These are random musings of my life journey, the people, animals, places, and events which have woven, and continue to weave, a tapestry that is me. We all know there is no real destination, only the ongoing experiences which blend together, creating the trail. Each step gives a glimpse of what is to come, without allowing me to see the end result. It is exciting. I have a home base that is mine, that gives me a place to rest. This is it. This is where my heart is, no matter where I journey...................

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Tuesday Trivia

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What do we/will we/did we do for beauty? The more trivia I read, the more I realize the answer is "just about anything! Some examples ....

HAIR
The Finger Wave: Curls and waves were all the rage in the 1930s. Women wanted their hair to look like those of beautiful Hollywood actresses Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, and Carole Lombard, who all kept their hair short to mid-length, wavy, and styled for maximum sex appeal.

The Cary Grant: This men's hairstyle of the 1940s was a precise cut with a severe side part and a whole lot of styling wax to make it shine. The result was a look as sauve and debonair as Grant himself.

The Bouffant: Thanks to salon-sized hair dryers being introduced to the world of beauty in the 1950s, the bouffant and the beehive began popping up all over the place. The look was that of a big, round silhouette on the head.

The Mop Top: With the increasing popularity of the Beatles in the 1960s came the increasing popularity of their hairstyle - a longer, over the ears, floppy shag cut. Girls and boys alike copied the style, which was also sported by another huge band of the time, The Rolling Stones.

The Farrah Fawcett: The 1970s saw this iconic hairstyle, made famous by Charlie's Angels star Farrah Fawcett. The style came to a soft point at the top of the head, creating a triangular silhouette with long, feathered flips cascading down the sides and the back.

The Rat-Tail: Popular with young men (and some women) of the '80s, this style was characterized by hair cut short all over except for a long strip of hair (usually 1/2- to 1-inch wide) growing from the nape of the neck and dangling down the back.



PLASTIC SURGERY
The first recorded “nose job” is found in ancient Indian Sanskrit texts (600 B.C.).c Physicians would reconstruct noses by cutting skin from either the cheek or forehead, twisting the skin side out over a leaf of the appropriate size, and sewing the skin into place. Two polished wooden tubes would be inserted into the nostrils to keep the air passage open during healing.

A popular procedure in ancient Rome was scar removal, particularly scars on the back which were marks of shame because they suggested a man had turned his back in battle, or worse, he had been whipped like a slave. Foreigners would also have plastic surgery to fit better into Roman society.

When plastic surgery became popular during the Renaissance, surgeons took skin grafts from various donors, such as a neighbor’s pig, but were confused when the new nose would shrivel up and fall off. They concluded the flesh was “sympathetic,” meaning that the graft died when its original owner died.

Italian Gaspare Tagliacozzi (1546-1599) is widely considered the “father of modern plastic surgery.” His text book De curtorum chirugiau noted the need for plastic surgery due to duels and street fights, as well as a pervasive outbreak of syphilis which destroyed the nose. His “virtual” nose, however, could fall off if the user blew too hard, and young women with reconstructed noses were hardly objects of desire.

World War II ushered in plastic surgery techniques that included rebuilding entire limbs, extensive skin grafts, microsurgery, antibodies, and increased knowledge about tissue health.

The first modern breast augmentation took place on November 24, 1893, in Heidelberg, Germany, by Vincent Czerny. His patient was a 41-year-old singer who had a growth in her breast removed. Luckily, the patient had a growth (lipoma) on her back, which was harvested and transplanted to her breast. She was discharged on December 20, 1893.



SKIN
In the Middle Ages, white complexions were considered divine and people were constantly bleaching their skin with "miraculous" ointments which were often poisonous.

During the Dark Ages, lead was put into creams to help people achieve the desired pale complexion. Lead had been used as a bleaching agent for centuries, despite the fact it is highly toxic.

It was believed in the Middle Ages that dilated pupils were infinitely enchanting. To dilate their pupils people used the juice of the Belladonna plant as eye drops. Belladonna's roots and leaves contain atropine, which is used as an antispasmodic and in pupil-dilating eye drops.

In the Middle Ages, the large forehead was considered a sign of grandeur and wisdom, so folks would pluck the hair above their forehead. When excess hair was mercilessly removed, the skin was treated to a "magic" elixir containing frog blood, which allegedly reduced hair regrowth.

Venetian blonde was the hair color to achieve during medieval times. Women applied animal grease, ashes, sulfur, yeast, mercury, and tons of other substances to their hair and bleached it under the hot sun for hours.

Translucent skin was adored during this time period. To make their skin appear more translucent, people painted blood vessels on their skin. Queen Elizabeth I was a big fan of blue veins showing through the skin on her face.

Amazing, isn't it?
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5 comments:

  1. ha! balding treatments were IN back in the middle ages. my how times have changed.

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  2. There were some bizarre practices, weren't there?

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  3. I am glad I dont live in the middle ages not that I would ever have plastic surgery anyways.

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  4. That Middle ages stuff was brutal, wasn't it? Gah!

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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