We’ve always been creatures who love to admire and be admired. In our constant struggle to seek approval of our appearances, we have neglected the wellness within. This has always been evident in the fashion trends followed throughout history.
Eye tattooing involves injecting color into the sclera or the iris of the eye. A person might experience a headache and sensitivity to light for days. This type of tattooing is fairly new and involves risks like permanent eye damage, blindness, or even death of the individual! Long-term effects of this tattoo are still unknown. States like Oklahoma have declared this type of tattooing as illegal. Eye tattooing is even known to worsen an existing eye condition.
In today’s day and age, it helps to be prepared for everything. A large bag where you can dump everything you need and carry it around is just perfect, isn’t it? Little do we realize the price we pay for this! The strain the heavy bag puts on the muscles, tendons, and ligaments could lead to shoulder pain and backache. The continual weight pressing against your nerves could damage them, and the uneven weight distribution across your shoulders could affect your posture.
There is hardly a girl today who doesn’t love her high heels. It’s another matter that her high heels are never kind to her. Wearing high heels for an extended period of time could cause irreversible damage to the tendons in the legs and may cause shortening of the calf and back muscles, leading to muscle spasms. Wearing heels which taper towards the toes could also lead to nerve damage, ingrown nails, and bunions.
Although a neat tight bun or a high pony tail gives you a smart and professional appearance, we seriously wonder whether it is worth losing all your hair for that! Yup, hairstyles that tug on the roots cause tension and breakage of hair. This can lead to a condition called alopecia that may cause hair loss. Sometimes, this hair loss is permanent and irreversible.
With a sun-kissed skin in vogue, all we want to do is soak up the sun every time we’re at the beach. The sun not only tans your skin but damages it as well. Excessive exposure to the sun could cause premature aging and sunburn. It also increases the risk of developing skin cancers. The harmful UV rays of the Sun could also damage your eyes – a condition called photokeratitis – and may also cause cataract.
With fashion houses and media desiring and promoting a certain body type, super skinny models are the norm on catwalks and runways. The perception of beauty has been limited to a certain body type. In order to conform to these norms of beauty, teens and young adults all across the globe, mostly women, resort to unhealthy means to achieve this. As a result, over half a million teens, today, are struggling with one or the other eating disorder.
In many cultures across Asia, blackening of the teeth was considered a sign of beauty. In some places it was considered a rite of passage of a young girl into womanhood. This process involved application of harsh chemicals and plant extracts to coat the teeth. Although this helped prevent tooth decay, it was a painful process. Surprisingly, it is still practiced in many countries across Southeast Asia and in Madagascar.
The women folk of the Padaung sub-group of the Kayan tribe, in Myanmar, consider a long neck to be a sign of beauty. So, they wear brass coils around their necks in order make them appear longer. The brass coil pushes the collarbone downwards making the neck appear elongated. Every year, the existing coil is removed and a new coil with more turns is added in order to stretch the neck out even further.
The practice of binding women’s feet began in China around the 10th or 11th century, as small feet were considered to be a sign of wealth, beauty, and prosperity. This practice involved tightly binding a young girl’s feet in order to prevent them from growing further. In some cases, the toes had to be broken and tucked under the woman’s sole. It not only hampered mobility but also led to infections that would sometimes prove fatal. Feet binding was eventually abolished in 1912.
In the Elizabethan Era, a pale complexion was a sign of wealth and beauty. This pale complexion was achieved by smearing the face with ceruse, a toxic mixture of vinegar and white lead. Even experts of those times advised against the use of such a concoction.
In the Victorian and Edwardian era, the corset was laced as tightly as possible to attain a slim waist, raise the bust, and improve posture. This usually led to a reduction in the waist size, which caused the internal organs to constrict and slide lower into the body. This type of clothing also prevented the lower portion of the lungs from expanding fully and was also thought to cause indigestion and constipation.
This structure made with metal hoops, stiff fabric made with horse hair, and linen was worn under the skirt, and it helped to hold out a woman’s skirt. The coarse material used in this clothing sometimes caused skin irritation. The biggest problem with this kind of clothing was that it hampered mobility and would get caught in machinery, carriage wheels, or could even catch fire easily. In the 19th century, crinoline fires resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 women!
At the turn of the last century, colors like mauve and green were made with highly toxic chemicals like arsenic and picric acid. These dyes when exposed to the skin or sweat would cause chemical burns on the skin. There were even reports of fatalities caused due to the wearing of such garments. But people knowingly donned these deadly garments simply because they looked beautiful.