil on your car. Technically every time you drive it.
Oh good, po okay, all right, that's how race cars.
That is true.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Hence the pit crew and I will walk back a
little bit of what I said. We do also know
that evening brushing of the teeth may well actually be
more important than morning because a lot happens while your
mouth is closed and you're sleeping, and all the bacteria
that can kind of build up, and if you eat
before bed and then you don't brush your teeth, god forbid,
it be something with sugar that can really be a
(02:35):
problem in that over night time.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
So yeah, not to high road to anybody, but I
love brushing my teeth.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I like to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
At a few years ago, I started saying, you know,
we're working from home during COVID.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I was like, well, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Man, anytime I happened by the bathroom, I got a
couple minutes.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Why not, I've been doing it to have been a
multitasker toothbrusher. I got one of those like Wi Fi
connected the tooth brushes that monitors your brushing habits. Probably
feeds that data directly to talenteer. But whatever, it's fun.
It's a fun little gimmick and it really does make
me the gamification of oral hygiene really does. It's a motivator.
(03:15):
Mm hmm. Yeah. If I could jump in here real quick.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I actually on this point about last year, I my
dentist told me I was overbrushing.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Oh dear. It was like I had only heard of
that from parks and red over brushes. Oh my god,
that's a real thing. Like, yeah, maybe maybe pair back
to brushing and introduce some more flossing, because that's certainly
something that I need to do. But I can't imagine
that you're not a megafloster.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I'm a megafloster. I have a water pick. Hey, everyone,
future max right here. I just want to jump in
and clarify something I said right there. I want to
make sure that everyone knows I'm not saying you use
a water pic or floth, but you should use They
say you should use a water pick and floths. That
much of a flossing nerd that I thought it was
essential for me to add this line in here. Well, obviously, yes, that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Seeking in the phone and peacefull in knowledge.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
It's just for you.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Right now.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I've met a couple of the people who are megaflosters,
and we're all beautiful, wonderful nerds.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Well, it's it's good to have a habit that does
not become like a routine, is beneficial to a certain
threshold before and you can you can overdo anything, uh
like I have. I've candidly gotten a little bit too
into water again, and you can drink too.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Much water swimming Now, I got you consuming water. So
while theories about the causes of tooth decay have pervaded
over the centuries, much like those miasma theories we talked
about the idea of the stench purveying some sort of
airborne you know, sickness, We've got a lot of those
(05:06):
kind of misplaced theories about things like toothworms in ancient times,
which we've probably updated to something that's not far off
from toothworms, which would be plaque and the bacteria that
is bred on your teeth if you don't brush those chompers.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yeah, plaque is a playground for bacteria and that can
lead to decay. Also, statistically speaking, given the billions of
people who have lived and died over the course of
human history, there probably were a few people with something
like a toothworm.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Like a toothworm, but it's not normal and name your toothworm.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Right right before the modern toothbrushes, water picks and all
the do dads were talking about recently, people still knew
that oral hygiene was important because you're the first person
who smells your own breath, right, So they use cheesesticks
and thin twigs that they would gnaw on until one
(06:05):
end freyed off into you know, fibrous matter, and that
would be a way too, a way to attempt to
clean your teeth in your mouth. And depending on where
you travel in the world, you may see some people
using things like chew sticks in the modern day.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, well sure, I mean, even like said, flavored toothpicks
are very popular today. You can find these ones that
are like confused with eucalyptus or mint rather yeah, maybe
not eucalyptus, but mint. And they are really tasty and
in a good way to kind of, you know, do
a little tooth maintenance throughout the day.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
They can sometimes feel like a little bit of an
appetite suppressor, also true, or just a little little fidget
or if.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You're trying to quit smoking, for example, I know that's
very very very helpful for that. The toothbrush as we
more or less know it today does seem to have
been invented in China sometimes during the Tang dynasty, and
they also invented Tang As it turned that's not true
from six eighteen to nine oh seven a d in.
(07:06):
The earliest models were made of bamboo or pieces of
bone for the handle, and bristles made from boars hairs,
much like paintbrushes. Would have been.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Right, right, and that sounds super fancy Today when so
many toothbrushes are entirely plastic affairs, you can still find
boar's hair toothbrushes that they're often promoted these days as
an environmentally friendly alternative, you know, to the microplastic laden
toothbrushes that most people use. For sure, get rid of
(07:37):
that plaque and replace it with microplastic.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
William Addis and an Englishman of note, gets credit for
kind of scaling and mass producing toothbrushes thousands of years later.
Years later. Of course, as is usually the case, he supposedly,
according to toothbrush lore, created a prototype around seventeen eighteen
(08:00):
while in prison because of being a bit of a
rabble rouser, a bit of a rioter. In eighteen fifty seven, H. N. Wadsworth,
who is a dentist from Washington, DC, got the very
first patent in the United States for a toothbrush, which
he claimed was much better at scrubbing in between the
(08:20):
teeth than previous models.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And then we see in nineteen thirty eight the rise
of nylon bristles. We see the electric toothbrush all the
way back in nineteen thirty seven, courtesy of the American
inventor Tomlinson I. Moseley. He patented a design, but it
didn't really This happens all the time right with patents.
It didn't really catch on until someone else comes in
(08:45):
with maybe a more functional or somehow more friendly user
friendly model. So his is nineteen fifty four.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Kind of reckon that an early electric toothbrush might have
been a little bit of a terrify buying properties. It's
got a pull cord, uh huh, and it's gas power.
It's gas powered, so you have a you have.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
A canister that you put on your back and that's
where you rip the cord. It's basically a lawnmower for
your mouth.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
There's a tube. I'm so into this.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
This is like Sussian and yeah, anyway, the thing about
this is we're talking about toothbrushes, and it may be
surprising to learn how old some of these innovations are.
But what was really mind blowing on my end was
to learn that toothpaste came before the toothbrush. They sued
(09:38):
out the gunk first.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, well, I mean you know that sometimes people would
maybe just like apply it to their teeth, you know,
in the earliest days. Of course, the ancient Egyptians were
pretty quick to the party on a lot of this
kind of beauty stuff. Around three thousand to five thousand BCE,
they developed a dental cream with powdered ashes from the
(10:01):
hooves of oxen. It also contained mr which is I
think kind of like an incense. It's like a aromatic material.
And well, maybe well that's frank incense. Maybe I'm confusing
my three wise men gifts eggshells as well, and pummis,
which does make sense because the toothpaste that they use
of the dentist does have these kind of particulate things
(10:23):
in it, the kind of grit that sort of helps,
you know, get the gunk off, and some toothpaste that
you can buy for home use has that as well.
So they really were pretty innovative in terms of like
the overall makeup of what kind of materials should be used,
something that like the ashes we know was a precursor
to soap. The hooves and the murrher perhaps were a
(10:45):
bit of a stabilizing agents or something to kind of
tie the room together, and the murdher perhaps also an
aromatic kind of situation a flavor. And then the eggshells
and the pumas would be the grit that would you know,
hopefully help you know, get some of the gook off
of You'd have to be careful with thought though, really
what you could damage the enamelog Yeah, such a needle
to thread with the abrision.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
We also see not too too far away, people in
ancient Persia around one thousand BCE were doing similar things.
They made a mixture with gypsum, herbs and honey. So good,
so far, and then the shop on twist. Yeah, the
shells of snails and oysters. Shells of snails and oysters.
(11:26):
I guess they'd smash them up and then again it
would be that kind of particulate matter. Yeah, probably like
a mortar pestle situation.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Totally, but it would it would kind of serve similar
purpose to those eggshells and pumus that the ancient Egyptians
were parallel thinking about. People would continue to kind of
make their own unique recipes for toothpastes and powders throughout history.
In eighteen sixty, book titled The Practical Housewife recommended mixtures
(11:52):
of powdered ris root, charcoal, Peruvian bark, something called prepared chalk,
which sounds interesting, and oil of bergamot or lavender. Now
we are starting to get into the more like spearmint
kind of flavoring, you know, of modern toothpaste. We were
already starting to get that sort of vibe with the
lavender and bergamont. A Connecticut dentist, a guy named Boy
(12:16):
of boy these names, Washington Wentworth Sheffield. He gets credit
for the idea of packing toothpaste into a tube, and
the rest is history. We can stop here the tube.
You gotta squeeze it from the end. By the way,
he's ad from the middle.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yeah, the ADA is cutting into the show right now.
That's the American Dental Association. And I want to bring
up we used one of my favorite US idiomatic phrases.
Nine out of ten dentists. I have this deep mythos
to my head about the renegade tenth dentist. I want
to write a guy story. Yeah, he's the he's the
(12:53):
guy who beat me your backs. He's the guy on
every survey who says no toothpaste, Yeah, eat.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Sugar before bed. He's a real maverick. He'shannon. Yeah, he's
an anti hero.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
But before this tube innovation, which was actually pretty huge,
a lot of people made toothpaste at home to save money.
And when they bought it in say the old general
store prior to the eighteen eighties, they were getting little pots,
like little almost like you would see a glass jar
(13:29):
of yogurt at the store, or paper boxes.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
One hundred percent. And I maybe imagine that different stores
and early pharmacies in the way that. You know, early
pharmacies would actually mix up the medicine on site. You know,
That's why I like the mortar and pestle is sort
of a symbol of that that some of these would
be sort of house versions, right, Yeah, like these, these
these tooth creams.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
And we have an embarrassing, yet overall positive story to
tell you about American history. Everything we described in the
eighteen hundreds, when we look at the US, it only
applied to a pretty small demographic of Americans. Most people
did not brush their teeth until a brilliant American businessman
(14:15):
named Claude C. Hopkins starts talking to an old buddy
of his, and his buddy had created a minty, frothy
toothpaste that didn't taste bad, no burnt snail shells. He
called it pepsident. And Hopkins is a marketing guy, right,
He's not the guy who invents pepsident. He's the guy
(14:36):
who normalizes brushing your teeth. So he launches on these
Brens esque advertising campaigns, and they see results in more
and more polls. The average American is saying, yeah, I
(14:58):
brush my teeth. It's kind of like popularizing bathing. Back
in the day.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
It really is, And it's so interesting to think of
a time where like the humble toothbrush and toothpaste were
like almost a novelty. He started to have like influencer
type screaming about their pepsident smiles. And can I just
say too, Ben that I love early marketing and early
kind of product placement type stuff with like the Craft's
radio theater or whatever. That's exactly right be the Colgate Hour.
(15:28):
But the term pep was so popular. I love pep.
I mean, has nothing to do with what we're talking
about here, but the idea that this would maybe give
you pep. I wouldn't be surprised if that was part
of the marketing, Oh.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
One hundred percent right, give you that famous pepsiden smile.
And pepsident is this brilliant bit of language because it
implies something, but it does not promise anything. Right, So
Hopkins is figuring out a little bit of background on
the smart He's figuring out how to promote pepsidens normalize
(16:03):
brushing one's teeth, And he says, Okay, I'm not a dentist,
but I've got to find a way to make the
case to the American people. So I can make a
lot of money, and it is autobiography. He would later
write about how he sat down with a pile of
dental textbooks, the textbooks that kids have to study to
(16:24):
become dentists, and in the middle of one book, he says,
I found a reference to the musin plaques on teeth,
which I afterwards called the film. And this gave me
an appealing idea. I said, I'll advertise toothpaste as a
creator of beauty. And that's what they're That's what he
starts arguing for. It's not health necessarily, it's vanity. Why
(16:48):
don't why don't you give yourself a bright, shiny smile
like the Shirley Temples and the Clark Gables and all
the other folks on the big screen.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, run your tongue across your teeth and feel that
icky film. That is the stuff that makes your teeth
look a little bit off color. And he said in
the marketing campaign invites decay. This is back in the
day where you didn't necessarily need a ton of scientific
backing to make claims like this.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, nine out of ten dentists recommend camel cigarettes.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
They did. That's not a joke. I know, I know,
it's a thing. Some even would argue or make the
claim that cigarettes, certain brands of cigarettes were good for you,
were good for your teeth.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, ever, relaxing for you know whatever, sound scientific but
is not scientific. Relaxing for the constitution, freshening of the lungs,
which is near were.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Enough the opposite of what cigarettes do.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
But this is another mind blower. All of these things
that we just described, again, in the history of toothpaste,
they did not have fluoride. That didn't come along until
after World War Two in nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
So in nineteen fifty five we see Test launching their
product line with the first toothpaste containing fluoride, which did
have some scientific backing, which in and of itself, because
of the lack of it, was like a huge marketing point.
I would say research had shown that this material was
(18:18):
the substance, was in fact effective in reducing cavities. And
of course we know Norman Rockwell, painter of Americana, literal
inventor of the visual reference to the American Dream, did
illustrate those early crest ads featuring young people keep boys
(18:38):
and girls, families hanging out, having a good time living
that American dream and parroting the tagline, look, mom, no cavities.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yeah, perfect stuff, right, and an amazing painter my opinion,
I just enjoyed, agreed the way he paints a story.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
You could argue it's propaganda, though much is Oh, I'm
not arguing that is just a fact.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
But we do know that floridation has been considered controversial
in certain parts of the world and at points in time,
but the overall science teaches us that fluoride in toothpaste
is a good thing. You know, and you can trace
rates of tooth decay in places or in populations that
(19:25):
don't have floridated toothpaste.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, and many municipalities around the country and around the
world do still floridate there drinking water supply. And another
thing that's under fire is that practice, with Robert F.
Kennedy having some real hot takes on floridation and perhaps
I think some pretty lacking scientifically claims about other knock
(19:51):
on effects if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Right, I don't want to be too too political. I
think that is a quintessential example of how off people
can be when they never admit that they're wrong. And
no one has ever called them on the progressively crazier things.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
They say, yeah, for sure. I mean I just say,
you know, we know that floride has been controversial for
a long time. This isn't like a new thing. So
I guess that gets us a modern day. So why
don't we move on to another facet fixture of the
morning ritual, the humble deodorant stick yor perhaps deodorant spray.
(20:29):
And when you start looking into that, you start looking
further back and realizing that things like perfume are the
predecessor of like a chemical agent that actually reduces sweat.
Initially everything was about masking the stink.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Right, Yeah, Like I was saying in part one, the
first thing you would notice as a time traveler, depending
on how far back you went, is that the past
is stinky.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Yes, so yeah, it's come up many times in the
show and others.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Essential oils are one of the earliest forms of masking
an odor, right, And from there we get perfume. Or
you were out in the woods and you smell a
beautiful flower and you wonder, how could I smell like
that instead of like bo?
Speaker 2 (21:13):
But instead you smell sort of like that mixed with bo.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Right, Like how hospitals have a lemon scented sanitizer, but
you smell what's under there.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Due in more recent history, we started to see that
people would take absorbent fabric and kind of sponge under
their arms so that it didn't soak through their clothes.
And then we see talcum powder, then the discovery or
creation of baking soda. These were all precursors to modern
day deodorant, and some deodorants still have baking soda or
(21:46):
talcum powder or others sent agents to mask a smell.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
But not mistaken. Arm and Hammer has their own line
of toothpaste.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yes, yeah, as well, Look they took the baking soda
train and figured out how to put it into everything totally. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah. And then to be fair, making soda is a
great odor absorber, Like if you put it like an
open thing of baking soda in your fridge, it helps
cut down on weird fridge smells. It's a pretty interesting
substance that is pretty you know, useful in a lot
of different ways. The earliest forms of deodorant we start
to see emerging around two thousand BC in Mesopotamia, which
(22:22):
it would be modern day Iraq, where people started to
use aromatic remedies that included natural ingredients like oils and
resins in order to of course mask that smell of
body odor. They were often applied during a morning bathing routine.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah. The ancient Egyptians also were again first to the
game in a lot of ways here, possibly because they
were just such an ancient society, so they were the
first to the post outside of Mesopotamia. They used a
blend of natural ingredients, scented oils, incense, all to you know,
(23:01):
mask the smell of living in a punishing desert climate.
Cleopatra was always historically renowned as a beautiful public figure,
and part of her beauty was her hygiene. She used
her own perfumed claims for these purposes, oils and sense.
(23:23):
This also transferred over to ancient Greece. The Greeks always
took inspiration from the Egyptians, just like with bathing, right,
just like with soap, and they started putting in a
nice little smell in their grooming routine that continues on today.
I like little sprits of something which just makes you
feel good.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
You know, I love it. Yeah, And my middle age,
I have become a lot more interested in colognes and
things and try to have some classy ones, nothing too
acrid or over the top. But I also really like
a little rose water missed, you know, and like it's refreshing.
You spray it in your face, closed your eyes and
kind of missed yourself and it really does feel super nice.
(24:03):
So I get that.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah, And one of my favorite quotes about klone for
anybody considering getting into that game or perfume is cologne
must be discovered, never announced. Yeah, or also a dabble doom.
The Romans said a dab will not do them. They
(24:28):
took personal hygiene almost to a different level. No, they
wanted to go extra with it.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
No, I know.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
They already had the bath houses, and then they started
adding a koutraumol there, festooning it with fragrant oils herbs
and perfuming the waters, which is an interesting thing. You know.
I've been to Onsen's, I've been to bathhouses before. Perfumed
water is not something I have too much experience with.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
No, No, nor I do know. Though. A carryover I
guess from this period of Egyptian sense would be the
the much wrapped about Egyptian musk. I guess it's a
sense you can get like. It's also an incense, popular incense.
But I think it is in a Wu Tang lyric
where they say something is fly like Egyptian musk.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I believe you, because they're just fantastic with their strangely
specific references. You know what I mean. I'm going to
have to find that lyric and listen to that song.
They made this mixture. The Romans, not Wu Tang, made
this mixture they called ungeons, which was charcoal, animal fat,
(25:36):
scented oil, so kind of like scented soap, basically as
a paste, and they applied it to the body the
way you would apply to the odorant. Today, however, the
world is still divided on what should be considered a
hygienic or uncomfortable body odor. In the US here where
we often record this show, it's it's considered a social
(26:01):
faux paws to have very loud bo right, and you
hate getting stuck on the train or stuck in an
elevator or any other enclosed space with someone who just
smells like they need to clean themselves up.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Part of it for New Yorkers in particular, have or
and on just New Yorkers but anyone that is relying
on close quarter public transit bo is a real triggers say,
it's not great. In the best of times, when you
were crowded into a subway car or like an l
train and someone's like holding on to that little little
(26:36):
strap on the ceiling fully exposed pit, you do not
want there to be a green wafting fumes coming from that,
like in a bugs bunny cart. It's it's egregious.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
It's just it's the old factory version of having music
or a phone conversation going without headphones, you know what
I mean. It's just I feel like not everybody comes
from the same, sir, circumstances. But the ability to bathe
and the ability to find deodorant or relatively, you know,
(27:09):
that's a low bar.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
It's a low bar of soap right there.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, it's got to be at least here in the West,
at least. Part of it is these huge, continuing marketing campaigns,
right and that's why we'll have more of our hippie
esque friends saying, well, why can't people just smell like people?
You know, you guys are so programmed. Everybody's got to
smell like elder flowers. And aluminum.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
That is funny. Yeah, I love the scent of aluminum.
We'll get into aluminum, by the way, because that is
a problematic additive of certain types of deodorant, and there's
sort of a holistic backlash against some of that, let's
just say, and maybe some of those less chemically products
they don't quite work as well, and you do sort
of return back to the masking over actually dealing with
(27:55):
the issue situation.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Now, after all the ancient history, it is not until
eighteen eighty eight that the first commercial deodorant debuts. It
is called mum and this happens just a few years
of the word after the toothpaste stuff. Right, So the
early form of deodorant came in. It was like a
wax pasty thing in a metal tin made of zinc
(28:22):
oxide and then other natural ingredients, stabilizers, you know, things
for the texture and this cream. Because of that zinc oxide,
it was able to not just mask your sweat, but
it was able to eradicate some of the bacteria on
your skin, and your bacteria is what's making a lot
(28:44):
of those foul smells.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Although one might argue some of these early methods of
anti perse rent weren't the best because they were using
aluminum salts, which did prevent sweating, but they did so
by clogging pores, which doesn't sound good. I don't think
that's good. This is in nineteen o three with ever
(29:06):
dry No every dry right, like ever dry better?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Personally, I like ever dry better. It's a cleaner word, actually.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
But every dry doesn't really roll off the tongue.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I like that point though about aluminum salts because it's
kind of like saying, oh, someone is breathing too loud,
so let's shut their nose and take their mouths.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Problem solve. You do need some breatheability in the skin
in the underarm, and clogged pores can lead to some
negative knock on consequences. I believe you can even get
like infections and stuff if you have too much, you know,
clogged pores. AnyWho, in nineteen ten in Cincinnati, Ohio, which,
by the way, we may have talked about the Cincinnati
(29:49):
I found out many years ago was a big jingle town,
was a big advertising town, and a lot of like
jingle writing took place in Cincinnati. To an appropriate mention,
So the unique combo of a surgeon and his school
aged daughter as well as a bible salesman, former door
(30:09):
to door bible salesman, because that used to be a thing.
All coalesced and you know, sounds like a what is
it like a walk into a bar kind of joke,
but they all coalesced and came together to lay the
foundations of what is now an eighteen billion dollar industry.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Yeah, this is a guy named doctor Abraham D. Murphy,
and he is in an operating room pretty often because
he's a doctor. In the early nineteen hundreds, this guy
is a bit of a renaissance man. So in addition
to being a crackerjack doctor, he invents a liquid substance
(30:46):
that helps keep his hands free of sweat in the
oar and his daughter we mentioned just a second ago.
Her name is Edna. She tries this liquid anti perspirate
thing to stop you from sweating on her arm pits,
and she says, hey, not only are my pits finally dry?
I'm sorry now, I don't mean to paint you as
though you're some sweat ridden child. But she says, uh,
(31:10):
you know, my uh, it's a good.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Insult, right sweat ridden? Yeah, assults of injury for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
So she says, not only does this dry out my pits,
but also it helps address bo smells body odor smells,
and they named it.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Odor no oh no, isn't odo ban also a thing
Odo Ban, I want to say, is a spray to
for for like furniture. It's an odor absorber, odo ban theodoriser.
It's more of a chemical product for pet solutions to say, right,
(31:49):
which I think is great and also just sounds like
one of those old timey brands Odo ban. We have
Odo oh no? Right? Odor? Oh no? Odor oh no.
It's just fun to say. You're like, oh no, it's
more fun. Sorry, we're rewriting advertising history here.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
But I feel like it sounds like, uh, it would
be a great episode of Deep Space nine. Odo oh
no for you, that's for you.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Max and her cousin Yoko No Yoko.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Oh no, it'd be uh. It would definitely be an
Odo and Corek episode, but not the one where they
have to climb up on a mountain because that one's
really sweat.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Odo is a character. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Odo is a shifting character from beyond the wormhole.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
He's crazy, one of the local characters in Star Trek history. Fair. Yeah,
it's hot take for Max, it's dick at all.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Okay, wow, not everyone, not everyone loves him, but everyone
can everyone can agree that he's a.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Really good character, really compelling.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Renee Autobate. I can never get his last name.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
It is complicated.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
But he had been acting for he was in his
seventies I think, or maybe sixties when he did Odo.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
He was a very good actor. Uh.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
He passed away I think twenty nineteen, right after the
documentary came out. The documentary is also amazing. Our future
Max is back or recorded one for that flossing bit earlier.
So how hard is it to put a second addendum
in here? The beauties of being the producer?
Speaker 2 (33:13):
So I looked it up.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
It's pronounced Renee ober Jenois, Renee ober Jennoi. Apologies because
I know I'm not nailing the pronunciation perfectly. His first
credit roll, according to IMDb, was from nineteen seventy where
he played father John m'kayhee on an episode of Mesh.
He's also in seventy three episodes of Boston Legal along
with fellow star trek Alum William Shatner. He did pass
(33:38):
away in twenty nineteen at the age seventy nine. And
you know, Noel just said, oh, hot taker, right there, No,
not at all. According to IGN, he is the seventh
best character in Star Trek history, while the rap has
him as eighth. And you may be saying, oh, that's
not so high. He's behind like people like Data McCoy,
Cisco Spock, Jean Luke, Ricard Kirk, big names, so very popular,
(34:22):
r I.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
P Odo.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
So the issue with is that it's so fun.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Oh wait, if you say that's better, that's better than Odon,
you just gotta do the it's it's all. It's all
in how you.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Say it's Yeah, it's got a good that what it
reminds me of that toast of lented.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Yes, yes, there's only something. No, there's a lot of
ways emphasize. So, okay.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Is not perfect. It irritates the skin, especially if you
use it regularly, and because of the acidic aluminum that
we've been teasing here, it can also damage your clothing.
This stuff is hardcore.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
So then we've got another chemist, this one I believe
from France, entering the Chat in nineteen forty. To help
out with this problem. He filed a patent for a
what's called a buffered antiperspirant stop beet with the.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
French ending ette exactly. This resolves that excessive acidity problem
by combining anti perspirant with a soluble nitrile, which is
not as bad as it sounds.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Now it's soluble. You don't want it to be insoluble. Right,
it's soluble. That means that it well, I don't know,
I'm just talking.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
So it's after World War two. This is a huge
time for American progress and for American consumerism because.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
A lot of those innovations get accelerated due to a
war effort, and then that stuff sort of trickles down
into normal, polite society. Right.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Yeah, aerosol spray is an excellent example of that. This
is a technology that came from the military, and now
people are saying aerosol spray is a new and convenient
way to apply deodorant. History would prove people started using
aerosol spray for almost everything through the fifties and sixties
and even today.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Yeah, but all those CFC's really led to the depopularization
of aerosols of all kinds. And I would argue that
there certainly are I see it every now and again
in a hair salon, but typically things are more like
would you call them palmdes or you know, or pumps,
pumps exactly more like a spritz rather than the aerosol
(36:52):
because in nineteen seventy seven, the FDA banned aluminums or conium,
which is the active ingredient in aerosols, over safety concerns
and also of course the EPA raising concerns of those
CFC propellants used in aerosols causing depletion in our precious
ozone layer.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
And this is where we can give you some good news, folks.
In addition to the invention of roll on deodorant and
the rise and fall of aerosol technology, we've seen real
positive results from banning aluminum zirconium.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Like heals itself a little bit done it.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
As of September twenty twenty four, the United Nations found
the ozone layer is well on track for a full recovery.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
So go team, And not to be political, but just
do you want to point out that there are some
qualities to this progress that may well be reversed due
to some not particularly environmentally friendly policies of various governments
across the world, not just here in the United.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yet it goes back and forth, right and we see
various cultural shifts. It's just it's tough to get you know,
even twelve people to agree on something. So getting a
billion people to forego convenience or fore go profit in
pursuit of the greater good, that's always going to be.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
A tall milkshake. It's tough. Yeah, especially you know, in
a in a country and a society where a kind
of profit is sort of the name of the game,
and a year over year growth is not just you know,
a suggestion, it's an expectation.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Check out our earlier episode, which unfortunately still holds up
on how the how the US started moving away from
the term citizen and started calling people consumers.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Oh that is a fun episode. I totally forgot about that,
and it really ties into this whole marketing aspect of
history that we're always on about. And with that we
have we have war that we want to get to.
We do starting with aerosol. We could have gotten into hairspray,
of course, which we teased a little bit, and palmaids
and various you know, natural remedies for that. But honestly, Ben,
(39:07):
I think Jeff really went over and above on this one,
and really the hair stuff is kind of its own thing.
You know, we can maybe do a history of hairstyling
and haircuts and hair products, right.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Especially the ridiculous versions of what people put in their hair,
either in good faith attempts for better health, or for
vanity or for spiritual purposes. The story's pretty wild, and
we can't wait for you to join us on that journey.
For now, we're going to call it a day. We're
(39:40):
going to go participate in our brushing, but not overbrushing,
right so well.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Also, don't put too much pressure, don't use to it.
That's one thing I like about my electric toothbrush. It
tells you when you're pushing too hard, and it also
vibrates periodically to let you know when to move on
to the next quadrant.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Also, don't use too much toothpase. Remember when you see
ads for toothpaste, that huge s shaped dollup they put
on there, that's not dolphin and that's just by like
they make money when you over use toothpaste.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
But also like food styling and that kind of styling,
like what you're looking at there is some sort of
polyurethane like you know, folm or something.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Yeah, And so with that we want to give a
big thanks and shout out to our super producer mister
Max Williams, our research associate for this episode, Jeff Factor
G Bartlett, and then of course aj Bahama's Jacobs. I wonder, yeah,
I'm still wondering if he if he saved a morning
routine from his year of living constitutionally.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
We wouldn't they have used like charcoal too. We haven't
really talked about activated charcoal have base, which is becoming
kind of trendy now, but it does strike me as
maybe something that they would have used in olden times
to still brush their teeth with charcoal. It's a real
interesting way to take a really freaky selfie with your
teeth thought blacked out. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
We also didn't talk about just the aesthetics of some
tooth treatments that people used in the past, like that
period of time in Japan where was considered attractive for
women to out their teeth blacked.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Out, and we could also lead that into things like
grill culture. Yeah, and what's the word, I guess you
could say aesthetic dentistry.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Aesthetic dentistry, Oh, yeah, like when people are bejeweling their
teeth now timporarily.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Apparently Kanye has gone insane because of the affection that
he got from his grill piece.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
That's one of the theories, Ed. One of our theories
is that you will join us very soon for another
episode in the future.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Who else do we need to thank here at the end?
They Oh, obviously we got to think Chris frosciotis and
he's Jeff Coates here in spirit. Jonathan Strickland, the Quizzer.
You already thanked the puzzler A J. Mohamas. I'm Ben.
Thanks to you, buddy, Thanks to you, Buckaroo. We'll see
you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
(42:06):
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Ridiculous Histories, a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the show,
(00:27):
fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much for
tuning in. Now, a quick bit of housekeeping. You may
notice that we had a little classic coming in the
place of morning routines Part one and part two, right,
and that's just everything's fine. That's just a little scheduling.
(00:48):
We'd like to kick off our summer break our What
is taking a Thursday a summer break for us? I
think it is technically. Let's intro our super producer, mister
Max Williams. That's mister Noel Brown. I am Ben Bollen.
Previously on Ridiculous History. In Port one, we started talking
(01:08):
about just the concept of cleaning yourself up right, look
at you, humanity, wash yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Washing your ass. It's important. We did devote a lot
of that episode to some stuff we discussed in the
past in terms of the history of soap and the
impact of soap on that whole idea cannot be understated. Today,
we felt like this was beefy enough in and of
itself for a whole episode. We are moving into oral hygiene. Technically,
(01:43):
it's also supposed to be a midday routine and evening routine.
But most importantly, I would argue, and I think nine
out of ten Dennis might as well eight out of ten. Whatever,
morning very important, get a good start brush them teeth.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, if you have to choose one, right, is the
one you should choose. But it's also it's interesting because
it's like the question of how often you should change
the oil on your car. Technically every time you drive it.
Oh good, po okay, all right, that's how race cars.
That is true.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Hence the pit crew and I will walk back a
little bit of what I said. We do also know
that evening brushing of the teeth may well actually be
more important than morning because a lot happens while your
mouth is closed and you're sleeping, and all the bacteria
that can kind of build up, and if you eat
before bed and then you don't brush your teeth, god forbid,
it be something with sugar that can really be a
(02:35):
problem in that over night time.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
So yeah, not to high road to anybody, but I
love brushing my teeth.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I like to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
At a few years ago, I started saying, you know,
we're working from home during COVID.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I was like, well, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Man, anytime I happened by the bathroom, I got a
couple minutes.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Why not, I've been doing it to have been a
multitasker toothbrusher. I got one of those like Wi Fi
connected the tooth brushes that monitors your brushing habits. Probably
feeds that data directly to talenteer. But whatever, it's fun.
It's a fun little gimmick and it really does make
me the gamification of oral hygiene really does. It's a motivator.
(03:15):
Mm hmm. Yeah. If I could jump in here real quick.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I actually on this point about last year, I my
dentist told me I was overbrushing.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Oh dear. It was like I had only heard of
that from parks and red over brushes. Oh my god,
that's a real thing. Like, yeah, maybe maybe pair back
to brushing and introduce some more flossing, because that's certainly
something that I need to do. But I can't imagine
that you're not a megafloster.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I'm a megafloster. I have a water pick. Hey, everyone,
future max right here. I just want to jump in
and clarify something I said right there. I want to
make sure that everyone knows I'm not saying you use
a water pic or floth, but you should use They
say you should use a water pick and floths. That
much of a flossing nerd that I thought it was
essential for me to add this line in here. Well, obviously, yes, that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Seeking in the phone and peacefull in knowledge.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
It's just for you.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Right now.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I've met a couple of the people who are megaflosters,
and we're all beautiful, wonderful nerds.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Well, it's it's good to have a habit that does
not become like a routine, is beneficial to a certain
threshold before and you can you can overdo anything, uh
like I have. I've candidly gotten a little bit too
into water again, and you can drink too.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Much water swimming Now, I got you consuming water. So
while theories about the causes of tooth decay have pervaded
over the centuries, much like those miasma theories we talked
about the idea of the stench purveying some sort of
airborne you know, sickness, We've got a lot of those
(05:06):
kind of misplaced theories about things like toothworms in ancient times,
which we've probably updated to something that's not far off
from toothworms, which would be plaque and the bacteria that
is bred on your teeth if you don't brush those chompers.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yeah, plaque is a playground for bacteria and that can
lead to decay. Also, statistically speaking, given the billions of
people who have lived and died over the course of
human history, there probably were a few people with something
like a toothworm.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Like a toothworm, but it's not normal and name your toothworm.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Right right before the modern toothbrushes, water picks and all
the do dads were talking about recently, people still knew
that oral hygiene was important because you're the first person
who smells your own breath, right, So they use cheesesticks
and thin twigs that they would gnaw on until one
(06:05):
end freyed off into you know, fibrous matter, and that
would be a way too, a way to attempt to
clean your teeth in your mouth. And depending on where
you travel in the world, you may see some people
using things like chew sticks in the modern day.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, well sure, I mean, even like said, flavored toothpicks
are very popular today. You can find these ones that
are like confused with eucalyptus or mint rather yeah, maybe
not eucalyptus, but mint. And they are really tasty and
in a good way to kind of, you know, do
a little tooth maintenance throughout the day.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
They can sometimes feel like a little bit of an
appetite suppressor, also true, or just a little little fidget
or if.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You're trying to quit smoking, for example, I know that's
very very very helpful for that. The toothbrush as we
more or less know it today does seem to have
been invented in China sometimes during the Tang dynasty, and
they also invented Tang As it turned that's not true
from six eighteen to nine oh seven a d in.
(07:06):
The earliest models were made of bamboo or pieces of
bone for the handle, and bristles made from boars hairs,
much like paintbrushes. Would have been.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Right, right, and that sounds super fancy Today when so
many toothbrushes are entirely plastic affairs, you can still find
boar's hair toothbrushes that they're often promoted these days as
an environmentally friendly alternative, you know, to the microplastic laden
toothbrushes that most people use. For sure, get rid of
(07:37):
that plaque and replace it with microplastic.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
William Addis and an Englishman of note, gets credit for
kind of scaling and mass producing toothbrushes thousands of years later.
Years later. Of course, as is usually the case, he supposedly,
according to toothbrush lore, created a prototype around seventeen eighteen
(08:00):
while in prison because of being a bit of a
rabble rouser, a bit of a rioter. In eighteen fifty seven, H. N. Wadsworth,
who is a dentist from Washington, DC, got the very
first patent in the United States for a toothbrush, which
he claimed was much better at scrubbing in between the
(08:20):
teeth than previous models.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And then we see in nineteen thirty eight the rise
of nylon bristles. We see the electric toothbrush all the
way back in nineteen thirty seven, courtesy of the American
inventor Tomlinson I. Moseley. He patented a design, but it
didn't really This happens all the time right with patents.
It didn't really catch on until someone else comes in
(08:45):
with maybe a more functional or somehow more friendly user
friendly model. So his is nineteen fifty four.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Kind of reckon that an early electric toothbrush might have
been a little bit of a terrify buying properties. It's
got a pull cord, uh huh, and it's gas power.
It's gas powered, so you have a you have.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
A canister that you put on your back and that's
where you rip the cord. It's basically a lawnmower for
your mouth.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
There's a tube. I'm so into this.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
This is like Sussian and yeah, anyway, the thing about
this is we're talking about toothbrushes, and it may be
surprising to learn how old some of these innovations are.
But what was really mind blowing on my end was
to learn that toothpaste came before the toothbrush. They sued
(09:38):
out the gunk first.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, well, I mean you know that sometimes people would
maybe just like apply it to their teeth, you know,
in the earliest days. Of course, the ancient Egyptians were
pretty quick to the party on a lot of this
kind of beauty stuff. Around three thousand to five thousand BCE,
they developed a dental cream with powdered ashes from the
(10:01):
hooves of oxen. It also contained mr which is I
think kind of like an incense. It's like a aromatic material.
And well, maybe well that's frank incense. Maybe I'm confusing
my three wise men gifts eggshells as well, and pummis,
which does make sense because the toothpaste that they use
of the dentist does have these kind of particulate things
(10:23):
in it, the kind of grit that sort of helps,
you know, get the gunk off, and some toothpaste that
you can buy for home use has that as well.
So they really were pretty innovative in terms of like
the overall makeup of what kind of materials should be used,
something that like the ashes we know was a precursor
to soap. The hooves and the murrher perhaps were a
(10:45):
bit of a stabilizing agents or something to kind of
tie the room together, and the murdher perhaps also an
aromatic kind of situation a flavor. And then the eggshells
and the pumas would be the grit that would you know,
hopefully help you know, get some of the gook off
of You'd have to be careful with thought though, really
what you could damage the enamelog Yeah, such a needle
to thread with the abrision.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
We also see not too too far away, people in
ancient Persia around one thousand BCE were doing similar things.
They made a mixture with gypsum, herbs and honey. So good,
so far, and then the shop on twist. Yeah, the
shells of snails and oysters. Shells of snails and oysters.
(11:26):
I guess they'd smash them up and then again it
would be that kind of particulate matter. Yeah, probably like
a mortar pestle situation.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Totally, but it would it would kind of serve similar
purpose to those eggshells and pumus that the ancient Egyptians
were parallel thinking about. People would continue to kind of
make their own unique recipes for toothpastes and powders throughout history.
In eighteen sixty, book titled The Practical Housewife recommended mixtures
(11:52):
of powdered ris root, charcoal, Peruvian bark, something called prepared chalk,
which sounds interesting, and oil of bergamot or lavender. Now
we are starting to get into the more like spearmint
kind of flavoring, you know, of modern toothpaste. We were
already starting to get that sort of vibe with the
lavender and bergamont. A Connecticut dentist, a guy named Boy
(12:16):
of boy these names, Washington Wentworth Sheffield. He gets credit
for the idea of packing toothpaste into a tube, and
the rest is history. We can stop here the tube.
You gotta squeeze it from the end. By the way,
he's ad from the middle.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yeah, the ADA is cutting into the show right now.
That's the American Dental Association. And I want to bring
up we used one of my favorite US idiomatic phrases.
Nine out of ten dentists. I have this deep mythos
to my head about the renegade tenth dentist. I want
to write a guy story. Yeah, he's the he's the
(12:53):
guy who beat me your backs. He's the guy on
every survey who says no toothpaste, Yeah, eat.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Sugar before bed. He's a real maverick. He'shannon. Yeah, he's
an anti hero.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
But before this tube innovation, which was actually pretty huge,
a lot of people made toothpaste at home to save money.
And when they bought it in say the old general
store prior to the eighteen eighties, they were getting little pots,
like little almost like you would see a glass jar
(13:29):
of yogurt at the store, or paper boxes.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
One hundred percent. And I maybe imagine that different stores
and early pharmacies in the way that. You know, early
pharmacies would actually mix up the medicine on site. You know,
That's why I like the mortar and pestle is sort
of a symbol of that that some of these would
be sort of house versions, right, Yeah, like these, these
these tooth creams.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
And we have an embarrassing, yet overall positive story to
tell you about American history. Everything we described in the
eighteen hundreds, when we look at the US, it only
applied to a pretty small demographic of Americans. Most people
did not brush their teeth until a brilliant American businessman
(14:15):
named Claude C. Hopkins starts talking to an old buddy
of his, and his buddy had created a minty, frothy
toothpaste that didn't taste bad, no burnt snail shells. He
called it pepsident. And Hopkins is a marketing guy, right,
He's not the guy who invents pepsident. He's the guy
(14:36):
who normalizes brushing your teeth. So he launches on these
Brens esque advertising campaigns, and they see results in more
and more polls. The average American is saying, yeah, I
(14:58):
brush my teeth. It's kind of like popularizing bathing. Back
in the day.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
It really is, And it's so interesting to think of
a time where like the humble toothbrush and toothpaste were
like almost a novelty. He started to have like influencer
type screaming about their pepsident smiles. And can I just
say too, Ben that I love early marketing and early
kind of product placement type stuff with like the Craft's
radio theater or whatever. That's exactly right be the Colgate Hour.
(15:28):
But the term pep was so popular. I love pep.
I mean, has nothing to do with what we're talking
about here, but the idea that this would maybe give
you pep. I wouldn't be surprised if that was part
of the marketing, Oh.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
One hundred percent right, give you that famous pepsiden smile.
And pepsident is this brilliant bit of language because it
implies something, but it does not promise anything. Right, So
Hopkins is figuring out a little bit of background on
the smart He's figuring out how to promote pepsidens normalize
(16:03):
brushing one's teeth, And he says, Okay, I'm not a dentist,
but I've got to find a way to make the
case to the American people. So I can make a
lot of money, and it is autobiography. He would later
write about how he sat down with a pile of
dental textbooks, the textbooks that kids have to study to
(16:24):
become dentists, and in the middle of one book, he says,
I found a reference to the musin plaques on teeth,
which I afterwards called the film. And this gave me
an appealing idea. I said, I'll advertise toothpaste as a
creator of beauty. And that's what they're That's what he
starts arguing for. It's not health necessarily, it's vanity. Why
(16:48):
don't why don't you give yourself a bright, shiny smile
like the Shirley Temples and the Clark Gables and all
the other folks on the big screen.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, run your tongue across your teeth and feel that
icky film. That is the stuff that makes your teeth
look a little bit off color. And he said in
the marketing campaign invites decay. This is back in the
day where you didn't necessarily need a ton of scientific
backing to make claims like this.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, nine out of ten dentists recommend camel cigarettes.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
They did. That's not a joke. I know, I know,
it's a thing. Some even would argue or make the
claim that cigarettes, certain brands of cigarettes were good for you,
were good for your teeth.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, ever, relaxing for you know whatever, sound scientific but
is not scientific. Relaxing for the constitution, freshening of the lungs,
which is near were.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Enough the opposite of what cigarettes do.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
But this is another mind blower. All of these things
that we just described, again, in the history of toothpaste,
they did not have fluoride. That didn't come along until
after World War Two in nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
So in nineteen fifty five we see Test launching their
product line with the first toothpaste containing fluoride, which did
have some scientific backing, which in and of itself, because
of the lack of it, was like a huge marketing point.
I would say research had shown that this material was
(18:18):
the substance, was in fact effective in reducing cavities. And
of course we know Norman Rockwell, painter of Americana, literal
inventor of the visual reference to the American Dream, did
illustrate those early crest ads featuring young people keep boys
(18:38):
and girls, families hanging out, having a good time living
that American dream and parroting the tagline, look, mom, no cavities.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yeah, perfect stuff, right, and an amazing painter my opinion,
I just enjoyed, agreed the way he paints a story.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
You could argue it's propaganda, though much is Oh, I'm
not arguing that is just a fact.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
But we do know that floridation has been considered controversial
in certain parts of the world and at points in time,
but the overall science teaches us that fluoride in toothpaste
is a good thing. You know, and you can trace
rates of tooth decay in places or in populations that
(19:25):
don't have floridated toothpaste.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, and many municipalities around the country and around the
world do still floridate there drinking water supply. And another
thing that's under fire is that practice, with Robert F.
Kennedy having some real hot takes on floridation and perhaps
I think some pretty lacking scientifically claims about other knock
(19:51):
on effects if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Right, I don't want to be too too political. I
think that is a quintessential example of how off people
can be when they never admit that they're wrong. And
no one has ever called them on the progressively crazier things.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
They say, yeah, for sure. I mean I just say,
you know, we know that floride has been controversial for
a long time. This isn't like a new thing. So
I guess that gets us a modern day. So why
don't we move on to another facet fixture of the
morning ritual, the humble deodorant stick yor perhaps deodorant spray.
(20:29):
And when you start looking into that, you start looking
further back and realizing that things like perfume are the
predecessor of like a chemical agent that actually reduces sweat.
Initially everything was about masking the stink.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Right, Yeah, Like I was saying in part one, the
first thing you would notice as a time traveler, depending
on how far back you went, is that the past
is stinky.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Yes, so yeah, it's come up many times in the
show and others.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Essential oils are one of the earliest forms of masking
an odor, right, And from there we get perfume. Or
you were out in the woods and you smell a
beautiful flower and you wonder, how could I smell like
that instead of like bo?
Speaker 2 (21:13):
But instead you smell sort of like that mixed with bo.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Right, Like how hospitals have a lemon scented sanitizer, but
you smell what's under there.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Due in more recent history, we started to see that
people would take absorbent fabric and kind of sponge under
their arms so that it didn't soak through their clothes.
And then we see talcum powder, then the discovery or
creation of baking soda. These were all precursors to modern
day deodorant, and some deodorants still have baking soda or
(21:46):
talcum powder or others sent agents to mask a smell.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
But not mistaken. Arm and Hammer has their own line
of toothpaste.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yes, yeah, as well, Look they took the baking soda
train and figured out how to put it into everything totally. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah. And then to be fair, making soda is a
great odor absorber, Like if you put it like an
open thing of baking soda in your fridge, it helps
cut down on weird fridge smells. It's a pretty interesting
substance that is pretty you know, useful in a lot
of different ways. The earliest forms of deodorant we start
to see emerging around two thousand BC in Mesopotamia, which
(22:22):
it would be modern day Iraq, where people started to
use aromatic remedies that included natural ingredients like oils and
resins in order to of course mask that smell of
body odor. They were often applied during a morning bathing routine.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah. The ancient Egyptians also were again first to the
game in a lot of ways here, possibly because they
were just such an ancient society, so they were the
first to the post outside of Mesopotamia. They used a
blend of natural ingredients, scented oils, incense, all to you know,
(23:01):
mask the smell of living in a punishing desert climate.
Cleopatra was always historically renowned as a beautiful public figure,
and part of her beauty was her hygiene. She used
her own perfumed claims for these purposes, oils and sense.
(23:23):
This also transferred over to ancient Greece. The Greeks always
took inspiration from the Egyptians, just like with bathing, right,
just like with soap, and they started putting in a
nice little smell in their grooming routine that continues on today.
I like little sprits of something which just makes you
feel good.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
You know, I love it. Yeah, And my middle age,
I have become a lot more interested in colognes and
things and try to have some classy ones, nothing too
acrid or over the top. But I also really like
a little rose water missed, you know, and like it's refreshing.
You spray it in your face, closed your eyes and
kind of missed yourself and it really does feel super nice.
(24:03):
So I get that.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah, And one of my favorite quotes about klone for
anybody considering getting into that game or perfume is cologne
must be discovered, never announced. Yeah, or also a dabble doom.
The Romans said a dab will not do them. They
(24:28):
took personal hygiene almost to a different level. No, they
wanted to go extra with it.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
No, I know.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
They already had the bath houses, and then they started
adding a koutraumol there, festooning it with fragrant oils herbs
and perfuming the waters, which is an interesting thing. You know.
I've been to Onsen's, I've been to bathhouses before. Perfumed
water is not something I have too much experience with.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
No, No, nor I do know. Though. A carryover I
guess from this period of Egyptian sense would be the
the much wrapped about Egyptian musk. I guess it's a
sense you can get like. It's also an incense, popular incense.
But I think it is in a Wu Tang lyric
where they say something is fly like Egyptian musk.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I believe you, because they're just fantastic with their strangely
specific references. You know what I mean. I'm going to
have to find that lyric and listen to that song.
They made this mixture. The Romans, not Wu Tang, made
this mixture they called ungeons, which was charcoal, animal fat,
(25:36):
scented oil, so kind of like scented soap, basically as
a paste, and they applied it to the body the
way you would apply to the odorant. Today, however, the
world is still divided on what should be considered a
hygienic or uncomfortable body odor. In the US here where
we often record this show, it's it's considered a social
(26:01):
faux paws to have very loud bo right, and you
hate getting stuck on the train or stuck in an
elevator or any other enclosed space with someone who just
smells like they need to clean themselves up.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Part of it for New Yorkers in particular, have or
and on just New Yorkers but anyone that is relying
on close quarter public transit bo is a real triggers say,
it's not great. In the best of times, when you
were crowded into a subway car or like an l
train and someone's like holding on to that little little
(26:36):
strap on the ceiling fully exposed pit, you do not
want there to be a green wafting fumes coming from that,
like in a bugs bunny cart. It's it's egregious.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
It's just it's the old factory version of having music
or a phone conversation going without headphones, you know what
I mean. It's just I feel like not everybody comes
from the same, sir, circumstances. But the ability to bathe
and the ability to find deodorant or relatively, you know,
(27:09):
that's a low bar.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
It's a low bar of soap right there.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, it's got to be at least here in the West,
at least. Part of it is these huge, continuing marketing campaigns,
right and that's why we'll have more of our hippie
esque friends saying, well, why can't people just smell like people?
You know, you guys are so programmed. Everybody's got to
smell like elder flowers. And aluminum.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
That is funny. Yeah, I love the scent of aluminum.
We'll get into aluminum, by the way, because that is
a problematic additive of certain types of deodorant, and there's
sort of a holistic backlash against some of that, let's
just say, and maybe some of those less chemically products
they don't quite work as well, and you do sort
of return back to the masking over actually dealing with
(27:55):
the issue situation.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Now, after all the ancient history, it is not until
eighteen eighty eight that the first commercial deodorant debuts. It
is called mum and this happens just a few years
of the word after the toothpaste stuff. Right, So the
early form of deodorant came in. It was like a
wax pasty thing in a metal tin made of zinc
(28:22):
oxide and then other natural ingredients, stabilizers, you know, things
for the texture and this cream. Because of that zinc oxide,
it was able to not just mask your sweat, but
it was able to eradicate some of the bacteria on
your skin, and your bacteria is what's making a lot
(28:44):
of those foul smells.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Although one might argue some of these early methods of
anti perse rent weren't the best because they were using
aluminum salts, which did prevent sweating, but they did so
by clogging pores, which doesn't sound good. I don't think
that's good. This is in nineteen o three with ever
(29:06):
dry No every dry right, like ever dry better?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Personally, I like ever dry better. It's a cleaner word, actually.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
But every dry doesn't really roll off the tongue.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I like that point though about aluminum salts because it's
kind of like saying, oh, someone is breathing too loud,
so let's shut their nose and take their mouths.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Problem solve. You do need some breatheability in the skin
in the underarm, and clogged pores can lead to some
negative knock on consequences. I believe you can even get
like infections and stuff if you have too much, you know,
clogged pores. AnyWho, in nineteen ten in Cincinnati, Ohio, which,
by the way, we may have talked about the Cincinnati
(29:49):
I found out many years ago was a big jingle town,
was a big advertising town, and a lot of like
jingle writing took place in Cincinnati. To an appropriate mention,
So the unique combo of a surgeon and his school
aged daughter as well as a bible salesman, former door
(30:09):
to door bible salesman, because that used to be a thing.
All coalesced and you know, sounds like a what is
it like a walk into a bar kind of joke,
but they all coalesced and came together to lay the
foundations of what is now an eighteen billion dollar industry.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Yeah, this is a guy named doctor Abraham D. Murphy,
and he is in an operating room pretty often because
he's a doctor. In the early nineteen hundreds, this guy
is a bit of a renaissance man. So in addition
to being a crackerjack doctor, he invents a liquid substance
(30:46):
that helps keep his hands free of sweat in the
oar and his daughter we mentioned just a second ago.
Her name is Edna. She tries this liquid anti perspirate
thing to stop you from sweating on her arm pits,
and she says, hey, not only are my pits finally dry?
I'm sorry now, I don't mean to paint you as
though you're some sweat ridden child. But she says, uh,
(31:10):
you know, my uh, it's a good.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Insult, right sweat ridden? Yeah, assults of injury for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
So she says, not only does this dry out my pits,
but also it helps address bo smells body odor smells,
and they named it.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Odor no oh no, isn't odo ban also a thing
Odo Ban, I want to say, is a spray to
for for like furniture. It's an odor absorber, odo ban theodoriser.
It's more of a chemical product for pet solutions to say, right,
(31:49):
which I think is great and also just sounds like
one of those old timey brands Odo ban. We have
Odo oh no? Right? Odor? Oh no? Odor oh no.
It's just fun to say. You're like, oh no, it's
more fun. Sorry, we're rewriting advertising history here.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
But I feel like it sounds like, uh, it would
be a great episode of Deep Space nine. Odo oh
no for you, that's for you.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Max and her cousin Yoko No Yoko.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Oh no, it'd be uh. It would definitely be an
Odo and Corek episode, but not the one where they
have to climb up on a mountain because that one's
really sweat.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Odo is a character. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Odo is a shifting character from beyond the wormhole.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
He's crazy, one of the local characters in Star Trek history. Fair. Yeah,
it's hot take for Max, it's dick at all.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Okay, wow, not everyone, not everyone loves him, but everyone
can everyone can agree that he's a.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Really good character, really compelling.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Renee Autobate. I can never get his last name.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
It is complicated.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
But he had been acting for he was in his
seventies I think, or maybe sixties when he did Odo.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
He was a very good actor. Uh.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
He passed away I think twenty nineteen, right after the
documentary came out. The documentary is also amazing. Our future
Max is back or recorded one for that flossing bit earlier.
So how hard is it to put a second addendum
in here? The beauties of being the producer?
Speaker 2 (33:13):
So I looked it up.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
It's pronounced Renee ober Jenois, Renee ober Jennoi. Apologies because
I know I'm not nailing the pronunciation perfectly. His first
credit roll, according to IMDb, was from nineteen seventy where
he played father John m'kayhee on an episode of Mesh.
He's also in seventy three episodes of Boston Legal along
with fellow star trek Alum William Shatner. He did pass
(33:38):
away in twenty nineteen at the age seventy nine. And
you know, Noel just said, oh, hot taker, right there, No,
not at all. According to IGN, he is the seventh
best character in Star Trek history, while the rap has
him as eighth. And you may be saying, oh, that's
not so high. He's behind like people like Data McCoy,
Cisco Spock, Jean Luke, Ricard Kirk, big names, so very popular,
(34:22):
r I.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
P Odo.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
So the issue with is that it's so fun.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Oh wait, if you say that's better, that's better than Odon,
you just gotta do the it's it's all. It's all
in how you.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Say it's Yeah, it's got a good that what it
reminds me of that toast of lented.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Yes, yes, there's only something. No, there's a lot of
ways emphasize. So, okay.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Is not perfect. It irritates the skin, especially if you
use it regularly, and because of the acidic aluminum that
we've been teasing here, it can also damage your clothing.
This stuff is hardcore.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
So then we've got another chemist, this one I believe
from France, entering the Chat in nineteen forty. To help
out with this problem. He filed a patent for a
what's called a buffered antiperspirant stop beet with the.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
French ending ette exactly. This resolves that excessive acidity problem
by combining anti perspirant with a soluble nitrile, which is
not as bad as it sounds.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Now it's soluble. You don't want it to be insoluble. Right,
it's soluble. That means that it well, I don't know,
I'm just talking.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
So it's after World War two. This is a huge
time for American progress and for American consumerism because.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
A lot of those innovations get accelerated due to a
war effort, and then that stuff sort of trickles down
into normal, polite society. Right.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Yeah, aerosol spray is an excellent example of that. This
is a technology that came from the military, and now
people are saying aerosol spray is a new and convenient
way to apply deodorant. History would prove people started using
aerosol spray for almost everything through the fifties and sixties
and even today.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Yeah, but all those CFC's really led to the depopularization
of aerosols of all kinds. And I would argue that
there certainly are I see it every now and again
in a hair salon, but typically things are more like
would you call them palmdes or you know, or pumps,
pumps exactly more like a spritz rather than the aerosol
(36:52):
because in nineteen seventy seven, the FDA banned aluminums or conium,
which is the active ingredient in aerosols, over safety concerns
and also of course the EPA raising concerns of those
CFC propellants used in aerosols causing depletion in our precious
ozone layer.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
And this is where we can give you some good news, folks.
In addition to the invention of roll on deodorant and
the rise and fall of aerosol technology, we've seen real
positive results from banning aluminum zirconium.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Like heals itself a little bit done it.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
As of September twenty twenty four, the United Nations found
the ozone layer is well on track for a full recovery.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
So go team, And not to be political, but just
do you want to point out that there are some
qualities to this progress that may well be reversed due
to some not particularly environmentally friendly policies of various governments
across the world, not just here in the United.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yet it goes back and forth, right and we see
various cultural shifts. It's just it's tough to get you know,
even twelve people to agree on something. So getting a
billion people to forego convenience or fore go profit in
pursuit of the greater good, that's always going to be.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
A tall milkshake. It's tough. Yeah, especially you know, in
a in a country and a society where a kind
of profit is sort of the name of the game,
and a year over year growth is not just you know,
a suggestion, it's an expectation.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Check out our earlier episode, which unfortunately still holds up
on how the how the US started moving away from
the term citizen and started calling people consumers.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Oh that is a fun episode. I totally forgot about that,
and it really ties into this whole marketing aspect of
history that we're always on about. And with that we
have we have war that we want to get to.
We do starting with aerosol. We could have gotten into hairspray,
of course, which we teased a little bit, and palmaids
and various you know, natural remedies for that. But honestly, Ben,
(39:07):
I think Jeff really went over and above on this one,
and really the hair stuff is kind of its own thing.
You know, we can maybe do a history of hairstyling
and haircuts and hair products, right.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Especially the ridiculous versions of what people put in their hair,
either in good faith attempts for better health, or for
vanity or for spiritual purposes. The story's pretty wild, and
we can't wait for you to join us on that journey.
For now, we're going to call it a day. We're
(39:40):
going to go participate in our brushing, but not overbrushing,
right so well.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Also, don't put too much pressure, don't use to it.
That's one thing I like about my electric toothbrush. It
tells you when you're pushing too hard, and it also
vibrates periodically to let you know when to move on
to the next quadrant.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Also, don't use too much toothpase. Remember when you see
ads for toothpaste, that huge s shaped dollup they put
on there, that's not dolphin and that's just by like
they make money when you over use toothpaste.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
But also like food styling and that kind of styling,
like what you're looking at there is some sort of
polyurethane like you know, folm or something.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Yeah, And so with that we want to give a
big thanks and shout out to our super producer mister
Max Williams, our research associate for this episode, Jeff Factor
G Bartlett, and then of course aj Bahama's Jacobs. I wonder, yeah,
I'm still wondering if he if he saved a morning
routine from his year of living constitutionally.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
We wouldn't they have used like charcoal too. We haven't
really talked about activated charcoal have base, which is becoming
kind of trendy now, but it does strike me as
maybe something that they would have used in olden times
to still brush their teeth with charcoal. It's a real
interesting way to take a really freaky selfie with your
teeth thought blacked out. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
We also didn't talk about just the aesthetics of some
tooth treatments that people used in the past, like that
period of time in Japan where was considered attractive for
women to out their teeth blacked.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Out, and we could also lead that into things like
grill culture. Yeah, and what's the word, I guess you
could say aesthetic dentistry.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Aesthetic dentistry, Oh, yeah, like when people are bejeweling their
teeth now timporarily.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Apparently Kanye has gone insane because of the affection that
he got from his grill piece.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
That's one of the theories, Ed. One of our theories
is that you will join us very soon for another
episode in the future.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Who else do we need to thank here at the end?
They Oh, obviously we got to think Chris frosciotis and
he's Jeff Coates here in spirit. Jonathan Strickland, the Quizzer.
You already thanked the puzzler A J. Mohamas. I'm Ben.
Thanks to you, buddy, Thanks to you, Buckaroo. We'll see
you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
(42:06):
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History News
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Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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