How did we as people get to the point where we spend billions every year on cosmetics and it became the social standard for women to wear cosmetics everyday Assuredly a female way back in old times did not just wake up one day and make the decision to put on eyelashes, lipstick, eyeliner, foundation, and rouge all at the same time. As you might have guessed, it was a combination of thousands of years and lots of learning experiences.

The Egyptians were the first to use cosmetics. That was four thousand years ago. Cleanliness and appearance were extremely vital to the Egyptians. The Egyptians believed the appearance had a direct connection with the well being of the spirit. They tried to always look and smell good. And with a culture who values their looks, societies are assuredly going to have people who are going to attempt to stand out. The Egyptians, being the inventive culture they were, implemented cosmetics for reasons that were even more intelligent than just trying to look good.

Mesdemet was the most original kind of eye shadow- a mixture of copper and lead ore. The dark hues they thought would ward off evil eyes from their own. It was also a great cleaner and insect repellent. Kohl was a dark substance that was also applied around the eyes in an oval shape. The substance was a combination of lead, ash, ochre, copper, and burnt almonds. A combination of red clay and water was added to the cheekbone area to further enhance their appearance. They would also paint their fingernails colors of orange and yellow with a chemical named
henna.

As cultures started to interact with each other more often, the practice of make-up was adopted by the Greeks from the Egyptians. Greek women would color themselves a pale hue with a foundation that contained lead in it. More than once this ended up being lethal. As the Romans began to pick up the cosmetics habits, the pursuit of beauty became much less about functionability and turned into much more exotic routes. The Romans would adorn their nails with a combination of sheeps blood and heated body fat. An ancient Roman citizen once said, A woman without paint is like food without salt.

A light skin color was the style around the world after the Egyptian civilization faded. A dark, dehydrated face was associated with being a pleb who labored in the field all day along with her man. The upper echelon ladies obviously did not have to do manual work like that so they remained under the roof and had pale complexions.

Success was often measured by a person's pale skin color. If people had enough money, then you did not have to labor. So it was extremely important for some people to have a light complexion. To get this appearance, ladies (and men too) would use a combination of hydroxide, lead oxide, and carbonate in a powder form to paint their faces and skin. Unfortunately, this caused a sometimes fatal side effect, lead poisoning.To cure this problem, chemists in the early nineteen hundreds finally invented a combination of zinc oxide that did not block the skin from being able to breathe and kept people out of that annoying lead poisoning sickness. It was so effective that it is still used today by cosmetics makers.

Exttravagant and exotic parties were thrown by city ladies with throw away money in the Edwardian era of London. As hostesses of the shindig, it was critical for them to be the best looking woman at the gathering, so it was crucially important for them to look as youthful as they possibly could. City and ritzy lifestyles with factors like polluted air produced by the cities at that time, unhealthy diets, and very little or no exercise aged the women quickly. They would need products like anti-aging creams and face creams to mask their blemishes. They would also go to the salon. It was a bit different in the past than it is today. Ladies would sneak into the back of the salons and hide their faces as they entered. One of the most famous of these discreet beauty salons was the House of Cyclax, that would sell foams and rouges to ladies. Mrs. Henning, who was the owner, sold and created multiple products for her desperate consumers who did not want everybody to know that they were getting older.

Today's woman is the benefactor of all these years of experience with a practically infinite choice of products for any look they want to achieve. There are thousands of manufacturers who produce products in this now billion dollar per year industry. Beauty products sell all year and even in times of depression. So ladies, thank your ancestors and their concern for their personal looks for your own that you have today. They probably didn't want to put on their face some mornings either.