Roman beauty treatments
Nov. 30th, 2006 04:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lesbiassparrowSo in the course of research recently I came across these winners (mainly from Pliny the Elder, who was batty to an almost charming degree):
1. You can get freckles from drinking wine in which dead newts have been placed. But the intestines of a particular type of land crocodile are effective in getting rid of freckles. You mix them up into a face mask. Yummy!
2. It is often effective to have hair dyes mixed by a virgin and then put them on in the shade
3. When dying your hair you should have a mouth full of oil so that your teeth don't get stained. Given the horribly toxic nature of Roman dyes I suspect running for your life would be better advice
4. The teeth of dogs steeped in wine and honey or mice with honey and fennel make wonderful toothpaste.
5. Pliny the Elder suggests you use these ingredients in an unguent to get rid of hair: gall and liver of several types of sea fish, gall and liver of leeches and a frog, then mix the result with oil and vinegar. Mind you, as a sign that he hasn't gone totally round the bend, he then suggests tweezing your hair out before.
6. Mouse dung, mashed ants, vulture’s blood, bulls dung, and donkey urine taken at the rising of the Dog Star are effective ingredients in beauty treatments.
The Romans, now they were a interesting set of people
1. You can get freckles from drinking wine in which dead newts have been placed. But the intestines of a particular type of land crocodile are effective in getting rid of freckles. You mix them up into a face mask. Yummy!
2. It is often effective to have hair dyes mixed by a virgin and then put them on in the shade
3. When dying your hair you should have a mouth full of oil so that your teeth don't get stained. Given the horribly toxic nature of Roman dyes I suspect running for your life would be better advice
4. The teeth of dogs steeped in wine and honey or mice with honey and fennel make wonderful toothpaste.
5. Pliny the Elder suggests you use these ingredients in an unguent to get rid of hair: gall and liver of several types of sea fish, gall and liver of leeches and a frog, then mix the result with oil and vinegar. Mind you, as a sign that he hasn't gone totally round the bend, he then suggests tweezing your hair out before.
6. Mouse dung, mashed ants, vulture’s blood, bulls dung, and donkey urine taken at the rising of the Dog Star are effective ingredients in beauty treatments.
The Romans, now they were a interesting set of people
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 04:58 am (UTC)5) The bile(a base) from all that gall might do a weak version of Nair when mixed with the vinegar acid.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 04:59 am (UTC)How is Dave? And how are you holding up?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 05:05 am (UTC)Dave. Still alive. On the road but slowly to better. As for me trying to the point of hurting myself not to jump into the social political fray. It all seems so familiar.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 05:23 am (UTC)Actually, I used to
trollpost on fashion forums, and some of the the "health" and beauty treatments proposed there make these seem almost plausible...no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 05:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 10:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 02:03 pm (UTC)Did people actually *do* this? But then again, that's a stupid question because there are things like that around these days that make me think the same thing. (I had a Macedonian friend who was brought up by her grandmother. Her grandmother taught her that the blood on the bed sheets from losing her virginity on her wedding night will help cure her child - when she has one - when it is ill).
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 12:59 am (UTC)I don't know if people did half this stuff or if they were being sold things which were horrifically expensive and told the reason why was that it had land crocodile intestines...
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 10:54 pm (UTC)Hi. I'm polarbear at SF, and I am apparently ALL ABOUT the Roman beauty treatments *waves*
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 01:01 am (UTC)*waves back* :)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 09:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 09:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 10:41 pm (UTC)