Monday 9 September 2013

The Strange Things We Do For Beauty


I thought I would share a few interesting adverts and articles things I have come across over time that surprised me.

There are constantly new ideas about what beauty is and how to attain it. From lotions and potions to diets and then the more extreme surgical procedures, everything from botox to elective facial reconstruction.


This obsession is nothing new! 


This one is really gross! They were selling jars of sanitised tapeworms in the 1900's which you swallowed, the idea being the tapeworms ate your insides and kept you thin! No Thank you!!! 
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This advert is from the 1890's
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A machine to give you dimples invented in 1936
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A machine designed by Max Factor (that's him in the photo) in 1935 to calibrate the symmetry of a woman's face so make up can be applied to contour and balance "imperfections".
This was the only machine made and was sold in 2011 at auction in the US for an undisclosed sum, it was estimated at $10,000 - $20,000!
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This was part of a face mask beauty treatment by Helena Rubenstein in the 1940's
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This is a tanning machine circa 1945! Looks very like a petrol pump.
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One of the most famous Hollywood transformations being..........
Margarita Carmen Cansino
""who? you say, Margarita Carmen Cansino, a Latino dancer who danced with her father in clubs.
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Margarita & her father Eduardo in 1934
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To.........................

Rita Hayworth

Flame haired screen siren of the 1940's
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This transformation was at the behest of Columbia studios, it seems insane now that they could coerce their young star into such drastic measures but it was no secret at the time. They wouldn't sign her until she had the following procedures done, which all in, took 3 years - 
She had extensive painful Hairline Electrolysis to raise her hairline. (this was during the 1930's so anaesthesia wasn't exactly part of the procedure!)
She bleached her skin, all over her body, an extremely dangerous practice, even now. 
She dyed her dark Latino hair red and to finish it all off they made her change her name. 
(Her story is quite shocking, definitely worth further reading if you are interested in biographies of the era.)


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