When Alessia Cara said beauty is pain and beauty is everything we all felt it. But not like the way you are going to feel it after reading this article. Beauty trends have altered drastically over the years. The trends that have once considered cool are now referred to as nothing but weird tendencies. Ladies who lived in past have committed so much to match their selves to the beauty standards. Society had tough contemplates towards women as daughters were raised and trained to be desirable. The ultimate goal of a woman was admitted to be “finding a good husband”. Due to this status, sometimes women had to go through painful processes to consider as beautiful and eligible. Today we are going to explore the weirdest beauty trends which took place in the history of beauty culture.

Pale white skin

The women who lived in the 1500s deemed extremely pale skin as divine. They did everything possible to look like a statue made of plaster of Paris. To be honest their skin looked like ghosts. When we look at photos of ancient queens we can notice their unusual white skin. In 1500 modern science and medical knowledge were not as developed as now. They used poisonous solutions to obtain this look. Ancient wealthy ladies used white color powder to make their skin whiter. But it looked artificial. So, there was a new product that took over the beauty industry. That was “lead foundation”. As we all know lead is a heavy metal that can deposit inside our body. When we apply a foundation that has a massive amount of lead in it that will penetrate our skin and enter the internal parts of the body.

This poisonous element can cause severe damage to the human body. That is why most of the women who used this product had cancer, memory loss, mental disabilities, and weight loss. This was the reason for women died earlier. But some were being creative with their make-up skills to obtain this pale white look. Some women used blue color dye to paint veins on their skin to make the illusion of a trance parent skin.

Foot binding

This is the most bizarre trend that I have ever heard of. This trend dates back to the 10th century A.D. This tradition was initiated by an emperor at the time after he saw a dancer working in his palace who had bound her feet to make her feet small. The emperor loved her feet and encouraged other women to proceed with the same body modification. Little girls were thrown into this process when they are only 4 to 5 years old. They wash their feet with hot water cut their nails short and massage with oil. After that, they break the bones of their little four fingers and make them wear tiny shoes. This shoe breaks the arch of the foot and prevents it from growing bigger. This was an extremely painful process.

How tiny their feet gets could decide their future. If their feet were extremely tiny they could find a good husband. Parents broke their daughter’s feet to offer them a good life. But later on, the Chinese government banned this practice in China.

pale white skin, Foot binding, Oddly shaped heads

Oddly shaped heads

When archeologists discovered these oddly shaped skulls some thought that this is a proof of aliens. They thought that this could be a trace of extraterrestrials. But no! It is another weird beauty trend. In ancient times people put clothes and boards on infants’ heads to make them taller. This is the oldest unusual beauty trend. It dates back to 14000-9000 years ago. The earliest modified skulls have been discovered in Australia. There is evidence to state that this trend has been also practiced in South America. Do you like to walk around with a cone-shaped head?

Tiny teeth

Back then the ideal woman had to have a tiny waist, wide hips, long legs, and tiny teeth. The size of a woman’s teeth was stated by society. Women who lived in that era used to cut their teeth to appear smaller. That was indeed a painful process. But women went through this procedure in order to be attractive and desirable.

Long nails

Long nails are a trend that holds a top place in even modern beauty culture. Fake nails with various kinds of nail arts are fascinating. This culture didn’t begin recently. The beginning of this culture dates back many years back to china. The wealthy women who lived in china used to have long nails. Long nails in the sense I’m not talking about nails that are 1 inch or 2 inches long. These aristocrats had nails long bout 25 cm / 10 inches long. They used gold nail guards to protect their nails from breaking. This was mostly used to show off wealth. These women weren’t able to do anything with their hands when having these nails. But they had plenty of servants to do whatever they want.

Long neck style

Long neck tradition is still in practice in some parts of the world. This tradition has started in the 11th century somewhere in southeast Asian tribes. They use metal rings to keep their neck growing longer. Lots of people think those metal rings can lift your neck higher by pushing the head. But what happens is these thick metal rings push your color bones downwards.

Strange corsets, Curved forehead, Drawing pantyhose arrows

Women who have long necks have been considered beautiful. Also, some say this trend was practiced in order to prevent them from capturing them as slaves. And also some say that this trend could keep them away from tiger attacks. However, this beauty trend seems seriously weird.

Poisonous nightshades.

Nightshades were a drop that was put inside the eye to make the pupil look bigger. This was considered to grant you an innocent and cute look just like a little kitten. The problem with this drop is that it is extremely poisonous. This same solution was used by Macbeth’s soldiers to make enemies go blind. This was a drop extracted by a berry that grows in Europe, Asia, and Africa. This berry is poisonous that 2-4 berries can kill a human. And this plant has poisonous purple flowers that bloom in groups of three. This was not a good idea at all to put such a harmful chemical inside your eyes.

So, which trend do you think is the weirdest one? I think foot binding is the most bizarre body modification of all. Do you know any other bizarre beauty trends? Tell me in the comment section.

Strange corsets

Corsets played a major part in the fashion industry for centuries. Even today we can see corset styles on red carpets and catwalks. This fashion item went extreme in past eras. The hourglass shape of a woman was considered beautiful and women used to wear overly tightened corsets to make their waists look smaller.  Some women had waists that could be wrapped around with hands. But this fashion trend came with lots of bad consequences. Due to the excessive tightening of the waist, their organs got squashed and cause many health issues.

To reduce the difficulties of wearing a corset, they created a new kind of corset. That made their hips look bigger without squashing their waist so much. This could offer the same hourglass figure without giving the pain of squeezing the organs.

Curved forehead

In the renaissance era, there were lots of weird beauty trends that women had to follow. This time women who had high curved forehead was considered beautiful. Women had to have big and curved foreheads to find a good husband. Due to this, the women who had tiny foreheads had to tie their hair so tight and shave the hair in the front.

Long nails, Long neck style, Poisonous nightshades

Drawing pantyhose arrows

This beauty trend that we are gonna talk about is a style that took place in the 20th century. During the war times, women were experiencing shortages of silk and nylon. As these materials were massively used in making parachutes and army uniforms beauty industry was suffering from a materiel shortage. Silk and Nylon were the main substances that were used in making tights. The shortage of tights during that period led women to invent another weird beauty trend. But this trend is kind of creative.

Tights were a staple item in the fashion industry at that time. Women started to draw pantyhose arrows on their legs and dye them with different colors to create an illusion of wearing tights.