As we can all agree, beauty is a highly individual thing. However, is our concept of beauty based on society or nature? This is the question people have been asking themselves for thousands of years.
However, to understands what beauty represents and what are the factors that determine whether something is beautiful or not, we are going to take you on a small journey throughout history.
Ancient Egypt
According to numerous evidence, Egyptian women were often portrayed as skim, high weighted, and with narrow hips. They featured long dark hair, with a lot of eyeliner and blush. However, since men and women shaved their heads, they wore braided wigs instead.
Ancient Greece
While many women today can’t stand bushy eyebrows, women in Greece used to point out eyebrows with a dark pigment. They also bleached hair in vinegar, which resulted in hair loss and had to wear wigs as well.
Long hair was a status symbol of upper-class women since only they were allowed to wear their hair in this manner.
Heian Japan
In medieval Japan, long hair was a prized possession, so women tend to grow their hair as long as possible. The hair was worn in a loose ponytail, or straight down. In some cases, the hair would even reach the floor how long it was.
Women also shaved their eyebrows and then grew bushy ones that nearly touched their forehead. Heian beauty featured pale skin and rosy cheeks, as well as white bow lips. Since they often pained their faces in white, their teeth appeared yellow.
Renaissance, Italy
When it comes to Renaissance beauty, it was often linked to virtue, and beautiful women were considered to be virtuous ones. Opposite to slim figure, Renaissance celebrated the full body, and slightly rounded stomach, which was connected to motherhood, while the pale skin symbolized the life after labor.
Women plucked their hairlines to get a high forehead and bleached their hair to achieve a strawberry blond look.
18th Century France
Oval face, double chin, and rosy cheeks were ideals of French beauty. Women used to wear their hair long and curly. A lot of them also wore white makeup, which often contained mercury or poisonous lead.
The Edwardian Era
Hourglass figure, slim waist, and accentuated hips were symbols of the Edwardian Era. The portrait of Gibson Girl with her tousled hair, and symmetrical face was considered to be an ideal of beauty.
The 20s
Women in the 1920s have discovered freedom and power, which enabled them to experiment with their appearance. They started showing their legs more, cut their hair into bobs, and celebrated boyish silhouette.
The 1950s
With the appearance of electric lights, women became obsessed with having a perfect physical appearance, not only skin and hair but also teeth. Therefore, this is the age when teenage girls and women started buying first beauty products. Also, they still wore shapewear to maintain an hourglass figure.
The 1960s
Short haircuts, thick eyelashes, and natural color makeup marked the 60s. Every woman looked up to model Twiggy and wanted to achieve the same appearance.
The 1980s
Even though blood hair and blue eyes were synonyms of American beauty, more diverse models showed up, taking center stage. Now huge hair and dramatically sculptured face, with a lot of makeup, became something every woman wanted to wear.
