Makeup

So, among other descriptions of Viking Age Hedeby, al-Tartushi says

"There is also an artificial eye makeup. When one uses it, the beauty of both men and women is enhanced, and it never disappears."

https://classesv2.yale.edu/access/content/user/haw6/Vikings/al-Tartushi.html

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?13105-viking-settlement-Haithabu-Hedeby

This led to some wild speculation. What could they be describing?

The Valkyrie figures really do have giant eyes, are they wearing a huge amount of eye make-up? That could be exciting!

(Hey, this IS the wild speculation section, remember????)

The closest we could figure would be something like khol. Viking Age Scandinavians were importing all kinds of exotic items from the east, how about makeup fashions? The local weaving was nearly copying some of the Asian imported designs, so there is some cultural precedent. Khol is worn by both men and women, and many people find it attractive on both genders. It also takes some time to wear off.

(photo is from a cosmetics site which explains the difference between traditional and modern khols)

Next up, how to make that. Khol is not a specific thing, it is a way of applying black eyeliner. Khol is traditionally applied to the "waterline", the bright pink line of the conjunctiva. So, only the concept really needed to be imported. We could make it from ingredients local to Scandinavia in the Viking Age.

We found some information on making khol from burned almonds (for example, here: http://sweetfernstudio.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/how-to-make-kohl-from-almonds/). But almonds would have been an expensive and rare import. Hazelnuts (filberts) on the other hand, were common in at least some VA finds. Well, we had some hazelnuts and a morter and pestle, so obviously experiments had to commence!

Our method is to burn hazelnuts that have already been crushed. If you don't have easily available hazelnut meal, then use a coffee grinder to make them into small bits. We put about 1/2 inch deep of hazelnut meal into the bottom of a small stainless steel bowl, and put it on a burner that is turned OFF (this is just a heat proof place, you could go outside, or put it on a potholder). Next you need a bbq lighter (the long handled stick lighters). Use this to light the meal on fire, don't be surprised if it take several minutes. Once burning steadily, use a metal spoon to push the nut meal and fire around. You want all of it to burn, but not be totally consumed into ash. When it looks all burned (you can crush the burned stuff with the back of the spoon, it will "crunch" into powder), then extinguish the fire. I can usually easily blow it out, or you can snuff it by putting a plate on top of the bowl. DO NOT LEAVE THE FIRE UNATTENDED!!!

Let it cool down for a few minutes, and then transfer a little to a very clean mortar and pestle. We have one dedicated just to this, as this stuff is essentially going in your eye. You really don't want a little pepper or mustard to get mixed in! Plus it is nearly impossible to clean out of the mortar and pestle. Ours is a white ceramic one that can go in the dishwasher.

Grind in small batches. We transfer the ground powder into a dish or plastic baggie as we go. I grind everything twice, as I hate the gritty feeling if it isn't extremely fine. You can also use a clean marver, but again, be very careful not to contaminate with any paint residue.

You can use the powder as is, but it takes a lot of skill. The stuff goes everywhere! You can apply it like modern eye shadow with the tip of your finger or a small brush. A stick dipped in the powder can do the traditional khol application, but again, much more difficult.

We have had MUCH more success using a paste. We mix the powder with a tiny amount of hazelnut oil (hooray for the health food store!). Any food-grade oil is fine for this. The paste works like modern liquid eye liner. You can use a tiny brush, a stick, etc. This makes GREAT khol. Ours is a very thick liquid, but you can adjust the thickness for how you like it.

I have tried to use this as mascara, since it doesn't dry it tends to go everywhere, all the time. It is fine at the base of the lashes like modern eye liner, you can do a "cat-eye" (possibly suggested by the big slanty eyes of the Valkyrie figures), or khol. If you do all of the above, it gets a little cartoon-like.

Big, googly eyes.

Well, since we had made eye makeup, we had to try out other wild plans. It turns out that a little beeswax, a little oil, and some iron oxide makes LIPSTICK. Really nice lipstick, actually (if a little rust orange). I also had some makeup grade white clay, and tried out that as a face powder. In combination with the rest, it was very stage-makeup (WHITE skin! GIANT EYES! REEEEEEEEEDDDDDD lips!). There might have been some "ack, ACK!" from the man when we came out into the living room after that makeup experiment. There is ZERO evidence or even a hint that either of those last plans are plausible for Viking Age Scandinavians. Just because we made it all out of plausible ingredients, and just because lip reddening has been popular in many cultures around the world, and just because we do know the VA Scandinavians had a cultural worth on very pale skin....does not excuse our really weird makeup.

But the eyeliner? TOTALLY plausible :) And really super awesome. Before we did this, I had no idea I could do khol, and now I can and I kind of love it.