Medieval Beauty Tips

During the Middle Ages, women had their methods for achieving beauty. A medieval text called the Trotula, written in the 12th century, provides insights into the beauty practices of that time. Here are some excerpts from the Trotula that reveal medieval beauty tips:

Beautiful Hair: 

After bathing, women would wash their hair with a special cleanser made from burnt vine ashes, barley chaff, liquorice wood, and sowbread. This mixture would be strained and used to wash the hair, resulting in golden and shimmering locks.

Better-Smelling Hair: 

Noblewomen would secretly apply musk or clove to their hair and veil to give it a pleasant scent.

Blonde Hair:

To achieve blonde hair, a mixture of cooked greater celandine, the root of agrimony, shaving of boxwood, and oat straw was used. The hair would be washed with a cleanser made from oat or vine ashes.

Curly Hair: 

Women seeking curly hair would grind danewort root with oil and apply it to their heads, tying it with leaves.

Beautiful Face: 

After taking care of their hair, women focused on their faces. They would wash their faces with French soap and warm water, followed by bran straining in the bath. Then, they would anoint their faces with oil of tartar and a special depilatory mixture. This depilatory was made by dissolving Greek pitch and wax, adding galbanum, mastic, frankincense, and gum Arabic. It refined the skin, removed hairs, and enhanced the complexion.

Whitening the Face: 

Women sought to whiten their faces by placing whole eggs in strong vinegar until the shells became like the inner skin of the egg. Then, white mustard and ground-up lily root were mixed with the eggs. This mixture was applied to the face, left on during a bath, and washed off afterwards.

Better Lips:   

Skimmed honey mixed with white bryony, red bryony, squirting cucumber, and rose water was used as a lip ointment. Women would wash their lips with hot water, and the ointment would solidify the skin, making it soft and preventing ulcers.

Removing Wrinkles: 

Older women would extract the juice of stinking iris and apply it to their faces in the evening. In the morning, the skin would appear raised and erupt, which would be treated with an ointment containing the lily root.

Freckles of the Face:

To remove freckles, a powder made from bistort root, cuttlefish bones, frankincense, and water was applied and rubbed on the face with rose water or water of bran.

The Stench of the Mouth: 

A remedy for bad breath caused by stomach disorders involved grinding myrtle berry tips and cooking them in wine. After purging the stomach, the wine was given to drink.

Research has shown that many of these medieval beauty recipes had similarities to modern cosmetic remedies. The Trotula provides valuable insights into the beauty practices of women during the Middle Ages.