In 1911, a Canadian inventor named Anna Taylor patented artificial eyelashes. His invention included glued eyelashes, or lashes in strips, which were thought to be made of human hair. A few years later, German hairdresser Karl Nessler provided false eyelash services at his salon in New York. According to the New York Times, Nessler announced his services as “a guard against the glare of electric lights.”.
When you think about false eyelashes, what kind of look comes to mind? Is it the modern aesthetic of the bad guys that sexy celebrities love as much as influential people? Is the explosive 90s look inspired by Pamela Anderson recently renewed? Maybe it goes back even further: icons from the 50s with agitated lashes like Sophia Loren, or even flappers in the (original) Roaring '20s. As with most beauty inventions, the story of false eyelashes, including the reason false eyelashes were invented, is a legitimately crazy story with experimentation, pseudoscience and application methods strange enough to give even lovers of goose bumps most bitter beauty. The road to our modern counterfeits may have been chaotic, but learning about it will make you even more grateful for the rows and rows of easy-to-use eyelashes that line the shelves of every pharmacy in the United States. Get ready: it's time to delve into the history of false eyelashes.
While eyelashes perform some biological function by acting as an early warning system, if debris, dust or other foreign agents get too close to the important eyeball, their cultural meaning is purely aesthetic. While they're not inherently feminine (everyone knows people of all genders with long, wide eyelashes), they're considered a feminine trait, although it's not quite clear why. Some experts theorize that it has to do with the relationship between youth and what society considers standards of female beauty, while others speculate that long, dark eyelashes enhance the whites of the eyes to become a kind of indicator of health. However, the most accepted idea today is that long eyelashes simply make the eyes appear larger, and in most cultures, large eyes are among the most important factors of “female beauty” in general.
So it makes sense that the recorded use of false eyelashes dates back to the Roman Empire. Eyelash enhancements, such as rudimentary mascara and even curling tools, also have a long history in ancient and Ptolemaic Egypt, but it was a Roman philosopher (the first influencers, actually) who perpetuated the idea that eyelashes fall out with age and sexual promiscuity; all of a sudden, it became very Important: Romans should have the longest and most lush eyelashes possible thanks to botanical ingredients, kohl and even minerals. Eyelash trends came and went over the years (in medieval times, it was fashionable to tear them all out along with the eyebrows to show the forehead, which was considered the sexiest part of the body long before BBL), especially with reports about the application of real eyelash extensions that appeared in the late s 19th century in Paris: although its version requires needles to implant synthetic hairs directly into the skin. Although that horrible stitching was being done in 1899, it wasn't long before a different interpretation of false eyelashes appeared, and they look much more like modern false eyelashes.
The first patent for false eyelashes was issued in 1911 to a Canadian woman, but five years later, it was an American film director named D, W. Griffith, who was looking for a more dramatic and exotic look for his protagonist. Although the false eyelashes made by the production's wig manufacturer were effective, since they were made of human hair and chewing gum, they were irritating and rough. I can't imagine why.
Perhaps the most important change occurred when production materials were changed to plastic in the 1950s. Synthetic fibers, no different from today's most popular styles, were easy to replicate and mass-produce, which in turn made fake use more regular and widespread. Nowadays, you can choose false eyelashes made of plastics and other synthetic materials, as well as real animal hair such as mink. They're considered essential to large-scale glamour for everyone from celebrities to teenagers on graduation night.
These artificial eyelashes are made of fine human hair, woven into a metal band and worn with a headband. Marion Davies, one of Hollywood's most popular actresses, wore false eyelashes and became known as the “queen of eyelashes”. Throughout history, societies have coveted long eyelashes and people have tried many techniques to meet these beauty standards. Although magnetic eyelashes have become more popular since their invention, adhesive lashes are still the more common of the two.
An advertisement from the 1930s, featuring two models posed with gold eyelashes or with platinum beads, showed that they weren't just meant to look natural. False eyelashes were extremely painful to use, and the glue often stuck the eyelashes to the user's natural eyelashes. Eyelashes, which date back to Ancient Egypt, have played an important role in terms of status and beauty that has never really changed. It wasn't until 1916, during the shooting of the film Intolerance, that artificial eyelashes began to make waves.
Even though artificial eyelashes have existed since the late 19th century and Taylor filed a patent in 1911, many people give credit to filmmaker D. He instructed makeup artists to use chewing gum and glue to apply absurdly heavy false eyelashes to actress Seena Owen, and within a decade, flappers were copying the look. False eyelashes have become increasingly popular in recent years, but the trend has a strange and painful history. This may be because, as you age, your eyelashes naturally tend to get a little shorter and become more sparse.
Eyelash extensions offer a different layer of beauty that highlights the eyes and completes an outfit. CEO & and founder of Sugarlash PRO, Courtney Buhler, told Bustle that it's important to invest in false eyelashes to make sure they're done right. . .
