This may just be only a popular misconception, but so far as I know, hygiene habits changed after WW2 due to the things the returning GI's had been trained to do. So bathing started to be done more than once a week (if not longer), brushing teeth became a habit done on a regular basis, and so on.
But what if those habits had failed to catch on and hygiene remained more relaxed?
But what if those habits had failed to catch on and hygiene remained more relaxed?