Roman Men Epilated—With Tweezers and Pitch
Roman men plucked their body hair—painstakingly, strand by strand.
Esprit Antoine Gibelin — "Louis XVI as the Benefactor of Surgery" (1771–74), public domain
Smooth Was In: Roman Men’s Secret Pain
Step into a Roman bathhouse and hear the snap—bronze tweezers, plucking hair from a man's arms and legs. Hot pitch smeared on, torn off with a wince. Body hair was out, and pain was the price of beauty.
Cosmetae: Slaves as Personal Groomers
Rich Romans owned slaves called 'cosmetae' just to handle their grooming. These specialists spent hours removing hair, especially before feasts or games. Martial jokes about men who look too polished, but the grooming tools found in Pompeii prove it was no joke.
In imperial Rome, wealthy men obsessed over smooth skin. They paid slaves called 'cosmetae' to pull out hairs with bronze tweezers or smear on hot pitch and rip it away—waxing, ancient style. Martial, the satirist, mocks men who overdo it, but the evidence is clear in found grooming kits and surviving wall paintings.
