# Did Roman Ladies Shave?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 25, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953 "2012-02-25T14:28:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953/1 "2012-02-25T14:28:00Z")
Considering the torture that Roman men endured (having their beards plucked out, or shaved with dull bronze razor blades), having your body hair shaved must have been nasty.
Do any accounts survive of this?
Or did Roman gals go for the furry look?
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### Author:  [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953/2 "2012-02-25T15:16:56Z")
How do you know the bronze blades were dull?
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953/3 "2012-02-25T15:21:42Z")
Not all Roman men shaved their faces or bodies. There are plenty of Roman statues of men in full beard. My SWAG is that some Roman women may have shaved, but that most didn’t.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953/4 "2012-02-25T15:54:00Z")
Roman styles changed over their history of oh 2200 years. Till about the Punic wars the majority of men wore beards. After that till the era of Hadrian, many were clean shaved. I suspect that the same was the case with women.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953/5 "2012-02-25T16:18:48Z")
There were a lot of different depilatory methods used in the tepidariums - shaving, depilatory creams, and straight-up plucking, which evidently annoyed some people with the resulting 40-Year-Old-Virgin-style screams.
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### Author:  [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953/6 "2012-02-25T17:08:15Z")
Since there have been findings of Roman Empire era woodworking hand planes and tools with iron blades, I think the idea that they shaved with dull bronze blades can’t be accurate.
> [@](#):
>
> [By the Roman period, the plane was a key element of the carpenter and joiners tool chest. Wood and iron planes from all over the Roman World have been found, including a fine example from the Roman town of Silchester in Hampshire. Specialist forms for particular jobs developed, including smoothing planes, moulding planes and Jack planes. It allowed Roman craftsmen to produce highly sophisticated joinery not seen again in Western Europe until the late 17th century](http://www3.hants.gov.uk/community-history/social-history-collections/hand-tools-history.htm)
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### Author:  [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953/7 "2012-02-25T18:51:37Z")
Bronze can carry quite an edge. Its generally harder than iron(though not steel).
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953/8 "2012-02-25T22:23:55Z")
At least [according to Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmetics_in_Ancient_Rome)
> [@](#):
>
> hair was considered to be unattractive on a Roman woman. Consequently, women removed hair by either shaving, plucking, stripping using a resin paste, or scraping with a pumice stone. Older women faced ridicule for their depilation because it was viewed primarily as preparation for sex.[22]
Another [source states:](http://www.instituto-capilar.com/historia_de_la_depilacion-70_articulo_en.html)
> [@](#):
>
> They used tweezers, called “volsella”, “dropax” and resin and tar-based waxes called “philotrum”.
>
> In the public baths there were depilation rooms.
>
> There were specialist slaves, “alipilarius” who in the brothels depilated the pubic hair of the courtesans.
FWIW.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953/9 "2012-02-25T22:31:29Z")
Wikipedia has this to say on the subject:
> [@](#):
>
> With the exception of hair on her head, hair was considered to be unattractive on a Roman woman. Consequently, women removed hair by either shaving, plucking, stripping using a resin paste, or scraping with a pumice stone. Older women faced ridicule for their depilation because it was viewed primarily as preparation for sex.
From here: [Cosmetics in ancient Rome - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmetics_in_Ancient_Rome)
It’s wikipedia and the cite for it appears to be a bit munged, so make of it what you will.
ETA: DSeid’s post wasn’t there when I started typing. I should learn to preview.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953/10 "2012-02-26T05:34:08Z")
I always wondered about those greek and roman statues, and even up to renaissance paintings. Who decided that women should show no pubic hair - had it been the fashion in greek and roman times and also in renaissance Italy? (why also was there no visible genitalia - the Barbie-Doll look? Considering how many statues showed penises it can’t be some sort of modesty?)
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### Author:  [@F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.Pu-du-he-pa-as)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-roman-ladies-shave/613953/11 "2012-02-26T17:20:37Z")
This is Greek, not Roman, but there’s a passage in one of Aristophanes’ plays (The Congresswomen, if I recall correctly), in which a woman mentions singing off her pubic hair with an oil lamp.