Make Up
Pale Skin
Having fair skin (white skin) was very sought after. It was only the rich who could afford the real cosmetics, working class women and slaves would buy cheap knock offs. To achieve the pale skin color, they would use:
- Chalk powder
- White marl
- Crocodile dung
- White lead: even though the Romans knew that lead was poisonous, they still used it. This shows how much they cared about their appearances; they would even use something poisonous just to achieve the results that they wanted
- Beeswax
- Olive oil
- Saffron
- Animal fat
- Cucumber
- Almond oil
- Much, much more
No Wrinkles! No Hair!
The Romans also didn't like wrinkles, freckles, sunspots, skin flakes, and blemishes. To soften wrinkles they would use swan fat, donkey milk, Arabic gum and bean-meal. Freckles and sores were treated with ashes of snails.
Hair on the body, besides the hair on the head, was considered to be unattractive. Therefore women would shave, pluck, strip with a resin paste, or scrape with a pumice stone all the “unattractive” hair. (However, having long eyelashes were ideal).
Wealthy women would have servants and/or slaves that specialized in putting on their make up. Just like their hair, the make up process was a lengthy one.