The idea of using cosmetics to enhance the appearance is not a recent one. Humans have a long history of changing their looks to meet beauty ideals of the time.
While it is true that the beauty industry boomed in the second half of the 20th century, cosmetics have been around in one form or another for thousands of years. Women and men alike have long used products for different reasons, ranging from the desire to conform to standards of beauty, through to signifying power or nobility.
Although the use of cosmetics is reported as far back as the Old Testament, it was in Ancient Egypt as early as 10,000BC when they truly came to be used frequently, especially by royalty and the nobility.
The use of eyeliner is probably the biggest legacy we have today from the Ancient Egyptians. They used kohl, a dark powder made of a combination of crushed substances, to line their eyes and eyebrows. The substance was applied with a small stick to the upper and lower eyelids, with the lines being extended to the sides of the face. It was believed this reduced sun glare and could help restore poor eyesight and reduce eye infection.
The clay known as red ochre was ground and mixed with water for application on the lips, cheeks and nails, and henna was sometimes used to dye fingernail yellow or orange. Both men and women wore makeup.
Oils and creams were applied to the skin to protect against the elements, and perfumes mixed from substances such as myrrh, thyme, lavender and different oils were worn. The use of perfumes was something that is common to most ancient cultures, though many used it in a religious sense as it was thought to purify holy places.
By the seventh and eighth centuries BC, the Greeks had become a major force in the ancient world and the use of perfumes, powders, eye shadows, skin glosses, paints and hair dyes was widespread.
The Ancient Romans were also extremely concerned with appearance, although it was only women who used cosmetics. These included the use of a white lead pigment to lighten the face – in fact, the trend of whitening the face continued almost up to the modern day, although different ingredients were used to do this. The Romans also used soot as an eyeliner and saffron, which was ground up and used as eye shadow. Like the Egyptians, red ochre added colour to the cheeks and lips.
The Crusaders bought alcohol-based perfumes to Europe from the Middle East in the 13th century, although the art of blending perfumes was developed in France around 400 years ago. France is still considered to be the centre of the fragrance industry today.
In recent centuries, a white face was still desirable, because it signified the upper classes – the lower classes had to perform manual labour and thus were more tanned on the face. For many centuries, men and women used a powder composed of hydroxide, carbonate and lead oxide to achieve a whiter complexion. Unfortunately, this often caused wearers to develop lead poisoning and it wasn’t until the 19th century that zinc oxide was used. This is a substance that is still used as a facial whitener today, although the tanned look is generally more desirable, thanks to the images of tanned ruggedness portrayed in Hollywood movies.
Several centuries ago, other poisonous cosmetics included eye shadow, which contained lead and antimony sulfide and lip reddeners (mercuric sulfide).
Belladonna, which was used to make the eyes sparkly, was also found to be lethal, and was subsequently nicknamed ‘deadly nightshade’.
During Edwardian times around 200 years ago, there was a heavy emphasis on appearing youthful, and cosmetics and face creams were common amongst the upper classes. One famous beauty salon that rich women visited at the time was London’s House of Cyclax, where women could buy face creams and rouge. It was here that papier poudre was developed, and the books of papers are still used today to blot oil from the skin. Women also used the charcoal from the end of burned matches around their eyes and flower petals to stain their lips.
As the 20th century progressed, the use of cosmetics became even more widespread among all levels of society, largely spurred by trends started in the film industry. As cosmetic houses such as Estee Lauder sprung up, the formulation and testing of products became more regimented and official.
Although trends changed from decade to decade – for example, dark lipsticks were favoured in the 1930s, while black eyeliner made resurgence in the 1960s, the one thing that hasn’t changed is the desire of women to buy the latest products to enhance their facial appearance.
And with the latest trend being for men to also experiment with beauty products such as facial moisturisers, it looks certain that the beauty industry is only set to grow.
