How did we as people get to the point where we spend billions annually on cosmetics and it became the social norm for women to wear make-up everyday It is certain a female way back in old times did not just wake up one morning and make the decision to put on eyelashes, lipstick, eyeliner, foundation, and rouge all at once. As you might have guessed, it was a combination of thousands of years and lots of learning experiences.



Who remembers the Egyptians? That was four thousand years ago. Cleanliness and looks were very meaningful to the people of Egypt. Egyptians had faith that the appearance had a direct link with the health of the soul. They attempted to constantly appear neat and smell good. And with a culture who values their appearance, societies are inevitably going to have people who are going to make themselves stand out. But the Egyptians, being the cutting edge people they were, used cosmetics for reasons that were even more intelligent than just attempting to look good.

A combination of lead ore and copper known as Mesdemet was the origin of eye shadow. The dark shades they thought would avert evil eyes from their own. It was also an efficient sterilizer and bug deterrent. Kohl was a dark mixture that was put on around the eyes in an oval shape. It was a combination of lead, ash, ochre, copper, and burnt almonds. A combination of red clay and water was added to the cheeks to further enhance their appearance. They would also paint their nails hues of orange and yellow with a chemical named henna.

As time past and societies mixed with each other more often, the Grecian people began to pick up on the various habits of the Egyptians use of cosmetics. They would color themselves a pale color with a foundation that had lead in it. This proved fatal on more than one occasion. As the Romans started to pick up the cosmetics habits, the effort to achieve beauty became less about functionability and took a turn into much more unusual routes. The Romans would decorate their nails with a combination of sheeps blood and heated body fat. An ancient Roman man once stated, A woman without paint is like food without salt.

A light face was the fashion around the world after the Egyptian empire faded. A tanned, dehydrated face was associated with being a plebeian who labored outside all day beside her spouse. The upper class ladies of course did not participate in hard work like that so they were able to stay under the roof and had light complexions.

A white, pale skin color was also a symbol of wealth. A person was not obligated to labor if they had enough riches. So it was extremely important for some people to have a white complexion. To achieve this appearance, women (and men too) would apply a combination of hydroxide, lead oxide, and carbonate in a powder form to apply to their faces and bodies. Unfortunately, this caused a sometimes deadly side effect, lead poisoning.To remedy this, chemists in the nineteenth century finally discovered a mixture of zinc oxide that made the skin able to breathe and kept people out of that irritating lead poisoning death. It was so effective that it is still used today by cosmetics producers.

In the era of King Edward of London, around the change of the century of 1900, urban women with a recreational income would throw exotic parties and do a lot of entertaining to display their wealth. It was extremely important for a woman to be the most attractive lady there, especially if they were the hostess of the function. Women in the past who lived these extravagant lifestyles did not have good diets, would not exercise, and breathed in the heavily polluted air that the cities of the time produced. Anti-aging and facial creams to hide the blemishes were heavily relied upon by women in this era. Regular ventures to the salon were also a normal part of the day. It was a little different back then than it is in the present. Ladies would go into the back of the salons and hide their faces as they went in. One of the most famous of these secret beauty salons was the House of Cyclax, who would sell foams and blushes to women. Mrs. Henning, who was the owner, sold and came out with many products for her frenzied consumers who did not want anyone to know that they were getting on in the years.

The modern day woman is the benefactor of all these years of mistakes with a virtually infinite choice of beauty products for any look they want to achieve. The beauty product business has become a billion dollar industry with literally thousands of competing companies. Beauty products sell all year and even in times of financial hardship. So ladies, give thanks to your ancestors and their concern for their personal looks for your own that you have today. They probably didn't feel like putting on their face some mornings either.