From j.g.bodard@reading.ac.uk Fri Mar 24 04:25:12 2000 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id EAA29392 for ; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 04:25:11 -0800 Received: from mailhost.rdg.ac.uk (IDENT:exim@sumh1.rdg.ac.uk [134.225.16.4]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.02/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id EAA17583 for ; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 04:25:11 -0800 Received: from suma3-e4 ([134.225.24.13] helo=suma3.rdg.ac.uk) by mailhost.rdg.ac.uk with esmtp (University of Reading Email Service) id {12YT9H-0001gX-00} for classics@u.washington.edu; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 12:25:07 +0000 Received: from localhost by suma3.rdg.ac.uk (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id MAA20652; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 12:25:07 GMT Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 12:25:07 +0000 (GMT) From: Gabriel Bodard To: "classics@u.washington.edu" Subject: Re: The experts are stumped, or Clarification of Hair/Seia In-Reply-To: <38DAB3B8.E4B7DC7F@gateway.net> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Thu, 23 Mar 2000, J. Sandrock wrote: > 1. What did the Romans use to wash their hair? My colleagues and I > have checked all the usual suspects and no one seems to mention it. > We've found hairstyling, hair dying, hair cutting, etc. but no hair > washing. Perhaps there is no ancient source for this mundane topic. In > the absence of soap, what would Romans use? Our own suggestions have > been ashes, pumice, oil, and simply washing in the baths (with the > understanding that the Romans had a very different standard of personal > hygiene from squeaky-clean Americans). Not an answer, I'm afraid, but a comment re "standards of personal hygiene": not using soap or any detergent/solvent to wash isn't necessarily less hygienic. Rinsing hair thoroughly with water should be enough (for the rest of the body, also) so long as the body's natural oil-producting (glands/pores?) haven't been damaged by the lifelong use of such soaps. (As I understand it - I've never experimented with washing without soap. I'm sure I'll be corrected.) - Gabby. John-Gabriel Bodard Listowner, Iconographie Discussion List Reading Classics Department .