10 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT BEAUTY! BE BEAUTIFUL STAY BEAUTIFUL!
10 Interesting Facts about Beauty
There’s always something new to learn about beauty and the history of fashion and makeup, and it’s always useful to have a few random facts about beauty up your sleeve to get a conversation going or to impress your friends. So, we found ten totally random facts about beauty for you. Form radioactive makeup to a girl called Mable who inspired a makeup brand, read on, and you will find ten fascinating facts about beauty that we would bet you didn’t know.
- Lipstick was an essential item in World War II
Even though any type of makeup was pretty scarce at the time, female nurses in the Second World War always wore red lipstick. This was done to remind the nurses that were still ladies, and it was also believed to have a calming effect on the injured soldiers.
- The left side of the face is prettier than the right
You might think that you know what your best side is, but a psychologist will tell you that it’s your left side. In a study that was published in Psychology Today, students at a college were asked to rate the attractiveness of 10 female faces and 10 male faces. The result was that the students overwhelmingly voted for the pictures that showed the left hand side of people’s faces.
- Kitchen beauty treatments began in the middle ages
Mayonnaise hair masks and coffee ground scrubs might be relatively new, but women have been using ingredients from their kitchens in their beauty treatments for hundreds of years. The ladies of the middle ages used curdled milk to treat acne, boiled nettles as a toner and cucumber juice to fade freckles.
- Maybelline was named after a girl called Mable
The Maybelline makeup brand was founded when 19 year old Tom Lyle Williams spotted his sister, Mable, applying a mixture of petroleum jelly and coal dust to her eyelashes, making them look longer and thicker. Tom got out his chemistry set, refined the formula, and he began selling it to the local girls. He later named his invention Maybelline in honour of his sister.
- Radioactive makeup anyone?
Believe it or not, back in the 1930s, radioactive beauty products were quite popular. There was a brand called Tho-Radia that sold a range of products, including lipstick, face powder and perfume that contained radioactive radium and thorium chloride. There were also several brands of toothpaste that proudly advertised the fact that they contained radioactive substances.
- Makeup can get you places
A 1991 study proved that the female politicians who employed the services of a professional makeup artists and photographers were 30% more likely to win people’s votes. It was found that groomed eyebrows, a winning smile, and certain colours of blouses could make a difference to the results of elections.
- Max Factor started out on the stage
Max Factor began his cosmetics business when he was manufacturing greasepaint for stage actors and actresses. When the movies came along, he had to refine his product and make it thinner and lighter for the new medium. His makeup was soon being used by the stars of the time, such as Gloria Swanson, Jean Harlow and Bette Davis, but it was Max Factor’s sons who convinced Max to make cosmetics for the masses. It was also Max factor, incidentally, who coined the phrase makeup. Until then, it had always been referred to simply as cosmetics.
- Being too attractive can hold you back
It seems that you just can’t win! While the study that we mentioned earlier suggested that good grooming can help you win elections, if you look too beautiful, it can hurt your prospects of getting a job. A study conducted by psychologist Maria Agthe found that the very attractive looking applicants for graduate scholarships received less favourable reviews from interviewers.
- The Egyptians used to drink their perfume.
We don’t suggest that you try this at home, but the ancient Egyptians took double duty for their perfume to the extreme. A very popular perfume of the time called Kyphi, which was made out of honey, flowers, berries and wine, was also drunk as a cure for ailments such as intestinal and lung problems.
- Women like a bit of competition
It has been proved that women are more attracted to men who attract the attention of other women. British psychologist Benedict Jones found that women find a man more attractive when he is being smiled at by other women. The results suggest that what your friends think about your man has a big impact on what you think about him too.
Stay beautiful!