Interesting facts about manicure

In the modern world, few women do not care about the beauty of their hands. Even men resort to beauty salons to get their nails in order.

But doing such mundane things, few people think about who invented the manicure and what secrets this procedure, familiar to everyone, conceals. However, many amazing facts can surprise even the most well-read person.

People have long cared about the beauty of their hands. Even the ancient Egyptians attached great importance to manicure, which is confirmed by scientists studying Egyptian mummies. It has long been proven that Cleopatra and Nefertiti stained nail plates with henna, which bears a distant resemblance to varnish coating.

The oldest manicure set was found in the territory of Ancient Babylon. According to studies, Babylonian women of fashion looked after the condition of their nails only with gold tools.

But in ancient China, ladies painted their hands and nails using a mixture of wax, egg whites, Arabic jam and flower petals. As a result, a certain color was formed, which determines the belonging of a woman to a particular class.

The length of the nail plates was also of great importance. Only wealthy and noble women had the right to grow long nails.

King Louis of France complained about a burr that appeared on his finger. Several doctors were called to remove it, but only one doctor, who is credited with the discovery of manicure, was able to fix the problem.

Subsequently, this doctor invented a special manicure set consisting of a suede file, powder and an orange stick. And in a fairly short period of time, such a set gained popularity and appeared on the bedside shelves of many fashionistas.

At the end of the 19th century, information about a manicure set created by a French doctor spread throughout all developed countries. Thanks to this, many American women began to follow the beauty of their hands in this way. At the beginning of the last century, the first nail polish was created, which consisted of glitter, but did not last more than a day.

In 1917, a tool was introduced in the United States that allows you to quickly and painlessly remove the cuticle. At the same time, nail salons appeared in large American cities, which saved many women from the need to clean their hands on their own.

In 1925, they created tools not only for coloring nails, but also for cleaning them of varnish. The coating itself had a pinkish tint and was intended to be applied to the central part of the plate.

Thanks to the Frenchwoman Juliette Marlene, in the middle of the 20th century, women were able to restore damaged nail plates using pieces of silk cloth or paper. In the same period, dyes appeared that made it possible to obtain different shades of varnishes.

At the end of the 20th century, women stopped covering their nails with multi-colored varnishes, starting to focus on naturalness. To this day, many women of fashion adhere to this rule and pay great attention to the health of the nail plates.

At first glance, it seems that manicure is an ordinary procedure, and therefore does not deserve special attention. However, there are facts that allow us to look at it differently.

• In ancient Egypt, it was believed that long nails allowed a person to communicate with the gods. But to have such nail plates only had the right to know. The tone of the nails also allowed to emphasize the status: the brighter the color, the higher the position of the person.
• In ancient China, grown nails were found not only in women, but also in men. It was believed that the longer the nail plate of the stronger sex, the more courageous his character.

• The fashion for growing a nail on the little finger came to us from France. In the 17th century, this trend was successful among men who expressed their intelligence in this way.
• Eastern fashionistas of past centuries preferred to save time on manicure, and therefore found a way for long-term staining of the plates. For this, a special dye was injected under the base of the nail plates, which stained the nails for a long time.
• The owner of the longest nails is Nelvin Feisel, who has managed to grow 9.5 meters long nails in a quarter of a century.

For more information on the history of manicure, see the video below.