Cosmetics for Roman Women (or what I don't know about Rome)

[lesbiassparrow]

Given that I am currently teaching a course on women in antiquity I am shockingly uninformed about Roman depilatories. But I do know that according to Ovid, crocodile dung was used in rouge, that Pliny the Elder wore a bra on his head to cure headaches, and if a menstruating woman walked through your crops they would die. Oh and wombs would wander all over a woman's body if you weren't lucky. (And you don't want to know how you would fix a blocked womb.)

Next week I will post on the fun of the lupercalia and nearly naked aristocrats running through the streets of Rome beating willing women. I really hope they film Mark Antony's participation in those festivities.

Comments

Re: Roman Depilatories

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I remember the male beard plucking from Juvenal dimly, but not the hot rocks. But I guess those who didn't mind a manly stubble could just buy a slave very good at shaving...and who didn't hate his owners.

(Isn't it Julian who has a whole essay on beard-haters? There seems to have been a lot of them in the Roman empire).