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

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Sep 5, 2025

Joined by historian Jill Burke, a visual cultures expert from the University of Edinburgh, and comedian Tatty Macleod, known for her hilarious takes on cultural differences, this lively conversation dives into the extravagant beauty rituals of 16th-century Italy. They discuss the perilous beauty standards women faced, from toxic cosmetics to elaborate hairstyles and body treatments. With a mix of humor and historical insight, they explore the intersection of power, creativity, and the sometimes absurd lengths women went to achieve societal ideals.

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INSIGHT

Humours Built Beauty Hierarchies

Humoral theory linked hair and complexion to character and fertility, shaping beauty hierarchies and marriage advice.
Doctors ranked women by humoral qualities, praising golden, wavy, hairless women as ideal and warning against dark-curly intelligent types.

ANECDOTE

Bleaching By Balcony And Sun

Venetian women used straw-brim hats and sun-bleaching mixtures to lighten hair and achieve fashionable golden tones.
Both men and women also used dyes and lead combs to cover greys or darken hair.

ANECDOTE

Overnight Skin Remedies Mix Harmless And Harmful

Night routines used bran or breadcrumbs cleansers, tonics like vinegar or nettle, and overnight treatments such as snail slime or arsenic-based whiteners.
Some remedies (snail slime, frankincense) had genuine skin benefits while arsenic and mercury whiteners posed serious risk.

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Greg Jenner is joined in sixteenth-century Italy by historian Professor Jill Burke and comedian Tatty Macleod to learn all about Renaissance beauty standards and treatments. Early modern Italy is renowned for the gorgeous artworks created by painters like Titian, Rubens and Botticelli, many of them featuring beautiful women looking at themselves in mirrors or getting made up for a night out. In this episode, we take you through a Renaissance Get Ready With Me as we explore how these women would have been taking care of their hair and skin. We look at what hairstyles and makeup men and women wore, how often they bathed, whether or not they removed their body hair, and how they shaped their bodies through dieting and underwear. Along the way, we dive into the recipes for popular cosmetics and skincare treatments, ask where Renaissance beauty standards came from, and uncover the sexist, racist and classist ideas that often underpinned them. But we also explore how their beauty routines could be an avenue for women’s self-expression, and show the importance of the history of beauty, even amidst the turbulent politics and warfare of the early modern period.

If you’re a fan of women’s creativity through time, whacky historical recipes and early modern Italian art, you’ll love our episode on Renaissance beauty.

If you want to know more about the beauty standards of the past, why not listen to our episode on the history of high heels, or haircare entrepreneur Madam CJ Walker. And for more from Renaissance Italy, check out our episodes on the Borgias and Leonardo Da Vinci.

You’re Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past.

Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Emma Bentley Written by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: Philip Sellars