Image via WikipediaAuthor: Albapp
It is well known that beauty standards change. Marilyn Monroe's admired feminine curves have been replaced by the androgynous and thin Agyness Deyn and the big curly hairstyles of the 80's are now a distant (and often embarrassing) memory for women who now sport sleek straight hair like walls.
Italy has seen its perception of beauty change with the times too, while today's most desired Italian women are brunettes or black-haired with tanned skin and clear Latina traits, in the years of the Serenissima Republic, women worked hard on keeping their pale skin white as milk and their blond hair as rich as gold, both symbols of the high class delicate and prosperous women that attended the feasts, parties and events organized by the wealthy inhabitants of the city.
Women in ancient Rome started this tradition by brightening up their hair with a soap made of animal fat and birch ashes or with a mixture of chamomile flowers and the yellow of an egg.
