Social Question

Kraigmo's avatar

Did women or girls worry about their lips or eyelashes before the 1990's?

Asked by Kraigmo (9421points) July 12th, 2010

It flabbergasts me that people can fixate on something so pointless, like lips or eyebrows, to the point of wanting to make them puffier or fluffier.

Lots of women and girls now worry about whether their lips are full enough, or if their eyelashes are long enough.

Until I read about this, I never noticed the size of ANY person’s lips or eyebrows. It seems like such a stupid thing. It’s a part of the body that nobody used to care about, or am I wrong?

And now there’s an RX medicine that grows eyelashes? WTF? Unless you’re going through chemo, why would you take such a pill?

Does anyone think that a women with short eyelashes is somehow less healthy or attractive or aesthetic looking?

And as for puffy lips… I’ve never seen a botox lip that looks better than a natural lip… have any of you? Natural puffy lips are fine, but why would a person artificially do that outside of just being brainwashed by some advertising agency or magazine?

Some standards of beauty… such as proper weight (being “height-weight proportionate”) have a basis in health.

But what’s the deal with the fluffy eyelashes and puffy lips?

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12 Answers

Likeradar's avatar

I don’t know all the answers to your questions in the details sections, but YES, woman absolutely tried to enhance their eyes and lips before the 1990’s. Surely you’ve seen a movie set before the ‘90’s- notice all the lipstick, lip liner, and glosses? All designed to make the lips fuller. Same with mascara and liner. Advances have allowed women not helped much by cosmetics to experience the enhancements as well. See the wiki for mascara, and I’ve read that Cleopatra used coal to enhance her eyelashes.
I am also willing to bet that the only people with “fake” lips you notice are the ones who have had it poorly or overly done, not the many, many women who look great with slightly fuller lips.

The mouth’s lips can be compared to vaginal lips- some men and women think it’s attractive for both sets of lips to look engorged.

Dr_Lawrence's avatar

As @Likeradar pointed out, attempts to enhance the lips to suggest sexual receptivity in a subliminal way to both women and men has gone on for thousands of years.

The eyes have traditionally been considered the “window to the soul” and attempts to enhance the attractiveness of the eye is as old as sexual attraction and the attempts to attract the best possible mate.

Aster's avatar

@Kraigmo “Does anyone think that a women with short eyelashes is somehow less healthy or attractive or aesthetic looking?” How about NO eyelashes making u look like a corpse?
And NO top lip? If it’s good enough for Paris , it’s good enough for Granny.

Seek's avatar

Mediaeval women used to…

dye their fingernails with berry juices.
soak away their freckles with buttermilk
dye their eyebrows black
line their eyes with kohl
wash herself with rosewater to smell nice
rinse her hair with lemon and sun herself to gain blonder hair

The list goes on.
Ever since the development of agriculture, women have been trying to appeal to men. We just have more chemicals these days.

le_inferno's avatar

Eyelashes enhance the eyes, which are not necessarily indicators of health, but an aesthetic pleasure. We are attracted to nice eyes. Some women prefer to have puffy lips to make them look more soft and kissable.

Austinlad's avatar

Before the ‘90s? How about since the Garden of Eden! Pointless? Not if it pleases the woman doing it. (Helping attract men is just icing on the cake.)

jaytkay's avatar

The first thing I think of is the makeup women wore 60 years ago.

3,000 years ago, too.

Pied_Pfeffer's avatar

Physical attraction seems to draw a lot of men. I hope that any relationship that goes the distance is based upon other things though.

Neizvestnaya's avatar

Women have darkened their eyelashes for thousands of years and painted on their lips in various ways to change the perceived shape. The 1990’s offered nothing out of the ordinary.

DarlingRhadamanthus's avatar

Before the 1990’s….did women worry about eyelashes?! One word: Twiggy. :)

http://whatever.losito.net/images/twiggy.jpg

Jeruba's avatar

The ancient Egyptians [ link ] and Romans [ link ] used makeup in many of the same ways that we still do today.

Dutchess_III's avatar

The make up we put on is to simulate sexual arousal….cheeks blushing, eyes glistening, lips getting red.

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