DEADLY MAKE-UP

Over the thousands of years since make-up was first introduced, there have been some very off-the-wall products utilized to achieve whatever look happened to be fashionable at the time. Here are just a few examples:

Beetle shells – Egyptians sported the first eye glitter made out of crushed up iridescent shells

White lead powder – over the years, women went to great lengths to achieve what they thought to be an elegant complexion. Tanned skin was considered common so the paler the face, the more chic you were. To achieve such pallor, women would use white powder that contained extreme amounts of lead which, over time, actually destroyed complexions and resulted in far too many premature deaths.

Arsenic Complexion Wafers – yet another method of achieving a pale complexion, these wafers actually poisoned the blood so it transported fewer red hemoglobin cells, and less oxygen, to organs giving the washed out appearance women were seeking.

Rouge – to add some color to their otherwise ghostly appearance, women turned to rouge which, unfortunately, wasn’t much safer. Early rouge was colored with cinnabar, a poisonous red sulfide of mercury. This same red cream was also used to color the lips where it was more easily ingested. Once in the blood stream, lead, arsenic and mercury are particularly harmful to the fetus. An unbelievable amount of miscarriages, stillbirths and deformities were probably a direct result of the cosmetic practices of this time.

Leeches – used for the same purpose as arsenic, lead and mercury – to achieve that oh so desired pale complexion

Burnt matches – used to add dark lining around eyes

Berries – juices used to stain lips

Urine – used in an attempt to fade freckles

Ox Blood – drank in a misguided attempt to improve complexions

Egg Whites – added to face to create a healthy glaze

As you can see, women went to great lengths, sometimes all the way to their graves, in order to keep up with the fashion of the times. After so much tragedy surrounding the seemingly harmless act of applying make-up, the appearance of rouge, powders, lipstick and other cosmetic products more or less disappeared in Europe. Luckily, chemists began aiding cosmetologists to start producing the first safe beautifying aids in history.

So, those of you happily making a living as professional make-up artists, or even just those of you happily wearing make-up, should give a nod to those delightful chemist who lent a hand and made looking beautiful a safe practice.

Panati, Charles, Penati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, Harper Paperbacks 1989