Thread: How Sailors shaved

Originally Posted by zenshaver

I guess it felt good to get all cleaned up after all that partying.

Actually, the clean up was before the party started. On modern ships and submarines we have heads with showers and we make fresh water with which we could bathe. The tall ships of yor had no such luxuries. There were no toilets. For bowel movements the men would climb out onto the "headrails" which braced the stem. (This why the bathroom on a ship is called the head.)

Once we realize that sailors did not bathe at sea, even when a voyage (especially whaling voyages) might last for years, it doesn't take much imagination to understand why a sailor might take an hour or so to hit a bathhouse and a barber before the bar and the whorehouse.