In the throes of an American Victorian ideal, women in the mid-1800's held
onto the idea of apperance and the spirit being intwined. Much like in the
past, these women struggled to find and concoct home remedies that would
leave their complexions white, a testemant to genteel beauty. This whiteness
of skin was a clear social sign that these ladies had not seen the sun scars
of hard labor or outdoor work. However, with no clear regulations on
products, these women endured treatments that could be prepared and marketed
with any number of harmful substances. Bleachings contained lead and bleach
and when used caused poisoning, scarring, and death. There can be no true
account of how many deaths occured from this struggle to obtain the first
stirrings of a market that eventually would come to dominate the American
code.
From the outset, women and the burgeoning mass media constructed clear
divides about the purpose and intent of cosmetics. In the pursuit of beauty,
cosmetics referred to creams, lotions, and other substances that acted on the
skin to protect and correct it. In contrast, paints and enamels were white
and tinted liquids produced commercially that covered the skin (Peiss 10).
Cosmetics were more socially accepted because of their naturalness and
ability to aid nature and not mask it. On the other hand, paints were often
referred to as "encrusted molds" or mummy surfaces" that aroused many social,
ethical, and health concerns (Peiss 12). Yet, most women in America were
familiar with and used cosemetic powders and lotions used to gain flawless
and pale looking skin.
So, who were these women who painted ? Predominatly they were poor white
women who wanted to use their looks to attain a brighter tommorow. In a
rapidly commercializing and mobile society, social standards and a woman's
past were not as important as before. Now, a beautiful face could secure a
rich husband and also the lifestlye that accompanied him. Literature of the
late 1800s echoes this theory by its "rags to riches" stories and emphasis on
the outer trappings and beauty of a character that leads her to find success
and fortune. Beauty then revolved into the instantanious investment for a
greater future.
Obviously, this obsession with skin also cleary emphasized that women's
role in society was beginning to reflect an acknowledgment of money, power,
and yearning to attain a certain social status through the asethetic.
Apperance was beginning to forefit the reality of certain situations. For
example, in the 1850s many women purchased guides to fashion and beauty
adressing bourgeois women on how to use etiquiette and lifestyle to acheive a
beautiful face and form. However, these guides were consitently being
purchased by female mill-workers and lower-class servants who also wanted to
gain access to that lifestyle. Because they lacked wealth in their personal lives, poor women strove to emulate and appear to be living a burgeois sub-reality. Clearly, one can see the seedling of what seems to be American's overall relationship with beauty
and women buying into its deceitful, but very profitable and convincing
nature.