The use of makeup throughout history has had its ups and downs. It often symbolised prostitution or social class, and even underwent serious legal regulation in England from the s. The makeup we see on the streets today has come a long way from the earliest use by our ancestors. Our story begins with ancient Egypt where makeup use primarily denoted social status rather than gender. Make up was commonly used as remedies to treat wrinkles, scars, and burns. To improve bad breath the ancient Egyptians chewed herbs, frankincense, or liquorice root stick which is still in use today.
Embalming mummies is, of course, widely known. But it is less known that remedies for baldness and greying hair with a mixture of beeswax and resin were also used on the mummies.
They believed it would make them irresistible in the afterlife. Other aspects of cosmetics, namely nail polish, arose around BC. Chinese people began to tint their fingernails with gum arabic, gelatine, beeswax and egg white. Here, the colours used represented social class. For example, in the Chou Dynasty circa BC royals wore gold and silver, and later wore black or red. The lower classes, however, were forbidden to wear bright colours on their nails.
Around BC, in Ancient Greece, the meaning of makeup shifted from social status to femininity. Lipstick, especially, became largely the domain of prostitutes.
They used ingredients ranging from dye and wine, to sheep sweat, saliva and crocodile excrement β¦lovely. It was in the context of lipstick and prostitution that the first formal regulation arose. Parliament declared that women who seduced men into marriage through the use of makeup could have their marriages annulled as well as face witchcraft charges. At the height of the Roman Empire, makeup was at high popularity and low regulation. Makeup denoted purely social status, with the colour of lip paint that men wore generally indicating their social standing and rank.
