Elizabethan cosmetic recipe

Elizabethan cosmetic recipe

In the Elizabethan era, there were plenty of methods and ingredients used to make the women and men look more beautiful and enhanced. To whiten the teeth they took a cup of plantain water and boiled tragacanth putty, 1 on. rock alum, and make very fine powder out of all of them, then boil for half an hour in water after the whole process just wash the gums frequently with that powder mixed with water. Another way to lighten the teeth was by mixing 1 ounce of chamomile water, ounce of strained rose honey mixing everything together and taking some cloth pieces and dipping them in it after that just putting this whole mixture on the gums not forgetting to change frequently so that they will become firm again.
Next I found recipes for the skin. Firstly to remove any marks from the face they used iris roots and boil them in water until there is only half the contents left then took this water and washed the face this way getting rid of any blemishes before applying any sort of make up. The next application was to be used to lighten the face and hands, one of the most simple ways was to just take leaves and roots of nettle, then boil all of those ingredients and wash the face and hands after its cooled down, this way making face and hands not only whiter but also smoother. Another way to lighten up the skin was by using bread crumbs and egg white then mixing them together and putting them in vinegar for two days, after the two days has elapsed the mixture could have been used on any part of the skin to lighten it up. To cure the redness of the face was also very popular in the Elizabethan era, Queen Elizabeth 1 herself used this recipe for her skin by taking white lead or in other words ceruse, rose water and violet oil then mixing them together and applying on the face.
Lastly I found a few recipes that lighten up the hair which was very fashionable in Elizabethan era to have beautiful light golden hair. The women who used this method were usually upper class, rich and wealthy they started by taking four ounces of the herb called great centaury, 1liter alum of dregs, 2 ounces of substance called arabi, 1 ounce of rock alum, 7 liters of water then after mixing all of the ingredients and boil until 1/3 is left, after just comb the hair with this mixture under the sun light which activates the ingredients and starts to work as a lightener giving the hair golden appearance. To have long golden locks I found a recipe that has been very popular in the Elizabethan era that is by taking barley bread and salt and take equal amounts of each and toast them and then grind them to a powder after just mix well and apply to the areas that hair growth is wanted.
I found all of the Elizabethan recipes on the internet website:- https://sites.eca.ed.ac.uk/renaissancecosmetics/cosmetics-recipes/hair/
The ingredients that I listed for the skin that has been used by the Queen and other upper class women caused constant skin problems and https://sites.eca.ed.ac.uk/renaissancecosmetics/cosmetics-recipes/hair/, severely damaging and burning the skin, making it peel and look very unhealthy as well as unattractive. Because these were the consequences of beauty these women had to use even more of these substances to cover up the damage that has been done and still make them look like porcelain dolls. The more older Queen Elizabeth got the more her face looked like it was mask like, the reason why is because she had to use huge amounts of the make up that was used for her face to cover up damages, however in my opinion her face looking like a mask definitely made her look more unattractive and fake looking.
I was very shocked and surprised by some of the ingredients used for the make up and hair, for example urine was used to lighten up the hair, which in my opinion sounds like a very unclean way to achieve the 'golden locks', it just shows how desperate the women were just to have hair like Elizabeth's, she set up the trends that every woman wanted to follow.
One of the contemporary make up recipes that I found on pintrest is skin lightener/brightener, ingredients that are needed are 1 and 1/2 spoon of raw honey, 2 teaspoons juiced lemon and 1/4 teaspoons turmeri, once all the ingredients are mixed together, leave on the skin for 20 minutes and then rinse off, the more often you apply this mask the more results will be seen in the future.
Another contemporary make up product that I have found in the beauty shop was called Dr Organic Royal Jelly Light & Bright Cream, it claims to lighten your skin gently however the ingredients mentioned on the label are very hard to understand mostly because there are many chemical names that regular customer would not understand what it does or what it actaully is the ingredients are:
- Aloe barbadensis leaf extract, Aqua (water), Glycerin, Caprylic/capric triglyceride, Prunus amygdalus dulcis (sweet almond) oil, Zinc oxide, Dicaprylyl ether, Ascophyllum nodosum extract, Cetearyl alcohol, Glyceryl stearate, Cetearyl glucoside. Do we actually know what we use on our skin? In my opinion no, we only rely on the description and what it 'claims' to do for your skin, we have no choice but to believe it. I have tried a little amount on my hand just to feel the texture, smell and if there is any sensation that this cream may cause to my skin. Firstly the texture was smooth and applied very well, it absorbed into the skin pretty quickly which is a positive thing, no one likes creams that just 'sit' on your skin and do not seem to be absorbing. The smell of this cream is not over powering so anyone who may be sensitive to the scents and certain perfumes can easily use this product without getting a headache. The cream did not give me any sensation on the skin, it did not tingle, itch, it was not cooling, or any other feeling I did not get from this cream.
The next time I would try to test one of the contemporary make up products on my face to see if it would make a difference rather than just testing on my hand, maybe it would give me a different results?