1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,160 Speaker 1: There are a million different resolutions we make as the 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:05,760 Speaker 1: new year gets underway, and a lot of us, really, 3 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:09,040 Speaker 1: I mean really want to look more fabulous than we 4 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:12,160 Speaker 1: did last year or the year before. Right. How about 5 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: doing what our ancestors did and slathering your face and 6 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: hair with everything from ostrich eggs to pea to crocodile dung, 7 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 1: or fixing overplucked eyebrows by gluing on mouse pelts. It's 8 00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: all about looking good at any price. I'm Fatty Steele 9 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: suffering for beauty in the new year. Next on the backstory, 10 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: We're back with the backstory. Resolutions are top of mind 11 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 1: as the new year unfolds. We want to be more successful, 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,959 Speaker 1: more at peace, happier, and definitely better looking. I mean, 13 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: who doesn't want to look good now? It's all about 14 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: shots like Ozembek and Manjuro to make the weight fall off. 15 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: There's plenty of plastic surgery, laser treatments, and trips to 16 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: the medspot, botox and fillers. So I thought we would 17 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:09,319 Speaker 1: revisit our earlier backstory about suffering for beauty. First, we'll 18 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:12,400 Speaker 1: go back more than ten thousand years to ancient Egypt. 19 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: Men and women were anxious to hang on to youth 20 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,759 Speaker 1: by protecting their skin. They used creams, oils, and makeup 21 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: made with herbs, spices, flowers, and other less savory ingredients 22 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: to look better. There was a primitive sunscreen made with 23 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 1: ostrich eggs, and for noble women there was nothing like 24 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 1: a milk bath, although Cleopatra later on parently preferred to 25 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: lounge in a bath of sour milk, and who doesn't 26 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 1: want a facial Aloe and spices were mixed with honey 27 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: and milk for an anti wrinkle and anti inflammatory mask 28 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: and makeup was essential to women and men. Lead, copper 29 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: and semi precious stones were ground up for eyeshadow. Their 30 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: dark almond shaped eyeliner was made from burnt almonds, animal fat, 31 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: and again deadly lead. Her lipstick, nail polish and blush 32 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: they used animal blood and clay. Moving to the Greek 33 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: and Roman empires, Plautus, a Roman philosopher, commented, a woman 34 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:15,520 Speaker 1: without paint is like food without salt. Wow. Now they 35 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: learned a lot from the Egyptians later on, but the 36 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: Romans had some interesting beauty rituals of their own. In fact, 37 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: the word cosmetics comes from the Latin word cosmetae. They 38 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: were slave beautician slash stylists. The cosmetae would apply makeup 39 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:35,960 Speaker 1: and jewelry, and even pluck hairs from their employer's body, legs, arms, face, 40 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: all over, hair on any part of the body, but 41 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 1: the head was not appreciated. Then. Many people even had 42 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: their entire head plucked, and men and women would shave 43 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: their faces in private parts with super sharp stones. The 44 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 1: cosmetae would slather their employer with exfolians and creams and 45 00:02:55,320 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: anti aging facial masks that tighten the skin and reduced wrinkles. 46 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 1: Actually spent full days at the spa, wrapping up with 47 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: a mud bath and a massage with fragrant oils, which 48 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: left them radiant and younger looking, or at least feeling 49 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: They looked younger, and it didn't stop there. Fair skin 50 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,200 Speaker 1: was a sign of aristocracy, while a tan made you 51 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,839 Speaker 1: look lower class, So to lighten their skin they used 52 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: a powder made of lead and chalk mixed with crocodile 53 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: dung ah. The price of beauty. Funny enough, despite the 54 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: distance apart, beauty regimens in Asia weren't a whole lot 55 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: different in ancient China as well. Pale complexions were a 56 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: sign of nobility, women would shave off their eyebrows before 57 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: bleaching their skin with a gel made from mushrooms, lead 58 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: and rice. Fast forward to Europe in the Middle Ages, 59 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: and once again, lead powder, alabaster, and egg whites were 60 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: used to hide freckles, smallpox, scars, and other blemishes and 61 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: create that pale white look. Miss It was a short 62 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: term fix, but long term it slowly poisoned them, turning 63 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: hair gray, drying out skin, giving them extreme stomach paint. 64 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: Sometimes it killed them worse. Yet, often this stuff just 65 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: didn't work, so some opted for an even weirder skin 66 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:20,599 Speaker 1: whitening treatment. Leeches, getting rid of the blood flow in 67 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: their faces, gave them the gaunt, pale look both men 68 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: and women found irresistible, so they put the leeches around 69 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:31,799 Speaker 1: their ears. Now there were other beauty challenges as well. 70 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: After trends changed. Women in the Middle Ages had to 71 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,279 Speaker 1: deal with overplucked eyebrows, so they would glue mouse skins 72 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: on their brows, dyeing the mini brow wigs to match 73 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: their hair. You may have noticed in paintings of the 74 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 1: sixteenth and seventeenth century big shots that they had really 75 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: high hairlines, like back to the crown of their heads. 76 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: That was hugely in vogue, and some folks plucked every 77 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: hair as it grew in at the desired hairline. Others, 78 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: like Queen Elizabeth I, used cat pee or dong walnut 79 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: oil and vinegar as well as quicklime to remove unwanted hair. 80 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: It was also popularly used on the nether regions. Now 81 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 1: the problem is it sometimes removes skin as well. Actually, 82 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:14,720 Speaker 1: pea of all sorts was a beauty thing in the 83 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: Middle East. To make their hair glossy, folks rinsed it 84 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:21,040 Speaker 1: in camel pea and in venice. During the sixteen hundreds, 85 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,479 Speaker 1: women looking to bleach their hair would soak it in 86 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,799 Speaker 1: lion pea and lay in the sun for hours, using 87 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,159 Speaker 1: a Venetian hat which had the top cut out so 88 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:32,240 Speaker 1: only the hair was in the sun. Finally, some folks 89 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: men and women looking to go blonde would mix human 90 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 1: breast milk with saffron, so much for sweet smelling hair. Now, 91 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: by the Renaissance things changed a bit. They still use 92 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 1: lead powders to look pale, but they also believed the 93 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,280 Speaker 1: hands of a woman could only be beautiful if they 94 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: were long lined with tiny, light colored veins, so women 95 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:55,359 Speaker 1: would use blue paint and apply thin cosmetic veins to hands, 96 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: but also to their forehead and breasts. They'd coat that 97 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: with egg whites so they looked like they'd literally turned 98 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: to marble. If you had skin problems from all of this, 99 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:08,120 Speaker 1: they recommended treating it with blood from healthy, red headed 100 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: men no older than twenty five. At the end of 101 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,560 Speaker 1: the day, the overuse of lead could leave holes in 102 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:17,279 Speaker 1: your face, so you'd either apply more lead makeup to 103 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,840 Speaker 1: fill it in, or use the popular seventeenth century beauty 104 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:23,839 Speaker 1: trick of gluing patches of star shaped fabric to the 105 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:26,720 Speaker 1: holes in your face. Finally, when a white in your teeth, 106 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,600 Speaker 1: they used marble glass crushed pearls mixed with honey. Eventually 107 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: your tooth enamel would wear off. But there's good news. 108 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was fashionable to 109 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,479 Speaker 1: paint your teeth black, mimicking tooth decay, meaning you could 110 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:47,359 Speaker 1: afford sweets, plus it covered up the enamel loss. Eighteenth 111 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: century beauty was different from country to country. In France, 112 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,279 Speaker 1: both men and women wore elaborate makeup with very white 113 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,919 Speaker 1: lead based pastes on their faces, as well as deep red, 114 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: precise circles over the cheekbone, and hairstyles were nuts, Curly 115 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: powdered wigs were in Women had ribbons, jewels, flowers, feathers, 116 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: even model ships or hair lacquered into ships, as well 117 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: as bird cages, sometimes with actual birds in them. These 118 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: hairdows were massive, often three times the height of the head, 119 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: and worn for weeks at a time, which allowed mice 120 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: to build nests deep inside the dew while they slept 121 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: across the pond. In America during the colonial era, it 122 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: was all about conservative choices, no makeup or elaborate bathing. 123 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:34,520 Speaker 1: In fact, it was a common belief that exposing your 124 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: skin to a lot of water could be fatal because 125 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: the water would seep into your skin and drown you 126 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: from the inside. Once we hit the nineteenth century, both 127 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: in America and Europe, fashionable women wanted slimmer figures because 128 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: they believed it made them look intelligent and refined. Also 129 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: popular flushed cheeks, bright eyes, and red lips. Now, all 130 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: those qualities were also signs of tuberculosis, or consumption as 131 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: they call it then, and that was fine because consumption 132 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: was thought to be an illness of aristocratic women. Okay, 133 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: we're amazed by all of this, But you know what, 134 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,200 Speaker 1: these folks weren't so different from us. We inject botox, 135 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: we alter our bodies with plastic surgery, implants, piercings, tattoos, 136 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: and insane diets. So it seems most of us reflect 137 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: the trends during whatever time we live because of our 138 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 1: desire to be what we think is our very best self. 139 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:44,280 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steel. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, 140 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:48,320 Speaker 1: the Elvis Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer 141 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,679 Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new 142 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out 143 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,719 Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram 144 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: at Real Patty Steel and on Facebook at Patty Steele. 145 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the back Story with Patty Steele, 146 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: the pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.