Roman Women Used Heated Metal Curlers
A Roman woman’s slave clamps a strip of bronze against her mistress’s hair, then presses it into a glowing brazier.
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema — "At the Shrine of Venus" (ca. 1889), public domain
Hair Curlers, Roman Style
A Roman lady’s morning could begin with a hiss of hot bronze. Her slave heated a metal tube—the calamistrum—on coals, then wound hair around it, locking in tight curls.
Pompeii’s Beauty Secrets
Archaeologists have found scorched curlers in elite homes at Pompeii, and Roman poets mock women for burning off chunks of hair in pursuit of the perfect wave. The beauty industry was already dangerously advanced.
What looks like a modern curling iron first turns up in ancient Rome—right down to the burn marks. Archaeologists have found bronze tongs, called 'calamistrum', blackened from use, in women’s bedrooms at Pompeii. Roman writers joke about burnt scalps and singed hair, hinting that the struggle for beauty has always involved a little pain.
