The terrible sacrifices made by fashionistas in Europe in the name of beauty

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

F. Boucher. The Marquise de Pompadour applies blush in front of the mirror. Fragment

When representatives of different tribes stretch their lips or necks with rings, they are called savages and grin condescendingly. But the methods by which civilized Europeans tried to look better and more attractive seem to be much more savage and barbaric. Arsenic, belladonna, tapeworms, radioactive cosmetics - this is not a complete list of drugs whose harm to health is incommensurate with the result obtained. The most horrific sacrifices made in the name of beauty by women in Europe are further down in the review.

Jars for powder

In the 18th century, beauties subtly killed themselves with the help of lead powder. White, superimposed in a thick layer, thick blush and artificial flies were in fashion. Lead powder was an inexpensive remedy that adhered well to skin and made it silky and smooth. The appearance of side effects was not in any way associated with deadly cosmetics: brain tumor, paralysis, gradual failure of internal organs. The lead content in the remains of noble women exceeds the norm by 30-100 times.

Arsenic

To give the face a blooming look, the eyes - shine, and the body - an attractive roundness in the 19th century, European fashionistas should have … arsenic! Moreover, the "blooming view" meant aristocratic pallor. It was necessary to swallow poison in accordance with certain rules and throughout life. Arsenic, of course, caused irreparable harm to health - it accumulated in the thyroid gland and caused goiter. In addition, it led to diseases of the cardiovascular system and the gastrointestinal tract, numbness of the body, and partial paralysis. The most rabid women of fashion died, the survivors were unlikely to become more beautiful.

Arsenic

The ideal of beauty in the second half of the 19th century. there was a morbid pallor, delicacy and refinement. To give the face a matte pallor, the ladies took crushed chalk three times a day and drank vinegar and lemon juice, and circles under the eyes were achieved due to a special lack of sleep. After drinking vinegar and dragging on corsets, the young ladies fainted - but fainting was also in vogue, this was considered a sign of a subtle mental organization.

Belladonna

Another poison with the poetic name belladonna ("beautiful woman") was buried in the eyes to make them shine. Thanks to the alkaloid atropine, the pupils dilated and the eyes became more expressive. Poisoning with belladonna led to visual impairments, hallucinations, and headaches. Women with shining eyes walked until they were blinded by such procedures.

Corsets that deform internal organs

For a long time, corsets have been the most common means of body shaping, and at the same time deformations of internal organs. It has been written more than once about the disastrous consequences for the female body, especially during pregnancy, they led.

Sacrifices in the name of beauty

Thai pills are not the know-how of our time. They have voluntarily settled in their bodies outsiders before. Even at the beginning of the twentieth century. for a slender figure, women took tapeworm egg pills. Growing up, the parasites absorbed nutrients in the intestines, the person lost weight. The harm to health was modestly silent both then and now.

Tapeworms

The most fashionable in the 1930s. in France there was radioactive cosmetics, the mortal danger of which was not yet suspected at that time. Thorium chloride and radium bromide were supposed to "supply cells with vitality, increase blood circulation, improve skin condition, prevent aging, smooth wrinkles, and give a fresh and blooming appearance." After it was recognized as dangerous, radium disappeared from creams, but the Tho-Radia brand lasted until the 1960s.

Radioactive cosmetics brand * Tho-Radia *