From ornate, pool-sized public baths to acrylic tubs for one, the baths we soak in may have changed but their association with luxury and decadence remains, says Deana Luchia.

Hardly anyone has time for a daily bath before work. Showers are more practical –they’re faster, they use less water, and standing up means there’s no danger of drifting off into a deep sleep.

Furthermore, there’s none of that hanging around, waiting for the tub to fill. When we have time, a hot bath is a luxury, something we do not to clean ourselves before we head off to work, but to relax at the end of it.

Retreating to the bathroom with hot oils, bubbles, salts, bubbly, chocolates and magazines – there’s a definite air of decadence about taking a bath.

Decadence has long been associated with bathing. While the ancient Greeks are considered to be the first proper bathers, it was the Romans who took bathing to the next level.

While the Greeks washed with cold water (warm water was not considered manly) and had small, sink-like tubs, the Romans – encouraged to bathe daily – created large, ornate public baths complete with silver taps, statues, paintings, complicated sewage systems, pipes made from lead and bronze, and tubs made of marble.

In a way, the Roman baths were similar to our modern day spas with bathers treating themselves to a series of baths including a hot bath (calidarium), a warm bath (tepidarium) and a cold bath (frigidarium).

While in the early days of the Roman Empire the wealthy sometimes had private baths in their homes, towards the end of the period most people made use of these public baths, usually bathing before the main meal of the day.

While it was considered immoral for women to bathe during the evening, men and women did bathe together at other times, until Emperor Hadrian insisted on segregated bathing. The fact that Roman baths were associated with promiscuity shows that not everyone obeyed.

Decadent bathing, Roman style, came to an end when marauding invaders arrived, destroying aqueducts and the public baths they supplied. And while public bathing remained popular in the east, in the form of what we now call Turkish baths, most people would have had to make do with bathing in rivers or streams.

Through the centuries, bathing was criticised by the church (bathing was sensual and therefore sinful) and by ‘doctors’ who believed that water carried life-threatening diseases that could penetrate the skin. For some, not bathing was a sign of wealth (I’m so rich I don’t do any kind of work that makes me dirty).

Public baths did enjoy a brief resurgence in popularity at the time of the Crusades, when the Crusaders came into contact with eastern bathhouses and spread the word back home. By the 12th century, public baths were common in France but they quickly became associated more with promiscuity than hygiene.

In Elizabethan England, bathing was considered highly unnecessary. Indeed, Elizabeth I herself took a bath just once a month. People at the time simply tried to mask their body odour with oils and perfumes. (Searching for new fragrances to cover odours helped to fuel exploration at the time.)

It wasn’t until the 18th century that bathing came back into its own, this time with the fashion for medicinal springs. The city of Bath in England became one of the most popular spots in Europe, with thousands coming to ‘take a cure’. Once again, however, it didn’t take long for public bathing to be seen as debauched.

By the mid-19th century, very few Europeans had access to any form of bath, public or otherwise. (Unlike the Japanese, who have always remained fond of their public baths or sento). Those that did bathe used simple tubs, made from wood and lined with metal.

Water was poured into the baths from jugs or buckets, and taking a bath was a lengthy, infrequent activity. No surprise then that it was the wealthy who got to bathe more often, with servants heating and carrying the water as well as being invaluable when it came to scrubbing backs.

It wasn’t until the 20th century that proper private bathrooms came into existence in Europe, and this was largely a result of surges in construction following the first and second world wars. But this did not mean that most people had bathrooms.

Until the 1950s, many people still made use of tin baths, or made do with washing themselves from a sink. For those lucky enough to have a newly built property, complete with bathroom, baths were entirely practical – standard, white, porcelain, coffin size – far removed from anything the Romans conceived. (Aside from an unfortunate brief flirtation with colour in the 1970s, white remains the most popular colour for baths).

It’s only in the last couple of decades that things have come full circle. With advances in technology, acrylic baths can now be made in any shape and size; there are massage and spa attachments, sunken baths, family-sized tubs, baths with claw feet placed in the centre of a room and tubs positioned to make the best of a skylight view.

It’s not about hygiene, it’s all about luxury; the Romans would have approved.