Text | On Yun Xuan
Edit | On Yun Xuan
As the saying goes, it is human nature to love beauty, and in ancient times, our ancestors began to polish pearls or animal bones and make them into accessories to wear.
After that, the ancients who loved beauty also invented many cosmetics, which made people dizzy, especially the first thing women in ancient times did when they got up was to dress up and welcome the arrival of the day in the best state.
But if you think that only women love beauty, then you are very wrong, in ancient times men were also very beautiful, and some people have even reached the point of madness.
So, what did men in ancient times do to become beautiful?
We take it for granted that the love of beauty and makeup is something that women love, and men scoff at such things, but an object excavated in 2002 surprised all archaeologists.
A dressing box was dug up in a Chu tomb in Hubei, which was fully equipped, and could not only place combs but also rouge boxes in the box, which was the earliest dressing box dug up in the mainland so far.
But what people didn't expect was that the owner of this dressing box turned out to be a man, it turns out that makeup is not only a special case for girls, but also there are dressing boxes in men's burials, and it is not the first time that archaeologists have found such a thing.
A lot of cosmetics were also found in the tombs of men in the Han Dynasty, which gave us a deeper understanding of men's love of beauty.
In fact, men's love for beauty has also been seen early, in the article "Zou Ji satirizes the King of Qi", you can see how stinky and beautiful men were during the Warring States Period.
not only asked his wife while looking in the mirror if he was beautiful, but also repeatedly asked his wife who was more beautiful than Xu Gong in the north of the city, and even secretly compared when he saw Xu Gong.
Therefore, as early as the pre-Qin and Warring States periods, men have formed a sense of beauty, and at that time, men had high requirements for their own image, especially the nobles, who paid more attention to it, at least to be refreshing and clean, and neatly dressed.
Archaeologists also found a copper pot in the man's tomb, which was full of small particles, and only after sending it for inspection did he know that it was an ancient "whitening product", and it turned out that the ancient man also wore makeup.
Especially the men of the Three Kingdoms period really love beauty very much, for example, although Guan Yu has a thick beard, he is definitely carefully cared for, as can be seen from Guan Yu's title of "Beautiful Bearded Prince".
And He Yan, who is known as a beautiful man in ancient times, is very beautiful, and likes to apply powder very much, even on the way to work, he still keeps the powder box in his hand, always pays attention to his makeup, and is ready to replenish powder at any time.
Men's makeup is definitely not unique to the Three Kingdoms period, men's love for beauty has reached its peak by the time of the Jin Dynasty, and the men of the Jin Dynasty have reached the point of madness towards beauty.
As the saying goes, "one white covers a hundred ugliness, and one fat destroys all" This sentence was understood very deeply by the men of the Jin Dynasty, and their pursuit of fair skin has reached the level of a disease.
In the Jin Dynasty, they thought that fair and translucent complexion was the most beautiful, which had become their aesthetic, so the men of the Jin Dynasty were crazy to rub powder on their faces, which is now applying foundation.
According to the records, there are two main ingredients in ancient foundation, one is made of rice flour, and the production process of rice flour foundation is also recorded in detail in "Qi Min Yaoshu", which is also the source of the word "rice" in the word "powder".
There is also a kind of foundation is the so-called "lead powder", which is more delicate, more shiny on the face, and has a better whitening effect, so it is deeply loved by men in the Jin Dynasty.
However, it can be seen from the word "lead" that the heavy metal content of the foundation made in this way exceeds the standard, and if it is used for a long time, it will cause a dull complexion.
Men in the Jin Dynasty would carry mirrors, combs and creams with them even when they went out, and it is said that Ji Kang, one of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest", liked to apply powder, so that his complexion would look fairer.
Some people even use "Wushi San", although such a thing is poisonous, but eating such a thing can also make you look fairer, and there is a feeling of fluttering fairy, which is very popular in the Jin Dynasty.
There is also such a chapter in "The New Language of the World", which is dedicated to describing and evaluating the demeanor of men in the Jin Dynasty, which seems to be not much different from the current fashion magazines.
In addition to the act of applying powder, men in the Jin Dynasty also liked to wear lipstick, which was actually similar to today's lipstick, and in ancient times such things were collectively called rouge or lipstick.
The color of these rouges is generally red, and they are extracted from brightly colored plants or flowers, and the color is beautiful, which is loved by women and is very convenient to use.
Unlike the red used by women, most of the red used by men is colorless, similar to the current lip balm, which can have a protective effect on the lips.
If you want to say that the lipstick "carries forward", it is none other than Tang Gaozong, he likes to collect lipstick very much, and even uses it as a reward, if he meets an official he admires very much, he will give them lipstick.
And when men fall asleep at night, they will also wipe something similar to the current "skin care products" to protect their skin.
In ancient times, most men had beards, and they thought it was very beautiful and well-groomed, so there were many styles of beards.
If it is said that the people of the Jin Dynasty took white and thin as the aesthetic standard, then after entering the Tang Dynasty, this aesthetic has undergone some changes, but the men of the Tang and Song dynasties love beauty no less than the men of the Jin Dynasty.
The Tang Dynasty was a very prosperous dynasty, and cultural exchanges were also very frequent, so the people of the Tang Dynasty were relatively open-minded, and the makeup hairpin was no longer the privilege of women, and men also wore flowers.
In fact, before the Tang Dynasty, men also knew how to make hairpins, but such behavior only happened at a specific time, such as scenes such as the Double Ninth Festival.
But after the Tang Dynasty, men began to slowly wear flowers on their heads in their daily lives, and they would choose different flowers according to different seasons, which they thought would be more beautiful and more elegant.
"In the spring of Chang'an, it is flourishing in the ...... The emperor looked at it, rewarded it, and then put it on the scarf of the royal flower pro-flower, and the people were honored. "This should be the earliest written record of a man's hairpin, and this flower was personally worn by Tang Xuanzong.
However, the behavior of such hairpins is still limited to the common people, and by the time of the Song Dynasty, the trend of men's hairpins reached its peak, and even the emperor at that time would wear flowers on his head.
In addition to the hairpin, ancient men also paid great attention to their own image on the other hand, that is, the color of the hair, people get older, the hair will naturally become gray, but some men will also dye their hair, so as to make themselves look younger.
In addition, in fact, some men in ancient times also had a small habit, that is, to keep nails, which may be influenced by the concept of parents on the hair and skin of the body, but slowly this concept has also changed.
Keeping nails has also become a status symbol, after all, it is very inconvenient to work with long nails, so it has gradually become a symbol of aristocratic status, so people at that time still thought that keeping nails was beautiful.
Just like in film and television dramas, you can often see women in the Qing Dynasty wearing long finger sleeves, which also has such a meaning, and the men of the Qing Dynasty naturally have nails, and they have no possibility of becoming beautiful in their hairstyles, so they work their hands.
Therefore, it is the nature of human beings to love beauty, even men can't escape, men can also wear hairpins and makeup, and they will wear sachets when traveling, and the ancient nobles paid great attention to their own image.
Especially the men of the Jin Dynasty require a fair face and a thin body, which is not the same as the aesthetics of other dynasties, although the men of other dynasties also love beauty, but the mainstream is still masculine beauty, and the aesthetics of the Jin Dynasty are indeed extraordinary.