At Tebtunis public bathhouses
have been excavated, the oldest dating to the third century BCE. They had showers,
stone basins and a stove to heat the bathwater.
While a few bathrooms and tubs have been discovered most Egyptians seem to have
been content with cleaning themselves by aspersion or by a dip in a canal or the
river. They had wash basins and probably filled them with a natron solution from
jugs with spouts and used sand as a scouring agent. They washed after rising and
both before and after the main meals. As mouth wash they used another salt solution