Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes but there are some generally accepted rules that define the concept of beauty in a society. Every c country around the world has its own definition of a “beautiful face”. The beauty standards you see in the North American region might be different from those in the South Asian region. Additionally, this disparity in beauty standards doesn’t only vary from region to region but also varies from one time period to another too.

What you may deem beautiful might not seem beautiful to someone from the Middle ages. They might even find your beauty standards to be bizarre and extremely strange. This is exactly how you’d feel when you take a look at the beauty standards from the past.

Here are the three strangest beauty standards we’ve discovered.

1. No Eyelashes

When you look at someone’s makeup routine today, one key area to focus on is eyelashes—some people wear mascara while others go for false eyelashes. However, that was not the case for European women during the Renaissance and the Middle ages. To them, eyelashes were seen as a sign of being over-sexual, so they preferred a face akin to a clean slate.

Mirror | Imagine investing time and effort into plucking out your eyelashes

2. Painted Legs

World War II came with a lot of things such as famine, drought, and economic collapse. It also resulted in nylon shortages which meant that there was a great disparity in the supply and demand of pantyhose. Since the look of tan legs was quite popular, women opted to have their legs painted in order to mimic the same look. In 1942, LIFE magazine even shared tips to properly apply paint and stated that when applied properly, one won’t be able to tell if you’re wearing pantyhose, or indeed, a lacquer of paint.

Getty Images | Let’s hope nylon doesn’t go out of stock again

3. Beauty Patches

It was the 18th century when women started to gravitate towards the ‘heavy makeup’ look. And with that, they began to apply small pieces of fabric to their faces with glue, calling them beauty patches. They’d come in all shapes, such as hearts, stars, squares, and circles. Placing beauty patches on different parts of their face also signified a woman’s marital status.

Pinterest | A small black item used to tell strangers your relationship status - how bizarre

Would you want any of these beauty trends to return?