Cultured Views

Skincare - a centuries old battle for us girls

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Some things never change. Life, death, men and toilet seats, the sleeping habits of new babies and…the problem of trying to keep that youthful complexion way beyond when youth has run out. We girls are still at it in the 21st century just as those ladies who waited on Cleopatra hand and foot several thousand years back were.

And are we using anything really more different to what medieval women used…?

Egyptian ladies were known to have used ochre and powdered gypsum in their makeup - as well as kohl which we still use today. Elizabeth I even used Cerussite, or white lead, on her face to make her complexion appear that prized ultra-pale shade - despite the fact that it was highly toxic.

Your grandmother will tell you that haemorrhoid cream was a popular treatment for little lines around the eyes and some people still swear by it. Toothpaste was also used for dabbing on pimples a few years back, and is said to be effective, however people with serious zits still require a proper acne cream unless Queen Victoria had her own way of dealing with the problem.

But when you consider what lengths many women go to today to maintain their complexions you have to admit that we still are suffering for our beauty - acid peels, botulism injections…I am wondering how long it will be before some clever person decides to market embalming fluid - and I would like to bet that women will still queue up for it.

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