How did we as people arrive at the point where we spend billions of dollars annually on cosmetics and it became the social norm for women to wear make-up everyday Certainly a lady way back in the past did not simply wake up one day and make the decision to apply eyelashes, lipstick, eyeliner, foundation, and blush all at once. As you probably guessed, it was a combination of thousands of years and a lot of mistakes.The Egyptians were the first to use cosmetics. That was four thousand years ago. Good hygeine and appearance were terribly important to the Egyptians. They believed the appearance was in direct link with the health of the soul. They attempted to always appear neat and smell good. And with a society who values their looks, they are invariably going to have humans who are going to make themselves stand out. The Egyptians, being the innovative society they were, implemented cosmetics for reasons that were even more practical than just attempting to look great.A mixture of lead ore and copper called Mesdemet was the earliest kind of eye shadow. The dark colors they thought would avert evil eyes from their own. It was also an efficient disinfectant and insect deterrent. Kohl was a dark powder that was applied around the eyes in an oval shape. Kohl was a mixture of lead, ash, ochre, copper, and burnt almonds. A combination of red clay and water was added to the cheeks to further enhance their appearance. They would also paint their fingernails shades of orange and yellow with a substance called henna.As different groups of people began to interact with each other more often, the art of cosmetics was picked up by the Greeks from the Egyptians. Greek women would give themselves a pale color with a base that contained lead in it. On more than one occasion this ended up being lethal. As the Romans started to pick up the make-up habits, the effort to achieve beauty became less about practicality and took a turn into much more exotic routes. They would adorn their nails with a combination of sheeps blood and heated body fat. An ancient Roman man once said, A woman without paint is like food without salt.A light skin tone was the fashion around the world after the Egyptian civilization faded. A tanned, dehydrated face was associated with being a plebeian who worked out outdoors all day beside her man. The upper echelon ladies of course did not have to endure manual labor like that therefore they stayed inside and had pale faces.Prosperity was often measured by a person's light skin tone. If you had enough money, then you did not have to do anything. So it was very important for some members of society to have a light complexion. To get this look, ladies (and men as well) would use a mixture of hydroxide, lead oxide, and carbonate in a powdered form to paint their faces and skin. Unfortunately, this caused a sometimes deadly side effect, lead poisoning.To remedy this, chemists in the nineteenth century at last discovered a combination of zinc oxide that made the skin able to breathe and kept people out of that irritating lead poisoning death. It worked so well that it is still practiced today by cosmetics manufacturers.Lavish and spectacular parties were thrown by city women with throw away incomes in the Edwardian era of London. As hostesses of the shindig, it was necessary for them to be the most attractive woman at the function, so it was terribly important for them to look as youthful as they possibly could. Women in the past who lived these excessive lifestyles did not have good diets, would not work out, and inhaled the heavily polluted air that the cities of the time produced. Anti-aging and facial creams to disguise the blemishes were heavily depended upon by women in this era. They would also travel to the beauty salon. It was a bit different in the past than it is in the present. Ladies would sneak into the back of the salons and hide their faces as they entered. One of the most famous of these secret beauty salons was the House of Cyclax, that would sell foams and rouges to ladies. Mrs. Henning, the owner, sold and created multiple products for her frantic customers who did not want anybody to know that they were getting old.The modern day woman is the benefactor of years of mistakes with a virtually infinite choice of beauty products for any look they want to accomplish. The cosmetics business has become a billion dollar industry with literally thousands of competing companies. Cosmetic products sell all year and even in times of financial hardship. Therefore ladies, give thanks to your ancestors and their concern for their personal appearance for yours that you have nowadays. There were probably days when they woke up and didn’t really feel like going through the hassle of applying their face either.