From the magazine

How Roman emperors handled hair loss

Peter Jones
 Getty Images
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 19 April 2025
issue 19 April 2025

Donald Trump’s obsessive ‘awhairness’ makes one wonder: why is it so important to him? The topic was of some interest in Rome.

The emperor Domitian wrote a treatise on baldness. So too did Cleopatra, who offered the following remedy: ‘For bald patches, powder red sulphuret of arsenic and take it up with oak gum, as much as it will bear.

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