What Was Aztec Hygiene Like

Main Ideas

Cleanliness and Water Systems

Cleanliness had both practical and spiritual importance. Aztec hygiene drew on older Mesoamerican traditions and was connected to purity, ritual, and social order.

Water systems supported hygiene and city life:

• Canals in major cities supplied water and served as transport routes.
• In Tenochtitlan, aqueducts brought fresh water into the city. Separate channels allowed one to be cleaned while another remained in use.
• The system kept fresh and salt water apart, supporting drinking, daily use, and irrigation.
• Waterways also helped carry waste away from crowded urban areas.

Bathing and Personal Care

Bathing included everyday and ceremonial practices. Many people took cold baths, including in private homes. Temazcals, or enclosed steam lodges, were used for purification, recovery after conflict, treatment of illness, and childbirth. Steam bathing also had spiritual significance, with associated deities overseeing the ritual.

Although the Aztecs did not use soap in the modern sense, plants such as copalxocotl and amolli produced a cleansing lather. Some plant roots were used for hair removal. During the rainy month of Atemoztli, people sometimes refrained from washing as an act of sacrifice. Women were also reportedly said to avoid washing their faces while men were away at war.

Odor, Grooming, and Appearance

People took body odor seriously. A 1552 herbal text advised bathing and washing the armpits, and described a remedy made from pulverized plants and fragrant ingredients. Copal gum and oils were used to deodorize, while flowers, pine needles, and fruit were used in perfumes—including to mask odors associated with illness. Incense was burned especially in religious settings, where scent had spiritual importance.

Grooming practices varied by gender and social role. Advice to a father’s daughter recorded in the Florentine Codex encouraged her to wash her face, hands, and mouth, and to keep her clothing clean, while warning against excessive makeup. The account also describes courtesans using perfume and cosmetics. Women did wear makeup, often in moderation; axin, a yellow cosmetic, is mentioned.

Men’s hairstyles differed by status and age. Priests could wear long, sometimes soot-matted hair, while common men generally kept their hair short. Boys’ hair was shorn until about age ten. Women used hair dyes; some shaved their heads, while older women often wore their hair long and tied back.

Medicine and Dental Care

Healers used oils, herbs, and other natural substances to treat ailments such as headaches, coughs, infections, swelling, and fever. The subtitles describe hair being used to stitch wounds, splints being applied, and resin-based plasters being used to set broken limbs. A contemporary account praised Aztec field surgeons’ skill compared with that of Spanish surgeons.

Dental care included cleaning, remedies, and treatment. Reported cleaning materials included salt, urine, ashes, honey, roots, and bark. Chicle and bitumen were chewed to freshen breath, while charcoal was applied for tooth problems. Dentists could extract and file teeth, fill cavities, and decorate incisors with jewels. The account says vinegar and snake venom were applied before extraction, followed by herbs to protect the wound.

Public Sanitation

Sweeping was a regular practice: women swept homes, while priests swept temples and schools. Street waste could be moved into canals and carried away. Public toilets were available, and their waste was collected for fertilizer or removed through waterways to reduce contamination of the water supply.

Barbers offered hair washing and shaving. The subtitles also describe treatments for dandruff and scabies, including urine, scrubbing, and herbal mixtures.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Weird History narrator — the only presenter speaking directly in the video.
• Hernán Cortés — cited for observations about Tenochtitlan’s streets, canals, and aqueducts.
• The Badianus Manuscript (Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis, 1552) — cited for an underarm-odor remedy.
• Bernardino de Sahagún and the Florentine Codex — cited for advice about women’s cleanliness and appearance, and descriptions of medical and dental practices.
• An unnamed contemporary chronicle — cited for comparing Aztec and Spanish field surgeons.