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The scene is a familiar one to most people: You lie in a bathtub full of water and bubbles. The water is hot and you're ready to relax. But no matter how you position yourself, you find yourself facing an agonizing dilemma—either your legs end up sticking out of the water, or your head and shoulders do. Whichever way you're contorted, part of you is cold.
Here's the problem: Bathtubs are too small. But why?
Bathing, victorian-style
In order to fully understand the reason why bathtubs aren't comfortably human-sized, it's important to consider how the world was different when plumbing first made its way into our homes. "Indoor plumbing came into the United States in the late 1880s," Jeremy Cressman, a veteran of the residential and commercial bath industry who currently serves as the vice president of sales and marketing at BLANCO America, tells Mental Floss. In the late 19th century it was difficult to make large bathtubs because of the expense involved—though cost wasn't the only thing governing typical tub size. People were a little smaller, too. And baths tended to be made with cast iron, so they were heavy and difficult to move. (Contemporary bathtubs are often made from fiber-reinforced plastic.)