The price of beauty

Five of the strangest beauty rituals in history

We like to think that the beauty industry has become slightly ridiculous. We spend hundreds on serums, voluntarily freeze our faces, inject substances into our foreheads and occasionally pay someone to stick needles into our skin in the name of collagen production. But compared with our ancestors, we’re actually rather reasonable.

Throughout history, the pursuit of beauty has inspired some truly extraordinary inventions, many of which involved poisonous substances, questionable ingredients and a remarkable disregard for personal safety. What makes them particularly fascinating is that these weren’t necessarily eccentric experiments performed by a handful of desperate women. Some were fashionable, expensive and enthusiastically embraced by the upper classes.

Here are five historical beauty rituals that make your ten-step skincare routine look positively sensible.

1. VENETIAN CERUSE: THE MOST EXPENSIVE WAY TO RUIN YOUR SKIN

Europe, 16th–17th centuries

In Renaissance Europe, having an exceptionally pale complexion was a serious status symbol. Tanned skin suggested that you spent your days working outdoors, which was hardly the impression a wealthy aristocrat wished to give. The fashionable alternative was an almost unnaturally white face, and one of the most prestigious ways to achieve it was a cosmetic called Venetian ceruse.

Made from white lead and vinegar, this luxurious foundation created the smooth, porcelain complexion fashionable at European courts. Unfortunately, lead is highly toxic. Prolonged exposure could damage the skin and cause serious systemic poisoning, while the resulting deterioration of the complexion could encourage the application of even more makeup.

Queen Elizabeth I remains one of the most famous figures associated with the fashion for extremely white faces, although the precise cosmetics she personally used are not entirely documented.

The irony is rather magnificent: women were using a product that could destroy their skin in order to make their skin look perfect. The beauty industry had discovered the concept of repeat customers rather early.

2. BELLADONNA: BEAUTIFUL EYES, QUESTIONABLE VISION

Italy, Renaissance

Long before coloured contact lenses, lash extensions and the invention of the smoky eye, women had another method of making their eyes appear more seductive: poison.

Belladonna, a plant whose Italian name literally means “beautiful woman”, was historically associated with the practice of dilating the pupils to create a darker, more captivating gaze. Accounts of its cosmetic use are particularly associated with Renaissance Italy, although the exact prevalence of the practice is difficult to establish.

The active compounds in belladonna interfere with the nervous system, causing the pupils to enlarge. Unfortunately, they can also cause blurred vision, sensitivity to light and potentially dangerous toxic effects.

There is something wonderfully absurd about the idea of making yourself more attractive to someone you might then struggle to see properly.

Incidentally, atropine, a compound associated with belladonna, is still used in ophthalmology today, although in carefully controlled medical preparations and for considerably more sensible reasons.

3. OHAGURO: WHEN BLACK TEETH WERE THE HEIGHT OF ELEGANCE

Japan, approximately 10th–19th centuries

Today, the beauty industry is obsessed with making teeth whiter. In historical Japan, however, the fashionable direction was quite the opposite.

The practice of ohaguro, or teeth blackening, involved applying preparations containing iron compounds and plant tannins to produce a dark, almost lacquered appearance. The custom existed for centuries and was particularly associated with aristocratic circles before becoming widespread among married women during the Edo period. It was also practised by some men.

Blackened teeth could communicate social position, adulthood and marital status. Far from being considered unattractive, the appearance was culturally associated with refinement and beauty.

Interestingly, the coating may also have offered some protection against dental decay, making this one of the rare historical beauty practices with a plausible practical advantage.

Imagine spending your entire adult life carefully maintaining black teeth, only to discover that several centuries later people would be paying considerable sums to make them as white as possible.

Beauty standards have never been particularly loyal.

4. ARSENIC WAFERS: BEAUTY FROM WITHIN, LITERALLY

Europe and America, 19th century

The Victorians were particularly enthusiastic about the idea that a woman’s complexion should be pale, delicate and almost translucent. Unfortunately, some manufacturers decided that the best way to achieve this effect was to sell women arsenic.

Yes, the poison.

During the nineteenth century, arsenic appeared in various cosmetic preparations, including products marketed as complexion wafers intended to be swallowed. Advertisements promised clearer skin and improved appearance, presenting these preparations as sophisticated beauty aids rather than what they actually were: a potentially dangerous way of ingesting a toxic substance.

Arsenic exposure can cause serious health problems, including damage to the skin, nerves and internal organs. The historical popularity of these products is sometimes exaggerated, but their existence is well documented.

Perhaps the most remarkable detail is the marketing. The idea of improving one’s appearance by swallowing a specially formulated beauty product sounds suspiciously familiar. Replace arsenic with collagen, add an attractive minimalist package and a subscription model, and the concept begins to look rather contemporary.

Fortunately, the ingredients have improved.

5. CROCODILE DUNG: ANCIENT ROME’S ANSWER TO SKINCARE

Ancient Rome, 1st century AD

Ancient Roman beauty culture was surprisingly sophisticated. Wealthy women had access to elaborate bathing rituals, perfumes, facial preparations and an impressive variety of cosmetic ingredients. Unfortunately, not all of those ingredients would pass a modern dermatological assessment.

Pliny the Elder, the Roman author and naturalist, recorded various remedies involving animal waste, including preparations associated with crocodiles. Such substances were recommended in ancient medical writing for skin blemishes and other conditions, although these descriptions do not establish how widely they were actually used as beauty treatments.

Pliny also recorded the use of bull dung to give the cheeks a rosy appearance.

One can only imagine the conversation between a Roman aristocrat and her beauty adviser. The client requests a fresh, radiant complexion. The adviser recommends something recently collected from a crocodile.

To be fair, the Romans were working with the knowledge available to them, and their beauty culture also included perfectly respectable ingredients such as olive oil, honey and botanical extracts.

Still, it’s difficult not to appreciate how far cosmetic formulation has come.

BEAUTY HAS ALWAYS BEEN A LITTLE IRRATIONAL

What makes these rituals so interesting isn’t simply how strange they appear today, but how perfectly reasonable they must have seemed within their own cultural contexts. A pale face once represented privilege, black teeth could signify elegance, and dangerously dilated pupils were associated with seductive beauty.

The ideal changed, and people changed themselves to match it.

Modern beauty treatments are certainly safer and more scientifically sophisticated, but our fascination with improving, preserving and occasionally reinventing our appearance remains remarkably consistent.

Perhaps the real historical constant isn’t the beauty standard itself, but our willingness to pursue it.

And considering that women once voluntarily applied lead to their faces, spending an hour having your cheekbones sculpted by a facialist seems like a rather civilised development.