COSMETIC
MAY 28, 2022
Lipstick History : From Cleopatra To Modern Culture
The brief story of lipstick history, a thing women already used thousand years ago.
Lipstick or lip color is a cosmetic made from wax, pigment, oil, etc. Lipstick is usually used to give color to the lips. Lipstick is commonly used by women.
Reported by Britannica, the first nation to use lipstick or lip color was the Sumerians. They lived in ancient civilizations in southern Mesopotamia. Back then, lip colors were made from fruits, henna, clay rust and insects.
According to another source, namely from a book called Read My Lips: A Cultural History of Lipstick, thousands of years ago, lipstick was made from a paste of lead, and crushed red stone to be used as a colorant in lipstick.
However, Mesopotamian women (modern Iraq), are said to have created lipstick by crushing precious stones and using the powder to decorate their lips.
Cleopatra is a woman who is famous for often wearing red lipstick. After 1,500 years of Cleopatra’s time, cosmetic products, especially lipstick, were almost non-existent in Europe.
A bad economy worsening, wars, lack of scientific and fashion progress, and isolation from Asia and Africa allowed the return of lipstick after the start of the Renaissance.
When lipstick began to spread in Europe in the Middle Ages, it became a controversy. Its use was prohibited, because at that time laws and trends were regulated by religious leaders.
Many think, its use is referred to as worshiping Satan and also changing body parts which are God’s creations.
But in the 16th century, the controversy about lipstick began to fade and make lipstick as something important for women. Especially when Elizabeth I popularized the trend of pale skin and red lips.
The popularity of lipstick finally rose in the late 1st to early 20th centuries, when the industrial revolution and the rise of film and photography advanced rapidly.
Almost all types of lipstick actually contain three basic ingredients, namely wax, oil, and pigment. The wax in lipstick serves to give the lipstick shape and texture that spreads on your lips.
The main ingredients of lipstick consist of wax, oil, alcohol and pigment. Beeswax is a mandatory ingredient for making lipstick. Its function is to keep the emulsion from separating into oil and liquid components.
Lipstick causes dark lips if it contains harmful ingredients. Lipstick can indeed make the lips darker. However, only certain lipsticks contain chemicals that are quite dangerous, such as ricinoleic acid, sopalmityl diglyceryl sebacate, dipentaerythritol fatty acids and coal tar.
Dyes in lipstick are divided into two types, namely staining dye and pigment. Staining dyes are dyes that are soluble or dispersed in the base, while pigments are dyes that are insoluble but suspended in the base.
In addition to providing an attractive color to the lips, lipstick is also able to provide protection and moisturize the lips from sun exposure. If you are active outside the room, of course, it will make your lips dry if you don’t protect them with lipstick.
In contrast to lipstick which has a solid texture, lip cream as the name implies has a liquid texture but is slightly thick or creamy. Therefore, usually lip cream is also often referred to as liquid lipstick or liquid lipstick.
Every July 29 is celebrated as International Lipstick Day. The celebration is still heavily celebrated in the land of Uncle Sam, the United States.
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