While the modern age may seem to be taking beauty rituals to the extreme with the use of Botox, implants and other cosmetic treatments, women have always resorted to dangerous methods of making themselves lovelier and more attractive. As an author of historical fiction, I've enjoyed researching the beautification steps women of the past undertook and finding historical

parallels

of

the

risks women take today.

Jean-Leon Gerome's Femme Nue

(public domain)

During the Ottoman Empire, the female occupants of the Sultan's harem vied to hold their masters' hearts with a variety of rituals that increased beauty. Rusma is a depilatory, a mixture of caustic lime (a corrosive element) and orpiment, a by-product of arsenic. Turkish women applied rusma all over their bodies to remove all hair. After a quick rinse in the Turkic bathhouse, they used a bronze scraper to remove the mixture. It had the effect of whitening the skin, but if left on for longer than necessary, rusma could cause painful burns as it corroded the skin.

Atropa Belladonna



In Renaissance Italy, the counterparts of Ottoman women used belladonna to appear more attractive. Belladonna is Italian for beautiful lady. Native to Europe, belladonna is one of the most toxic plants in the world, also called deadly nightshade. Italian women refined an extract from the berries of atropa belladonna, as part of their beautification. With one drop in both eyes, belladonna dilated their pupils, simulating the natural state of arousal where a person's pupils dilated. Prolonged use of belladonna caused permanent blindness, but before the onset of it, many women also experienced increased heart rates and prolonged blurred vision as constant complaints.