Beauty Treatment

A chemical analysis of an ancient cosmetic cream demonstrates that formulations used in earlier eras may have been quite sophisticated, even bearing some similarities to products used today. Biogeochemist Richard P. Evershed and his coworkers at the University of Bristol and the Museum of London in England report the composition of a white cream found in a tin canister dating to the middle of the second century. The artifact was discovered during the excavation of a Roman-era site in London [Nature, 432, 35 (2004)].

Using a variety of analytical techniques, Evershed and his colleagues determined that the main components were fatty acids (probably from cattle or sheep fat), starch, and stannic oxide (SnO₂). Starch is still used in modern cosmetics to create a smooth, powdery texture. The stannic oxide makes the cream white and opaque. Because Roman women tried to achieve a fair complexion, the cream may have served as a foundation layer.

The "sophistication of the preparation" and "the apparent refining and mixing of ingredients to produce the desired effects" surprised Evershed. The absence of cholesterol and the presence of a cholesterol dehydration product suggest that the fat was heated, possibly as a method of bleaching it. In addition, he says that the survival of the starch was rather surprising from a chemical perspective because it's normally considered highly degradable during prolonged burial.

As a final test of the analysis, Evershed and his colleagues prepared a synthetic version of the cream by mixing together the deduced ingredients in the correct proportions. "What better way to test our hypotheses concerning the function of the material we had so carefully analyzed than to prepare it from modern ingredients?" he comments.