The History of Skincare: From Dung & Lead to LED

Throughout history, our forefathers and foremothers have chased the proverbial Fountain of Youth, pursuing longevity and vitality from ancient elixirs to modern anti-aging skincare. Our ancestors were crafty and resourceful. If they weren’t, we wouldn’t be here. It would not be wise to consider them primitive as they did their best with the resources at hand, establishing some anti-aging treatments and practices we still swear by today and that have withstood the scrutiny of the scientific lens. Yet, sometimes, they were so dead wrong that it resulted in, well - being dead. So here is a brief overview of some key moments and practices from the history of skincare that shaped our modern understanding and skincare trends.

Ancient Egyptians Innovate

When was skincare invented? We can’t be sure. We don’t have solid data on prehistoric times. Still, we suspect survival, building shelters, procreation, and finding food took precedence over smooth, rosy cheeks and a smile-line-free face (if you’ve somehow, by pure luck, managed to live long enough to see yourself go wrinkly). This is why our history of skin care timeline starts at one of the first, most successful, and longest-lasting human civilizations that left records - the ancient Egyptians. They were not just pioneers in written language, architecture, and mummification. They also developed their own anti-aging skincare tricks to tackle mature skin.

The typical ancient beauty secrets include abundant common sense use of nourishing food items, such as milk, honey, and olive oil - all of which we still use today in DIY skincare or the elements of which have found their way into commercial skin care. Amongst many others, fenugreek deserves a special spot. It is an herb commonly found in the Mediterranean, parts of China, and India. The Egyptians processed fenugreek in a lengthy and complicated ritual (staying true to themselves) involving drying, threshing, winnowing, boiling, and more to produce oil to be applied to the skin to keep it looking soft, bright, and youthful.

Famous Egyptian queen Cleopatra went a step further, and her ancient skin care hack included bathing daily in donkey milk baths to maintain her renowned beauty. Some historical texts claim this required a regular milking of over 700 donkeys, but that might have just been the historical version of the yellow press shock-value stories. As with the fenugreek anti-aging trick, there may be some real science to milk baths: milk’s alpha hydroxy acids possess anti-aging and skin-softening agents, the same natural chemical compounds found in modern-day chemical peels and other best anti-aging products. Apparently, Cleopatra was onto something and even knew that the (AHA) effects get stronger when the milk soured, cementing her name in the history of skincare.  

The Greeks and Romans Take a Dip

While Cleopatra may have preferred donkey milk, her Roman lover Marc Antony likely preferred an even more surprising anti-aging method - crocodile dung. Public baths were very well-visited places that often added sulfur to the hot waters to ease inflammation and effectively kill bacteria. But Mr. Marc liked his bath filled with a mixture of earth and freshly harvested crocodile feces. The same mixture was also used to make anti-aging face masks. We presume it did something because it would be strange to smear yourself in dung for the pleasure of it alone. There might have been some benefits as we practice medicinal mud wraps today. So if mud has something to offer, maybe one man’s s*** is another’s shining treasure.

In this case, modern science doesn’t have much to say on the medical benefits of this fragrant anti-aging skin care solution, but one of its medical uses did add genuine value for ancient Greeks and Romans: birth control. A mixture including dried crocodile feces was used as a diaphragm, apparently to have successful outcomes… or maybe women just didn’t let men into their beds after their refreshing dung dip, but no one desired to share this particular rejection with the historians. Let’s just be glad we live in an era of modern medical science and that the skincare evolution moved away from Eau de poo.  

Traditional Chinese Anti-Aging Skin Care Methods

Oriental herbs and plants have long found their way into modern cosmetics. Wu Zeitan, China's first and only female empress, knew them all, earning her another spot in the history of skincare greats. Rising from the order of concubines to the throne, she ruled for 40 years keeping her ancient skin care routine on point for just as long.

Although Traditional Chinese Medicine dates back thousands of years, modern practitioners still use anti-aging methods like pearl powder, facial massage, acupuncture, and acupressure. Tang-dynasty ruler Wu Zetian, for example, believed in ruling firmly and fabulously and maintained a lifelong dedication to her skincare routine. Her anti-aging skin care of choice was Chinese motherwort, a common herb from the mint family. She faithfully washed her face in cold water every morning with a powder concocted from motherwort.

Another one of the ancient beauty secrets says the empress drank so much green tea and remained of such a youthful stature that her subjects whispered it to be the elixir of youth responsible for her appearance. She also broadened the scope of green tea to hair rinses and eye compresses. A Taoist, she took periods of deep meditation and self-reflection and indulged in relaxing massages with bags filled with cooked rice, through which the nourishing, soothing, and antioxidant-rich rice water would seep all over her body. Rice water and tonics have been used for millennia, just as ginseng and pomegranate oil, which were some of her favorites. Whether it was the genuine medicinal effects of the Traditional Medicine plant powers or just good genes, Wu Zetian remained a famed beauty well into her old age.

Elizabeth’s Epic Fail to Fight Signs of Aging

Renaissance periods, including the Elizabethan and Victorian eras, were a period of a dead serious fashion trend amongst upper-class ladies to stay as pale as possible to depict their pampered, fragile femininity. Fashion stratification always works by an upper layer trying to separate from the lower layers through an extravagant trend that the poor cannot afford, which is abandoned once the bastardized trend trickles down into the masses. In this case, the trend of being very pale marked a large part of the history of skincare and bore a social significance: nonverbal communication that you are young, fertile, unspoiled, and enjoy a life of leisure rather than hard work in the sun that would tan and scorge your skin, aging you prematurely.

Once known for her flawless pale skin, England’s Queen Elizabeth l suffered smallpox, and her face had was ravaged by scarring. In an attempt to maintain a youthful, pearly white complexion she was known for and to distance herself psychologically from the scarred flesh filling the shoes of an anointed sovereign, she painted her face white by faithfully applying Venetian ceruse, a mixture of white lead and vinegar - the opposite of what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly), this eventually led to lead poisoning, gray shriveled skin, and many other health complications. After adopting this devilishly medieval skincare hack, many believed that blood poisoning may have been the main contributor to her death. There was not much to the period's science and medicine, and dermatology was non-existent until the De morbis cutaneous (‘On the diseases of the skin’) penned by the Italian physician Geronimo Mercuriali in 1572. This is one of those strange cosmic coincidences where the name of the man trying to make things better and educate is derived from the substance poisoning his readers. The mercury-laced rouge and lipstick certainly didn’t help Queen Elizabeth’s case.

Meanwhile, up north, Elizabeth’s cousin and would-be rival for the throne, Mary Queen of Scots, pursued a slightly safer attempt at anti-aging treatments, adding a tipsy turn to the history of skincare. Mary’s regular white wine baths were not just a quirky hangover echo from her upbringing in France - she and many of her contemporaries believe that wine could improve your overall complexion, which may be true given wine’s antiseptic alcohol content. At the very least, we can confidently say that it’s a far better choice than lead face paint.  

From the Industrial to the Modern Age

The industrial age of the 18th and 19th rolled around, roaring with social, economic, and scientific advances and skincare evolution incomparable to anything in history. The skin-lightening trend continued, and the mid to late 19th century saw the rise of the first large cosmetic houses, such as Ponds, Guerlain, and Rimmel. They conducted successful mass marketing campaigns in female-oriented magazines, newspapers, and billboards, starting a revolution that democratized anti-aging skincare and decorative cosmetics and made them more accessible to all layers of society.

As the 20th century drew near, Madam C. J. Walker gave a voice to African-American women, creating a skincare, haircare, and cosmetics empire that refused to sell any product that lightened the skin. Her idea of serving a specific niche and her business savvy made her the first female self-made millionaire in America, and she went on to teach other women about running a business.

The history of skincare timeline moves on into the first half of the 20th century, which built on ancient beauty secrets for a pasty pale tan by introducing the concept of sunscreen because we finally understood the connection between UV damage and premature aging. This time, keeping a pale complexion lost its socially dominant note and was a sign of taking care of yourself. In the second part of the 20th century, women entered the workforce en mass, gaining more social and economic freedoms than ever before. The makeup and skincare market evolution served the demands of a changing society, especially after WWII. Mascaras, eyeliners, foundations, powders, and (mercury-free, yay) lipsticks were now commercially available. Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, and Helena Rubinstein built their reputation on the new, elegant, got-it-all-together businesswoman and her disposable income.

60's onwards mark an era of liberation and freedom, sexual and otherwise, where old values and traditional female roles fall away, including the so-present desire for almost translucently pale skin that had poisoned so many of its fans in history. A lean body, sun-kissed skin, and natural, low-maintenance hairstyles become the norm as the industry exploded in bronzers, self-tanning lotions, and exponential use of sunbeds, then considered safer than regular sun exposure. The good thing is that the range and proponents of SPF (sun protection factor) have grown by leaps and bounds, which has remained so till today.

Upon entering the “anything goes” era of postmodernity or the post-history of skincare, there is no one singular trend to be followed (or maybe these can only be teased out retrospectively, as the fish cannot perceive the water they are immersed in). We've entered an era where there is a loose idea of the mainstream, but we're mostly free to adopt, buy, abandon, reinvent, and revamp our entire lifestyle as we please. We can go under the knife and completely change our faces, if we wish. Even the establishment has established anti-establishment movements as fads and lifestyle options, impotent to change anything other than outfits.

Salons and aesthetic clinics have boomed as social institutions where you can put your anti-aging and preventative skincare products in the hands of specialized professionals. A new vein had also sprung from this new trajectory in self-care - the at-home beauty device revolution. Here, the safe and effective technologies from the clinical setting got translated into smaller handheld devices that are rapidly gaining in practicality and personalization options through the work of pioneer companies, such as FOREO, leading the new skincare evolution. These companies understand that the "one size fits all" rule was never ever true when it came to the real people they wished to serve. Their personalizable smart devices are anchored in the latest technologies, award-winning design, and knowledge of natural skin processes. Creating adaptable, multi-faceted new technologies, FOREO aims to explore the possibilities of microcurrent, LED light therapy, and microcirculation interventions for clinical results at home and to put you in charge as the creative director of your skincare. Cosmetics and skincare options are now at a scope unimaginable only decades ago, and continuous category growth is noted all over the board.

Who knows what the future holds?

The history of skincare had some really bad (and dead) ends, but the more recent chapters have also put down a firm foundation and a knowledge base to rectify the wrongs. We continue to evolve and push our minds and creativity to explore new revolutionary solutions right at the sharp edge of current tech capabilities. We can expect new technological advances in the domain of AI deep learning, artificial systems that can see, hear, and understand at near-human accuracy. This is estimated to dwarf the emergence of the Internet three times over. That future is well on its way, and we are still daydreaming about how it will spill over into self-care.

Sliding down the history of skincare timeline, we're also expecting the development of new ways to pump more science into skincare and self-care decision-making to enable personalized cosmetics experiences tailored to you that shapeshift and adapt to your own genomic needs. A deeper realm of life-quality elevating biotech solutions is still out there to be figured out and utilized. The future is an exciting, endless field of possibilities and opportunities, and it seems beautiful.