1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,120 Speaker 1: Want to look extra fabulous for this new year. How 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,640 Speaker 1: about doing what our ancestors did and slathering your face 3 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: and hair with everything from ostroj eggs to pea to 4 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: crocodile dung, or fixing overplugged eyebrows by gluing on mouse pelts. 5 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele, suffering for beauty. Next on the backstory, 6 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: We're back with the backstory. Okay, who doesn't want to 7 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,320 Speaker 1: look good? Well, you've heard that ridiculous line, it's better 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: to look good than to feel good. You laugh until 9 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 1: you realize how many people are willing to suffer to 10 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: look better. We do it now with botox implants, plastic surgery. 11 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: But that need to look good has been going on 12 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,559 Speaker 1: for thousands of years, and amazingly, some of what they 13 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:52,160 Speaker 1: used thousands of years ago is still effective today. Now, first, 14 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: we'll go back more than ten thousand years to ancient Egypt. 15 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: Men and women were anxious to hang on to youth 16 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: by protecting their skins. They used creams, oils, and makeup 17 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: made with herbs, spices, flowers, and other less savory ingredients 18 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: to look better. There was a primitive sunscreen made with 19 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: ostrich eggs and for noble women, there was nothing like 20 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: a milk bath, although Cleopatra later on partly preferred to 21 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,960 Speaker 1: lounge in a bath of sour melta and who doesn't 22 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,400 Speaker 1: want a facial Aloe and spices were mixed with honey 23 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 1: and milk for an anti wrinkle and anti inflammatory mask 24 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:33,120 Speaker 1: and makeup was essential to women and men. Lead, copper 25 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: and semi precious stones were ground up for eyeshadow. Their 26 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: dark almond shaped eyeliner was made from burnt almonds, animal fat, 27 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: and again deadly lead. For lipstick, nail polish and blush, 28 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: they used animal blood and clay. Moving to the Greek 29 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: and Roman empires, Ploutus, a Roman philosopher commented, a woman 30 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: without paint is like food without salt. Wow. Now they 31 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: learned a lot from the egypt later on, but the 32 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: Romans had some interesting beauty rituals of their own. In fact, 33 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: the word cosmetics comes from the Latin word cosmetae. They 34 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 1: were slave beautician slash stylists. The cosmetae would apply makeup 35 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: and jewelry, and even pluck hairs from their employer's body, legs, arms, face, 36 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: all over, hair on any part of the body, but 37 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: the head was not appreciated then. Many people even had 38 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: their entire head plucked, and men and women would shave 39 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 1: their faces in private parts with super sharp stones. The 40 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: cosmetae would slather their employer with exfolians and creams and 41 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: anti aging facial masks that tightened the skin and reduced wrinkles. 42 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: Romans actually spent full days at the spa, wrapping up 43 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,800 Speaker 1: with a mud bath and a massage with fragrant oils, 44 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: which left them radiant and younger looking, or at least 45 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: feeling they looked younger, and it didn't stop there. Fair 46 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:59,119 Speaker 1: skin was a sign of aristocracy, while a tan made 47 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: you look lower class. So to lighten their skin they 48 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 1: used a powder made of lead and chalk mixed with 49 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:10,640 Speaker 1: crocodile dung ah the price of beauty. Funny enough, despite 50 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: the distance apart, beauty regimens in Asia weren't a whole 51 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,919 Speaker 1: lot different In ancient China as well, Pale complexions were 52 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:21,279 Speaker 1: a sign of nobility. Women would shave off their eyebrows 53 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: before bleaching their skin with a gel made from mushrooms, 54 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: lead and rice. Fast forward to Europe in the Middle Ages, 55 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,080 Speaker 1: and once again, lead powder, alabaster and egg whites were 56 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: used to hide freckles, smallpox, scars, and other blemishes, and 57 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: create that pale white look. Problem is it was a 58 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: short term fix, but long term it slowly poisoned them, 59 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: turning hair gray, drying out skin, giving them extreme stomach paint. 60 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 1: Sometimes it killed them worse. Yet, often this stuff just 61 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: didn't work, so some opted for an even weirder skin 62 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: whitening treatment leeches. Getting rid of the blood flow in 63 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: their face gave them the gaunt, pale look both men 64 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: and women found irresistible, so they put the leeches around 65 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: their ears. Now there were other beauty challenges as well. 66 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: After trends changed. Women in the Middle Ages had to 67 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: deal with overplucked eyebrows, so they would glue mouse skins 68 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:20,679 Speaker 1: on their brows, dyeing the mini browwigs to match their hair. 69 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:23,599 Speaker 1: You may have noticed in paintings of the sixteenth and 70 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 1: seventeenth century big shots that they had really high hairlines, 71 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: like back to the crown of their heads. That was 72 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 1: hugely in vogue, and some folks plucked every hair as 73 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: it grew in at the desired hairline. Others like Queen 74 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: Elizabeth I, used cat pee or dung walnut oil and 75 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: vinegar as well. As quicklime to remove unwanted hair. It 76 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,240 Speaker 1: was also popularly used on the nether regions. Now the 77 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: problem is it sometimes removed skin as well. Actually, pea 78 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: of all sorts was the beauty thing in the Middle East. 79 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 1: To make their hair glossy, folks rinsed it in camel 80 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: pea and in venice. During the sixteen hundreds, women looking 81 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: to bleach their hair would soak it in lion pea 82 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: and lay in the sun for hours, using a Venetian 83 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:08,599 Speaker 1: hat which had the top cut out so only the 84 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: hair was in the sun. Finally, some folks men and 85 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: women looking to go blonde would mix human breast milk 86 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: with saffron. So much for sweet smelling hair. Now, by 87 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: the Renaissance things changed a bit. They still use lead 88 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 1: powders to look pale, but they also believe the hands 89 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: of a woman could only be beautiful if they were 90 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:30,479 Speaker 1: long lined with tiny, light colored veins. So women would 91 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 1: use blue paint and apply thin cosmetic veins to hands, 92 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: but also to their forehead and breasts. They'd coat that 93 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: with egg whites so they looked like they'd literally turned 94 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: to marble. If you had skin problems from all of this, 95 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: they recommended treating it with blood from healthy, red headed 96 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: men no older than twenty five at the end of 97 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: the day. The overuse of lead could leave holes in 98 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:56,160 Speaker 1: your face, so you'd either apply more lead makeup to 99 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,719 Speaker 1: fill it in or use the popular seventeenth century beauty 100 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: trick of gluing patches of star shaped fabric to the 101 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: holes in your face. Finally, when a white in your teeth, 102 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: they used marble glass crushed pearls mixed with honey. Eventually 103 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: your tooth enamel would wear off. But there's good news. 104 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,479 Speaker 1: During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it was fashionable to 105 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: paint your teeth black, mimicking tooth decay, meaning you could 106 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: afford sweets, plus it covered up the enamel loss. Eighteenth 107 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: century beauty was different from country to country. In France, 108 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: both men and women wore elaborate makeup with very white 109 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: lead based pastes on their faces, as well as deep red, 110 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:38,479 Speaker 1: precise circles over the cheekbone and hairstyles were nuts, Curly 111 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,360 Speaker 1: powdered wigs were in. Women had ribbons, jewels, flowers, feathers, 112 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: even model ships or hair lacquered into ships, as well 113 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: as bird cages, sometimes with actual birds in them. These 114 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:53,240 Speaker 1: hairdows were massive, often three times the height of the head, 115 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: and worn for weeks at a time, which allowed mice 116 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,719 Speaker 1: to build nests deep inside the dew while they slept 117 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 1: across the pond. In America during the colonial era, it 118 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:07,480 Speaker 1: was all about conservative choices, no makeup or elaborate bathing. 119 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 1: In fact, it was a common belief that exposing your 120 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 1: skin to a lot of water could be fatal because 121 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: the water would seep into your skin and drown you 122 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: from the inside. Once we hit the nineteenth century, both 123 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:24,119 Speaker 1: in America and Europe, fashionable women wanted slimmer figures because 124 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:28,120 Speaker 1: they believed it made them look intelligent and refined. Also 125 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 1: popular flushed cheeks, bright eyes, and red lips and all 126 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: those qualities were also signs of tuberculosis, or consumption as 127 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: they called it then, And that was fine because consumption 128 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: was thought to be an illness of aristocratic women. Okay, 129 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: we're amazed by all of this, but you know what, 130 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 1: these folks weren't so different from us. We inject botox, 131 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 1: we alter our bodies with plastic surgery, implants, piercings, tattoos, 132 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: and insane diets. So it seems most of us reflect 133 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 1: the trends during whatever time we want live because of 134 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: our desire to be what we think is our very 135 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: best self. I hope you're enjoying the Backstory with Patty Steele. 136 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: Please leave a review and follow or subscribe for free 137 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also feel free to 138 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: DM me if, like Sue, you have a story you'd 139 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and 140 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 1: on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories 141 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, 142 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 1: and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our 143 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:43,680 Speaker 1: writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. 144 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: Feel free to reach out to me with comments and 145 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and 146 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,319 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the 147 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history you didn't 148 00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:58,280 Speaker 1: know you needed to know.