How to Remove Wrinkles, 12th century

illustration of old woman attending young woman looking into convex wall mirror BL Harley 4425, f. 114r

For treating the wrinkles of old women, take a stinking iris, and extract the juice, and smear the face with that juice in the evening, and in the morning the skin will be raised, and it will crack. We treat the eruption with the aforementioned ointment which contains lily root, and by peeling off the skin, after it has been washed, it will appear very fine.

The Trotula

Who needs Botox and chemical peels when you’ve got stinking iris?

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