The Hairbrush
Hairbrushes have been around
for thousands of years. However,
you may be surprised to learn
that until recently they were
only used by the wealthy and
privileged. The upper-class ancient
Egyptians used hairbrushes made of animal hair, porcupine quills, shells, and bone for combing and to
remove lice and other pests that got tangled in their hair. Brushes were manufactured for the fi rst time
in 1777 by an English company. The bristles came from wild animals and were stitched into the brush by
hand. It is not surprising that these brushes were quite expensive. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 20th
century that brushes began to be manufactured by machine and to be produced with cheaper, synthetic
materials, like nylon bristles. With these developments, brushes became extremely common.
Lipstick
Ancient Egyptian women made lipstick from a red dye extracted from seaweed and
the poisonous element iodine. It was eventually discovered that this early form of
lipstick made women very sick. Cleopatra had a safer, although not very appealing,
recipe for lipstick: It was made from ants and beetles. The ants were used as the base,
and crushed carmine beetles for their deep, red color. In 1884, the fi rst modern lipstick
was introduced in Paris. It was a solid stick made of castor oil, beeswax, and animal
fat. By the 1940s, the use of lipstick by famous, wealthy women had led to its
widespread popularity. During this period, rotating lipstick in a tube was
invented. Today, the average woman owns eight lipsticks!
Deodorant
The ancient Egyptians worked hard to hide body odor. They put perfume in their baths and
applied great quantities of it to their underarms. They tried using many odd items like incense
and porridge as deodorant. The ancient Greeks were also afraid that they might give off an
odor. Like the Egyptians, they bathed constantly and wore a lot of perfume. The Romans took
this obsession a step further: They soaked their clothes in perfume, and even put it on their
horses and household pets. The fi rst trademarked deodorant, a paste called Mum, didn’t
appear until 1888. In the mid-1950s, the ballpoint pen inspired the fi rst roll-on deodorant.
Today deodorants are a multi-billion dollar industry and are as common as toothpaste in
most homes.