Revolution, queen and bad manners .. Journey of the development of cosmetics

Eman Ahmed

Perhaps it is not new for us to know that the old man has devised ways to improve his appearance, using natural materials at times and others by experimenting with blends manufactured, to give vitality and beauty to his skin. But the history of the development of cosmetics has gone through interesting stages until it has become the norm today.

Ornamental cheeks
The ancient Egyptians were the first to wear pink on the lips and cheeks, using a red pigment extracted from natural materials mixed with fat and applied to their faces, with black eyeliner. In their footsteps, the Greeks used a powder made from berries to color the cheeks.

Over time, the use of cosmetics has declined during the Middle Ages in Europe, where women were pale faces without any material on their faces.

The reason for this is the belief that the pale face is evidence of richness and luxury. Princesses and queens in Europe were pampered and did not go out of their palaces to work, and therefore were not exposed to sunlight, making their skin very white. The girls were racing to appear with a pale face, and some even deliberately bleed to reach the desired color.

The effect of the revolution
With the French Revolution of 1789, major social changes took place in Europe, and women began using pigments to color their skin.Powders were associated with revolutionary supporters and became evidence of rebellion, prompting Britain's Queen Victoria to describe powders as prostitutes.

A major development took place at the beginning of the last century, when the production of cosmetics turned into an industry. The first companies, L'Oréal, began to manufacture large quantities of cosmetic products based on safe substances that are free from toxic dyes, including blush powder which gains Cheek color pink.

For Hollywood stars only
The Sumerians (5000 BC in Iraq) were the first to grind precious stones of different colors and used them in coloring faces, especially lips and under the eyes.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, cosmetics were associated with poor morals and were only shamelessly used by Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland in 1558. Lipstick was applied in order to distinguish herself from other women who brag about the pale face.

By the end of the 19th century, lipstick appeared in a dark red color, and the color was extracted from the body of a species of insects, and sold as powder in a wrapped paper or a small box, and was used only by Hollywood artists because of the high price.

But the lipstick in its current form did not appear until 1915, when Maurice Levy created a metal cylinder with the colored mix, and the women had to press her finger on one side of the cylinder to push the mix up.

Skin like cake
There is no definite information about the first to use the ointment known as "Foundation Cream", but the ancient Greeks used a white mixture and applied on their faces to unify the skin color, but they soon stopped using it because of the presence of toxic substances in its components.

In the modern era, the famous "Max Factor" company was the first to produce foundation cream in 1914 under the name "Pancake", which makes the woman's face appear as the color and texture of the pancake "Pancake".

Since then, cosmetics companies have started to produce foundation creams in different colors and shades to suit the skin colors of women.

Eyeliner Kohl
His first user are the ancient Egyptians, and inscriptions and drawings appear on the walls of the tombs and pharaonic temples.

Black kohl was used extensively among the ancient Egyptians, rich and poor, men and women. They believed that kohl protected the eye area from the appearance of wrinkles that lead to the emergence of the hot desert atmosphere.

Kohl did not matter much among the peoples of Europe, until the discovery of the tomb of King Pharaonic King Tutankhamun in 1922. The large media coverage of the discovery led to the interest of cosmetic makers by drawing the eye that characterized the eye of the Pharaonic king.

The companies started producing black eyeliner, and then developed to make other colors to match the tones of the skin color, and with it also created a "mascara" and crayon eyebrows to give eyelashes and eyebrows color and density.

Nail polish for the rich only
Nail polish appeared in China around 300 BC, consisting of pigments extracted from vegetables, plus beeswax and egg albumin.

Pharaohs also used nail polish, and its colors were proof of the social class, the rich put the colors blatant red, while the owners of the lower classes were using colors calm and neutral, according to the history of cosmetics.

In modern times, the appearance of paint bottles in their current form was in 1916, and its colors were inspired by the colors of cars at the time. In 1932, she founded the first nail polish trading company, Revlon, whose first production was cream-colored.

Pigments to hide gray hair
The ancient Greeks were known to be the first to use hair dyes to change the color of hair, and according to historians' description they deliberately dyed it in blond color near white, using lime in coloring. They also refrained from styling or cutting their hair.

As a pioneer in cosmetics, L'Oréal was the first to produce hair dye in 1907 by its chemical founder Eugene Schuyler, to help women - especially artists - hide white and gray hair and give hair more vibrant colors, initially blond.