[Avodah] The Ramchal's Beard

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 09:37:19PM -0400, Moshe Y. Gluck wrote:
: Shabbos 80b discusses a few depilatory methods, at least one of which
: was intended for facial hair.

It says that the poor "waxed" themselves with sid; and I am assumign
that's not for skin as sensitive as cheeks.

The rich used soles. Was this as an abrasive? Is fine flour even abrasive,
or (as I seem to recall of today's grindings) -- soft? I think the rich
used white makeup.

And benos melakhim used shemen hamor, which we are told is acidic olive
oil from underripe olives. While I do not doubt that benos melakhim
tried this a means to reduce hair growth (the gemara says it also ma'adan
habasar) I do doubt it worked.

More recently (meaning, up to the mass production of depilatories)
in Europe, cat's urine (for the ammonia, a strong base) or vinegar (an
acid) were used. Both were believed to prevent or reduce hair growth,
not remove what did gwo. But both failed double-blind testing.


: P.S. I recall reading once that male Native Americans used to use
: wooden tweezers to remove facial hair.

Many NA nations also tend to produce far less facial hair than most
Jewish men to start with. I guess people can learn to get used to it.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

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