WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: What's the History of Nail Polish?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren vogel Bomb, and this is a classic episode

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<v Speaker 1>from the Vault. In this one, we go into the

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps surprisingly long history of nail polish, from ancient marks

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<v Speaker 1>of class and military status to modern materials from the

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<v Speaker 1>automotive industry.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb. Here with a look

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<v Speaker 2>into the history of an everyday item, nail polish. It's

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<v Speaker 2>actually been an everyday item for folks going back at

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<v Speaker 2>least five thousand years. The very first people to apply

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<v Speaker 2>color to their nails were likely in India during the

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<v Speaker 2>Bronze Age, and they probably used hannah to do it.

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<v Speaker 2>The use of hannah as a dye for body art

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<v Speaker 2>was very common, so extending the designs and color onto

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<v Speaker 2>the nails was a natural next step. The Chinese took

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<v Speaker 2>the nail game up level sometime around three thousand BCE.

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<v Speaker 2>They created a sort of nail varnish using a mixture

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<v Speaker 2>of egg whites, beeswax, gelatine, amarabic which is a sap

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<v Speaker 2>from the acacia tree, and alum, a compound frequently used

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<v Speaker 2>in dyeing to help colors stick. These varnishes were then

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<v Speaker 2>colored with flower petals or gold or silver dust. They

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<v Speaker 2>further personalized the looks with artificial nails made of silver

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<v Speaker 2>and gold, covered with jewels or closwine as well. These

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<v Speaker 2>elaborately designed and colored nails were exclusively reserved for royal

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<v Speaker 2>classes only. Around the same time, the Babylonians were getting

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<v Speaker 2>into the nail game, but it was the warriors who

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<v Speaker 2>were wearing color. The men pigmented their nails with coal,

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<v Speaker 2>which is finely powdered sulfide before going into battle again.

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<v Speaker 2>Even among these soldiers, class mattered. Higher class warriors had

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<v Speaker 2>their nails colored with black coal, while lower class fighters

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<v Speaker 2>used green coal. Enna has also been found painted on

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<v Speaker 2>Egyptian mummies, including their nails. Nail colour signified class in

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<v Speaker 2>Egypt too. The redder ones nails in ancient Egypt, the

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<v Speaker 2>more power that person had. Queen Nefertiti, the stepmother of

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<v Speaker 2>King Tutan, common, wore dark red nails, a color rumored

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<v Speaker 2>to have blood in it. Cleopatra is said to have

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<v Speaker 2>painted her nails from the juice of the hennaplant, which

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<v Speaker 2>created a deep and rusty color. Women of lower rank

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<v Speaker 2>were only allowed to wear pastel colors colored nails were

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<v Speaker 2>popular in Europe by the Renaissance era, when trade with

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<v Speaker 2>countries in Asia opened up. Coloring and bejeweling nails hit

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<v Speaker 2>another high in eighteenth century French quartz, where outlandish fashion

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<v Speaker 2>trends were the rage. By the Victorian era, women were

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<v Speaker 2>creating color and shine with tinted oils. Women were also

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<v Speaker 2>using tinted powders and creams on their nails to give

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<v Speaker 2>them color and shine. That apply the mild abrasive and

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<v Speaker 2>buffet for a shiny look, but it took time to

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<v Speaker 2>apply the powdered cream, polish and buff each nail. In

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen sixteen, q Tex changed that when it introduced its

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<v Speaker 2>first clear nail lacquer. Painting a layer of shine on

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<v Speaker 2>fingernails became much easier than all that buffing. It wasn't

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<v Speaker 2>until the early twentieth century that polish as we know

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<v Speaker 2>it came into existence, though, and we have the automobile

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<v Speaker 2>industry to think. In the nineteen twenties, automotive paint was invented,

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<v Speaker 2>and not long after French manicurist Michelle Minard adapted the

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<v Speaker 2>formula to create opaque nail polish. Her employer, Charles Revson,

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<v Speaker 2>knew a good thing when he saw it, so he

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<v Speaker 2>and his brother Joseph launched a new company, Revlon, with

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<v Speaker 2>the first colored nail enamel appearing in nineteen thirty two.

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<v Speaker 2>Manicures were far from being the exclusive territory of the

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<v Speaker 2>upper classes at this point. A bottle of q Tex

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<v Speaker 2>nail polish cost thirty five cents in nineteen thirty four

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<v Speaker 2>and affordable luxury in a time of type purse strings.

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<v Speaker 2>When America entered World War II and women joined the

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<v Speaker 2>workforce in huge numbers, manicures changed accordingly. Long nails were

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<v Speaker 2>not going to last doing shift work at the factory.

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<v Speaker 2>Even the New York Times ran remedies for motor mechanic hands.

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<v Speaker 2>Rather than trying to keep up brightly painted nails, women

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<v Speaker 2>working manual jobs turned back to clear polish or even

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<v Speaker 2>buffing with cream polish. After Manard invented colored nail laquer,

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<v Speaker 2>women were having their nails coated from base to tip

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<v Speaker 2>with solid colors. But it didn't take long before the

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<v Speaker 2>French manicure became a mark of sophistication. Rather than using

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<v Speaker 2>two colors as we often do today, women would leave

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<v Speaker 2>the moon at the base of the nail and the

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<v Speaker 2>tip completely and very carefully unpainted. Black nail varnish was

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<v Speaker 2>introduced in the nineteen thirties, though there's no evidence of

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<v Speaker 2>any soldiers getting their nails done a lah the Babylonians.

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<v Speaker 2>At the same time in England, women were having landscapes

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<v Speaker 2>painted onto their nails, a level of detail not attempted

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<v Speaker 2>since the Chinese Closbonne nails of nearly five thousand years before.

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<v Speaker 2>You can now find nail polish nearly everywhere, in nearly

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<v Speaker 2>every color, and for as little as a few dollars

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<v Speaker 2>a bottle, But the echoes of the upper class Chinese, Babylonian,

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<v Speaker 2>Egyptian and French still linger in products like Acid Tour's

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<v Speaker 2>Black Diamond Polish. It contains two hundred and sixty seven

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<v Speaker 2>carrots of black diamonds and costs a cool two hundred

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<v Speaker 2>and fifty thousand dollars a bottle.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article The Colorful History

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<v Speaker 1>of nail polish on houstuffworks dot com, written by Christie

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<v Speaker 1>Hall Geisler. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with how stuffworks dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang.

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<v Speaker 1>Four more podcasts from My heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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<v Speaker 1>Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.