Source of beauty

Since ancient times the use of oil was not limited to food purposes alone, but was used as medication. For example to soothe or to disinfect wounds and even more as for cosmetic purposes: to create perfumes, creams, ointments and balms, to soften skin, for massaging, refreshing, and rubbing the body. As for this specific purpose, its use dates back to thousands of years ago. The Egyptians, who considered it a gift from the gods, used it to prevent wrinkles, mixing it with milk, cypress berries, wax, and grains of incense, and put it on their hair to make it more beautiful, soft, and shiny.

In Greece it was used for cleansing, hygiene, and massages. In the Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer, in addition to referring to the cultivation of the olive tree and its fruits, also describes these important functions. For example, when Helen tells of the washing and anointing of Odysseus, or when he narrates to the Phaeacians how Circe bathed him and rubbed him with oil to ease his fatigue. Athletes oiled their bodies to warm up their muscles or make themselves slippery for their adversaries during wrestling matches: suffice it to remember the Apoxyomenos – the Scraper – the famous statue by Lysippus depicting an athlete scraping off oil and sweat after a competition.

In Rome, also, olive oil was a fundamental product in food and cosmetic sectors. The Romans forced their subjects to pay yearly tributes in form of oil, perfected storage techniques, and constructed new devices for pressing, such as the one that made it possible to avoid breaking the pits. In the Georgics, Virgil writes of the various kinds of olives: "…orchades et radii et amara pausia baca…" ("…the oval, the long, the Pausia with the bitterish fruit…" ); Horace, in a satire, praises the excellent olive oil of Venafrum, and Cato, Columella, and Gaius Pliny Secundus (Pliny the Elder) tell us of the different qualities of the plant. During the Imperial Age, the Umbrian oil sent to Rome by the so-called “oil port”, that of the city of Otricoli, in southern Umbria, was highly praised. Oil was present in the Roman diet as a condiment for various dishes, as an ingredient of delicious recipes, and also for keeping the olives, which were usually enjoyed at the beginning of meals.

It was also used for domestic lighting. In fact, the Romans, more than torches or candles, used oil lamps, the so-called lucernae found in various archaeological excavations: oblong containers with one or more spouts on one end, and a handle on the other; they could be hand-held or hanging, and were used in the various rooms of the Roman house.

An important place was occupied by the oil in the cosmetic sector also: it was the base for perfumes, ointments and, as Ovid writes, women's depilatory creams. In his Naturalis Historia, more than once Pliny the Elder dwells on the properties of olive oil for body care: mixed generously with the adiantum fern (maidenhair) and celery seed, it was used to obtain a thick, wavy head of hair and prevent hair loss. It was irreplaceable with rose, nard, and jasmine fragrances for massages, to keep teeth white, and as a body cleanser. In long sessions at the public baths, skin was sprinkled with oil and sand and then cleaned with a scraper called a "strigile". From what Seneca tells us, the ancient Romans washed their arms and legs every day, but took a complete bath only once every nine days.

Bath establishments consisted of various rooms; in all of them there was necessarily a dressing room, a room for the cold bath, one for the hot bath, and one as a transition between the two. In addition to these, there could be a gymnasium, a room for cleaning off the dust after gym exercises, and one for oiling the body: the unctorium. The toilet case that the Romans usually took along with them to the baths contained, in addition to the cloths for drying themselves, one or more scrapers, soda, and ampoules of oil. I have found a prototype in a lovely drawing that I mention in the footnotes.

In fact, soap was not yet known, and it is narrated that it was imported to Rome by Julius Caesar after he conquered Gaul. Its initial formula based on tallow and ashes was later replaced by one using olive oil, undoubtedly aided by the presence of the plant and natural soda throughout the entire Mediterranean area. In Apuleius' Metamorphoses, however, cleansing was still carried out with water and oil: "…vapore recreati calidaque perfusi et oleo peruncti…"

In any case, the “advice of the ancients” would be sufficient to convince us to use olive oil not only in the diet, but also for cosmetic purposes. However, nowadays the subject has been widely studied, on the basis of past teachings. It is by now well known how much importance is given to natural products in cosmetics, with famous beauty centers basing their programs more and more on them: massages and entire body, hair, and nails treatments have been created using olive oil.

Oil's acidity is compatible with that of the skin; as a result, this ancient product is perfect for making it soft and velvety, and its emollient and protective qualities also make it a good ally for the skin against free radicals that cause aging. After a bath, it is an excellent tonic and revitalizes skin that has been dried by hard water, making it smooth and luminous. It should never be missed even during long exposures to summer sun; in fact, it is ideal for an impeccable tan, and excellent as an after-sun lotion. Recent studies have, moreover, demonstrated that it allows the ultraviolet rays to penetrate, but thanks to its antioxidant properties it manages to protect the skin from their damage. Olivella products, obtained one hundred percent from olive oil, are a concentration of all oil's properties, but in a form that is simply more practical and manageable: just as the historic condiment is an integral part of the by-now famous Mediterranean diet, truly olive oil-based soaps and creams should also become a Mediterranean diet for our skin. The ancient intuition of an olive oil-based beauty care for our face and body can be adopted in an easier and certainly more comfortable form, compared to the ampoule that the ancient Roman carried to the baths for his body care.

12. Odissea, IV, 252; X, 363-364.
13. Publio Virgilio Marone, Georgiche, II, v. 86.
14. Quinto Orazio Flacco, Satire, II, 4.
15. Cfr. Ugo Enrico Paoli, Vita romana. Usi, costumi, istituzioni, tradizioni, Cles (TN), Mondadori, 1990, pp. 74-75.
16. Gaio Plinio Secondo, Naturalis Historia, XXII, 62.
17. Lucio Anneo Seneca, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium, 86, 12.
18. Cfr. Ugo Enrico Paoli, op. cit., p. 194.
19. Ibid., pp.196-197.
20. Apuleio di Madaura, Metamorfosi, IV, 7.