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Posted on March 31, 2007 by Michael Usry | Posted under Beauty
Cosmetics Through History
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The Egyptians were the first to use cosmetics. That was four millenia ago. Good hygeine and appearance were extremely meaningful to the people of Egypt. Egyptians believed the appearance was in direct connection with the constitution of the soul. They attempted to constantly look and smell good. And with a society who values their appearance, you are invariably going to have humans who are going to try and stand out. The Egyptians, being the cutting edge civilization they were, had cosmetics for reasons that were even more intelligent than just trying to look good. Mesdemet was the earliest kind of eye shadow- a combination of copper and lead ore. The dark shades they thought would ward off evil eyes from their own. It was also a great sterilizer and insect repellent. Kohl was a dark powder that was also put on around the eyes in an oval shape. It was a mixture of lead, ash, ochre, copper, and burnt almonds. To further enhance their appearance, they would apply a combination of water and red clay to the cheekbone area. They would also paint their nails hues of orange and yellow with a chemical known as henna. As different groups of people started to interact with each other more often, the practice of make-up was picked up by the Greeks from the Egyptians. They would color themselves a pale shade with a foundation that had lead inside. More than once this proved to be deadly. As the Romans began to adopt the make-up practice, the effort to achieve beauty became much less about practicality and turned into much more peculiar routes. They would paint their nails with a mixture of sheeps blood and heated body fat. An old Roman man once stated, A woman without paint is like food without salt. A white face was the fashion around the world after the Egyptian empire disappeared. Only women who were impoverished and had to labor out in the field all day with their husbands had rough, sun dired skin. The upper society ladies of course did not have to do manual work like that so they stayed out of the sun and had pale complexions. A white, pale skin color was also a sign of prosperity. If families had enough wealth, then you did not have to do anything. So a white skin hue was extremely serious to some members of society. To achieve this appearance, ladies (and men as well) would use a mixture of hydroxide, lead oxide, and carbonate in a powder form to paint their faces and bodies. Unfortunately, this lead to a sometimes lethal side effect, lead poisoning.To cure this problem, chemists in the nineteenth century at last invented a mixture of zinc oxide that did not block the skin from being able to breathe and kept people out of that annoying lead poisoning death. It worked so well that it is still practiced today by cosmetics manufacturers. In the Edwardian era of London, about the time of the change of the century of 1900, urban women with a disposable income would have lavishextravagant get togethers and do a bunch of entertaining to display their wealth. It was extremely important for a woman to be the most beautiful belle there, especially if they were the hostess of the gathering. Women at that time who lived these extravagant lifestyles did not have good diets, would not work out, and inhaled the heavily polluted air that the cities of the time produced. They would need products like anti-aging creams and face creams to help hide their imperfections. Routine trips to the salon were also a regular part of the day. It was a bit different in the past than it is today. Ladies would sneak into the back of the salons and cover their faces as they entered. One of the most famous of these discreet beauty salons was the House of Cyclax, that would sell creams and blushes to women. Mrs. Henning, who was the owner, sold and created many products for her frantic customers who did not want everybody to know that they were getting old. The modern day woman is the benefactor of all these years of trial and error with a virtually never ending choice of products for any look they want to achieve. There are literally thousands of cosmetics producers who create products in this now billion dollar annually industry. Skin Care products sell all year and even in times of financial hardship. Therefore ladies, thank your ancestors and their concern for their personal appearance for yours that you have today. They probably didn't want to put on their face some mornings either. About The Author: Michael Usry is the author of the online instructional articles "Beauty and Health in Plain English" and a top affiliate of Windsor Pilates one of the premier women's health websites. |
Tags: MAKE-UP, BEAUTY, SKIN CARE, COSMETICS, PROACTIVE, PROACTIV, PROACTIV ACNE TREATMENT
