Famous Bathers: Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was unconventional in many ways, perhaps none more so than in his peculiar bathing habits.
Each day Franklin would treat himself to an ‘air bath’. At the time cold baths were believed to be a health tonic but Franklin found them too much of a shock to his system. Instead of procuring hot water for his bath he opted for one with no water at all and would sit naked in a tub, reading and writing for up to an hour.
"Early most mornings, before he set to work, Franklin would sit, he wrote to a friend in France in 1768, “without any clothes whatever, half an hour or an hour, according to the season,” at his open, first-floor window, letting the air circulate over his, by then, considerable bulk. What the neighbours thought is apparently not recorded"
Had boilers, heating and hot water taps existed, we’re certain that Franklin would have indulged in a warm bath using our essential oil infused Soaks and Salts.
