Beauty Through The Ages

What You Need To Know

It all started years and years ago. Actually several thousand years ago. Cleopatra decided that milk and honey baths felt marvelous and made her skin feel like silk. And it went on from there. Women have been drawn to beauty products for centuries after that, producing cycles of use which continues to this day, feeding billions of dollars into the North American cosmetic coffers .

Our fascination might have a little to do with Mother Nature. She saw fit to endow the males in the animal kingdom with so much more color and splendor. The lowly female was left behind to be dull, but realizing this at the last minute, Mother Nature gave us something special... our love of being just a little daring. From the beginning of time, we had this desire to enhance our appearance and we started with the lowly castor bean, added some flower petals, some roots and barks and our beauty industry was born.

But we made a few mistakes along the way. During the time of Louis X14 and Queen Elizabeth 1st, we took a few chances to look our best with catastrophic results. Pale skin was the flavor of the month and unknowingly, the skin was whitened with lead and it caused many early deaths. They were not satisfied with their hair either, so they bleached it with lye . Understandably, that caused it to fall out. So, wigs made an appearance. Not a bad thing but they were so elaborate that they had to be greased with lard to keep them in place. Lice and other pests though it was great. It was not a pleasant time for beauty.

Controvercy has also been a part of the beauty industry. It was often criticized on religious and moral grounds. In fact, in Victorian times, cosmetics were considered the devil's making and as a result, cosmetics took a back seat... if just for a little while. But the world wars introduced change. Women were now earning their own money and at least some of it was spent on colored powders, eye shadows and lipstick. The industry as we now know it was born.

And that is a what you are going to find here. I have chosen numerous topics that make up the beauty industry and have found corresponding links updated daily so you will never fall behind. There are also articles and polls so that you can actually feel the pulse of the industry as it happens. If you have a question, I am just an email away. So, I hope you will become a regular to Beauty and Health and join us whenever you want to know the latest break through or simply come by and join us in chat. We have the friendliest bunch of regulars you could hope to meet... male and female!