INTRODUCTION
Throughout history, females have always had a fixation on their physical appearance. Our ancestors from 100,000 years ago and beyond were known to spend an inordinate amount of time seeking new and innovative ways to make themselves both look and feel more attractive.
Some of these “ways” may have seemed normal to them at the time, but the modern day has arrived and many will agree and deem them to be some of the wackiest and most absurd ideas they have ever heard to improve one’s appearance. This suggests that even in ancient times, the need to find methods that could successfully improve external beauty in order to look the best you could possibly look was an extremely high priority. After all, the goal in life is to find a mate and having good looks is where it starts.
A few examples of the ludicrous methods originating from times past that our insane ancestors came up with to boost their looks include lengthening the neck, putting discs in the lower lip and ears, foot binding, teeth blackening, and removing ribs for a smaller waist. And this is just the beginning. There is no end to the unusual and strange things people have come up with to look as beautiful as possible.
Unfortunately, there is no one single person that any of these ideas can be traced back to, but suffice to say, it must have been someone with an extremely vivid and strange imagination.
ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
It has been well documented that women have always had a natural desire for full and beautiful eyelashes. Ancient Egyptian women from five millennia ago had already begun using makeup and caring for their eyelashes, showing that they were conscious of maintaining their beauty.
Although there is nothing wrong at all with caring about your appearance and making it a top priority in your day-to-day life, there is a point at which it goes overboard and becomes your entire world. During ancient times, this was far more understandable as times were vastly different back then and the main goal of all women was to secure a mate and reproduce.
Nowadays, excessive fixation and obsession with looks are often seen as a negative thing because society is tremendously different from how it was before. “There’s more to life than looks” is a very common catchphrase you will hear among those who view that striving for beauty is nothing but a superficial and pointless pursuit when they could be doing something that gives them far more fulfillment.
THE CHURCH’S VIEW ON PHYSICAL BEAUTY
Until the 18th century, under the influence of the Catholic Church’s teachings about modesty, a woman’s hair was considered erotic, a forehead without any hair was deemed desirable, and thus beautiful women depicted in art from this era are often seen without any eyebrows or eyelashes.
At the same time, not much is known about the role of eyelashes during this time period when it comes to the beauty standards of the Asian people. It seemed eyelashes were not a high concern for them, for it was the eyebrows, having fair and flawless skin, and full lips and cheeks that received the most attention.
For example, during the Heian period (800 A.D.), Japanese women of certain status would remove their eyebrows, then artificially redraw them higher. Similarly, during the Tang period (700-900 A.D.), Chinese women would routinely redraw their eyebrows to be thicker.