The most refined beauty rituals were carried out at the toilettes of wealthy Egyptian women. A typical regimen for such a woman living during the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2030-1650 B.C.) would have ...

Black eye makeup, or kohl, used between the 9th and 7th centuries BCE in the north-west of Iran contained natural graphite ...

A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 19, 2010, Section D, Page 3 of the National edition with the headline: Ancient Egypt’s Toxic Makeup Fought Infection, Researchers Say.