Aug
15
Beauty trends come and go over time, and while some are harmless others are more questionable – for example, who thought putting lead in makeup products would be a good idea? Let’s take a look at some of history’s most famous beauty trends with an eye toward uncovering which ones we believe should never be repeated. We’ll begin with ancient Egypt.Egyptians had a thing about hair. They thought it was a sign of being unclean, so they shaved their bodies in every conceivable place including the head. However, that meant they had to wear wigs if they were uncomfortable in their baldness. A lot of those wigs were not made with human hair; they used a variety of materials to create them including horsehair and sheep’s wool as well as palm leaves, straw and vegetable fibers. Some of those trends weren’t particularly healthy (let alone attractive), since bacteria could be transferred to the wearer. I think that’s one beauty trend none of us would like to see repeated.
The Egyptians are also responsible for putting lead into makeup, using white lead as well as chalk to make face powders. Worse still, they used animal blood to tint their nails when henna wasn’t available, neither trend looking particularly healthy in retrospect. While the latter didn’t catch on in Europe, the former did, with white lead later often being used to make a white makeup paste for whitening the skin. The same look was also popular in the Orient.
