Today, makeup is so ubiquitous that it’s difficult to imagine a time when a little translucent powder drew hard stares and condemnation. But just over 100 years ago, external beauty was thought to be the result of internal goodness. God-fearing women who never succumbed to self-indulgence, sloth, or selfishness were naturally beautiful. Meanwhile, women who applied even a whisper of rouge had something to conceal, such as sex workers who used cosmetics to camouflage evidence of sexually transmitted diseases. Makeup was a cover-up, and a woman who “disfigured” herself with it was untrustworthy, chided Godey’s Lady’s Book, a popular 19th-century women’s magazine.
So deeply entrenched were these beliefs that political commentators considered homemade rice powder applied to the face a threat to the American republic. False faces on women unraveled social trust, shattered community confidence, and threatened the nation’s stability. At the dawn of the 20th century, respectable women simply did not wear cosmetics.
