ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the distinctive ways in which beauty knowledge was transmitted in the premodern world and how important it is to take this into account to accurately write the history of body care. It takes as a case study two Latin recipes for removing hair from human skin that were part of the compilation of Trota of Salerno's medical know-how, the 12th-century Practica secundum Trotam (Practical medicine according to Trota). First, it shows how, like most beauty recipes, they defy modern notions of authorship and origin since they were known far before the 12th century and were passed along for centuries in a variety of textual contexts. Second, it shows how beauty expertise was associated with women, even if male authors often recorded beauty recipes in their texts, and men's interest in improving their own personal looks is also well attested to. Third, it demonstrates that as external body treatments, depilatories were important devices to perform gender with, since the growth or absence of body hair was understood as a central physiological expression of sexual difference. Finally, it conveys textual traces indicating that beauty recipes could have been the result of women's collective efforts, taking place in medieval homes.
