150 years of the shower – the revolutionary French hygiene invention

The start of August marks the 150th anniversary of the invention of the modern shower – and it was France that came up with the idea, which caught on worldwide.

Today, they are found in almost every home, but 150 years ago the first modern shower, with plentiful hot water flowing through a showerhead, was introduced in Rouen’s Bonne Nouvelle prison.

It was a revolution at the time, although early people took ‘showers’ under waterfalls or by having water poured over them.

The Greeks and Romans are also known to have had basic cold shower systems piped into some bathhouses, and rudimentary mechanical cold showers are known from the 1700s and early 1800s. However, French prison doctor François Merry Delabost is widely credited with creating the shower as we know it today.

French prison officer Jean-Pierre Machain, author of Bonne Nouvelle, Histoire de la Prison de Rouen, described how the idea came about to website Actu.fr.

At the time, the prison held 900 prisoners, who were all required to work and do chores.

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One of these was flattening cow horns to make buttons, which was extremely dirty work with the horns arriving straight from the abattoir still covered in flesh and blood.

Mr Machain said there were very few baths at the prison, and the water was only changed every 20 or 30 prisoners, meaning it was very unhygienic, something which worried Dr Merry Delabost.

He therefore looked for a solution to prevent disease spreading rapidly in the close quarters of the prison.

Inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans, who had water poured over them by slaves, he created the shower with its sprinkler-style showerhead, providing what he originally called ‘rain baths’. They would later be known as ‘douche’ or ‘shower’.

The invention quickly took off, with other prisons and the army copying the model as well as the city of Bordeaux which introduced the first public showers.

Meanwhile, it was not until the 20th century and particularly after the first world war that showers made their way into homes. Even then, they were mostly found in wealthy households.

Today, 88% of French people have access to a shower in their main residence, according to an Ifop washing habits study from 2020.

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Despite being the creator of one of the most necessary inventions in our modern world, Dr Delabost received very little credit for his work.

A small street near the prison in Rouen has been named after him, but he received no payment for his idea.

While in those days prisoners washed twice a week, Ifop’s study found that three-quarters of French people wash their whole body every day – probably in a shower.

The number was higher among women, with 81% saying they washed every day, compared to 71% of men.

Over the years, the regularity with which people washed increased as showers became more accessible.

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