Renaissance Beauty: hair, makeup and skincare in the 16th century

25:42that's very it's a part of your face that you can really see the quality of your skin in so um they were really fashionable so women used to pluck their forehead she must have hurt so much pluck their forehead or they used to use some of these dipilatories on their forehead as well as the rest of their bodies so my fringe would be really oh this is unthinkable horrible your fringe back then your fringe would have been um legally banned because there was a fashion in the 1480s in Venice for haircuts with a fringe. It was called the mushroom. The fun that, as you can imagine, for women. I've had one of those.

26:19Yeah, and the government banned it because they said it made women look too much like boys. My God, that's fascinating. But then what did women do after a breakup when they needed to change their look? Yeah, exactly. What did you do when you did a revamp? What was your equivalent of like, I need to change myself, panic, cut yourself a fringe? How did you have a breakdown? Well, I mean, they went on to poison their husbands, but we can talk about that later. OK, OK. That makes absolute sense. Let's talk about hair washing. So, you know, once you've removed all the hair from the forehead, you still want to keep some hair on the head.

26:48How are they keeping that clean, Jill? Well, this is where the copper basin comes in. OK. So you'd lean over a copper basin and you'd have your maid bring in some kind of scented water or maybe some kind of shampoo, which is made with ashes, so a lie into a soap. Or they use things like mallow. They had conditioners, things to make hair fuller bodied. and all of these we've made some of these and they do are quite effective um but one of the issues in the period was how to dry your hair yes because once you've wet your hair you don't have a hairdryer in the winter it could take ages it could take days to wash and dry your hair um and so and so lichrezia borgia who was um you know the pope's daughter yes we did an episode and the governor spoleto um actually would get really hated going to these social events that she had to go to um and she'd say no i'm washing my hair i've got simply got to wash my hair absolutely i love that no but also that it is look i mean nowadays you know wash day and which day do i wash i've got to go to the gym if i go to the gym don't wash before to wash afterwards it takes a couple of hours last night i slept with a with a hair mask on i get it and i actually think that is something we need to bring back okay that is a completely socially acceptable reason to not turn up to an event.

28:03I can't come to work today. It's wash day. My hair is still wet. I will be sat by the fire for the next seven hours just trying to work through this humidity. Fair enough. So that's Lucrezia Borgia, the notorious poisoner and hair care guru. So some of those hair sort of conditions sound quite nice. I mean, some of them had chamomile in them and sage. Quite nice, right? Some of them less so. My list includes bear's fat, bats blood, burnt lizards, burnt moles, crushed hedgehogs, crushed insects. So when I hear that list, I do start to understand the association between women and witches, because that sounds like a potion.

28:44Let's talk about just quickly the perfect hair that you would want. Angelo, let's talk about later on maybe, but Botticella, what hair does she aspire to have? So in the Renaissance it was believed that hair was a sign of your internal mixture of humours, the internal liquids that made up your body, that determined health, determined personality. And so your hair could be a sign of what you were like inside. And this is true for men and for women. So men's hair should be dark, ideally, and women's hair should be thick, wavy and golden. Oh, I was hoping you were going to say pink. yes for the record now tati has a lovely pink bob oh you were calling it but what's that what's what humor is pink bob in renaissance italy well they do talk about dyeing your hair red and they and marinella says i don't know why women want to do this they're so capricious capricious okay i can i can get on that board okay but the reason why your pink hair would be some confused people is that they divide women into different grades depending on their appearance this is very joe rogan it's very manosphere isn't it it's very manosphere so there's a there was a celebrity doctor called juan huarte he was spanish and his his book was translated into all different european languages and he was explaining to men what kind of women they should marry dependent on what they looked like.

30:16And so, sorry about this, there's a grade one woman has the lowest levels of coldness and dampness in the humoral terms, and she should be avoided. She's of great intelligence and ability. Oh, no. She never sees an argument, no matter how small it is. And she has dark and curly hair. The best women are grade two in the middle. They're beautiful, soft and gentle, and they laugh easily. and they're naturally almost completely free of body hair the hair they have is golden and wavy and they're obedient by nature of course and they're very fertile as well so that's the best kind of woman and grade three women are fat with white and hairless skin and they're foolish and ditzy and they have platinum blonde hair.

31:00Are these the incels of the renaissance? It's terrifying to realise that actually in fact it all makes sense this is where Andrew Tate got his whole concept from. He's been reading some Renaissance literature. It's a whole other, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. It's coming straight back round, isn't it? Okay, so we've got three levels of women. Pop quiz. What's in your kid's lunchbox? At Whole Foods Market, they've already done the studying. Over 300 food ingredients are banned from their shelves. No hydronated fats in the peanut butter and no high fructose corn syrup in the cookies. And for sandwiches, There are no synthetic nitrates or nitrites in any of their deli meat, so you can pack lunch boxes with peace of mind.

31:46Get back to school ready at Whole Foods Market. Hi, I'm Dan Snow, historian and host of Dan Snow's History at Podcast. I want to tell you about a brand new series I don't want you to miss about the real history behind the Odyssey. With a major new Hollywood adaptation arriving this month, we'll trace Odysseus' epic journey across the Mediterranean, uncover the world of Mycenaean Greece, and investigate the mysteries of Homer and what draws us back to this timeless masterpiece again and again. For everything you need to know about the Odyssey, check out Dan Snow's history hit wherever you get your podcasts.

32:21Curly-haired women, intelligent, stay away. Women with blonde hair, ditzy. It's the Marilyn Audrey Hepburn before Marilyn Audrey Hepburn. It's fascinating. Okay, so Jill, if the blonde golden curls are the optimum hair, presumably there are a lot of dodgy dye jobs going on. Women with darker hair going, I've got to look like a Botticelli painting. Of course. In Venice particularly, they were really famous. Women were really famous for bleaching their hair. They had special straw hats that had a big brim and no middle so that you could take your hair outside it without getting burnt in the sun.

33:00Oh, I see. And they'd sit on their balcony. Like a tennis cap almost. Yeah. And they'd sit on their balconies and they'd put a mixture of kind of bleach on their hair. They'd sit all day and wait for it to be bleached. And it was really common to do that in Venice. Both men and women used black hair dye for going grey. So they'd cover up greys. Great. They'd use lead combs and things to make their hair darker again. And that probably worked as well. Otherwise they had various recipes for dye, some of which were less likely to work. So there was one where you had to put sunflower seeds in breast milk that was fed a male child and leave it to soak for 10 days.

33:39Breast milk. That's actually, that's what I use. Okay. And your hair looks lovely. Yeah, I mean, it is. It did say it was for a pink dye. Yeah. Okay, so Angelo and Botticella, they've got washed, they're clean, they've done their hair. Now it's onto the skincare routine. Right. What are you imagining? Korean style 11 step beauty. Yeah. I mean, to be honest, nowadays I can't even keep up with skincare routines. I take makeup off and then I put a cream on. So I'm probably not the right reference. They might even have something more complicated than that. Probably something like a vegetable oil, avocado paste on the face.

34:15I mean, based on what we've heard so far, maybe some cat poo in there as well. A hedgehog for like exfoliation. I feel like I'm really starting to get the hang of this renaissance skincare life. Yeah, like something along those lines, maybe a bit of arsenic, because if there's no poison, there's no peril. If there's no peril, it's not really a skincare routine, is it? It's not a skincare routine if you're not going to maybe die from it, is it? Take it away! Well, of course, you're completely right. No, they did. So they did have kind of complex routines. So you'd start at night, the night before, you'd cleanse your skin.

34:50And that could be something like bran or breadcrumbs mixed with scented water, so that a little bit of exfoliation. Nice. And then you'd have a treatment and that would depend on what kind of skin you had. So you might include vinegar was quite popular. If you've got greasy skin or nettle tonic, if you've got red skin, because nettle does actually stop inflammation or a whitener. And that would obviously include mercury and arsenic. And also snail slime was also used. Which is back in the past, right? I mean, we used to laugh at this. On Horrible Histories, we used to go, ha, ha, ha, snail slime.

35:22And now it's like 300 quid for a pot. so they were ahead of their time and you'd sleep with that on and then in the morning you'd wash that off and then you'd maybe put some moisturiser on and then makeup so pretty good actually in the skincare routine yeah yeah ahead of okay i respect the skincare routine apart from the arsenic bleaching of the skin yeah sorry but you know that's just that's just you know part of course at this point. Was it like Victorian times where paler skin meant you were richer? You know, pale skin, good. Darker skin means you work in the sun. You must be a peasant. Yeah, because of course, beauty ideals have to be hard to achieve.

36:01What's the point of beauty ideals that are easy to achieve? Let's just take a moment to really think about that. Because that's an important thing you just said. Yeah, that's very true. And most women worked outside. You know, most women were working as agricultural workers. like they have done kind of throughout history. And so having paler skin was a sign of being elite, an elite woman. But there was also a racialised element. In the 16th century in Italy, we do have an awful lot of African enslaved people in Italy, right? Yeah. So there's been slavery in Italy since classical times. It's continuous, more so than in other places in Europe.

36:36And from the mid-15th century, you start to get a lot of slaves from sub-Saharan Africa, particularly female slaves who work in the house. and there's a fashion amongst some of the elites like Isabella d 'Este who is the marchioness of Mantua she says to her agent in Venice can you get me a young black slave child as black as possible so that she looks whiter in comparison so this is a little girl like an accessory like an accessory yeah yeah and then around 1520 aristocratic women start to be painted in portraits alongside black servants or slaves really is a contrast to make their skin look paler.

37:16My God. That's horrible. It is horrible. Okay. Let's move on to something equally horrible, a different kind of horrible, white lead on the face. It's famous from the Elizabeth I portraits. If you've seen the Margot Robbie movie, Mary Queen Scott. I mean, that's bad, right? That's going to rot your face. You know, makeup historians have a problem with margot robbie no surely not margot's beloved how dare you not margot i mean we do adore margot robbie but her portrayal is elizabeth the first because one of the problems with white lead is that you can't actually use it right so people can't use because we know it's poisonous they knew it was not very good for you in the renaissance as well but recently there's been a project in master university in canada where they've got a nuclear physics lab so they can use white lead and they put it on pigskin to see what it looks like.

38:07And actually it's not that kind of thick white paste that you see in the portraits of Elizabeth. It's actually translucent and it's light scattering. You know like light scattering foundations that you get today? Yeah. And it's a creamy colour. Mineral foundations. Yes, it's not bright white or very opaque. So the idea of what Elizabeth I looked like is partly from the portraits but largely from using titanium dioxide as a replacement for white lead. and it's just not a very good replacement. I see. So the actual white lead, based on what we now know, thanks to these poor pigs, is actually something a lot lighter and a lot softer than what we've seen.

38:46And reflective. And reflective. But still very dangerous. I mean, it still kills you. Right, OK, good. But does it do the job well? But it does the job well. But, you know, they had replacements for white lead even in the Renaissance. So marble dust, for example. Oh. And I brought along a marble dust foundation for you to try. egg white as well was used wasn't it white they're used in a lot of different kinds of makeup and add a little bit of a sheen to your face and egg white was used on the hair too wasn't it sometimes yeah i mean they use eggs in everything they're readily available and they're quite inexpensive so yeah let's talk about cosmetics and let's try some cosmetics i think it's time now for us to turn ourselves into guinea pigs a little bit and try some of this stuff

39:31and by the magic of radio i am now transformed into a renaissance era beauty and just to be clear none of the stuff we are putting on our faces today is poisonous we've checked uh jill what am i wearing on my face it smells delicious first of all you have renaissance rose balm which is very delicious smelling it's just quite normal it's like lip balm with beeswax and that's that's actually something that I would use actually genuinely use today then there's some things that you might not use there's um an anti-wrinkle cream with um lamb needed yeah yes not at all and frankincense and which normally also contains mastic which is another kind of tree gum and those have been found to have vitamin e and antioxidants and things like that so they could actually affect wrinkles some of this renaissance makeup is effective and then you've What is really great about your look is the foundation, which is made of marble dust because white lead is frowned upon nowadays.

40:29I wonder why. I wonder why. So it's made of violet oil and rose water, which smells nice. It smells good. It's made of quite white. But you've also got beautiful rosy cheeks made with red sandalwood, which we're hoping we'll be able to wash off, but which may stay. Yeah, no one told me the sandalwood would be staining the cheeks. I would run with it. It's really, it's the hero of what's happening on your face right now. It's giving Met Gala. It's giving the Oscars. It's giving Greg in a whole different light. Thank you. If it doesn't wash off, I think you can make this work. Okay, okay. Let's get back to Angelo and Botticella, our influencers.

41:09They're off to the theatre. They're doing the getting ready. I just want to ask about hairstyles, right? So we know that she needs to have golden hair, but how is she wearing it? Up, down, in a do, braided? Always in a do. There's always a do. You never wear hair completely loose in this period, unless you're just about to get married or just married, and then you're allowed to wear it loose down your back. Otherwise, that's a sign of, it can be a sign of madness or illness or being really transgressive. OK. So as soon... Tati's giggling. I'm just sat here with my pink hair down. She's crazy Watch out But women were really creative with their hairstyles And often used to have the same hairstyle To show that they were kind of part of a gang So if you look at portraits from the Milanese court In the early 16th century Like portraits by Leonardo da Vinci They all have this big long plait That goes down their back And a hair net that goes across their forehead Yes That was a fashion associated with Beatrice O 'Barrigan and they all started to wear it.

42:12And then as soon as you get to about the 1510s, it goes. Nice. And how do you curl your hair? I'm naturally curly, I don't have to ask, but like how would a lady curl her hair if it was straight and she wanted the ringlets? Hot spoons. Oh! So if you imagine what tongs are like now, you'd heat spoons up and then you'd curl your hair round it and maybe use gum arabic as a setting lotion. Oh, OK, some curl cream. So what I'm getting here is that really actually women didn't have a lot of time outside of doing their hair and makeup and making the potions. When we ask ourselves, what were the big challenges to women, education, just generally having careers?

42:49I suppose curling your hair with spoons is probably up there, right? It's quite time intensive, isn't it? I mean, that's why you'd have all your servants, I guess. I forgot about that bit. Of course. Yeah. And what about Angelo? Is he clean shaven? Has he got a beard like me, short and cropped? Has he got a long beard, kind of Leonardo da Vinci style? Well, it really depends on when Angelo was about because there's a big change in fashions for beards between the 15th and 16th centuries. So in Italy, they associate beards with peacetime and they associate them with republican governments. And so in Florence, for example, everyone was clean shaven until the Medici family come back to rule the city as dukes in about the 1530s when everyone has a nice little beard.

43:39And some people really, and there's portraits of beards that are very, very curly and very, very well kept. So people had beard oil, people dyed their beards. But by the time you get into the 16th century, everyone has a beard. So Greg would be just absolutely in fashion. Phew. Wow. I'm hot to trot. I'm ready to mingle. Absolutely. I think Angelo would have a moustache. Oh. I think Angelo would have a moustache and possibly a beard. I think if people had just a moustache, people might point and laugh at him. Yes. If you insist on historical accuracy, even though he's my fantasy man, for sure. What about shapewear?

44:17What about underwear, the clothes you wear under your clothes? If they're going for the perfect body, you talked before about the hourglass coming in. How are they achieving that? Yeah, skims, spanks. What are we working with? No spanks at all. In fact, no knickers. No. Oh, wow. Hello. Come on, Joe. Never breathe. Men would wear, there's actually archaeological remains of pants that men would wear. Oh, great. Historical pants. Historical pants that would have a little nifty tie at the side. Okay. But women didn't wear pants at all. No. And actually, if they did wear pants, that was thought to be a bit raunchy because it was like they were men.

44:58Oh, okay. Okay, so what you're saying is that we've already heard that you could have an entire intercourse with a woman and the peak of the eroticism was the point at which she takes off her shirt. After having had sex with someone, it's the nudity. She could be completely naked, you could see her fanny and that would be less sexy than if she had a pair of shorts on. Yes. well you know each to their own but can i ask a very specific question if they're not wearing knickers what do they do when they have their periods well they don't leave the house i mean this is okay one of the sorry i mean a lot of this history is about controlling women and their activities um we know about menstrual rags don't we we have illusions to they use rags and they use So, yeah, there's certainly just rolled up rags.

45:52There's cotton wool that can be used as well. In terms of bras, I mean, so women are going commando on the pants front, but what about support for the bosom? That's my Radio 4 voice. Support for the bosom. So it used to be thought that bras were invented in the 19th century, but then in 2008 there was an archaeological find where they found there was a false wall in a castle in Austria. Yeah, in Lemberg Castle in the Tyrol in Austria. They found lots of linen had been stuffed in there and they found a bra, which is known as breast bags. And they have like two bags that are designed to lift and separate.

46:34So you have that. And then in the 16th century... Sorry, I can't just skim over the boob sacks. So lift and separate. Yes. Yeah. So if you look at these bras, they're cotton and they've got a big kind of bodice underneath. And then these, I mean, separate kind of bag shapes that would pull your bosom, you know, really make it go in two. So it looks like you've got breasts kind of here. So really high up. Really high up. Okay. Yes. On either side of your chest. Near your ears. So that's two bosoms on view, but quite high. But there's also the kind of monobosom. The monobosom. Yes, not the monobrow, the monoboob.

47:16So, yeah, so later on, again, this is fashions of bodies and fashions of clothing. Later on, you get the monobosom, which is a term from fashion history, honestly, where you get a very bodice that's very stiff and made stiffer with cardboard and it kind of squishes your boobs in to make it look like you're just completely flat, really, and triangular. OK. Was there any kind of moral backlash to all of this? We've heard about, you know, some of the kind of fear that women were deceiving men and what do you do. But was there any kind of like haters in the comments section? You know, when we've got our Angelo and Botticelli going out.

47:50Are there people going like, oh, God, this is awful and disgusting and immoral and God would be ashamed? Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I mean, well, all the way through, but particularly the Counter-Reformation in Italy comes into force in the later 16th century. and in England all the way through, people are saying that cosmetics are lies, it's deceitful, that women are vain, they're spending all their money on cosmetics. Yeah, I know it's depressing. My things just haven't changed. That they're kind of changing the face that God gave them and that it's immoral. So a lot of kind of misogyny, general misogyny, is bound up in cosmetics use.

48:30Really, the grand area of cosmetics runs through the 16th century and then it kind of tails off as you get into the 17th century. And we also have this fear that women are poisoning their husbands with their makeup, right? I mean, this is a thing. It happens. It is actually true, yeah. It has happened, yeah. Amazing. So they trick their husbands into marrying them by using makeup and then they use the makeup to kill them. I mean, you sound just like a Renaissance priest. I'm really on board with it. I'm like, how can the tool of oppression both be the tool of empowerment? Wonderful. There we go.

49:04Feminism for the win. I'm going to lead the witches. I'm so into this era. There's a story actually of a 15-year-old murdering her siblings with a poison. So not just a hubby, but she bumps off her siblings. Yeah, so this is, she didn't mean to murder her siblings. So women know that this stuff is poisonous. They keep it generally under lock and key. And so she got some face whitening from her mum's box because they wanted to send her to a convent and she didn't want to go. And so she tried to poison the entire family. She put some of this face white nut onto some salad and they all ate it and they're all ill, but her siblings died.

49:38And so there's a report of her witness statement and her conviction in the Florentine archives. And then later on, the Aquatofana murders were very, very notorious in the 17th century, where they reckoned like hundreds of men, of husbands generally were killed by women using face cream. So they put this face statement into their husband's food or drink and they'd kill them slowly over a matter of weeks. And they set up a sting operation to find out this woman. They sent someone along trying to buy some of the poison. And in fact, she was an agent of the Roman police in disguise. And then the person who, the poisoner, sold her it and they kind of swooped out and arrested her.

50:24Wow. That's amazing, isn't it? Just very quickly, you also mentioned men dieting. We know of one particularly famous aristocrat who was murdered because he wasn't wearing his under armour because he didn't want to look fat, right? He was a dick in Milan and they advised him to put on his reinforced doublet and he said, no, no, it makes me look too fat. And then he went to mass in church and he was stabbed to death. So, yeah, so really people did die for beauty. The cost of beauty. There we go. The church is right. Vanity is a deadly sin. The Nuance Window!

51:02OK, so I think it's time for us to get to the Nuance Window. This is the part of the show where Tati and I sit quietly in front of the mirror and fix our make-up, or I try and remove mine anyway, for two minutes while Professor Jill enters the dressing room to tell us something we need to know about Renaissance beauty. My stopwatch is ready. Take it away, Jill. OK, so stories about past cosmetic use can be delightful and they can be funny, but they mask some pretty serious history. How we look isn't governed just by our genes, but is mutable. A complex to-ing and fro-ing between external forces, such as food availability, types of work, our environment, and the choices we make to look after and adorn our bodies, hair and faces.

51:38It's only recently that historians have realised that the history of cosmetic and hygiene practices is no mere amusing side quest, but reveals much about the concerns, assumptions and prejudices of the past. Cosmetic recipes and ideas spread across cultures are shaped by trade, fashion and colonialism. Assumptions about ideal beauty are steeped in preconceptions of gender, race and class, prejudices against people typically based on their appearance alone. Cosmetics are often criticised as they thwart attempts to read in a character through external appearance. So large-scale historical shifts play out in our bathroom mirrors and affect how we understand our own bodies in relationship to the world.

52:16The history of beauty allows us to empathise with people in distant times and places, recognise their vanities, their frailties, their hopes and their fears. In a patriarchal society like Renaissance Europe and, let's face it, most past societies, women's hope of social progress or financial well-being was typically dependent on the goodwill of men. Looking your best was less vanity than necessity. Inventing and applying cosmetics was often associated with poorer women, people who are typically illiterate so don't turn up in historical sources, and if they do, only in court records. Reconstructing cosmetic recipes has given us a rich insight into these women's ingenuity, their cleverness in making ends meet, their understanding of what we now call science and their social networks.

52:57Compared to military history, say, or the biographies of great men, the history of beauty gives us a window into a multiplicity of experiences and a chance to remember lives that have been frequently disparaged or dismissed. Thank you so much. Wonderful. Really interesting. Yeah. It is easy, I think, to sort of think, oh, make it, you know, whatever. It's really interesting. Yeah, it really is, because I think it's, it also reminds us, and it's still a conversation we have now on social media, especially about how dismissive people can be about makeup, people doing makeup. And there's very much attitude of, oh, God, you've got nothing better to do with your time.

53:33And that actually how much of women's history is linked to that industry, sometimes not even by choice, but how dismissing it like that sort of doesn't allow us to hear those voices and that existence and what they were up to. So thank you for bringing it to the table. You're very welcome. Thank you. And thank you for smearing it on my face. Anytime. Absolutely. So what do you know now?

54:04It's time now for the So What Do You Know Now. This is our quickfire quiz for Tati to see how much she has learned and remembered. I mean, we've talked about an awful lot of stuff, Tati. How are you feeling on the confidence level? I feel confident because I have been listening very closely. I was fascinated. Thank you for it. I leave feeling invigorated, but I'm also quite, I guess, angry. OK, that's fair. I feel like I want to go and march into the makeup counter of John Lewis and say, and this is feminism, and what you are doing is God's work. Some poor woman who's just trying to sell me a nice lipstick.

54:43No, but seriously, your job is vital. OK, we've got ten questions for you. Here we go. Question one. Why were baths considered to be potentially dangerous? My first thought about me and hearing your question was the answer will be cat poo. Why were baths considered potentially dangerous? Because being too clean meant that stuff could get in your pores. Yes, that's right. That grime was protective. That's right. Question two. What harsh ingredients were common in hair removal creams? I think we've covered um oh it was that um stuff you use on walls um right first of all arsenic yes yeah and the other one is caustic caustic and arsenic quick land caustic very good uh you could have had cat feces of course hedgehogs sorry the list goes on question three what kind of hair was considered the most beautiful in renaissance italy It was, well, in my opinion, of course, short, dark, pink, anything that would make you wild, unruly.

55:44But I suppose for men of that period, it was those very docile of women. So they would have liked them blonde, blonde, blonde, platinum blonde. And curly. Curly. Curly and blonde. Very good, lovely. Like a cherub. Question four. What was the name of Giovanni Marinello's best-selling beauty book from 1562? Do you remember the name? What was the name of that book? I don't know, probably something like, listen, women.

56:10Listen, behave, slap some arsenic on, here's some lead for the face. Lead and cat poo for you. I think that was the subtitle. The main title was Ornaments of Ladies. Ornaments of white, yes, of course. Question five. What toxic ingredient was commonly found in foundations? Lead. It was white lead. As we heard, it was light scattering, which was quite surprising. Question six. What hygiene-related excuse did Lucrezia Borgia use to get out of social engagements? I'm so sorry. I won't be able to make it. My hair's wet. Very good. I'm washing my hair for the next three days. Question seven. What kitchen utensil was used to curl hair?

56:51A spoon. A hot spoon. A hot spoon. Question eight. What was the name of a bra-like contraption worn by Renaissance women? The monobra. That's right. Oh, the boob bag. That's right, the breast bag and the mono boob. Very good. Question nine. How did a 15-year-old from Siena poison her siblings? She used her mum's makeup. She went and got it out of the cupboards. But to be fair, they did want to send her to a convent. And I can relate. I mean, no, I can't relate. But I could, but you know. That's right. Yeah, mother's face cream in the salad, I think. Question ten. This is for nine out of ten. A very strong score.

57:28which haircut was banned by the venetian government which makeup was banned which haircut which haircut was banned by the mushroom fringe yes very good mushroom hair the old fungi fringe thank you what do i want you have won a year's supply of white lead you've won a year's supply of sheep's tallow face cream and marble mush uh well done nine out of ten really good thank you so much tatty thank you so much professor jill listener if you want more on historical beauty standards, check out our episode on the history of high-heeled shoes. It's an absolute classic from back in the day. And also we did one on hair care entrepreneur, Madam C.J.

58:04Walker. And for more on Renaissance Italy, why not listen to our episode on the Borgias? They were absolutely wild. And remember, if you've enjoyed the podcast, please share the show with your friends, subscribe to You're Dead to Me on BBC Sounds to get episodes 28 days earlier than on any other app, and make sure to switch on your notifications so you never miss an episode. I'd just like to say a huge thank you to our guests in History Corner. We had the brilliant Professor Jill Burke from the University of Edinburgh. Thank you, Jill. Thank you. And in Comedy Corner, we have the truly terrific Tati McLeod.

58:31Thank you, Tati. Thank you. And to you, lovely listener, join me next time as we rifle through the bathroom cabinet of another historical subject. But for now, I'm off to go and find enough bats to keep my curly locks looking luscious. Please don't report me to any animal rights groups. Bye!

58:49Your Dead to Me is a BBC Studios audio production for BBC Radio 4.

59:05Hello, Russell Cain here. I used to love British history. Be proud of it. Henry VIII, Queen Victoria, massive fan of stand-up comedians, obviously, Bill Hicks, Richard Pryor. That has become much more challenging, for I am the host of BBC Radio 4's Evil Genius, the show where we take heroes and villains from history and try to work out were they evil or genius. Do not catch up on BBC Sounds by searching Evil Genius if you don't want to see your heroes destroyed. But if, like me, you quite enjoy it, have a little search. Listen to Evil Genius with me, Russell Kane. Go to BBC Sounds and have your world destroyed.

59:47Hi, I'm Dan Snow, historian and host of Dan Snow's History at Podcast. I want to tell you about a brand new series. I don't want you to miss about the real history behind The Odyssey. With a major new Hollywood adaptation arriving this month, we'll trace Odysseus' epic journey across the Mediterranean, uncover the world of Mycenaean Greece, and investigate the mysteries of Homer and what draws us back to this timeless masterpiece again and again. For everything you need to know about The Odyssey, check out Dan Snow's history hit wherever you get your podcasts.