Milk bath Milk bath A milk bath is a bath taken in milk instead of water. Often other scents such as honey, rose, lavender and essential oils are added. Milk baths use lactic acid, an alpha hydroxy acid, to dissolve the proteins which hold together dead skin cells. There are legends that Cleopatra bathed in donkey milk daily for her complexion. These legends have not been confirmed and some historians believe that Roman Empress Poppaea set this bathing fashion after Cleopatra's death. Queens Catherine Parr and later Elizabeth I of England used milk baths to make their skin appear more youthful and
Cleopatra the Alchemist Three alchemical texts related to Cleopatra survive. The text titled "A Dialogue of Cleopatra and the Philosophers" exists, but cannot be attributed to her. Jack Lindsay calls this discourse "the most imaginative and deeply felt document left by the alchemist". Cleopatra's use of imagery reflects conception and birth, the renewal and transformation of life. The philosopher alchemist who contemplates his work is compared to a loving mother who thinks about her child and feeds it. Cleopatra is most noted for the "Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra" (), a single sheet document which contains only symbols, drawings and captions (all of which are