Weird Woad

[Torchwatch]

In iron age Britain warriors heading into battle would strip naked and paint themselves with woad.
The Romans thought this practice barbaric but strangely it made sense.
Although Ancient British warriors had steel swords and used shields they did not have armour.
Clothing fabrics available to them were wool and linen. If you wore wool or linen a non lethal sword or arrow strike would push clothing fibres into the wound and you might die later of gangrene or other infections.
Fighting naked avoided this risk.
Woad is a powerful natural antiseptic and the ancients knew this. By painting their naked bodies with woad they not only became a frightening blue colour but they were killing the bacteria on their skins and reducing the risk of infection from a sword or arrow strike during the battle.

The armies of Ghengis Khan wore silk shirts under their armour, after a sword or arrow strike through their armour the silk could be pulled out of the wound without leaving contaminated fibres. Wounded Mongols recovered from their wounds while European knights died of infection.

Officers were still wearing silk shirts during the Napoleonic Wars.