Looking back in history the phrase “pain is beauty” was all too real.
For a long time women had to alter their natural appearance to conform to the expectations on what was considered beautiful during that period. The beauty canons of the time were completely crazy, and women suffered enormously. .
Currently we live in a time when the phrase is used in a joking manner, for instance having your legs waxed for the first time and there is less pressure of distorting our image to be considered beautiful. We live in a society where everyone is free to make their own decisions on their beauty regimes, whether it is full face makeup or a simple massage/face cream!
Discover with us, thanks to an article in Terra Femina (France), the 8 painful beauty trends which women had to endure over history.
1. Bound feet
In the early 10th century Chinese women started to bind their feet as a symbol of their feminity.
To obtain this feminine ideal, women had to suffer and they would start from a very early age. From the age of 5 for 2 years, their feet were bound with bandages to prevent them from growing more than 10cm. To achieve this, they would soak the girls feet in hot water mixed with medical herbs, then the toes (except the big toe) would be folded against the sole of the foot and held in place by bandages and pointy shoes.
Then, slowly but surely the foot with distort and resemble the desired look of a lodus bud.
Thankfully, the practice of binding foot was forbidden by the Chinese government but not until 1912, and was even practised after this ban.
Due to the high level of skin lesions, the Chinese would often find themselves with nectrotic toes or joint lesions. Roughly 10% of girls who had septicemia died due to the practice of this technique.
2. The corset
The corset appeared for the first time in the Spanish court during the Renaissance in the sixteenth century. Desiring the ideal body of an ultra slim waist and supported breasts, this fashion accessory (and torture device) formed womens silhouettes until the 20th century.
To obtain the perfect hourglass figure, women during this time inflicted a great deal of suffering. Indeed the corset would be pull so tight that it would compress their organs and prevented them from breathing , some women would even faint due to the lack of air!
Not to mention the terrible cases of displaced ribs and musclke atrophy.
After 1910 this accessory was abandoned, unfortunately corsets are slowly coming back into fashion, thanks to celebrities such as the Kardashians who promote it on social media.
