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
Charmion (servant to Cleopatra) appeared as Charmion in 1934's "Cleopatra" starring Claudette Colbert. Jean Byron was Charmion in 1953's "Serpent of the Nile", and Elizabeth Taylor's 1963 "Cleopatra" had Isabel Cooley in the role of Charmian. Mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias portrayed Charmian in the initial run of Samuel Barber's 1966 opera "Antony and Cleopatra", based on Shakespeare's play. Most recently, a version of Charmian was portrayed by Kathryn Hunter in the HBO/BBC television series "Rome" in 2005 and 2007. Charmion is the main character in the novel "Hand of Isis" by Jo Graham. She is also a main character in "Queen Cleopatra" by Talbot Mundy.