What Did 19th Century Cowboys really Look Like?
Like most Australians of my age (I'm 67) we were brought up on Western movies and TV series. What is noticeable is that most of the cowboys were very neatly turned out, more like later 20th century ones who had more access and inclination to bathe change clothes and so on. The Hollywood cowboys also tended to be clean-cut unless they were bad-guys but most good or bad tend to have clean clothes and short back and sides haircuts. This depiction changed a little with the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone and others. The cowboys started looking dirtier and rougher. Recently I researched this and, by today's standards, 19th century European and many other people would be considered relatively unclean and smelly. Bathing was not so regular or it was a sponge bath for face hands and strategic areas. On the American Western frontier this was worse as access to water was often rationed. There was also an idea that opening up the pores with immersion made one more vulnerable to inf...
