In the United States prison culture women will lick skittles and use the coloring off of them to apply makeshift makeup to their faces since they are not allowed the use of cosmetics while incarcerated. What is it about our appearance that makes even women who has lost their freedom find ways to make themselves feel as though they must look presentable for the other inmate population? An individual’s appearance is something that all societies use for judgment and placement. In different societies the ideals are unique from one another but body modification in each is unique. The quickest and easiest form of modification is make-up. Through out history in times as early as the ancient Egyptians and before, make-up has been used to signify stature, roles and increase believed beauty. In other areas of the world it had been used for ceremonies and expression. Although the ingredient components of these makeup’s may not be what we find in modern day cosmetics, the use of makeup has traveled through the ages, and evolved into the world of make up we see today. The make up world has boomed into a multi million dollar business. And does not only include what we consider average everyday wear makeup but also professional stage makeup and special effects makeup just to name a few. For a product which is supposed to hide your own imperfections but be invisible to the eye it sure is a powerful component of women’s culture worldwide.
Image used with a creative commons license: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mutednarayan/297742430/sizes/o/
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