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People will do almost anything to look and feel young and attractive which is why the beauty industry is prosper. And it doesn’t matter if the trends are incredibly strange, as long as others are following them–you’re likely to jump on the bandwagon. However, when you look back in record, there have been some very weird beauty practices in the past that have left us puzzled. Suntan vending machines and using a literal iron to iron hair are just the gratuity of the glamour iceberg.
Bored Panda has collected some of the best vintage photos of women doing very peculiar things, all in the name of beauty. So scroll on down, upvote your fave photos, and let us know which of these activities you personally thought were the most bizarre, dear Pandas. Oh, and be sure to let us know which modern glamour practises you think are objectively strange! According to Forbes, the world glamour industry is worth 532 million dollars. The US is the world’s largest glamour market with around a fifth of the share. While China is in second place and Japan is in third place.
To learn more about the history of glamour and the beauty industry, Bored Panda reached out to Dr. Jane Nicholas from St. Jerome’s University at the University of Waterloo. According to Dr. Nicholas, the world glamour industry has grown “substantially” over the 20 th century. “Its expansion reveals the importance of beauty in people’s lives as it shapes their identities, especially in regard to gender.”
# 1 A Woman Having A Seam Painted Onto Her Leg, To Make It Appear That She Is Wearing Stockings, 1926 
Image credits: Fox Photos
# 2 Faceless Beauty Contest In Cliftonville, 1936 
Image credits: Austrian Archives
# 3 “Ironing” Hair, 1964 
Dr. Nicholas explained to Bored Panda that modern culture is a visual culture. Meanwhile, modern living meant finding yourself in an increasingly-dense but anonymous metropoli. And that means that appearance becomes more important than ever. After all, when you’re a stranger to person, they judge you by your appearance.
“So how one appears is often presumed to be who one is. Historically, the rise of the modern metropoli was seen as the place of quick judgments on appearings in places that were mobbed but likewise built for observation. Evaluation by one’s appearance, then, took on brand-new important. This had just been intensified, ” the history expert explained.
# 4 A Full-Faced Swimming Mask Helped Protect Women’s Skin From The Sun, 1920 s
Image credits: Hulton Archive
# 5 Max Factor’s 1931 Ice Mask
Image credits: International News Soundphoto
# 6 Customers Have Their Legs Painted At A Store In Croydon, London, 1941 
Image credits: G W HALES
She pointed out that charm is( at the same time) deeply personal, as well as culturally driven. That meaning that the glamour industry is relational to the consumer.
“It renders products and images for uptake and how consumers take those up largely define its success. Glamour products and rules have to resonate with consumers, who are not simply dupes but often thoughtful and measured in what they want and can ingest, ” Dr. Nicholas said.
“Gaps in services and products lead to further innovation. Throughout the 20th century, for example, women of color struggled to be appropriately represented and struggled to find appropriate products. In multiple styles, the industry was forced to grow and expand to respond properly to their needs. Black entrepreneurs often resulted the lane, ” she said.
# 7 Freckle Removal. A Complicated Apparatus Is Employed. Eyes Are Covered With A Special, Air-Tight Piece, And The Nostrils Filled In. Breathing Is Done Through A Special Tube. Sensitive Parts Of The Face Must Be Treated Separately, 1930 
Image credits: Mansell
# 8 Contestants In The Miss Lovely Eyes Beauty Pageant In Florida Wearing Masks To Obscure The Rest Of Their Faces, 1930 
Image credits: FPG
# 9 Woman Tans Using A Suntan Vending Machine, 1949 
Image credits: ahtisham-ahmed
It’s no amaze that some vintage beauty procedures, cares, and practices seem strange to we are currently. “When dislocated from their context, what was typical in one time period seems strange in another. Today, we check the highly filtered, amply made up selfie as quite ordinary. When you pause to consider it though, it is interesting to think about how those reflect changes in technology( both digital and in cosmetics ), as well as in dominant presumptions of what is considered beautiful. It can also be reflective of the democratization of techniques in lighting and makeup application that were historically reserved for insiders within modeling. Now, anyone can use them.”
Dr. Nicholas said that beauty is deeply interwoven with the wider social and cultural context. That means that it reflects more than only glamour itself. “Using X-rays for fuzz removal, for example, likewise shows the fact that technology rises before the full wallop of its apply is known, ” she afforded an example.
The history expert also told Bored Panda that we can expect some of the practices that we take for granted today to seem outdated and peculiar in the decades to come. “It’s quite ordinary today to administer a sort of botulism into your face or to dress in the skin of another animal. Over time, though, as our collective ideologies and values modify, these ordinary behaves might come to be seen as extraordinary.”
#10 Before The Invention Of Sun-Screen In The Mid 1940 s, Bathers Wore Garments Like This Freckleproof Cape To Protect Themselves From The Sun. The Cape Also Features Built-In Sunglasses
#11 10 th Century Chinese Tradition – Foot Binding
Image credits: Jo Farrell/ Living History Project
#12 A Perm In Germany In 1929 
Image credits: Everett Collection
What I find the weirdest, personally, is the size of the hairdryers in the past. They’re utterly humongous and they look like something straight out of a sci-fi flick.
The very first hairdryer was invented in 1890 by French stylist Alexander Godefroy. His seated version had a bonnet that attached to none other than the chimney tube of a gas stave. You spoke that right, dear Pandas! Imagine going to a beauty salon and being told to put one of those stove-connected bonnets on your head.
We got the very first handheld hairdryers around 1920 due to technological innovations at the time. However, these were nothing like our modern-day equivalent: they weighed around 2 pounds( that’s 0.9 kilograms) and were very difficult to use. They were also prone to overheating and electrocuted people from time to time.
#13 Portable Hair Dryer, 1940 s
Image credits: Easyart/ PA
#14 French Breast Washer, 1930 s
#15 Rita Perchetti And Gloria Rossi Try Out Their New Portable Bathhouse So They Can Change Their Clothes After Sunbathing On Coney Island Beach, 1938 
Before you rush to poke fun at these vintage charm rules, keep in mind two things. First of all, even if something is trendy, far from every person follows the newly-minted flavor of the month glamour techniques.
Second of all, if you think that we’ve’ advanced’ much beyond silliness, turn on the Tv and flip-flop to an infomercial canal! The things you’ll discover there are just as weird( and maybe even weirder ).
#16 A Policeman Judges An Ankle Competition At Hounslow, London, 1930 
Image credits: sacredserenity
#17 Tape Worm Diet, 1900 s
Image credits: Unknown
#18 A Traditional Japanese Sign Of Beauty- Black Teeth, 17 th- 19 th Centuries
Image credits: Pierre Dieulefils
#19 Hair Dryer, 1920 s
#20 Wooden Swimsuits, 1929 
#21 Dimple Machine In 1936 
Image credits: Unknown
#22 The Bra Claimed To Develop And Strengthen The Bust And Was Designed To Vibrate While The Person Wearing It Was At Work. Brussel, 1971 
#23 Rubber Beauty Masks Used To Get Rid Of Wrinkles In The 1920 s
Image credits: Wellcome Collection
#24 Facial Warming Mask, 1940 
#25 X-Ray Of Female Torso With Corset( Left) And Female Torso Without A Corset( Right ), 1908 
Image credits: nyamcenterforhistory.org
#26 A Fruit Mask From The 1930 s
Image credits: vintage.everyday
#27 You Have A Beautiful Face But Your Nose? 
#28 Taking Precise Measurements Of A Beautiful Young Woman’s Head And Been confronted with A Contraption Like An Instrument Of Torture, 1933 
Image credits: Hulton Archive
#29 Women Who Had Just Given Birth To A Baby Weren’t Prohibited To Smoke In The Hospital. 1940 s Ad
Image credits: Unknown
#30 A Young Woman Holds Her Arms And Legs In Four Water Bathes With Electric Current, To Improve Blood Circulation, Circa 1938 
Image credits: vintage.everyday
Read more: boredpanda.com
