Hygiene

The concept of hygiene was known in the Realms. However, it varied culturally, geographically and was practiced differently by different races. The importance of cleanliness in medicine was also known, and healers disinfected the wounds the best way they could to promote natural recovery. "The bath? The bath! Bathing will avail you no advantages, my girl! I have it on good authority that water against the skin introduces rude humors into the blood-stream!"

- Ulia Mannicci, the First Lady of Sumbria

Personal hygiene, for the most part, was lacking. Bad breath and deficient teeth hygiene were very common. Individuals who did not get a chance to regularly bathe used heavily scented oils to mask the unpleasant body and hair odor. Individuals with bad hygiene, for the Realms, washed their hair once every four days and scrubbed "smelly areas" every evening or so.

A typical inn offered its guests a bath, in some places even assisted by good-looking lasses or lads, which was the usual way of keeping themselves clean among travelers, merchants, and adventurers. At the Rising Raven Inn, a room with a bathtub, made of copper, was filled with hot water, heated up, and carried there by servants or footboys. Some bigger inns, like the Waukeen's Rest, had big bathing areas, filled with hot water wooden tubs, fresh clean towels and chamomile-scented soaps. Festhalls often offered more of recreations bathing, one such establishment was the Blushing Mermaid. The Mermaid's baths were filled with scented sparkling waters that were magically purified.

Personal Hygiene Products
"My nose works well enough. I don't think that fellow has ever heard of the adage "cleanliness is next to holiness.""

- Tarl Desanea, the cleric of Tyr from Phlan.


 * Ardanthe was an aromatic plant that secreted sap that could be rubbed on hair to imbue it with a pleasant herbal scent, used by rangers in the wild.
 * Scentwater was water mixed with perfumes and used for bathing purposes in The Vast.
 * Soap was the most common cleaning substance available in virtually all civilized places, even though it was sometimes hard to find. It was used to remove dirt and smell from skin, clothing, adventuring gear, and hair. Typical soap was concocted using tree oils and sometimes scented.
 * Waterfall Kiss was a type of scented face wash.

Hygiene in the Field
"How typical of the savages I have met here. Rude as can be, and personal hygiene that would choke the stoutest ox. I could not relieve myself of your presence fast enough."

- Ashen of Waterdeep, visiting Nashkel


 * Rangers knew the value of personal hygiene when away from civilization. Body odor tended to attract hungry wild beasts and stingflies. The latter were a distracting nuisance, while the former could easily track ripe sweaty humanoid stench from great distances. Rangers used cold mountain and forest streams to wash themselves and scrubbed their bodies with sand from the stream bottom.
 * Hygiene was lacking for sailors and passengers of naval vessels, especially those bound to travel between continents. Ships lacked space and resources to offer baths, so passengers tended to smell and were in need of good scrubbing and personal grooming as they reached their final destinations.

Hygiene Across Nations

 * The City of Splendors, Waterdeep, was known for its ever-popular public heated saltwater baths. These establishments could be identified by lists steam floating out of ajar doors and windows.
 * In the Blade Kingdoms of the Vilhon Reach, nobility believed in humors theory. Bathing was unwelcome as it introduced "rude humors into the blood-stream," which was frowned upon.
 * On Dragonisle, the city of Immurk's Hold had numerous bath houses for the resident pirates to bathe in.
 * In the Shining Plains region of the Vilhon Reach, communal bath houses could be found in every city with separate areas for men and women, typically built atop a hot spring. The people of this region considered bathing an important social activity and thus viewed with suspicion those who refused to engage in it or built themselves a private bath.
 * Chultan port city - Port Nyanzaru, was considered an extremely clean town by the late 15 century DR. The humans of the city dated daily and were horrified of the idea of skipping daily bath. The city was littered with public and private bathhouses ran by the Church of Sune. These bathhouses were free, but the visitors were encouraged to leave a donation to the Church.
 * In the Great Dale port village of Uthmere, prior to immersing themselves in a bath, people typically covered their bodies with "tainted oil". These were vegetable oils in recycled flasks, costing a few coppers, and the oil would be scraped off with wooden "knives" and paddles. Those too poor to afford such scraping implements would instead dress up in thick robes and old boots, articles of clothing they used solely for this activity, and go down into the river (except in the coldest winter weather). The washing of hair was done in a taerath holding water scented with crushed mint or perfumes. In most households, this was done in the same basin used to fillet fish, clean babies, and wash clothing. Warm bathing water was considered a luxury in the village.
 * During the Crusade Against the Tuigan, the Grand Army under Yamun Khahan had terrible hygiene due to rough nomadic lifestyle and endless track and war against Cormyr and Shou Lung. Their tents and clothes were infested with lice and other vermin. Baths were a rare luxury and were unpleasant cold melted snow. The Tuigan troops, however, did not seem to show much discomfort from the parasites.
 * In Kara-Tur, hot springs of the Mount Matazan possessed invigorating properties, and many of the mountain's bathhouses were recommended by Wa physicians as a remedy for those sickly and week.
 * In the water-limited land of Zakhara the bathhouse, known in Midani as hammam, was a profitable enterprise and gathering place for both men and women. However, hammamm had separate usage times proscribed for each sex.

Hygiene Among Various Races

 * Ettins were dimwitted giant-kin who valued filth and dirt and feared cleanliness.
 * Gnolls were known to be flea and lice-ridden. They often lived in sloven squalor and their lairs were infested with the same parasites.
 * Goblins of Grodd used fungus with similar properties of tree oils to create soaps, detergents, scented perfumes and aromatics.
 * Janni in the land of Zakhara often had a bathhouse in their permanent settlements, with quarters for any visiting marids.
 * Nomadic centaurs loathed bathing and were known for extreme poor hygiene.
 * Ogres and half-ogres had notoriously low standards of personal hygiene. Standing downwind from them was deadly, almost as deadly as their foul breath.