It wasn't long ago that being blonde was brassy, only a certain kind of woman would dare to paint her fingernails, and your mum would spit into her cake mascara. In just a few short years cosmetics has made the leap from vain and frivolous and a bit unsavoury, to a celebration of our freedom of expression, our liberation and our beauty. Cosmetics have a long and colourful history, from their beginnings thousands of years ago to their being hawked by druggists and barbers, to their being laced with arsenic, lead and mercury. How these concoctions made their way into your drawer is a journey full of fascinating facts.
Did you know that:
There is evidence that over 30,000 years ago Neanderthal man used cosmetics, painting his face and tattooing his body to impress men or attract women.
The word cosmetic, comes from the Greek and means to adorn or embellish. It also has roots in the word cosmos, or order of the universe.
For the first time, ingredients non-existent in nature were found when unearthing 4000 year-old Egyptian vases.
It is believed that chemistry was invented at that time for the purpose of creating eye makeup for Nefertiti. Remarkably it contained nearly the same proportion of fat (between seven and ten percent) as the makeup used today.
Nearly everyone in Egyptian society used cosmetics...royalty, priests, warriors, merchants and even the common people.
Cosmetics were so important, both for beautifying and healing, that they went along, with servants and pets, into the tombs of rich Egyptians. That's why we know so much about them. The Roman Empire saw the greatest advances in the beauty culture. Noble women (and men) applied chalk and white lead for a pale complexion. For blusher and lipstick, insect dye or red wine sediment was used. Ashes and soot provided eye makeup. For a clearer complexion, birds' nests and droppings were found effective. For a rosier complexion, crocodile excrement supplied the ingredients for a facial. For colourful nails, sheep's fat and blood.
In 1350, French King Charles V ordered extensive plantings of roses to supply the country with perfume. Louis XIV introduced the wig in 1650. Soon women were wearing false curls, although not as ornate as the cascading curls worn by the men. The exception was Marie Antoinette whose three- foot hair style was set with flour and styled over wooden frames into curls and rolls. Beauty marks, bleached eyebrows and excessive amounts of perfume (to hide the fact most didn't bathe for weeks) were seen around town.
By the 1770s, the Puritans denounced cosmetics as tools of witchcraft. The American Indian painted his body, using colours extracted from fruits and berries. It was known as "war paint" when worn for religious or ceremonial occasions. It was always the male who was most colourfully adorned.
In 1885, a Yankee book peddler named D.E. McConnell established a company known as Avon, selling encyclopedias and giving away perfume with each sale.
During the 1890s, the very first hair dryers were adapted from vacuum cleaners. The 1920s was the era of flaming red lipstick and bleached blondes.
During World War Two, when so many things were rationed, lipstick was regarded as "a necessary and vital product" contributing to the morale for women engaged in the war effort. When the government funded research into a portable way for service men to spray malaria carrying bugs, the modern aerosol can was created.
Elizabeth Arden, Coco Chanel and Nina Ricci all died at the ripe old age of 87. For selling products that are not a necessity and often considered self indulgent or even sinful, today's cosmetic companies have come a long way in changing their image. Many manufacturers are in the forefront of raising money for breast cancer and AIDS.
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