Weird But True Facts About Lipstick

Lipstick 

You love it, you wear it, you dream about it … we get it. But, little did you know that this twisty lippie has a long, loooong line of history behind it. While some facts are hilarious, others are downright shocking! So, enjoy your fave lipstick to the fullest because at one point, wearing it was practically reason enough for a divorce! 

1. Both men and women in Ancient Egypt wore lipstick as a symbol of their status. They applied it almost daily with wet sticks of wood and favored colors such as magenta, blue-black, and orange-though red was also a popular shade. It’s said that Cleopatra made her red lipstick from crushed Carmine beetles and ants.
2. In Ancient Greece, lipstick fell out of fashion among high-class citizens and was instead used to identify prostitutes. In fact, it was the law that sex workers or prostitutes couldn’t go out without wearing lipstick, lest they “deceive” men. This polarised attitude towards lipstick led to the first formalised law regarding lipstick – sex workers who were caught without their identifying lip paint would be prosecuted for "improperly posing as ladies."
3. Ancient Greek lipstick was made of pretty unusual ingredients, such as sheep sweat, human saliva, and crocodile excrement.
4. If you were a wealthy woman in Ancient Rome, chances are you had your own professional team of hairstylists and makeup artists, called cosmatae, to apply your lipstick every day. But, unfortunately, many early iterations of lipstick contained toxic ingredients like white lead, fucus, and vermillion. Roman lipsticks were made of ochre, iron ore, and fucus (a common type of brown algae). Fucus contains a lot of mercury, which meant their makeup was actually hazardous to their health. Poorer Romans relied on red wine to tint their lips, which was less long-lasting but also less poisonous, so they were kind of the winners in this scenario. Under the Roman Empire, lipstick was worn by men and women and was used to determine social class rather than gender.                                                                                                                   
5. While all other cosmetics were rationed in Great Britain during WWII, lipstick was kept in production because Winston Churchill felt it boosted morale.
6. In Australia, Aboriginal girls would paint their mouths red with ochre for puberty rituals.
7. The Chinese made some of the first lipsticks that were made from beeswax to protect the delicate skin of the lips.
8. Aside from the toxic ingredients we mentioned earlier, animal fat, sheep sweat, and ox marrow were also often used to make lip rouge. An ingredient that has stayed the same through the years? Fish scales, which are still used in lipsticks today to boost shine.                                                                                                                                 

   

   QUEEN

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
9. Queen Elizabeth I popularised lipstick so much that it was at times used as a substitute for actual currency.
10. Elizabethans believed that lipstick had life-giving powers, and Queen Elizabeth herself applied it on her deathbed.
11.  Guerlain introduced the first commercial lipstick in the form of a lip pomade in 1828.
12.  At one point in time, it was acceptable to apply lipstick in public during lunch, but never at dinner.                                                                                                                                                               

    

    1920s silent film

                                                                                                   
13. Ever watch a 1920s silent film and wonder why the actresses wore black lipstick? That’s because film stock was sensitive to color and red lipstick would register as black.
14. It’s said that women who wear lipstick daily (even on sick days!) unintentionally eat about 4 pounds of lipstick in their lifetime. We're looking at you, lipstick lovers.
15. According to a study called the “Lipstick Effect” women increase their desire to buy lipstick during economic recessions because of the decreasing number in quality mates.
16.  The average woman in the US will spend around $1,780 (£1,377) on lipstick in her lifetime.
17. According to a study conducted by the University of Manchester, men stare longer at red lipstick on women than bare lips. They were most entranced by red lipstick, staring at it for an average of 7.3 seconds, while their gaze lingered on women with pink lipstick for an average of 6.7 seconds. They only glanced at women with bare lips for an average of 2.2 seconds.

Which one of these lipstick facts were you surprised by? Let us know in the comments below!