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Writer's pictureIldikó Tolvaj

#12 The story of artificial nails

THE BEGINNINGS...


Nail care and cosmetics are not new. It has been a long time, BC. Records of this have survived from the 3rd millennium. In historical times, wearing well-groomed, colored, or even extreme-length nails was a luxury, symbolizing their wealth and well-being in higher social status.



ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL ...


Artificial nails are not a modern fad either, as even ancient people have invented various solutions to lengthen or replace their nails.


In Egypt, the pharaohs tried to become like their shining gods with long, gilded replacement claws. Queen Cleopatra wore nails made of porcelain powder and fixed with a glue-like liquid. The nobles used henna to beautify their nails.


The kings painted their nails deep red, the lower ones painted pale. In China, nail dye was made from beeswax, gelatin, egg white and gum arabic in 3000 BC. Around 600 BC, the Chinese emperors won gold and silver in the 15th century. and members of the 19th century Ming Dynasty painted it black and red, coated it with rice paper or silk, and strengthened their nails with porcelain powder.


In the fifth century BC, Indian women painted their nails with insect secretions and henna, respectively. Later, for a long time, only dyeing with henna remained a nail care method. In the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey, painting with henna has survived to this day.


The legendary reverence for beauty in Greek culture preserved faint traces of Egyptian influence. In the ancient Romans and Greeks, at first, only men manicured their nails, keeping separate slaves for foot care. Henna, gold and silver dyes were used to paint the fingernails. The military leaders of early Rome, Babylon, and Egypt painted their nails the same color as their lips before battle.


According to the finds, the XVII. century, a very painful nail care procedure was introduced in Judea, a dye was applied to the nail matrix with the help of a needle, and their nails were tattooed, so that the paint continued to grow. The man of the Middle Ages did not care much about body care, and then in the 15th-16th centuries. century, during the Renaissance, the body, body care, came to the fore again.



NEW AGE...


Nail cosmetics have also become widespread in America and Europe since the beginning of industrialization. At first they polished them with a piece of leather, then they sharpened their nails with tools reminiscent of a torture device. The gentle method of manicure dates back to the 1830s, when Dr. Sitté in Paris used a skin remover and a rosewood stick to treat cuticles. She achieved the shine of her nails by applying creams and pastes. Today’s version of this method is called a French manicure. Around the mid-1920s, the development of car varnishes brought with it the development of long-lasting nail polishes. 1932 brought a radical change in nail cosmetics. Charles Revlon and his brother Joseph Revlon developed a transparent nail polish with the world's first pigment. The pigments made it possible to create different colors. My first artificial nail was marketed in 1934 under the name `Nu Nalis` in Chicago, developed by a dentist. This allowed even the “nail clippers” to have beautiful, well-groomed nails. In the mid-fifties, the film industry strived for perfection in everything from nails to nails. The first acrylic artificial nails were created based on the material of the dentures. The “nail wave” also reaches Europe in the 1970s. In 1974, Dr. Nordström introduced a new technology in nail modeling, from which a UV light-binding artificial nail material, the gel, was later developed. The technique of artificial nail construction has been constantly evolving and changing ever since. Fashion waves pick up a color, technique or shape, forget others or just revive them.

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