COSMETICS
Substances or treatments applied to the face or other parts of the human body to alter one’s appearance, to beautify or to promote attractiveness. Such preparations can be applied to the skin, the nails or the hair. The English word “cosmetic” is derived from the Greek word ko·sme·ti·kosʹ, which means “skilled in decorating.” In the distant past physicians were suppliers of cosmetics (as among he Greeks and Romans), but eventually the making of these preparations became a separate trade. To some extent, in ancient times, cosmetics were used by both women and men, though particularly by women.
There were ointment makers and mixers among the Israelites (Ex. 30:25; 1 Sam. 8:13; Neh. 3:8), and ointments (often scented) were widely used, perhaps more so than other cosmetics. When applied to the skin or the hair in a hot, dry climate, ointments would help to cope with dryness. Perfumed oils were in use, a sinful woman once anointing Jesus Christ’s feet with such oil. (Luke 7:37, 38) Also, shortly before Jesus’ death, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, “came with an alabaster case of perfumed oil, genuine nard, very expensive,” and anointed him.—Mark 14:3; John 12:3; Matt. 26:6, 7; see OINTMENT AND PERFUMES.
Prominent women in ancient Egypt enjoyed the services of hairdressers who took care of their coiffures and their wigs. Hair pins were in use there. Egyptian women sometimes tinted their hair, fingernails, toenails, and even their hands and feet, with the orange dye or stain acquired by crushing the leaves of the henna plant.
When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel, in addition to attending to her coiffure or doing her head up beautifully, “proceeded to paint her eyes with black paint.” (2 Ki. 9:30) At least some women in Israel, like those in other Middle Eastern lands of antiquity, used eye paint. (Ezek. 23:40) Eye paint was often black, which color would contrast with the white of the eye and tend to make the eyes look larger. (Jer. 4:30) Scriptural references to eye painting do not associate the practice with faithful women of Israel in general, though one of Job’s daughters was named Keren-happuch, which means “horn of antimony” or “horn of eye paint.” (Job 42:14) Horns were sometimes used to hold eye paint. The compound antimony trisulfide, found in the ore stibnite, was widely employed as a cosmetic eye shadow, it being black when powdered. According to Sennacherib’s annals, antimony (probably stibnite, perhaps to be used as eye paint) was part of the tribute paid him by Judean King Hezekiah. Various other substances were also employed by the Egyptians and Babylonians for painting the eyes.
Modest and tasteful use of cosmetics and articles of adornment is not Scripturally condemned. However, Paul and Peter admonished Christian women to adorn themselves “with modesty and soundness of mind, . . . in the way that befits women professing to reverence God,” and to let their adornment be “the secret person of the heart in the incorruptible apparel of the quiet and mild spirit, which is of great value in the eyes of God.” (1 Tim. 2:9, 10; 1 Pet. 3:3, 4) And, in the inspired appraisal of the good wife, it is fittingly stated: “Charm may be false, and prettiness may be vain; but the woman that fears Jehovah is the one that procures praise for herself.”—Prov. 31:30.