It’s Not Like the Movies: Historical Beauty Standards
Have you ever watched a historical film and thought the actor looked so beautiful that you forgot what time period the movie was set in? From walking like an Egyptian in 1963’s Cleopatra to swing dancing in the 1960s with the 2007 film Hairspray, achieving the look of that era had a price along with it and I’m not talking about financial cost.
Prepare to be surprised to learn about the truth behind some of your favorite historical films.
Walk like an Egyptian in 1963s Cleopatra
Ancient Egyptian beauty can be described as fierce and ahead of its time. Of course, one of the most notable aspects of beauty at the time was the bold eyeliner. In 1963, actress Elizabeth Taylor who played Cleopatra in the film actually did her own makeup for the role.
In an article from CBS, it is mentioned that she had also worn eyeliner made from actual kohl to complete the look. Before you consider wearing kohl eyeliner as the next vegan trend, you may want to consider the ingredients in it and the other mixtures ancient Egyptians used in order to achieve the traditional Smokey eye. According to It’s Blossom, “Instead, a mixture of malachite (green ore of copper), galena (lead sulfide), and lead-based kohl helped create their smoky cosmetics. All of those components were very dangerous.”
Throughout time, medical professionals, as well as many other scientists, have discovered that using a kohl like this is not safe. Hence why we have the modern-day mascara made from way safer ingredients.
A forehead once upon Aurora’s dream in 1959S Sleeping Beauty
In the Medieval era, there were many attributes of beauty that we already know of such as pale skin, a small figure, and ruby red lips. Disney’s 1959 film Sleeping Beauty was mostly accurate in its depiction of medieval beauty.
Two not as well-known characteristics of beauty are light hair with a big forehead. Aurora had blonde hair but was missing a key aspect of the medieval look. This beloved Disney princess, by medieval beauty standards, should have accentuated her forehead, not covered it with hair.
“Light hair was in fashion and women went to great lengths to achieve this look. Many put peroxide materials on their hair and bleached it in the sun. A high forehead was considered beautiful and regal. Many women plucked their hairlines to create a large looking forehead,” notes Barr Aesthetics. Throughout time smaller foreheads became more popular along with the exception of more diverse hair colors by the 18th century.
Now, we see hairstyle trends that show the forehead but frame the face like the revival of the ‘70’s curtain bang.
Get Victorian skin like Lady Macbeth (2016)
The Victorian era is defined by elegance and traditional femininity. However, do not let films like Lady Macbeth fool you. This 2016 drama starring Florence Pugh has some dramatic truth behind it. The most prominent characteristic of beauty for women at the time was to have soft, porcelain-white skin.
If a woman at this time were to have porcelain white skin it meant that she was pure, innocent, and wealthy because she didn’t have to work in the sun, compared to other women of lower economic classes. However, this “Casper the friendly ghost”-like complexion left women more red than white.
Aesthetic Surge says, “Lead-based creams were for used to lighten the skin’s surface and the super-rich digested things like arsenic, chalk, slate, and tea to maintain a whitish appearance. This familiar oddity of using toxic ingredients to breed beauty led to fatal consequences.” Ironically, at that time, most people in the Victorian Era knew this was bad and continued to use this technique. Many lead-based products were used until 1978 when the United States banned lead after proving to be harmful to children.
Now, we have more variety in foundations and powders made from natural and healthy ingredients.
The Great Gatsby hair that will definitely get people to Roar with inspiration from the Roaring ‘20s
The Roaring ‘20s were a time of glamour and rebellion. In contrast to the Victorian Era, beauty for young women was all about having fun while being as non-traditional as possible. That included not having long hair, as that could be associated with femininity. Hair in the 1920s was kept short with numerous waves for a glamorous look of rebellion, as depicted in the 2013 film The Great Gatsby. What would be more roaring than the sound of your hair dryer burning your hair, right?
Sophia Jonesby from The Tattler states, “The first iteration of the hairdryer became popular during this era, but this initial attempt was actually incredibly dangerous. Poor construction and iffy mechanics resulted in severe burns, electrocution, and in some cases even death.”
Now, we see modern hairdryers are mandated to have a maximum heat setting to prevent people’s hair from damage or burning off. That is why straighteners and curlers have settings like low, medium, and high temperatures.
Putting the hair in hairspray (2007) in the swinging sixties
The swinging sixties was a time of revolution, specifically for African Americans in the United States strike against using relaxers for their hair. However, the film Hairspray from 2007 was accurate when depicting that some people were still relaxing their hair.
One toxic ingredient involved was lye; a chemical consisting of sodium hydroxide (also known as NaOH) mixed with water, petroleum jelly, and mineral oil. On application, the "lye cream" permeates the protein structure of the hair and weakens its internal bonds.
Lye can cause the scalp to burn and bleed, cause extreme hair loss and even cause cancer. Safiya Charles from Montgomery Advertiser shares, “In December, research published in the International Journal of Cancer found that using chemical hair straighteners increased a woman’s risk of breast cancer by 31%, regardless of her race.”
Unfortunately, lye relaxers are still not officially banned nationwide today. However, there are more lye-free relaxers commonly sold today. Years after the material was discovered to be damaging in early 2010’s the natural hair movement resurgence in 2016 helped convince African American women to refrain from using lye relaxers or even relaxers at all. There is more of an embrace of natural African American hair and brands that have nourishing ingredients like Pattern’s hair products.
The Standards of Beauty
The idea of beauty is complex among so many cultures around the world. Characteristics of beauty, often foreign and consistently changing, have also proven to cause influence as well. We as a society, out of curiosity or out of conformity, let societal pressure influence us to overlook ourselves, our values, and most importantly, our safety to fit these rigid expectations of how we are supposed to look.
Societal standards shouldn’t decide what “beautiful” is. A negative constant in the media is covering this crucial piece of history up with movies, television, documentaries, and fail to accurately depict the harmful things people did to their bodies in the name of beauty.
When comparing yourself to an actress either from a film set in today’s time or as far as ancient Egypt, remember beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder it is also skin deep.
What are your thoughts on historical beauty in the movie industry? Leave a comment below.