| Do Looks matter? - Naturally! |
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There is widespread belief that the craving for “Looking Great” has developed only recently. Well, not so, thousands of years ago, Old Testament Scripture emphasizes stunning beauty: the chapter on Job closes with: “In all the Land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job” (42:15). Enhancing beauty is also an entirely Biblical concept: the King’s Harem keeper Hegai “provided her with her beauty treatments and special food” (Esther 2:9). Before a woman was allowed to see King Xerxes, “she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics” (Esther 2:12). Written heritage from China is sketchier; nevertheless it indicates that beauty was a major factor during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.- A.D.220): the beauty of a woman was described as having: "eyebrows the shape of silkworms and eyes similar to those of a phoenix," but according to folk standards of feminine beauty eyebrows resembled willow leaves, eyes were almond-shaped and lips in the form of a cherry. One of the “four most beautiful women in ancient China”: Xishi (497 BC) was a legendary beauty of ancient China. She has been described as "equally charming in both heavy and light makeup…” Thousands of years earlier than that, Persian woman seemed to have the perfect beautification culture: Based on recent excavations in northwestern Iran, archaeologists now believe that eye makeup has been used in Persia (now Iran) since about 4500 B.C. Other archaeological discoveries at Haft-Tappeh in Khuzestan Province indicate that women used to wear lipstick, rouge, and eye makeup in 2000 B.C. in Persia. Achaemenid era religious texts say that the wives of the king spent a lot of time applying makeup and perfume before meeting the king. The ancient Greeks admired the Achaemenid-era Persians for their custom of wearing makeup and attributed the origin of the use of cosmetics to the East. Persians used several different types and styles of makeup in the Achaemenid, the Parthian, and the Sassanid eras. Seven items were used in women's cosmetics in ancient Iran: sormeh (black powder used as eyeliner), henna to dye the hair and hands, qazeh (rouge powder for the cheeks), sefidab (powder to whiten the face), vasmeh (powder to darken and thicken the eyebrows), zarak (yellowish powder used to lighten the hair color), and khal (a beauty spot).
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 04 September 2010 ) |
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