British archaeologists find over 50 pairs of tweezers at ancient site, reflecting Roman obsession with hairlessness

“Beauty is pain” was a maxim the ancient Romans lived by. During almost daily trips to the municipalities public baths, the Romans paid to have their skin scratched, their ears plucked out and their hair removed. Removing body hair was a particular obsession and became an enduring standard of beauty, a Romans considered it an important mark of difference between them and barbarians.

At the newly refurbished museum in Wroxeter Roman City, Shropshire, UK, a new exhibition of over 400 artefacts showcases various items that bear witness to such thoroughness in the departments of health and beauty. This includes strigils, perfume bottles, copper cosmetic sets, and yes, hair removal tweezers.

“At Wroxeter alone we have discovered over 50 pairs of tweezers, one of the largest collections of this item in Britain,” Cameron Moffett, curator of English heritage at Wroxeter Roman City, said in a statement. . statement. “The advantage of tweezers was that they were safe, simple and cheap, but unfortunately not without pain.”

Reconstruction of a Roman cleaning kit, including a strigil, a bottle of oil, a nail cleaner and tweezers. Courtesy of English Heritage.

The large number of tweezers found on the spot testifies in some way to the size and prosperity of Wroxeter, or Viriconium Cornoviorum, as it was called in Latin. Founded as a provincial fortress in the mid-first century, it became the fourth largest city in Roman Britain with a peak population of 15,000, roughly the same size as Pompeii. Regardless of the distance from Rome, the people of Wroxeter were faithful to the aesthetic customs of the capital of the empire.

In a post announcing the museum’s opening last month, English Heritage, which operates the site, says the modern obsession with hair removal dates back to the Romans. Poets including Pliny and Ovid wrote about the need for women to wax to be attractive. But while today’s particular fixation on hairlessness falls crushingly on women, it applied to both sexes in Roman times. In addition to maintaining a clean-shaven appearance, men were expected to remove hair before engaging in physical activities, such as wrestling.

A reconstruction of Wroxeter. Courtesy of English Heritage.

THE presence of plucking male hair (and the noises it made) in bathhouses was so common it grated on people. In particular, the philosopher Seneca of the 4th century BC. J.-C. wrote to a friend that “the skinny armpit epilator whose cries are shrill, so as to attract people’s attention, and never stop, except when it is doing its job and making someone scream.” another for him.”

Wroxeter is one of best preserved roman cities in Great Britain. The range of structures that archaeologists have excavated include the city forum, market, bathhouse and a reconstructed townhouse. Other highlights on display in the new museum are a Roman water pipe, strung necklaces, glass bottles, and phallus-shaped amulets.

See more images from Wroxeter below: