When talking about personal hygiene in a Renaissance setting
we need to forget our modern points of reference.

In the 16th Century personal hygiene and washing habits were based on the observance of some basic rules which recommended washing your hands and face once a day, your hair once a week and changing your undergarments quite frequently.

Cleaning your teeth was also considered a fundamental act of hygiene, even though this was not always done every day:
perfumed powders were used with pieces of linen or special 'tooth picks' made of precious metals. The Medici jewel collection includes some extremely valuable examples of these implements: the handles are made of pearl and are topped with gold heads adorned with emeralds, rubies and pear-shaped pierced gems.

Tooth powder was just an ancestor of our toothpaste, an abrasive powder, usually made from crushed date seeds, cuttlebones or white clay, mixed with gums and resins, and strong aromatic essences like cinnamon, rosemary and cloves.

It is curious to think that in order to be considered a good toothpaste it had to be pink in colour since this was believed to give a nice red tone to the gums. This colour was made from the gum of a large red tree commonly called “dragon's blood” and from powdered red coral.

Solid soap was produced in large quantities in the coastal towns of Genoa and Venice. It was made from the alkaline lye extracted from the ashes of marine plants in which animal fats were cooked. This was then mixed with various essential oils or vegetable resins. The solid variety was quite common as it was used for washing undergarments and dirty linen. It was also used for shaving, but for some parts of the body, like the face and the hands, people preferred to choose from a wide range of cosmentic washes, or so-called ”scented waters”.

Soap was often added to caustic substances like rock alum, which made the skin on hands whiter and softer, just as fashions at the time dictated. Indeed in the official pharmaceutical texts of the period we can find a whole host of the most commonly used ingredients and beauty tips to make your skin whiter, so as to achieve the pallor which was so sought after by the affluent classes.

In some cases substances with a corrosive effect, like quick silver, rock alum or even white lead, were mixed with other - usually white – natural ingredients like powdered white seashells, almonds, milk, lily bulbs, crushed egg shells, white wine and vinegar, pearl and marble dust and even powdered porcelain.

It goes without saying that the long-term effects of the use of these cosmetics was devastating for your facial skin!
The personal physician of Queen Elisabeth I noted in his journal that her lead-based face mask (which she had been wearing since her thirties!), was so thick and sticky that it was impossible to remove it from her face when she passed away.