What kind of beauty products and regimens did the middle class women in the 15-16th centuries typically use?

I'm way interested in that time period and am simply curious.What kind of beauty products and regimens did the middle class women in the 15-16th centuries typically use?
Many women of that period would have made their own beauty products, as they made many other items for household use.





Perfume was very popular. Tudor household manuals contain many recipes for perfume, because scent was an expensive luxury containing imported ingredients like spices, and was used as a demonstration of wealth. Women would distill their own perfume, rosewater was a particularly popular scent, as were marjoram and lavender.





White skin was much admired among ladies, Elizabeth I used a preparation for whitening the skin made of egg-whites, powdered egg-shell, alum, borax, poppy seeds and mill water. Cheeks and lips would be reddened with madder, vermillion, or with cochineal, made from ladybirds. Kohl was used to outline the eyes and darken the eyelashes. Middle-class women would probably want to be fashionable as far as they could, and would use these processes as well if they could afford them.





Hair was washed in lye, a mixture of wood-ash and water. A book called Delights for Ladies gives a recipe for 'a delicate washing ball'. Basically, it gives directions for scenting toilet soap or 'castill soap' as the book calls it. Castille soap was expensive, imported toilet soap, made with olive oil rather than the animal fat used in laundry soap. This is the sort of thing a wealthy lady would use for her daily wash. Less wealthy ladies might be satisfied with ordinary soap, made by boiling animal fat up with lye.





There were laws about what kind of clothing people could wear, certain fabrics were supposed to be limited to the upper classes. This was intended to prevent wealthy commoners, like rich merchants etc, from dressing like the upper classes. These laws were often ignored though, so probably the wives of rich merchants for instance would have dressed quite sumptuously. However, most middle-class women would have dressed a lot more simply than the upper-class women,and would not have worn very elaborate clothing.What kind of beauty products and regimens did the middle class women in the 15-16th centuries typically use?
Direct quote:





Depilatories, breast-enhancing creams, pomades, and astringents were all part of a woman鈥檚 beauty regimen. To remove unwanted hair, women employed strong, often dangerous depilatories. Fabric strips were dipped in tar as a primitive waxing system. In some cases, hot needles were used to burn hair follicles, painfully so.





Gowns were kept for nearly a lady鈥檚 entire life, from marriage until death, tailored for changes. Dresses were brightly colored, long, and large with brightly colored stockings and petticoats underneath. Bodices were popular in some areas, although mainly in France and Italy. Again, such clothing was made of the finest materials. Hairstyles and headdresses were intricately done. After marriage, a lady鈥檚 hair was always worn up (except when in private with her lord), usually with gold nets, circlets, or jeweled coronets. Gold dust was sometimes thrown in hair to beautify ladies further.
Think they also knew about some cosmetics, burnt cork, for darkening brows, tinting lids, and there was a lead based comb mascara as well as lead based pastes for whitening faces, not the safest thing to do. And a variety of powders, most made at home, with a talcum base. They knew what Kohl was, and had a variety of homemade lip balms, usually wax based and colored from various flower dyes.


They used perfume..oh goodness did they love 'foofoo'. Receipes were handed down through the family concerning the distilling of perfumes,


Skin care products could include 'masks' and lotions made of various fruits and vegetable. Some astringent for cleansing, some just for softening hands and face. Rose water and glcyrin were popular for centuries.


hair was not frequently washed but cared for and done elaborately as mentioned. Unless you were poor then it just got shoved up out of the way or cut. Women paid attention to their hands and nails also. filing and shining, polishing was known.


Baths were not as frequent, but throughally enjoyed when they happened. Washing up was the norm for all people.


Women dieted. When haven't they? They had fads of fashion. Dancing slippers were the rage for a bit, but outside women wore Pattens, very tall clog type shoes that were to keep gowns out of the mud. They were neither comfortable or graceful but carefully managed they could get you to the carriage without fallling in the mud.
Where?? in Europe or Africa, Asia??