Here are beauty standards from around the world!
10 - Surgical Bandages Where would you suspect to be the nose-job
capital of the world?
USA?
UK?
Western Europe?
Try Iran...
Yes, Iran!
As a nation, Iran has a very high level of image-consciousness in both men and women.
Yet the preferred method of showing this off is not only to undergo plastic surgery, but
make it as obvious as possible that you actually had plastic surgery!
The application of a surgical bandage across the nose is seen as a sign of high status.
It’s displaying that the wearer has the finances to work up to a higher level of beauty.
Although after going under the knife a bandage is probably recommended, people with this
obsession will often wear the bandage for much longer than needed.
Can’t afford a nose-job but want to make the same status?
Not a problem, as many simply buy themselves a surgical bandage and place it over their
nose anyway, regardless of whether they’ve had any work done or not.
9 - Metatah Bali is home to a very traditional beauty
technique known as Metatah, which roughly translates to teeth filing.
There is a very strong belief that to have or to see people with sharpened teeth is extremely
attractive.
To be seen with large, natural fang-like teeth symbolizes social wellbeing, spiritual wellbeing
and a serious appreciation for beauty.
Overall it’s a symbol of self-confidence and form, a quality we’re all told to express
in any social occasion….not that it always works, of course
It’s also believed to be a ritual which is designed to rid the person’s body and
mind of jealousy, sadistic ideas, and uncontrollable urges or anger.
The people of Bali associate teeth with similar issues as the seven deadly sins.
Which is why although the procedure can be simply carried out by dentists, it’s often
performed as a glamorous ceremony where family and friends are invited to come and watch
the teeth filing take place.
8 - Scarification Where many think of tattooing as simply injecting
ink under the skin, Ethiopian and Sudanese tribes have been creating their own body-art
with permanent scars for thousands of generations.
Scarification, also known as self-scarring, is seen as an alluring feature on the body.
Self-scarring can be practiced absolutely anywhere on the body.
It’s often first carried out during puberty as a symbol for coming of age.
Many choose to create an eye-catching pattern around the belly-button, but some decide to
go for the chest, arms, hands and even face.
Some even really go for it and cover themselves head to toe in these eye-catching scar patterns.
A simple straight-line scar as many of us familiarize simply won’t do.
The designs and the results can be absolutely unbelievable.
Hours and hours of self-inflicted pain and hard work pays off with extremely detailed,
precise patterns and symbols.
The art is carried out on bare skin with a small blade for maximum detail.
Some go to such extremes that they can master the skill of completely re-shaping the skin,
giving a textured design.
This doesn’t only represent sexuality, but also strength, maturity and discipline to
the rest of the tribe.
It’s very unlikely it’d catch on in the western world but I'm gonna have to say the
results are quite spectacular.
7 - Skin Bleach While many of us thrive for a bronzed, sun
kissed tan throughout the year, much of Eastern Asia has a very different idea.
Pure, pale skin on women has been the desired appearance of many people in Asia.
1000s of years ago, royal maids known as Geishas in China, Thailand and Japan would have their
faces powdered and painted a brilliant white.
This was to represent purity and innocence to whomever they were serving or entertaining
With this long running tradition in mind, pale skin in this part of the world is still
extremely sought after.
The level of whiteness that ladies from Asia desire is often that of the traditional Geishas.
Thus, face bleach has become increasingly popular in the beauty market.
This is a recent trend in Chinese cosmetics.
A level of specially designed bleach is added to face creams and moisturizers which will
not only eventually pale and whiten the skin, but is also said to remove freckles and other
‘imperfections’ for a near resemblance of that world famous Geisha look.
6 - Double Eyelid Surgery The double eyelid surgery is a plastic surgery
that’s extremely popular in Japan and South Korea.
The operations seem to be a result of the types of people being highly influenced by
the Japanese and South Korean pop-culture.
This practice is a cosmetic procedure which involves altering the shape of the eye and
the structure of the eyelid, making the eyes wider and bolder.
There are, of course, many people in Asia with natural double eyelids; however, single
eyelids are much more common in the eastern world.
Many girls who undergo this practice are often criticized for trying to ‘stop looking Asian’.
Much of this is influenced by Japanese pop-idols and models; a majority of young women carry
this look in the hope that they’ll seem more approachable to western pop-culture.
Plus, it’s yet another status symbol demonstrating healthy living, as well as being a bold but
subliminal statement of “Oh look at me!
I’m on the road to gaining ‘true’ beauty”.
5 - Long Necks Throughout Thailand and Myanmar - particularly
to those of the Kayan tribe on the Thai – Myanmar border - a long, slender, giraffe-like neck
is seen as a sign of regality and elegance in women.
Girls first start to wear rings when they are around 5 years old.
Over the years, the coil is replaced by a longer one and more turns are added.
The weight of the brass pushes the collar bone down and compresses the rib cage.
The neck itself is actually not lengthened; the appearance of a stretched neck is created
by the deformation of the clavicle.
As the years go by, more and more heavy, brass ring coils are added up the young girl’s
neck until an incredible weight of up to 22 pounds of metal is coiled around the girl’s
neck.
The ‘long-neck women’ of Thailand have become renowned throughout the world.
Because of their unusual appearance to different cultures, they often find themselves simply
being a human exhibit for western tourists.
The government of Myanmar began discouraging neck rings as it was trying to appear more
modern to the developed world.
Consequently, many women in Myanmar began breaking the tradition, though a few older
women and some of the younger girls in remote villages continued to wear rings.
In Thailand, the practice has gained popularity in recent years, because it draws tourists
who bring revenue to the tribe and to the local businessmen who run the villages and
collect an entry fee of 500 to 600 baht per person, which translates to around 20 us dollars.
4 - South Korean Male Vanity Men in South Korea are globally known for
their healthy skin.
They could potentially be some of the vainest, image conscious men in the planet.
Well, in Asia at least.
In many parts of the world, masculine beauty is classed with muscular tones and avoiding
many cosmetics which could be implied as products aimed at women.
But in South Korea, male vanity spins this theory right around...
Rather than aiming to be overly stocky or ‘ripped’, soft features with a particularly
slight muscle tone is the trend.
Sounds fairly rational so far, don’t it?
But when it comes to facial vanity they take it slightly more seriously.
To appear youthful and active in South Korea is considered extremely attractive, so high
levels of makeup and facial cosmetics aimed at men have swamped the shelves.
Mascara, lipstick, and foundation are must have products for most men in the country,
and a lot of men take it extremely seriously.
But the male vanity doesn’t stop there; men in South Korea are also very reliant on
plastic surgery, aiming for a smaller, pointier nose and wider eyes.
If this is pulled off successfully, you can end up a highly popular and attractive gentleman.
HMMMM INTERESTING!!!
3 - Ta Moko Ta Moko is an ancient traditional style of
facial tattoos.
New Zealand’s Maori people regard this as a sacred art of personal beauty.
Originally, the artwork was applied to the face, often mainly the chin for women, by
chiseling the skin with a small, sharp, home-made chisel and a miniature mallet.
Traditionalists still fully stand by this method whereas some followers of the fashion
try to mimic the design by modern tattoo methods.
The skin indentations are styled in a particular pattern which are then filled with the dye.
The lips are also colored along with the face decorations.
In Maori tradition, men and women both use these unique tattoos to symbolize specific
statuses; For women, Ta Moko is used to imply strength
and fertility, as well as beauty and pride.
For men of the Maori tribe, it is in place to symbolize readiness for adult duties.
Each design is unique to the wearer, giving them their own definition for their design
and the flow of the pattern.
To look at now, you could easily think it was simply a modern day tattoo; but that just
goes to show how influential the Ta Moko is.
2 - Lip Plate The famous Lip Plate is considered a symbol
of extreme beauty in the Mursi tribe in Ethiopia.
It’s also there to represent a desire to be accepted by a man of the tribe and to possibly
marry.
The women of the tribe wear their lip plate on a daily basis.
Once they reach puberty or their late teens, the process begins.
The Lip Plate is started by creating a small hole in the girl’s lower lip with a small
stick or twig.
To leave a space for the plate to sit, often two of the lower teeth are also removed.
Yeaaaah that doesn’t sound too fun.
Not really as simple or pain free as adding a little lip stick or something.
As time goes by, the hole is stretched to an amazing size, sometimes the same radius
as an average soup bowl .The largest lip plate recorded was in Ethiopia, measuring 23.4 in
in circumference and 7.6 in wide, in 2014.
The plate is often made of wood or clay and each decorated with a unique design.
The more eye-catching the plate, the more alluring and desirable the woman in question
will be seen.
This traditional act of vanity has been in practice within the tribe for many centuries.
Tragically, many of these women were kidnapped and put in exhibitions in many circuses in
the US in the late 19th century.
1 - Leblouh This one sounds more like a medieval form
of torture than a beauty procedure to many of us.
It’s a bit like the super-skinny obsession in most western cultures but in complete reverse.
In Mauritius, obesity in women is seen as a status symbol and most likely to attract
a rich, successful husband.
Obesity represents wealth, healthy living and wholesomeness to the husband, displaying
to all that he can provide well and is successful in his job or in the bedroom.
Girls as young as 10 are sent away to ‘fat farms’ and are put under a strict practice
known as ‘leblouh’, which is basically intensive force feeding.
It is a very strict process in many fat farms.
Girls can sometimes even be beaten with canes or have their feet stamped if they refuse
to eat anymore.
The girls are force fed a diet of goat’s milk, oily couscous and ground millet with
water, among other things.
Eventually their bodies expand and bulge out like beach balls.
All this in the hope that they will be able to wed a successful, handsome husband in the
future.
Thankfully, these fat-farms are now a dying breed, however, it IS still practiced in certain
areas of the world.
Here’s what’s next!