With all the billions of dollars spent every year worldwide on make-up, sometimes we may catch ourselves asking, “How did it get to this ? When did it become the rule for me to get up each morning and before I even go out the door am required to paint my face from top to bottom? It is certain a female way back in the past did not all of a sudden wake up one morning and make the decision to apply eyelashes, lipstick, eyeliner, foundation, and blush all at once. No, it was, like many things, a culmination of happenings from past times.

The Egyptians were the first to use cosmetics. That was four millenia ago. Good hygeine and appearance were extremely important to the people of Egypt. They had faith that the appearance was in direct connection with the constitution of the spirit. They tried to always look and smell pleasant. And with a culture who values their looks, societies are invariably going to have members who are going to try and stand out. The Egyptians, being the cutting edge society they were, used cosmetics for reasons that were even smarter than just trying to look great.

Mesdemet was the earliest type of eye shadow- a mixture of copper with lead ore. The dark hues they believed would ward off evil eyes from their own. It was also an effective sterilizer and bug repellent. Kohl was a dark combination that was applied around the eyes in an oval shape. Kohl was a combination of lead, ash, ochre, copper, and burnt almonds. To further enhance their appearance, Egyptians would put a combination of water and red clay to the cheek area. They would also paint their fingernails hues of orange and yellow with a substance known ashenna.

As time moved on and civilizations were exposed to each other more often, the Grecian people began to learn more of the many practices of the Egyptians use of cosmetics. They would color themselves a pale shade with a base that had lead inside. This proved lethal on more than one occasion. As the Romans began to adapt the make-up habits, the effort to achieve beauty became less about practicality and turned into much more exotic routes. The Romans would adorn their nails with a mixture of sheeps blood and cooked body fat. An ancient Roman citizen once stated, A woman without paint is like food without salt.

A pale skin color was the fashion around the world after the Egyptian civilization disappeared. Only women who were impoverished and had to work out in the field all day with their husbands had rough, sun dired skin. The upper class women obviously did not have to do manual work like that so they stayed out of the sun and had white skin.

A white, pale skin color was also a symbol of wealth. A person was not obligated to work if they had enough riches. So a light complexion was very important to some members of society. To get this look, women (and men too) would apply a mixture of hydroxide, lead oxide, and carbonate in a powder form to apply to their faces and bodies. Unfortunately, this caused a sometimes lethal side effect, lead poisoning.To remedy this problem, chemists in the nineteenth century finally created a combination of zinc oxide that did not block the skin from being able to breathe and kept people out of that annoying lead poisoning sickness. It was so effective that it is still practiced today by cosmetics manufacturers.

In the Edwardian era of London, around the turn of the century of 1900, urban women with a recreational income would throw exotic soirees and do a bunch of entertaining to show off their wealth. As hostesses of the party, it was important for them to be the most beautiful woman at the event, so it was extremely important for them to look as youthful as they possibly could. City and excessive lifestyles with factors like dirty air produced by the cities at that time, poor diets, and very little or no exercise aged the women fast. They would need products like anti-aging foams and face creams to mask their imperfections. They would also travel to the salon. It was a little different in the past than it is in the present. Women would sneak into the back of the salons and hide their faces as they went in. One of the most famous of these discreet beauty houses was the House of Cyclax, that would sell creams and rouges to women. Mrs. Henning, who was the owner, sold and created multiple products for her desperate customers who did not want anybody to know that they were getting on in the years.

The modern day woman is the benefactor of years of trial and error with a practically infinite choice of beauty products for any look they want to accomplish. There are literally thousands of manufacturers who create products in this now billion dollar per year industry. Skin Care products sell all year and even in times of recession. Therefore ladies, thank your ancestors and their concern for their own appearance for yours that you have today. They probably didn't feel like putting on their face some mornings either.