Vanity Insanity: Painful and Dangerous Beauty Trends Throughout History
Lotions, potions, and crazy notions. Throughout history women have tried everything from applying hemorrhoid cream to decrease facial wrinkles to wrapping themselves in Saran Wrap to reduce cellulite. These practices may seem far fetched, but are mild in comparison to what some have done. All in the name of beauty.
Wasp Waist Victorian Corsets
Corsets were first worn back in the 16th century and have undergone many changes over the years, but the idea behind wearing these garments remains the same. Making the wearer`s waist appear smaller. In Victorian times women began “tight lacing” a method of cinching corsets so tightly that prolonged wearing of them would actually alter their shape. Surely this was painful. It has been claimed that tight lacing weakens certain muscles, damages organs and causes fractures to rib bones.
Geisha
Preparations for a day in the life of a Geisha are not only time consuming, but sometimes painful as well. (The face white that was originally used contained lead and caused serious illness and even death) After the tedious process of make up application, a Geisha must then be dressed in a traditional kimono. Because of the many layers that make up a traditional Geisha Kimono, it is nearly impossible for the Geisha to dress herself. She stands on a platform where she is wrapped and bound by a “dresser” in three layers, several ties and two sashes. The outfit is restrictive and can weigh up to fifteen pounds.
Foot Binding
Originating in China in the 10th century, foot binding is surely the most blatant evidence of just how far people will go in the name of beauty. In traditional Chinese foot binding, young girls’ feet were wrapped tightly with bandages so that they could not grow and develop normally. Instead the feet would become broken, deformed, and highly susceptible to infections and even paralysis. Foot binding was banned in 1911 after the Qing Dynasty . Women were ordered to unwrap their feet under threat of death.
Lip Plates
Lip Plates are an old custom in many South American and African cultures. Six to twelve months before a women is to be married, the women of her village cut a small hole in her lower lip and a wooden peg is inserted. After a few weeks it is replaced with a slightly larger peg. The process of inserting larger pegs continues until the desired size “stretch” is achieved, at which time a plate made from light wood or clay is inserted. To accommodate the plate, the lower front teeth are removed. Ouch!
Permanent Makeup Tattoo
The name of this procedure speaks for itself. The idea of permanent makeup may sound appealing to some, but what sane person would allow a needle that close to their eyes to save a little time each morning. Personally I would rather have my mascara run and my lipstick fade than to have this done.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 1:36 am
Great article, lanne. Extreme practices, but even today we still put ourselves through the proverbial wringer to achieve beauty. Waxing and shaving, plucking, peels, tanning, etc, and men think that they have it tough! lol. An excellent write!
-M
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:55 am
Great colllection here. I can understand the last one. I really could fancy having makeup tattooed on but I wouldn’t be brave enough! Stumbled!!
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:03 am
Very interesting article, good job done!
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:12 am
The foot thing is unbelieveable.How terrible
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:58 am
This just goes to show how much beauty is admired in our culture and everywhere around the world, and it’s been going on for ages. It must be worth something though or else we wouldn’t go through such pains…
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:49 am
Also:
Women used to ingest tapeworms to control their weight.
In 19th century England, women used lead-based makeup, and took small doses of arsenic or lead to give them a pure complexion. Some who had lost teeth or crooked teeth would have the remainder removed so that they could wear false teeth. In earlier centuries, it was fashionable for women to completely pluck their eyebrows, and glue eyebrows made of mouse skin higher up their forehead.
Some american indian tribes used to bind the heads of newborns to achive a ‘peak’ on top.
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
These all look so painful to me, especially the foot binding one! How terrible!
Great article!
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Excellent collection, Lanne.
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
What a wonderful article.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Ahhh! That corset looks so painful, I squirmed when I saw it..lol! Being part Japanese, I can’t help but be drawn to the way of the Geisha, although their lifestyle is quite painstaking. A very interesting read.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Unique and interesting.Take care!
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
How terrible and see so painful to me. Don’t try this at home
Great article!
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Aren’t we vain? I am as much so as anyone but why do we think we have to pluck our eyebrows and put paint on our faces to be pretty? Isn’t it silly when you think about it? I feel very self concious to go out without makeup but I wish we could just be our natural selves without the fuss.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Why do we do these insane things to ourselves? I’ve also heard of women having the bottom set of ribs removed to have a narrower waistline! I just pray that the current craze to have cosmetic surgery done doesn’t become the norm. Imagine if everyone thought they had to look like Joan Rivers or Michael Jackson in order to fit in!
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:36 pm
I’d always wanted to know what Chinese foot binding did to the foot. Now I know. Good for the Chinese for dropping that particular bit of insanity.
That last one to me is (in its way) the scariest of them all. I’ve seen “before” and “after” shots like those before, but as done through the “usual” techniques. I don’t know what scares me more: how far “before” can be brought to “after” (even via the “usual” techniques) or the fact that I’ve been so conditioned to expect the “after” rather than the “before”.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:06 am
I really hope those women can stop doing these foolish things. There are good men who know that women value is not entirely in their outer appearence, why they still want to attract the ones who do ?
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:23 am
Unbelieveble! Great Article! Just so you women know, one time when I was tired from working a bake sale in the wind and heat all day I was dog tired, just took a shower no makeup and looked like hell! I went out to eat with my daughter and some of her and her husbands EMT and Firemen friends. I got asked out! By a younger guy no less and a cutie to boot! So there ARE guys out there that don’t think all this is necessary!!! Kudo’s to all you men that are like that!
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:32 am
great article
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:52 am
nice stuff lanne
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Very nice article. I was particularly intrigued with the picture of the woman’s foot showing the damage done by foot binding. Very nicely done.
December 3rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I wore a corset to play Mistress Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor…I got my waistline from 27 inches down to 23, which really isn’t that much of a difference as 16th century women could get theirs down to about 18 inches, but I still thought I was going to die. I had the bruises for weeks after!
December 3rd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Great article!
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Very intrigued by feet binding. I can’t even imagine the pain and the time it takes.
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:32 pm
The things we do for beauty. It’s all vanity. With this kind of society, it’s no wonder why young girls are willing to starve themselves to achieve a sense of “beauty.” Very nice article. Perhaps it will show at least one person that going through extreme means just to live up to someone else’s standards is ridiculous.
December 4th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Something to think about. Great article!
December 4th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
great article. to list and write about all the things people have done all around the world would take forever. thanks for showing a glimpse of things that have been done and do go on still.
December 4th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I would wear a corset but, I would not make it more than 1 hour since it’s so painful.
December 4th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Sure makes us women seem crazy! What do men do to look good to us? Buy us more wine! Kidding, sorta. Lol
December 4th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
coOl article,very interesting huh.thanks for sharing:)
December 4th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Thanks for adding the permanent makeup entry at the end. It is clearly in the same category as all the other procedures, as innocent as it first appears. In our society we often think of such things as silly vanity, but in reality they are subtle mutilations serving the same function as all the previous entries.
December 5th, 2008 at 3:10 am
All these treatments look so painful! So weird what some people women (sometimes including men) would do to themselves all in the name of vanity. Very interesting indeed.
December 5th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Very interesting read, its fasinating how far us women will go to attain the unattainable. Very well written.
December 6th, 2008 at 1:18 am
Thi was a very interesting article.
December 7th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Ok, terrible, however, I have decided I just may need a corset
heee! Thanks for the shock!
December 7th, 2008 at 12:58 am
The use of tanning beds should be added to this list. Tanning was the ultimate act of vanity for me; I felt that I looked prettier, thinner, and healthier with a tan. That mindset, however, turned out to be a dangerous one to adopt. I am 20 years old and was just diagnosed with two malignant melanomas. I had them removed, but now I have a 3.5 inch long scar from my collar bone to my cleavage as well as another 3 inch scar in the middle of my back. It’s funny that what I did in the name of vanity not only threatened my life, it gave me two ugly scars that I will have until I die.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I would wear a corset…if it came in a size 24/26 lol!
The foot binding is atrocious.
December 12th, 2008 at 11:07 am
My aunt had her make up tattooed on…but she’s 83 and been legally blind since she was a girl. She finally totally lost her sight a few years ago and decided to have the procedure done. Looks good but its a scary thought!
December 13th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Hi, lanne, how are you?
This just goes to show that the truest kind of beauty is natural.
December 13th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
The foot binding really scares me. Thank God we live in modern times.
December 29th, 2008 at 8:11 am
What an interesting article, foot binding and big, big lips, scary.
April 4th, 2009 at 1:37 am
Waist training with a corset, when done correctly at a properly slow pace, will not cause health problems
just a little FYI
May 10th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn
July 6th, 2009 at 4:02 am
Very interesting. I had a friend back in college with a 21-inch waistline.
July 6th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
That Victorian waist corset has got to hurt!
July 6th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
This was a very informative and entertaining article. I myself wear corsets, but if done properly, they will not damage the body. They can be extremely uncomfortable. You just have to know what kind to wear and the right way to wear it. Not for everyday use. Then again, we women will do just about anything to look good. It would be so nice if men could just accept us for the way we are.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
I think Clotaire Rapaille would use his model of nature/nurture brain development to suggest that beauty, or the perception of beauty, is deeply rooted in the human psyche, down to the level of the instincts to survive and reproduce.
His theory suggests that we humans buy things, when push comes to shove, because of these most deeply rooted characteristics. Hence, I think he would say, are derived the irrational extremes to which people sometimes go to make themselves a more attractive mate.
This theory–a marketing model on its practical side–seems to have much to commend it. But in my view, it fails to encompass one aspect of human existence, a transcendent aspect which holds us accountable for moral failures like vanity.
The human soul, if you will, ought to direct our thought and action away from self-destructive or manipulative experiments in beauty among other things. Sometimes it does, as perhaps suggested by the title of this post: “Vanity Insanity.”
July 7th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Corsets actually were not designed to narrow the waist but to flatten out all those unsightly curves and give the torso that oh-so-fashionable conical shape that all the boys loved. It was a good century or two before the intent was to bring in the waist, and even then it was not the extreme minimizing we associate with corsets thanks to the 19th century.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
great article! very professional.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:13 am
Totally a-mazing! I was really into this topic a little while ago. Thanx for resparking my intrest!
July 14th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Very very interesting articles ….. thanks
July 29th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
The geisha article didn’t mention how painful the hairstyles are! The hairstyles are so strenuous that they leave a permanent bald spot in the center of their heads. Brushing knots out of my hair is a painful experience in itself. I can’t imagine having my hair pulled to the point of it having a bald spot! D=
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Very interesting…
September 25th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Women blame men alot for this BS but in all actuality we women happen to place this burden on ourselves. I prefer to think for myself and while wearing makeup for special occasions is nice I could NEVER imagine being like my sisters or mother and cousins and go through a hair singing, eye brow plucking, shaving, and painting on layer after layer of makeup regime every day just to feel like I am acceptable to society… PUH-LEESE people! Get real! Either continue doing all the things you chose to do to yourself or stop. But don’t sit there complaining about all the things you make yourself go through. You have a choice.
November 4th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Wow! This is very interesting. Just shows the extremes some people will take to be “beautiful”. I can’t believe the Chinese women did foot bindings…that’s just crazy!