Shaving eyebrows - a tradition of European women in the middle ages

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

A detail as simple as eyebrows can completely change our appearance. We spend time trying to shape them, tint them, go to professional eyebrows, not even guessing how many secrets and amazing traditions are associated with this part of the human face.

Ancient Egypt cosmetics

The first written sources about the use of cosmetics by women date back to ancient Egypt. From these we know that in looking after their appearance, Egyptians were especially concerned about the shape and color of their eyebrows.

The first beauty of the ancient kingdom - Nefertiti - preferred not only bright makeup, but also arched eyebrows. Cosmetics for the queen were made from all kinds of mineral powders.

The most amazing thing is that Egyptians dyed their eyebrows not only for the sake of beauty. There were also mystical reasons for this. In ancient Egypt, it was believed that bright makeup is the best protection against the evil eye and the diseases caused by it. Most often, after waxing, women drew eyebrows on their faces, going in a wave to the temples. They were arched in shape, less often elongated.

At the same time, it should be noted that for a long time only priests and representatives of the pharaoh's family had the right to draw eyebrows in Ancient Egypt. Moreover, each drawing on the face bore its own specific, sacred meaning. According to the papyri texts that have survived to this day, arrows in the corners of the eyes testified to the worship of the god Horus.

Only by the 3rd century AD, it was allowed to decorate the eyebrows of the noble Egyptians, and after them the rest of the inhabitants of the country. For this, they mainly used lapis lazuli and antimony. It was then that false eyelashes and eyebrows appeared.

Ancient Greece: one eyebrow is better than two

It is noteworthy that, unlike Egypt, in ancient Greece, cosmetics were almost never used, it was considered bad form. Girls were forbidden to dye their eyebrows at all, and married ladies only slightly let them down with incense. Nevertheless, the eyebrows of the inhabitant of Hellas were looked after very carefully.

The fact is that accrete eyebrows, the so-called monobrow, were considered a special sign of beauty in Ancient Greece. Those women who by nature did not have such eyebrows, and there were most of them, painted on them with the help of cosmetics. Since then, the fused eyebrows have received the name "Greek".

East: main facial expression

The situation with eyebrows in ancient China was somewhat different. In this country, it was mainly men who were engaged in decorating their own eyebrows. The Chinese have noticed that this or that color and pattern of eyebrows changes the face dramatically. And without eyebrows, even the closest people do not recognize a person at all.

In addition, in the East, they believed that thick, shaggy eyebrows frighten evil spirits and enemies during battle. These are the eyebrows the ancient Chinese made for themselves. In turn, the Chinese women, like the Greek women, preferred to connect their eyebrows in one line, only thin and graceful.

Middle Ages: shave eyebrows

In the Middle Ages, when a high forehead came into fashion in Europe, women's eyebrows fell out of favor. Already from the 15th century, European women began to pluck their eyebrows, trying to increase the size of their foreheads. We can see this ideal of beauty in the legendary painting of the 16th century "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci.

The Holy Inquisition also contributed to the fashion. Girls who blackened their eyebrows, eyelashes, or, even worse, used overhead elements, were immediately recognized as witches and could go straight to the fire. It got to the point that the women of Europe in the Middle Ages rubbed walnut oil into their eyebrows so that they would stop growing altogether.

The situation changed only in the 17th century, when women began to draw them instead of plucked or pulled out eyebrows, giving them the most bizarre shapes. Some high society ladies even cut their eyebrows out of animal skins.

In Russia in the 18th century, as reported by Radishchev, the natural beauty of eyebrows was in vogue. Although Russian girls and women also gave them a special shape, preferring arched black eyebrows, called sable.

Twentieth century: keeping up with fashion

In the 20th century, cinema became the trendsetter.

Until the early 1930s, the eyebrows were blackened. Then, with the release of films with Gretta Garbo on the world screens, eyebrows in the form of high curved arches became popular.

In the 1950s, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, and with them Marilyn Monroe began to shine in the cinema. With their arrival all over the world, women's eyebrows became dark and wide, standing out brightly on a pale white face.

In the 1960s, Sophia Loren introduced the fashion for almost completely shaved eyebrows.

In the 1980s, thick and unkempt eyebrows came into fashion. A similar effect was artificially created using special powders and pencils.

But in the 1990s and 2000s, the fashion for a particular type of eyebrow no longer existed. Each of the forms of eyebrows common in previous decades has found its admirers among representatives of different segments of the world's population.