Advertisement for the Gem portable Turkish bath
Be clean, healthy, happy—One of the many advertisements for portable Turkish baths intended for use in the home.
Catching a cold on the way home from a public Turkish bath was one of the frequently suggested objections to taking such baths. In fact, there is no connection whatsoever between taking a Turkish bath and catching a cold, and this is especially so if the bather relaxes for a while in the cooling-room before leaving.
In this advertisement, the act of looking in the mirror seems to imply that the Turkish bath was part of the routine adopted by women to make themselves look beautiful for their men folk.
Compare this with an advertisement for a similar product where the male bather is shown reading whilst taking a Turkish bath.
This page enlarges an image or adds to the information found below:
London's first Victorian Turkish bath. Part 1: introduction
Women & the Victorian Turkish bath. Part 6: attitudes to privacy, nudity, & exercise
Victorian Turkish Baths: their origin, development, and gradual decline
Comments and queries are most welcome and can be sent to:
malcolm@victorianturkishbath.org
The right of Malcolm Shifrin to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted by him
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
© Malcolm Shifrin, 1991-2023