Donkey Milk properties and history

Poppaea Sabina (30 – 65 AD), Emperor Nero’s second wife, was also a fan of the milk bath. She was once told that in donkey’s milk “lurked a magic which would dispel all diseases and blights from your beauty”.

Historians record that Poppaea washed her face with donkey’s milk seven times a day in order to erase wrinkles in the face and preserve the whiteness of her skin.
Valeria Messalina (17 – 48 AD), Emperor Claudius I’s wife, who used to make face masks with slices of bread soaked in donkey’s milk.

François I, King of France in 1515, who was advised by a doctor from Constantinople to undergo a donkey milk treatment after he returned from war. He was quoted as saying that the milk bath restored his health.

Pauline Bonaparte (1780-1825), Napoleon’s sister, who used to enjoy donkey milk baths. This habit was frowned upon at the time as this milk was very rare and hard to obtain.

To enjoy a truly decadent bath, she apparently had servants make a hole in the ceiling above her bath so they could pour the donkey’s milk through it.

This is a Pliny’s description of the ass milk virtues for the skin:
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