1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,160 Speaker 1: Want to look extra fabulous for this new year. How 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: about doing what our ancestors did and slathering your face 3 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:10,240 Speaker 1: and hair with everything from ostroj eggs to pea to 4 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: crocodile dung, or fixing overplugged eyebrows by gluing on mouse pelts. 5 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele, suffering for beauty. Next on the backstory, 6 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 1: We're back with the backstory. Okay, who doesn't want to 7 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:30,639 Speaker 1: look good? Well, you've heard that ridiculous line, it's better 8 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: to look good than to feel good. You laugh until 9 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: you realize how many people are willing to suffer to 10 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: look better. We do it now with botox, implants, plastic surgery. 11 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:43,919 Speaker 1: But that need to look good has been going on 12 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,840 Speaker 1: for thousands of years, and amazingly, some of what they 13 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: used thousands of years ago is still effective today. Now, first, 14 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: we'll go back more than ten thousand years to ancient Egypt. 15 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: Men and women were anxious to hang on to youth 16 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: by protecting their skin. They used creams, oils, and makeup 17 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: made with herbs, spices, flowers, and other less savory ingredients 18 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: to look better. There was a primitive sunscreen made with 19 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 1: ostrich eggs and for noble women, there was nothing like 20 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: a milk bath, although Cleopatra later on partly preferred to 21 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: lounge in a bath of sour milk. And who doesn't 22 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: want a facial Aloe and spices were mixed with honey 23 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: and milk for an anti wrinkle and anti inflammatory mask, 24 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: and makeup was essential to women and men. Lead, copper 25 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: and semi precious stones were ground up for eyeshadow. Their 26 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: dark almond shaped eyeliner was made from burnt almonds, animal fat, 27 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: and again deadly lead. Her lipstick, nail polish, and blush 28 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: they used animal blood and clay. Moving to the Greek 29 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: and Roman empires, Ploutus, a Roman philosopher, commented, a woman 30 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: without paint is like food without salt. Wow. They learned 31 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 1: a lot from the Egyptians later on, but the Romans 32 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: had some interesting beauty rituals of their own. In fact, 33 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: the word cosmetics comes from the Latin word cosmetae. They 34 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: were slave beauticians slash stylists. The cosmetae would apply makeup 35 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: and jewelry, and even pluck hairs from their employer's body, legs, arms, face, 36 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: all over, hair on any part of the body, but 37 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: the head was not appreciated. Then Many people even had 38 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,919 Speaker 1: their entire head plucked, and men and women would shave 39 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: their faces in private parts with super sharp stones. The 40 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: cosmetae would slather their employer with exfolians and creams and 41 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,239 Speaker 1: anti aging facial masks that tightened the skin and reduced wrinkles. 42 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 1: Romans actually spent full days at the spa, wrapping up 43 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: with a mud bath and a massage with fragrant oils, 44 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:53,240 Speaker 1: which left them radiant and younger looking, or at least 45 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: feeling they looked younger, and it didn't stop there. Fair 46 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: skin was a sign of aristocracy, while a tan you 47 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: look lower class, So to lighten their skin they used 48 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: a powder made of lead and chalk mixed with crocodile 49 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: dung ah. The price of beauty. Funny enough, despite the 50 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:19,399 Speaker 1: distance apart, beauty regimens in Asia weren't a whole lot 51 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: different in ancient China as well, Pale complexions were a 52 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: sign of nobility. Women would shave off their eyebrows before 53 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: bleaching their skin with a gel made from mushrooms, lead 54 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 1: and rice. Fast forward to Europe in the Middle Ages, 55 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: and once again, lead powder, alabaster and egg whites were 56 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: used to hide freckles. Smallpox, scars and other blemishes and 57 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: create that pale white look. Problem is it was a 58 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: short term fix, but long term it slowly poisoned them, 59 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: turning hair gray, drying out skin, giving them extreme stomach pain. 60 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: Sometimes it killed them worse. Yet, often this stuff just 61 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: didn't work, so some opted for an even weird skin 62 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: whitening treatment, leeches, getting rid of the blood flow in 63 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: their faces gave them the gaunt, pale look both men 64 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: and women found irresistible, so they put the leeches around 65 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: their ears. Now there were other beauty challenges as well 66 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: after trends changed. Women in the Middle Ages had to 67 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:22,279 Speaker 1: deal with overplucked eyebrows, so they would glue mouse skins 68 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 1: on their brows, dyeing the mini brow wigs to match 69 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: their hair. You may have noticed in paintings of the 70 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: sixteenth and seventeenth century big shots that they had really 71 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:34,480 Speaker 1: high hairlines, like back to the crown of their heads. 72 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: That was hugely in vogue, and some folks plucked every 73 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: hair as it grew in at the desired hairline. Others, 74 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: like Queen Elizabeth I, used cat pee or dung walnut 75 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,520 Speaker 1: oil and vinegar as well as quicklime to remove unwanted hair. 76 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,280 Speaker 1: It was also popularly used on the nether regions. Now 77 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: the problem is it sometimes removed skin as well. Actually, 78 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: pea of all sorts was the beauty thing in the 79 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,800 Speaker 1: Middle East. To make their hair glossy, folks rinsed it 80 00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: in camel pea and in venice. During the sixteen hundreds, 81 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 1: women looking to bleach their hair would soak it in 82 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: lion pea and lay in the sun for hours, using 83 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:13,159 Speaker 1: a Venetian hat which had the top cut out so 84 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: only the hair was in the sun. Finally, some folks 85 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: men and women looking to go blonde would mix human 86 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 1: breast milk with saffron, so much for sweet smelling hair. Now, 87 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: by the Renaissance, things changed a bit. They still use 88 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: lead powders to look pale, but they also believe the 89 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: hands of a woman could only be beautiful if they 90 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: were long lined with tiny, light colored veins. So women 91 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 1: would use blue paint and apply thin cosmetic veins to hands, 92 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: but also to their forehead and breasts. They'd coat that 93 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 1: with egg whites so they looked like they'd literally turned 94 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,159 Speaker 1: to marble. If you had skin problems from all of this, 95 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: they recommended treating it with blood from healthy, red headed 96 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: men no older than twenty five at the end of 97 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: the day. The overuse of lead could leave holes in 98 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:01,279 Speaker 1: your face, so you'd either apply more lead makeup to 99 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,839 Speaker 1: fill it in, or use the popular seventeenth century beauty 100 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:07,839 Speaker 1: trick of gluing patches of star shaped fabric to the 101 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: holes in your face. Finally, when a white in your teeth, 102 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:14,600 Speaker 1: they used marble glass crushed pearls mixed with honey. Eventually 103 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: your tooth enamel would wear off. But there's good news. 104 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was fashionable to 105 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,480 Speaker 1: paint your teeth black, mimicking tooth decay, meaning you could 106 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: afford sweets, plus it covered up the enamel loss. Eighteenth 107 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: century beauty was different from country to country. In France, 108 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:38,240 Speaker 1: both men and women wore elaborate makeup with very white 109 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:41,919 Speaker 1: lead based pastes on their faces, as well as deep red, 110 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:46,479 Speaker 1: precise circles over the cheekbone and hairstyles were nuts, Curly 111 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: powdered wigs were in. Women had ribbons, jewels, flowers, feathers, 112 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,720 Speaker 1: even model ships or hair lacquered into ships, as well 113 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:58,039 Speaker 1: as bird cages, sometimes with actual birds in them. These 114 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 1: hairdows were massive, often times the height of the head, 115 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,359 Speaker 1: and worn for weeks at a time, which allowed mice 116 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 1: to build nests deep inside the dew while they slept 117 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: across the pond. In America during the colonial era, it 118 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 1: was all about conservative choices, no makeup or elaborate bathing. 119 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: In fact, it was a common belief that exposing your 120 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: skin to a lot of water could be fatal because 121 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: the water would seep into your skin and drown you 122 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: from the inside. Once we hit the nineteenth century, both 123 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:32,120 Speaker 1: in America and Europe, fashionable women wanted slimmer figures because 124 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: they believed it made them look intelligent and refined. Also 125 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: popular flushed cheeks, bright eyes, and red lips and all 126 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: those qualities were also signs of tuberculosis, or consumption as 127 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: they called it then, And that was fine because consumption 128 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 1: was thought to be an illness of aristocratic women. Okay, 129 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: we're amazed by all of this, but you know what, 130 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 1: these folks weren't so different from us. We inject botox, 131 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: we alter our bodies with plastic surgery, implants, piercings, tattoos, 132 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: and insane diets. So it seems most of us reflect 133 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: the trends during whatever time we live because of our 134 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,200 Speaker 1: desire to be what we think is our very best self. 135 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, 136 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,320 Speaker 1: the Elvis Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer 137 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,679 Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new 138 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,240 Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out 139 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:42,720 Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram 140 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:45,960 Speaker 1: at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. 141 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,320 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The 142 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.