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Cosmetics were also very popular thousands of years ago. Ancient Egyptian women used blue paint to highlight the veins on their breasts, and may have even painted their nipples gold! Furthermore, as evidenced by the discovery of 3,000 year-old skin cream (containing about 90% animal fat!) in King Tutankamen's tomb, we also know that ancient Egyptians used creams and lotions to moisturize their skin and to protect it against Egypt's harsh, dry climate. The black eye liner that made that gorgeous Greek, Cleopatra, famous was created from many materials, such as charcoal, lead sulfide, or black manganese oxide. Green eye makeup was made from tree resin and verdigris (a poisonous compound, actually—made from copper that has been treated with acetic acid), as well as malachite. Also, to make sure they applied their make-up properly (technique is everything, sweetie!), ancient Egyptians made mirrors of highly polished metals, such as bronze, silver, gold or electrum (a light-yellow alloy of gold and silver). They also tended their hair with combs made of wood, alabaster or ivory, and wore wigs to lengthen or thicken their hair. Additional examples from the ancient Middle East and Greece show that both women and men adorned and anointed their bodies. In the ancient Middle East, men and women used white lead on their faces to achieve the fashionable pallor of the time. In ancient Persia (Iran), men stained their beards, hair and eyebrows with henna (a plant with small white or red flowers—the dye is actually extracted from the leaves of the plant). Cosmetics were also perfumed—sandalwood was popular in India, and in Egypt, common perfumes were frankincense, myrrh, marjoram and thyme. Bathing had its own rituals. While taking a steam bath in ancient India, men and women would coat themselves with wet clay to protect their skin against the steam heat. In some areas, crocodile dung was used for mudpacks! In ancient Greece and in Asia, people would scrape their bodies with pumice stones to exfoliate the skin. In Egypt, pumice stones were used to remove all traces of body hair, which was considered uncivilized. |
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Above: Greek ladies at their toilet (3)
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The Kama Sutra, that famous book of love, sex and beauty, written sometime between the first and fourth centuries, A.D., offers advice to men and women on how to make themselves more attractive. In Chapter VII, Vatsyayana offers several suggestions on "Personal Adornment, On Subjugating the Hearts of Others; and on Tonic Medicines." He says:
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