In the first part of this article, I discussed some of the cosmetics used in the Islamic Middle Ages, particularly relying on Albucasis’ 19th chapter in his medical encyclopedia At-tasrif li-man ‘ajaza ‘an at-ta’rif fi al-tibb (The arrangement of manifold medical knowledge for one who is not able to compile a book for himself), where he wrote on numerous female cosmetic preparations. In this part, I want to delve into other prominent works that deal with female enhancement practices found in medical encyclopedias and hisba (market inspection) manuals.

I want to reference three sources: a sexual manual written in the 15th century, a market inspection manual written by an Andalusian Jurist in the 12th century, and the section on “adornment medicine” in Avicenna’s 11th-century Canon of Medicine. Like At-tasrif, these three works contain chapters on cosmetic recipes for hair dyes, hair growth remedies, depilator pastes, facial cleansers, masks, moisturizers, medicinal Kohls, deodorant tablets, dentifrices, breath-enhancing pills, and perfumes. Some also include clothing fragrances and scented body powders or diapasmata (Ar. dharāʾir).

The first source is called rujuʿ ālšaiẖ ʾila ṣibāh fi ālqūwah ʿala ālbāh (The invigoration of the elder to his virility in coitus), a 15th-century sexual manual written by an Ottoman Jurist and Judge. It discusses in great length many comprehensive subjects related to sexuality, ranging from sexual drive, its impetuses and deterrents, to aphrodisiacs, the proper times for coitus, birth control, medicines that promote pregnancy, remedies that increase women’s sexual drive, and sex positions. The second volume pertinent to our topic discusses the “enhancements” or cosmetics that women may use to make themselves more desirable and tempting as a driving force to sexual intercourse with their husbands.

The second source is an inspection manual called adāb al-hisba (discipline of supervision), authored by an Andalusian jurist from the 12th century. In the chapter on regulating the purchase of eunuchs and female slaves, he mentions the type of cosmetic treatments of female slaves, or more so, the fraudulent alterations slave merchants employed to enhance the appearance of female slaves to make them more appealing to potential buyers.

The third source focuses on Avicenna’s 11th-century Al-qānun fi At-tib (Canon of Medicine), specifically the chapter on “adornment medicine”, where he discusses different medical preparations to prevent hair shedding and balding on the scalp and eyebrows, or those concerned with hair growth and those that prevent hair from growing. He also discusses whitening preparations, recipes for blond hair, and anti-wrinkle creams.

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A) recipes for Cosmetics from the 15th-century sexual manual, rujuʿ ālšaiẖ ʾila ṣibāh fi ālqūwah ʿala ālbāh (The invigoration of the elder to his virility in coitus)

According to the author of this sexual manual: “Zīnah (cosmetics) supplements what is lacking in physical beauty, making the face and skin whiter, redder, and more fragrant. It is an incentive for sexual desire upon looking at a woman’s face and an invitation to have intercourse with her. We have listed in this chapter exfoliating face cleansers (ghasulat) and rouging face masks (ghumrat) that make the skin clearer and enhance the complexion.

The cleansers are concocted from an array of ingredients such as peeled broad bean flour, peeled chickpea flour, lentil flour, lupine flour, ervil flour, rice flour, sweet and bitter almond, cucumber seeds, melon, squash, radish, arugula seeds, egg shells, mollusks, costus, kernels of cottonseeds, saffron, Realgar and Orpiment, mastics, coriander, figs, Boswellia sacra, Bdellium, litharge, ceruse, starch, wax, gum, natron, fish glue, Astragalus sarcocolla, potash (ushnan), and syrups (ashriba) and such. These items are the basis for making these cleansers and all facial enhancement remedies, such as face masks and others.”

1- A recipe for a good face cleanser (ghasul)

Take one part of lentil flour, chickpea flour, starch, Astragalus sarcocolla, mastic, and natron, pulverize it into a fine powder, and mix. It is used after waking up and is very exfoliating.

2- A recipe for a good face cleanser (ghasul), which exfoliates and enhances the complexion

Take starch and tragacanth gum, pulverize and dissolve in fresh milk, and leave to dry in the shade. When needed, crush and use; it gets the job done.

3- A recipe for a remedy that removes melasma from the face

Take one part Armenian borax and two parts sweet almond, pulverize them into a fine consistency, and apply them to the face.

4- A recipe for a good face lotion (ghumra)

Take one part white wax, ceruse, and calf suet. The recipe calls for the wax to be dissolved (yudaf) into rose oil. The term yudaf in cooking refers to dissolving a dry ingredient into a liquid to let it release its essence. Then ceruse and calf suet are added to the mixture. It is applied to the face, left overnight, and washed in the morning with cold water.

5- A face lotion (ghumra) that rouges and reddens the face

Take white mustard, Realgar, and a little natron, pulverize everything, add egg whites to the mixture, and apply. Another rouging face lotion calls for 1 mithqal of tragacanth gum, and glass pounded to the consistency of a Kohl, saffron, lupine, and cottonseed kernels. These ingredients are dewed with a little bit of almond oil and then applied; it gets the job done.

Dyes that color the fingertips and palms

The author says that ” coloring the fingertips and palms is a manner of adornment which enhances and beautifies a woman and a means to attract the man and incite his sexual desire.” These were Dyes for the body, not the hair, and came in different colors like golden, black, green, ash, red, and blue, like the color of peacocks.

1- A golden henna

Take honey and beat it vigorously in hot water. It is poured into a squash and then left to drip and distill slowly. The pure distilled product is combined with Melanterite الزاج القبرصي and metal shavings, and is stored in a bottle and hung in the glaring hot sun until all the ingredients fuse properly. If you want to stain any body part, add ammonia water to the mixture, leave it in the sun, and use it. Another golden dye is made from henna, woad, and dragon’s blood, which is dissolved into wine vinegar.

A more elaborate method for producing golden dyes was created from yellow orpiment, natron, sulfur, and yellow litharge. These ingredients are placed in a crucible (bawdakah), inserted in a furnace (kur), then removed and allowed to cool. Take the cooled product from the crucible and pulverize it into a fine powder. Separately, take henna and knead it with acidic wine vinegar, then dry it out, pulverizing it into a fine powder, and add to the dried product from the crucible and mix both with syrup, leave it to ferment for a day and a night. Apply to the hands, and it will come out golden.

2- A green henna

Take Green vitriol القلقند and white alum, pulverize each item separately, and add each one to a separate container. Add water to submerge, then leave for an hour and drain each one in a separate container. Leave out in the sun to dry. Take the drained and dried items and grind them into egg whites. Dye the hands with it after dyeing the hands with henna that had chard leaves wrapped around. It will come out green like chards or legumes, while green (baql).

3-A Fairouz (tourquise) colored henna

Take 5 mithqals of verdigris, Yemeni alum, arsenic, copper oxide راسخت, green vitriol, gum arabic, and saffron. These ingredients are ground into a fine powder with henna and kneaded with wine vinegar. It will come out looking like a true Fairouz (Turquoise) gem.

4- A green henna, but it also resembles blue

Take lapis lazuli, turmeric, woad, cinnabar, saffron, and mastic, bring everything into a fine powder kneaded with gum water, and leave to ferment and dye with it.

5- A black henna

Take a dried banana peel, henna, powdered oak galls, Green vitriol, amla, and mastic, pulverize everything into a fine powder like kohl, and knead with lukewarm water, leave to ferment. Use it to dye your hands and fingertips; it will come out black as the crow’s feathers.

6- An ash-colored henna

Take ceruse (white lead), felty germander الجعدة, henna, gum Arabic, camphor, and metal shavings. Pulverize and sift, then knead with an acidic vinegar and dye the hands with it; they will color it silver.

7- A red henna

Take vitriol, sappanwood, henna, red ochre, dragon’s blood, saffron, and mastic. The ingredients are pulverized and kneaded with egg yolk oil, dye the hand, and it will come out like red poppies.

8- A Khaluqi (red) henna

Take dragon’s blood, saffron, mastics, and pound everything, and knead with gum water. Leave it to ferment, and dye the palms of the hands, and it will come out good.

Deodrants for women and anti-perspiration remedies.

1- A deodorant unguent for the body

Take myrtle, marjoram, cyperus, citron peels, and their leaves, potash, and sandalwood, and grind them into a powder. If in need, add a little bit of myrtle oil, rose oil, and water, and daub over the body.

2- A tablet that prevents armpit odor

Take sandalwood, Chinese cassia, musk, spikenard, alum, myrrh, red roses, tutty, litharge, and camphor. Pulverize the ingredients, sift and knead with rose water, shape into tablets, leave to dry, and use.

3- A paste that prevents perspiration

Take roses, cyperus, musk, and alum, pulverize them into a fine powder dissolved in rose water, and use.

Remedies that promote hair growth and help elongate it, make the hair crimped and curled, hair dyes that enhance hair color, and also remedies that prevent body hair growth and body hair depilations.

Regarding hair, the author divides the hair into 4 categories:

First, hair that has beauty and function, like hair on the head, eyebrow hair, and eyelash hair.

Second, hair that has no beauty or function, like pubic hair and underarm hair.

Third, hair that has no beauty but has a function, like men’s beards.

Fourth, hair that has no beauty and no function, like body hair.

1- A recipe for a remedy that makes hair longer

Boil asparagus in water and add mustard powder, fine like kohl. Wash the head with the water mixture, then rub the head with Myrtle oil. Another remedy is to take Egg yolk oil and Jasmine oil, mix until well combined, and rub it on the head continuously; it gets the job done.

2- Another remedy that enhances the hair and makes it longer

Take labdanum cooked in wine and rose oil until thoroughly combined. Wash the head with it; when dried, it makes the hair roots grow.

3- A recipe that promotes hair growth

Take a fox’s brain and apply it to the head, and it has astounding hair growth-promoting properties.

4- A black hair dye

A recipe for a black dye that lasts for a year. Take 1/2 ratl of fine, sweet olive oil (zayt tayyib) and pour it into a casserole pan (ṭājin) over the stove until it gets heated, and add 1/2 awqiya of Jasmine seeds and let it cook, while stirring continuously until it burns, then remove from the heat and put it in a bottle. Add 1/2 awqiya of metal shavings into the bottle and leave it for 4 days, then use it twice or thrice as it gives you the desired outcome.

5- A remedy that prevents hair greying

Take eggs and colocynth seeds, fry in laurel oil, and take with it a 1/4 of Arsenic sulfide (not pounded). Everything is heated, and the concentrated oil is filtered. If needed, rub Myrtle juice on your head, then use the oil once every year.

6- A hair dye

Take as many as needed of oak galls of about 20 dirhams, pulverize and dissolve in oil, then fry the galls in a clay pot until it is charred. The purpose is to extract as much black from it, but not burn it completely. Take 10 dirhams of litharge and copper oxide روسختج, two dirhams of Alum, and 1 dirham of rock salt, then pulverize all these ingredients and make a paste by mixing the ingredients with Sumac juice. It is used to blacken the hair and stays for a prolonged time.

7- Another hair dye

Take equal parts Henna and woad, and dissolve them in Sumac juice and sour Pomegranate juice. Dye the hair with it, and it comes out very black.

8- A hair oil that strengthens and blackens the hair

A recipe for Anemone oil that strengthens and blackens the hair. Take 2 awqiya of Anemone flowers dried in the shade and pulverized into a fine powder. Sift with a fine silk mesh and add to 20 ratls of Myrtle oil and leave out in the sun for 20 days and use.

9- A red hair dye

Take equal parts of Cyperus and Anacyclus pyrethrum and cook in water. Sieve the solid parts and leave the water. Use it as a hair dye; it comes out very red.

Another red hair dye is to take one part of woad and bdellium, and a little bit of hibiscus, knead everything into a paste, and use it. Another variation is to take woad, henna, and hibiscus and knead them with sumac water; it will come out very red.

10- A recipe for a remedy that curls the hair

Take 3 dirhams worth of Nura (quicklime), litharge, amla, gum acacia, and tin juri (damascene clay), and 2 dirhams worth of vitriol. Pulverize all the ingredients separately and mix them, then knead and ferment the mixture.

Before use, wash the hair first with khatmi (marshmallow) and proceed to apply the mixture to each hair strand and leave it till the next day; it does the job well. Also, the author says that olive leaves soaked in water can also curl the hair.

11- A recipe that turns curly hair straight

Take psyllium seeds’ mucilage, marshmallow, and quince mucilage, mix them, and apply them to crinkly/curly hair.

12- A recipe that promotes eyebrow hair

Take burnt donkey hoof and pulverized horns, grind them into sesame oil, and apply; it is effective.

13- A depilation paste for hair removal

Take equal parts of quicklime and arsenic with a little aloe vera, then mix the ingredients with water until it turns into a porridge-like consistency, then daub it over the desired place, which will remove the hair.

Remedies that exfoliate the teeth, remove breath odor, and enhance the breath.

1- A recipe for a dentifrice

Take 2 parts of pomegranate peels, horns, and blossoms of the wild pomegranate tree, sumac, oak galls, and alum. Pulverize, then sift and use. Another recipe calls for brushing the teeth with coarsely ground sugar.

2- A dentifrice that enhances breath, strengthens the gums, and whitens the teeth

Take a peeled white Cyperus and grind it finely, dew it with aged wine, knead it with honey, and shape it into small tablets. Leave it on a flat pan over the stove without burning it. If it becomes charred and dry, leave it to cool. Take 10 dirhams worth of the tablets, 3 dirhams worth of rock salt, 3 dirhams worth of cuttlefish bone, and 4 dirhams worth of Indian agarwood. Grind into a fine powder and brush your teeth with it.

3- A recipe for a breath-enhancing remedy

Take equal parts of cassia bark, cinnamon bark, ramik, cardamom, charcoal, sugar, cubeb, elecampane, licorice, and wormwood الأفستين او الشيبة. Pulverize the ingredients, knead them with rose water, and shape them into small pills like chickpeas. It is used every day under the tongue.

4- A recipe for a pill that removes breath odor

Take 3 dirhams of lesser cardamom, greater cardamom, mace, clove, cinnamon bark, 5 dirhams of red roses, white sandalwood, 1/2 dirham of camphor, and Musk. Grind everything finely and knead with rose water, shape it into chickpea-like pills, and use daily.

B) Cosmetic recipes from a 12th-century Andalusian inspection manual (Kitab al-hisba) by the Andalusian Jurist Al-malqi

The author of this inspection manual enumerates the fraudulent methods or so-called “alterations” employed by slave merchants to make female slaves more appealing to buyers. These included whitening cosmetics for the skin and face. He says: ” … of the tricks used by the aforementioned [slave owners] is that they paint the face [of the slave] with a face mask (ghumra) made from broad bean soaked in melon juice for six days and in milk for seven days with continuous stirring of the milk every day, for it makes the woman’s pearly complexion whiter. A black-skinned woman should be placed in a bathtub filled with caraway water and left for four hours; she will come out golden.”

One recipe for a ghasul (cleanser) for rouging the cheeks is: “Take broad bean powder and five parts Vicia ervilia, and a quarter part of saffron roots, natron, and henna.” Freckles and tattoo marks are treated with a facemask made of date pits, bitter almonds, vicia ervilia, broad beans, and melon seeds kneaded with honey.

He also includes moisturizers for the face and the body. Violet oil and tiib (perfumes made from various aromatic oils) are especially useful for dark-skinned women. Dry and stiff limbs are moisturized with oil, wax, and bitter almonds, and a lakhlakha (aromatic potpourri or air freshener) that is made from rose water and violet oil. They remove melasma from the face with a paste made from nigella seeds, roots of snake cucumbers, mallow leaves, Arugula seeds, grapevine roots, and honey.

They blacken their hair with a dye made from Myrtle oil, green walnut hull oil, and Anemone oil, and then the hair is washed with amla. They curl and crinkle their hair with Sidr, Myrtle, and Melia Azedarach.

To remove body hair, they made depilation pastes consisting of Nura (quicklime+arsenic), and after that, they used ant eggs and oil in which frogs, lizards, or a rabbit gallbladder have been cooked. The body is washed with natron, alum, and oak galls.

The body was perfumed with sandalwood, roses, litharge dissolved in rosewater, and incense. In fear of lice, they washed their bodies with natron, delphinium staphisagria, chard juice, soap, and wine dregs.

Deodorants for armpit odors were concocted from bleached litharge kneaded with rosewater. It is shaped into tablets, buried in roses, and left to dry, then stored away until it is time to use. Other varieties were made from zinc oxide (tutty, from Ar. Tuttya) that was washed, pulverized, and sieved with water and salt, then rosewater and camphor. It is used as a scented dusting powder (dharur). Another tablet deodorant was made from red roses, musk, spikenard, galingale, and alum, and when needed, it is used with rose water.

Oral care included treatments for bad breath, such as chewing on coriander, citron peels, and fresh sandalwood. and beans. Nasal odors were treated with a sa’oat (nasal spray or a snuff) made from marjoram oil, lavender, lotus, and Jasmine. Dentifrices were made from potash and sugar, and they used a Miswak (a twig from the Salvadora Persica tree) as a toothbrush.

Breath-enhancing pills were made from one part mace, cyperus, rosewater, cloves, and two parts gum. The gum is dissolved in rosewater; in addition, the other ingredients (dry and sifted) are added and made into pill-shaped balls, and left to dry.

C) Cosmetic recipes from Avicenna’s 11th-century Canon of Medicine

Avicenna recommended the usage of Myrtle, its berries, and oil, labdanum, Amla, myrobalan, Myrrh, burnt donkey hoofs and horns, sesame oil, and aloe vera for promoting hair growth and preventing hair fall. Remedies for moisturizing and straightening overly crinkly hair are obtained from all plant mucilages (flaxseed, psyllium, and marshmallow), quince mucilage, and also violet oil and myrtle oil.

Hair dyes typically blacken, whiten, reden, or blonden (lighten) the hair. He recommends the usage of substances with more potency in their dyeing properties, like rusts of iron and slag, or the juices of walnut hulls, which can offset the hydrophobic properties of oils.

Dyes that yielded the darkest color were henna and woad. Some added other ingredients to the hair dyes to enrich their pigment, like sumac juice, pomegranate juice, yogurt whey, walnut hulls, and cloves. Another variant of a rich black dye can be obtained from oak galls that are brushed with oil and fried or charred in a mudded pot, with sometimes tragacanth gum added. They are left to burn to a degree enough to be pulverizable and extract the utmost amount of blackness, but not reach an unsalvageable degree. Then Alum, copper oxide, and rock salt are added to the dye mixture, probably as mordants to make the color fixed.

According to Ibn Sina, simple medicines that blacken the hair are; pepperwort, myrrh, mustard, lycium, salt, hellebore, chenopodium, amla, black myrobalan, maidenhair fern, anemone, henna, woad, copper oxide, iron slag, juice of green broad bean peels, walnut hulls and its juice, vachellia nilotica, fenugreek plant, beetroot stalks, Myrtle, the fruit of the Myrtus plant, labdanum, litharge, quicklime, all types of slags and metal shavings.

Red hair dyes were made from hibiscus, pomegranate peels, Cyperus, wine dregs, and sumac. For dyeing the hair red, he devises a recipe made from sumac, oak gall, yellow marigolds, wormwood الأفستين او الشيبة, maidenhair fern, dried peeled lupine, which are crushed and soaked in water, then the hair is bandaged with it.

In Avecinna’s canon of medicine, he lists several remedies used to make the hair blonde. He mentions that henna is kneaded with cooked Anacyclus pyrethrum. Also, dyeing the hair with alum, saffron, or Myrrh left overnight produces the most desired effect. According to him, strong blonding remedies are made from Cyperus and Anacyclus pyrethrum cooked in water.

The methodology of Medieval Arab dermatology and cosmetology emphasizes facial enhancements that penetrate the intradermal layers. Avicenna believed that aiding blood circulation to the face can heal skin disorders, rejuvenating and revitalizing the skin. He recommends a particular treatment regimen, like eating certain foods and engaging in certain emotional or physical states, doing certain activities, and applying topically certain remedies to stimulate blood circulation.

He advises consuming onions, garlic, pepper, saffron, radish, leeks, chickpeas, and figs. Staying in a hyperactive emotional or physical state that induces blood flow, like anger, argumentation, euphoria, looking at lovely things like zurrafaa’ (elegant people of refined taste in their conduct and attire), competing, wrestling, and listening to music.

This is aided by applying topical treatments that scrub off and exfoliate the dead skin to make the face brighter and healthier. These remedies include lupine, fava bean, barley, natron, rice, egg shells, quicklime, litharge, ceruse (white lead), ivory shavings, bones, melon seeds, Armenian cucumber seeds, squash, reddish seed flour, almond, and starch. These remedies are used singularly and with potash kneaded with melon juice.

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