High Style

For the wealthy Roman woman, the pursuit of beauty was a great challenge. The process began each morning when a slave girl brought bowls of scented water to her mistress to wash off her night mask. The mask normally consisted of a paste made of flour and milk. Some masks were more exotic. The poet Ovid tells of one for removing wrinkles that consisted of honey mixed with Libyan barley, narcissus bulbs, and crushed antlers from a healthy young stag. Some of the creams were noxious containing such agents like mercury sublimate, which harmed the skin and could be poisonous.

After cleansing her face, brushing her teeth and rinsing her mouth with a breath sweetener, the lady then soaked in her scented bath which was a luxury that Romans of lesser means did without. They resorted to the public baths. Next she would get a brisk rubdown from a servant called an unctor or anointer for the oils he applied.

Once a wealthy Roman woman finished her daily beauty rituals, she would put on her robe and pass into the hands of a maidservant called an ornatrix or dresser, who would then fix her mistress' hair. She would use combs and pins to achieve the preferred style, be it trailing braids or a bonnet of curls.

Few women of this time appeared to be satisfied with their natural color. Some had it bleached with a soapy compound imported from Germany while others would darken their hair with a dye of leeches and vinegar. However, like some of the face creams, the dyes were sometimes too harsh leading to hair loss. Then desperate measures were implemented to promote new growth, such as the use of deer bone marrow and bear's fat. When these measures failed, Roman women, like more and more of their balding husbands, wore wigs.

The last task of the dresser was to apply her mistress' makeup from the vials that graced her dressing table. Her complexion was lightened using white powder, her cheeks and lips were tinted with rouge derived from wine dregs or ocher and her eyelids were darkened with ash or kohl, that age-old Egyptian cosmetic.

When this was completed, the lady dressed and donned her rings, bracelets and brooches crafted of precious stones found around the empire and faced the world in high style.