Posted on 02/26/2020 1:21:19 PM PST by rickmichaels
A third of French people don’t wash their hands after going to the toilet and less than half before eating, while a fifth of Frenchmen change their underwear twice a week at best.
These are some of the unsavoury findings of a new study into personal hygiene in France, which researchers and Gallic doctors say leaves a lot to be desired. The findings stand to reinforce stereotypes that the French take a laisser-faire approach to cleanliness.
The survey by pollster Ifop found the French continued to display “ignorance of basic sanitary rules, despite public health messages and the current [coronavirus] context.”
Only 37 per cent wash their hands after using public transport and 71 per cent after going to the lavatory.
The study was commissioned by Diogène France, a group specialising in cleaning insalubrious housing from sufferers of Diogenes syndrome- a disorder characterised by extreme self-neglect, domestic squalor and compulsive hoarding.
A quarter of the country failed to take a “complete wash” every day, it found.
Women were less negligent than men, with 81 per cent washing every day compared to 71 per cent of males. Rural Frenchmen only managed such daily ablutions in 60 per cent of cases while the worst offenders were the over 65s, on 57 per cent.
Matters have improved since a landmark Ifop study in 1951 for Elle magazine that asked “Are French Women Clean?”
Back then, just over half performed a full toilette daily, but 14 per cent did so less than once a week. At the time, the French used less soap than almost any other country in the developed world – 6.38kg per year compared to 11.09kg per Briton.
A mere 17 percent claimed to change their underwear every day, and 30 percent changed it only once a week or less.
However, 80 per cent wore lipstick. “French women, in sum, knew a lot about beauty; they just did not associate it with being clean,” wrote American academic Steven Zdatny in his 2014 work, “The French Hygiene Offensive of the 1950s: A Critical Moment in the History of Manners.”
Doctor Frédéric Saldmann, a cardiologist and nutritionist said the French no longer deserved their lingering reputation as a smelly nation. “But more needs to be done,” he told Le Parisien.
He said a nationwide drive in schools to educate young French on personal hygiene in the 1960s had changed habits but that bad habits were creeping back in.
For example, the nail brush seems to have disappeared from the French bathroom, he lamented, adding: “Under the nails, it’s a jungle!”
The post ‘Unclean’ French continue to flout basic personal hygiene rules, study suggests appeared first on The Telegraph.
Well they do have the bidet.....but otherwise Sacre Merde!
No. See post 5.
At least they don’t crap in the streets, like we do in LA, SF, Portland etc. But they do (((smell))).
I quickly answered “socks” of course.
They both laughed pretty hard and said it was unanimous. Every guy said socks and every girl said underwear. No exceptions.
I have no idea what this means in the grand scheme of things, but I thought it was interesting.
US tourist: “In the states, we wash our hands after using the restroom.”
Frenchman: “In France, we don’t piss on our hands”.
We were thinking alike - French perfume;) Wonder, when and how it was first made. Probably inspired by flagrant flowers. Now I’ll have to research.
History of the World...
“The Peasants are revolting!”
“You’re telling me, they stink on ice!”
I think it goes way back to the French courts of Looie the 14th or someone.
Wow. Some things never change...
Go to Disney World with all the foreign guest. They smell bad..European, ME or Indian (dot on forehead type) It does not matter. Smelly.
Asians were the only ones who did not smell.
Also: Perfume enjoyed huge success during the 17th century. Perfumed gloves became popular in France and in 1656, the guild of glove and perfume-makers was established. Perfumers were also known to create poisons; for instance, a French duchess was murdered when a perfume/poison was rubbed into her gloves and was slowly absorbed into her skin.
The disinclination to wash their paws could make them more susceptible.
EUW.
Won’t do a thing for Michael Moore.
I was wondering that, too.
Eau de toilette literally translated as toilet water is a lightly scented cologne used as a skin freshener. It is also referred to as “aromatic waters” and has a high alcohol content. It is usually applied directly to the skin after bathing or shaving. It was originally composed of alcohol and various volatile oils.
TOILET!!! HaHa!
Somebody post a pic of Pepe Le Pew.
Sorry, nothing is nastier than a German. Some of the worst smelling people I have ever met - I think it’s because they wear a lot of wool, which they appear to have cleaned once a year whether it needs it or not, and I think they have an aversion to deodorant. This is the men, mostly; the women I have met in my travels abroad seemed fine, but you could smell the men across the room.
You ae supposed to change your underwear? Who knew?
So they are claiming that not taking a full shower or bath every day is unclean?
Why?
Or maybe just EU......
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