17 Incredibly Disturbing Beauty Trends From History

Health and wellness routines in the 21st century are all about cleanliness, but people from ancient time periods relied on some rather disturbing beauty trends. In fact, people from the past knowingly hurt themselves just to “look good.” Sometimes, they even risked death to adhere to their respective eras’ beauty standards. Beauty lovers did what was considered normal, just as modern individuals do today. But let’s hope these disturbing beauty trends are truly remnants of the past.

1. People in Europe rubbed lead on their faces to look paler, and they eventually gave themselves lead poisoning.

Shockingly enough, this disturbing beauty trend wasn’t that uncommon. Many people from historical civilizations used lead to make their skin look paler, including ancient Greece and Rome.

Moreover, from the 15th to 18th centuries, both men and women in Europe painted their faces with a mixture of white lead and vinegar.

Some individuals even peeled their skin with white lead. As a result, many people got lead poisoning and eventually died.

2. Ancient Egyptians used harmful chemicals in their dark eye makeup.

The ancient Egyptians are known for their heavy eye makeup, but they didn’t use liquid eyeliners to achieve the signature look.

Instead, they used what they had on hand: malachite (green ore of copper), galena (lead sulfide), and lead-based kohl helped create their smoky cosmetics.

All of those components were very dangerous, especially the lead. We know just how dangerous lead can be. Word to the wise: don’t put it on your face!

3. Men rubbed pigeon droppings on their heads to cure baldness.

Ever heard someone say that a bird pooping on your head is good luck? Well, ancient Greek men were all too eager to test those limits.

In ancient Greece, Hippocrates created a mixture of cumin, pigeon droppings, horseradish, and nettles in an attempt to cure baldness. He wasn’t the only one, either.

Before that, in ancient Egypt, men blended iron-oxide, lead, onions, honey, alabaster, and animal fat into a paste and applied it to their hairless heads. Neither mixture worked.

4. In the 15th and 16th centuries, women removed their eyebrows and the hair along their hairlines.

During that time, most women could forgo eyebrows altogether. They wanted to look like Queen Elizabeth I, who had super thin eyebrows and a large forehead.

Apparently, they used walnut oil or bandages soaked in ammonia and vinegar as hair removal agents. Now that’s a disturbing beauty trend. 

Moreover, women in the 15th century reportedly preferred higher hairlines because larger foreheads were thought to signify great intelligence. Maybe don’t use ammonia to remove your hair, though.

5. In Japan, people used iron-based black dye to darken their teeth.

Up until the late 1800s, people in Japan considered black teeth incredibly trendy. The practice, called ohaguro, helped indicate wealth and sexual maturity, especially for women.

To achieve the look, citizens used a dye made of iron, vinegar, and tannin, an astringent from vegetables or tea. The dye was called kanemizu.

Beauty scholar Victoria Sherrow explained the ohaguro “was primarily a means to hide a woman’s mouth expressions, something that was also achieved by graceful movements of the hand or a fan.”

6. In the 19th century, certain women broke their ribs while wearing corsets to look thinner.

In the 19th century, trends dictated that women should have tiny waists. Corsets shaped with metal helped women achieve the look, but the cost was great.

The restrictive garments often caused digestive issues and, in rare cases, broke bones. Even if they didn’t break your ribs, though, they could still deform you.

According to old X-rays, women who wore the corsets daily suffered from squashed rib cages and displaced organs, making for one of the most disturbing beauty trends yet.

7. Victorian women put deadly nightshade into their eyes to dilate their pupils.

In the Victorian era, women strove to achieve what Brooklyn-based artist and researcher Alexis Karl called the “dying of tuberculosis” look.

Apparently, appearing sick and waifish was in back then. The ladies in question wanted to appear weak and fragile, with “big, watery eyes.”

To achieve that look, they put deadly nightshade into their eyes. Allegedly, they knew the compound could cause blindness, but they were willing to risk it.

8. Women bathed in arsenic to get “perfect” skin.

Seems like the Victorian era was chock-full of disturbing beauty trends. Also during that period, Bavarian women submerged themselves in arsenic to achieve milky white skin.

Apparently, the toxic bath made them look ethereal, almost angelic. Unfortunately, the women were also poisoned, so it wasn’t really worth it.

Still, at least they weren’t consuming the poison. While taking an arsenic bath isn’t ideal, drinking an arsenic smoothie is a lot worse.

9. In ancient China, foot-binding was extremely popular and encouraged.

From the 10th century to the 20th century, women in China participated in foot-binding, “one of the most dangerous fashion trends in history.”

Many Chinese women desperately wanted tiny, curved feet, which were seen as symbols of beauty. To get them, women underwent an incredibly painful process.

They broke the bones in their feet, bound them, and then walked on them for two years, creating a whole new shape using tiny lotus shoes.

10. In the 19th century, women made wigs out of lard.

In a surprise to no one, Victorian women were also making wigs out of lard. In pre-revolutionary France, they wanted towering piles of hair, like Marie Antoinette’s.

So, they fashioned elaborate wigs using, among other things, animal lard. The hair pieces had frames of wood and wire and were stuffed with cotton, wool, and straw.

A layer of powder covered the entire construction. Incredibly hazardous, the wigs gave people scalp scars. The animal fat was also highly combustible.

11. Ancient Greeks and Romans bathed in crocodile dung to get better complexions.

Today, mud baths are the luxurious beauty treatments that restore and rejuvenate the skin. But back in ancient Greece and Rome, people preferred crocodile dung.

They thought the animal feces had restorative and beautifying properties, so they bathed in it often. The smell must have been awful.

Crocodile dung was also mixed with white lead and chalk to lighten Roman women’s complexions, since pale faces were equated to beauty and status.

12. During the Renaissance, women bled themselves with leeches to look paler.

Time may pass, but disturbing beauty trends never do. Much like ancient Roman and Victorian women, women from the Renaissance era wanted to look as pale as possible.

At the time, wealthier people didn’t work outdoors and acquire tans, so anyone with paler skin was presumed to be privileged enough to afford servants.

Accordingly, women found leeches in the forest and let the insects suck their blood. The blood loss made them paler, so they endured the pain.

13. In the 1930s, women used a dimple machine to create dimples.

In 1936, Isabelle Gilbert invented a machine that allegedly created dimples. Marketed to women, the machine had two knobs that pressed into the wearer’s cheeks.

Not only was the device was painful, but it didn’t even work. People were trying to create indents in their cheeks with absolutely no success.

Plus, the American Medical Association said it could potentially cause cancer. Luckily, this particular disturbing beauty trend didn’t last very long.

14. Georgian women put acid on their teeth to achieve whiter smiles.

This one sounds painful, uncomfortable, and downright unsanitary. Women used dangerous tooth powders to whiten their teeth, leading to health complications down the line.

So, what exactly made these strange powders so dangerous? The ingredients included cuttlefish and bicarbonate of soda, which is now called sulphuric acid.

Surprisingly, the powders actually worked, but at a heavy cost. They completely stripped teeth of their enamel, leading to pain and infections.

15. People in the 1800s used tapeworms to lose weight.

Yep. This is yet another disturbing beauty trend from the Victorian era. Obsessed with their figures, Victorian women purposefully ingested tapeworms.

They let the parasites grow in their bodies and consume nutrients. Consequently, the women lost weight quickly. To remove them, they took pills or used special devices.

Dr. Meyers of Sheffield created a cylindrical, food-stuffed tool to remove tapeworms. But the device was inserted through the digestive tract, and could choke patients to death.

16. Ancient Romans used Portuguese urine as mouthwash to make their breath smell better.

Before the invention of conventional mouthwash, people got…creative. A little too creative, if you ask us. The Romans, for instance, brushed their teeth with urine.

They also used the liquid body waste as a mouthwash, preferring Portuguese urine over any other kind. We don’t really know why.

Urine does contain ammonia, a natural cleaning agent, however. They used it as laundry detergent as well. Still, we think we’ll pass!

17. People ingested arsenic wafers to get clear skin.

Back in the early 1900s, Sears sold Arsenic Complexion Wafers. The tablets supposedly got rid of things like freckles, blackheads, pimples, and rough skin.

Arsenic wafers did help people achieve clear complexions. However, it also had the potential to poison people or even cause death.

Many of these disturbing beauty trends might seem odd now, but back then, they were pretty normal. It makes you wonder; is there anything we do now that will seem disturbing a hundred years in the future?