In this post commissioned by CEMS at KCL for their ‘Key Things’ series, I focus on a sixteenth-century French boxwood comb, and what beauty tools such as this can reveal about health, beauty and love in early modern Europe.

Inspired by a paper I recently delivered at the 2022 Early Modern Men conference, this post considers why men may have been conscious of their bald pates, and what potential remedies for baldness were circulating in seventeenth-century England.

A visit to the spa in early modern England was quite different from the relaxing spa experience we have come to expect today. In this post, Susannah Lyon-Whaley explores the purpose of mineral waters and spa visits, considering the perceived benefits for both health and beauty, alongside ideas about class distinction, social interaction and display.

In this post, I explore the importance of the forehead in terms of bodily proportions and facial beauty, and consider the practice of removing hair to broaden and elongate the forehead.

If your curiosity has been piqued by early modern beauty treatments, and you are keen to try your hand at making some of the recipes, I have collated some potential methods for hair care, skincare and cosmetics. Where possible, I have endeavoured to include recipes that employ accessible and safe ingredients.

Much like today, eyebrows constituted an important site of beauty in early modern Europe. In this inaugural post, I explore the ideal set of brows in early modern England, and consider the means undertaken by women and men to achieve them.