Halloween is not the only scary thing around! In our never-ending pursuit of all things beautiful I am sure we have all at some time tried some suspect things that at the time we thought were a good idea but with the benefit of hindsight probably should not have been tried at all. Here is a list of beauty horrors to avoid at all costs…
1. Corsets – They look harmless right? And they give you that incredible hour glass figure with a teeny tiny waist. In the 19th Century 14 inches (35.6cm) waists were all the rage (keep in mind the average waist size in the US is 38 inches or 96.5CM and in the UK is 33 inches or 83.8CM. Wearing corsets for extended periods of time can cause muscle atrophy, back pain, lead to organs shifting position, reduced blood flow, fainting and deformation of the rib cage (nice!). Vintage x-rays from the early 1900s show the ribs of corset wearers (click here if you want a peak). I hear you cry but what about modern corsets and waist trainers? There are modern corsets or waist trainers which if used properly can avoid much of the above but they still warn against over frequent use! Moral of the story is modern waist trainers and corsets should be used carefully as directed even then not over used.
2. Foot binding – For some reason this one always scares me a bit as I am a lady whose feet are scary to look at without any outside help! Foot binding existed in China in the 10th Century the idea was to have a 3-inch foot known as a golden lotus this was achieved by folding the toes underneath and binding them. In effect breaking the toes in the process (urrrggh). Women with these small feet were considered more attractive and marriage material. Foot binding was irreversible and extremely painful. Girls as young as 3 or 4 years were subjected to the brutal process. Further the process would continue into adulthood as the feet were regularly bound and unbound to maintain the shape of the small feet. Women who had their feet bound often experienced foot infections, difficulty walking, their toes dropping off and even death from septic shock. Estimates suggest that up to 10% of women who had their feet bound died from gangrene or other infections related to foot binding. The practice only died out after the revolution in China in the late 1940s.
3. Deadly Nightshade or Bella donna (‘Beautiful woman’ in Italian) – drops of deadly nightshade were commonly used in Renaissance Italy by women to dilate the pupils to give them a wide-eyed look. Drawbacks however included blurred vision, dizziness and in extreme cases blindness after prolonged use.
4. Arsenic for Skin Lightening – This one is a weird considering people were aware very early on that arsenic was poisonous and for a long time was the Victorian favourite for many a murderer! But arsenic ingested in small quantities was found to be effective at lightening the skin. The side effects were numerous including kidney damage, hair loss, eye damage and growths called arsenical keratoses. Even worse was that it was addictive and a person’s tolerance to it would increase over time.
5. Tanning Pills – Ok this last one is more of a modern invention but I felt like we also need to acknowledge that although the ones above are thankfully (mostly a thing of the past more or less) we still have a few modern horrors lurking about! Tanning pills are the alternative to going out in the sun to get a tan. They often contain compounds similar to beta carotene which is what gives carrots and sweet potatoes their eye-catching orange colour. However, overuse of these pills can lead to orangey skin colour (not the bronzed brown you were probably after in the first place!), liver damage, eye damage and impaired vision. So, for the moment at least until it can be proved they are safe (or develop safe formulations) I would put the bottle down and walk away!
Enough scary stuff for today so stay gorgeous and most importantly stay safe!
Much Love CocoBabbit xoxo
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