Mascara in our cosmetic bags has appeared quite recently. If blush and pomade originated in Ancient Egypt, the time of the appearance of carcasses is the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries.





However, the appearance of mascara can be quite associated with kayal, whose history begins in the days of Ancient Egypt. Kajal is an eyeliner pencil. And in Ancient Egypt, and in the days of Antiquity (Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome), and in the countries of the East, there was, most often black, eyeliner. She was outlined not only the contour of the eyes and drew arrows, but also painted her eyebrows. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. in European make-up, black dye was also known, with the help of which the eyebrows were highlighted.



As for the eyelashes, they were practically not dyed until the twentieth century. But, however, in the XVII-XIX centuries. there have been women who have tried to darken their eyelashes. As a dye, they could use: ash, coal dust, burnt cork, elderberry juice, and lamp soot. Lamp soot was obtained by holding a burning match over an inverted saucer.



On the other hand, during the Middle Ages, women not only did not try to make their eyelashes darker, but even tried to get rid of them altogether. In the Middle Ages, there was a fashion for a high forehead without the slightest sign of hair. The hair above the forehead, two fingers wide, was shaved, and the eyebrows were also shaved. And in extreme cases, they could pluck out eyelashes.



The same fashion existed in the XV-XVI centuries. - v Renaissance period... Eyebrows and eyelashes were still not dyed, they had to remain as invisible as possible, well, almost like the Gioconda, and the hair was shaved off the forehead to make the forehead visually higher.



It was only at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, with the spread of cinema, that eyelashes began to dye. In films, this was done in order to emphasize the eyes of the actresses, to make the look more expressive. After all, cinema in those days was black and white.



Three stories about the emergence of mascara

The professional version of mascara, especially for cinema, was invented by the famous Hollywood make-up artist of the early twentieth century Max Factor.





Max Factor was born in Poland, which was then part of the Russian Empire. For some time, Max Factor worked as a cosmetics specialist at the court of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II. And before that he was engaged in theatrical hairstyles and make-up, including at the Opera House of St. Petersburg. Then he immigrated to the United States, worked in Hollywood. And in the same place, in the USA, he founded the now famous Max Factor cosmetics company.



Max Factor developed a product called Cosmetic. Such mascara had a waxy state and was stored in the form of tubes wrapped in foil. Before applying to the eyelashes, it had to be warmed up over a fire. The first mascara from Max Factor gave a very rich black color, but it gathered on the lashes in lumps. Such mascara looked good on the screen, but not in everyday life. However, it was also developed for the cinema.







Another inventor of mascara is Eugene Rimmel. He was the son of the founder of Rimmel, which, like Max Factor, still exists today. Eugene Rimmel's father was Hyacinth-Mars Rimmel, a French perfumer.However, in 1834, he moved from Paris to London with his wife and son Eugene, where he founded his company. And they were initially engaged in the production and sale of perfumery.

In some languages ​​of the world (Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish), mascara is called rimmel, after the name of its inventor Eugene Rimmel.

Eugene Rimmel invented a mascara called Superfin in 1860. This ink was a mixture of coal dust and petroleum jelly. This mixture was packed in a box. And its main drawback was fluidity. Mascara could easily leak out and stain the entire contents of a handbag.




And, of course, Maybelline contributes to the invention of mascara. This company is very closely related to eye makeup. After all, Maybelline is one of the first to start producing shadows. And the history of the creation of the company is closely related to the invention of mascara.



The founder of the company T.L. Williams launches the first solid mascara in 1917. It was called Lash-Brow-Ine. On the idea of ​​creating such a cosmetic product, T.L. Williams was pushed by his sister Mabel, who used a mixture of coal dust and petroleum jelly to darken her lashes. In honor of Mabel, the company was named - Maybelline.



And soon, Maybelline mascara was sold in all US pharmacies, and since 1932 in stores. In the 1960s, Maybelline introduced Ultra Lash mascara. It was the first liquid mascara in a pencil case with a spiral applicator brush. It was also waterproof mascara. One of the first of its kind.



However, the idea of ​​storing ink in a cylinder that resembles a pencil or a writing pen and using a thin metal rod with a brush at the end for application was realized back in 1958. In 1958, Elena Rubinstein, the founder of one of the first cosmetics companies, released mascara in a similar package - Mascara-Matic mascara. This mascara became the prototype of all modern mascara, while in the first half of the twentieth century, mascara was used according to the principle of "spit and rub".




Today mascara is divided into two groups: waterproof and non-waterproof mascara.





Waterproof mascara - This is mascara that is almost impossible to wash off with water, not to mention tears, sweat or rain. Special makeup remover is used to remove waterproof mascara. This mascara resembles oil-based paints in its properties. It consists of animal wax (for example, beeswax), vegetable (for example, rice bran wax) or mineral (paraffin) wax, dyes, polymers, volatile solvents.



The non-waterproof mascara can be easily washed off with soap and water. However, it is still resistant to tears and sweat. Non-waterproof mascara also contains animal, vegetable or mineral waxes, dyes and polymers, and water. Its properties are similar to water-based paints.