Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder

The Evolution of Beauty through history

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Coco Chanel quoted “Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself” and Hume wrote “Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty (Hume 1757,136)”

It is very interesting that in the 21^st century, Beauty can be perceived as anything and the rules to conventional beauty does not apply anymore.

Beauty has evolved so much through the ages and what was taboo 80 years ago is now high fashion and on everyone’s Instagram and Snapchat feeds.

Let’s look at a few beauty “trends” and how it has evolved through the years and your perception of these trends as beautiful or a fad.

1. Pale Faces

During the 18^th century, a pale face was very desirable. Woman would mix vinegar and white lead together and powder this over their faces. Other popular products were arsenic and white chalk that the ladies would eat to whiten their faces.

But eventually these whitening agents started to break down the skin, causing scarring and also illness. Many women lost their eyebrows as a result of using too much lead-based make-up and would glue on fake ones made from mouse pelts.

2. No hair, don’t care

In the middle ages the most attractive part of a woman’s face was her forehead and so woman plucked out their eyelashes and shaved off their eyebrows to accentuate this part of their face.

In the 20th century, X-rays where used to remove unwanted body hair. Women would be exposed to the deadly rays for up to 20 hours. I think I would rather live with my hairy legs than with skin cancer.

3. Eyes and Teeth

Poisonous plants like Belladonna, a hallucinogen and poisonous, were used to dilate women’s pupils and the leaves were rubbed on their cheeks for a flushed appearance.

Have you ever been in that embarrassing moment with spinach stuck between your teeth? In Japan during the 1400-1800 the practice of “Ohaguro” was a custom of dying one’s teeth black.

Iron filings were dissolved in vinegar and applied once a day to teeth. This practice wasn’t all that bad because it was found to prevent tooth decay. Black teeth were a symbol of Imperialism and Wealth during that time period.

4. Eyebrows

Eyebrows are revolutionary and forever changing. From as early as 1920, we had women inspiring us in how we perceive our eyebrows. In 1920, thin eyebrows with a slight curve was popular and through 1930-1940 the more natural, softer eyebrow with a more defined arch was seen on Grace Kelly and Kathrine Hepburn.

In the 50’s and 80’s the full, bold and thick brows became very popular. All natural with very little grooming. The women that inspired this look were Marilyn Monroe, Julia Roberts and Cindy Crawford.

In the 90’s eyebrows went back to the 60’s and we saw very thin eyebrows in fashion again. The “skinny brow” was trending.

Going into the year 2000 and a new millennium gave birth to a new species called Millennials. They took beauty and fashion and combined the two together and broke all the rules.
In 2014 we saw “Accessorized Arches”. Models on runways were wearing faux eyebrow rings that set the trend for other brow accessories.

In 2015 the Instagram Brow revolution with #OnFleek took the industry by storm with every young girl wanting Kylie Jenner eyebrows.

Then eyebrows got weird in 2017-2018. Here are a few examples of edgy, out of this world brow looks:

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