History of makeup in Japan

Cosmetics can make people well-groomed. They include some make-up products and hair-styling products; foundation, face powder, rouge, eye shadow, lipstick, hair wax, and hair gel. Furthermore, those products also refer to something that can be used for toning the skin by cleansing and moisturizing such as facial foam, toning lotion, milky lotion, and serum.

When it comes to male cosmetics, the sorts are limited compared to female cosmetics. Mostly, skincare products and hairstyling products are categorized as male cosmetics.

Historically speaking, make-up played some important roles not only in making people well-groomed but also distinguishing status and whether married or not, or whether having children or not. Furthermore, while foregin make-up styles such as Europe and the U.S. emphasize pinpoint make-up for the eyes and mouth, Japanese styles place more emphasis on foundation, base make-up, and skin-care.

History

The Edo era:

Make-up was considered as a part of grooming and etiquette. Therefore, women were not allowed to remain without make-up for even a day. There were mainly four major types of cosmetics in this era; powder, lipstick, eyebrow, and tooth blackening. The powder was called "Oshiroi" in Japanese. Oshiroi was made from mercury or lead. While ordinary citizens used lead as their powder, women of high status used mercury for their powder because the powder which was made from lead was cheaper than the powder which was made from mercury. In this era, most people believed that whitening was very important. There was even a proverb that  a woman with a white face hid seven problems. That means if a woman had a problem with her body or character, it would not be a problem as long as the woman had a white face. In addition, the trend was influenced by the decision of the shogunate government such as sumptuary laws. Since it prohibited luxury, it was thought that people should avoid heavy make-up and that light make-up was suitable.Lipstick making-up was also believed that it should be used modestly. However, while this trend was spreaded in Edo, Citizens who were  in Kyoto or Osaka prefered heavy make-up to light make-up because they admired the way of make-up that women of the Imperial Household did. On the other hand, when it comes to tooth blackening, which was used for distinguishing status and situation, women were required to take good care of it. Tooth blackeing is called “Ohaguro” in Japanese. People could judge women’s situation by looking at their tooth and eyebrows. For instance, if a woman paints her teeth black, people can say the woman is married. Additionally, if the woman also shaves her eyebrows, she must be someone’s mother.    

 

The Meiji era:

In this era, because the government wanted to promote westernization, tooth blackening and eyebrow shaving were rejected as old-fashioned make-up. Instead, new cosmetics and make-up methods were spread by new media such as daily newspapers and monthly magazines. In the early Meiji period, the government invited engineers from abroad and actively introduced new regions and technologies in the field of chemistry. It began to produce Westernized cosmetics domestically. Along with this trend, the predecessors of Shiseido and Kao, the current leaders in the cosmetics industry, also appeared.

The Taisho era:

From the Taisho era(1912-1926) to the first decade of the Showa era, Westernization progressed and people’s lives were enriched, which Western-style make-up became commonplace not only among the upper class but also among the general public. The movement of women into the workforce also contributed to the development of make-up culture because women were required to groom themselves when they worked. Based on that, some cosmetics which enabled women to make-up quickly were sold well.  Besides, in this era, major domestic companies modernized their production facilities, and the development of domestic cosmetics became more active. As a result, the product lineup increased significantly compared to the Meiji era. Still, Japanese women longed for a white-skin face, so the companies actively produced skincare products.

The Showa era:

With the spread of television and radio including magazines, information became more widespread in this period, and the information gap between rural and urban areas narrowed. During the Showa era, there was a lot of exchange with overseas engineers on cosmetics, but trade controls began in 1937 during the Sino-Japanese War. That caused a serious problem on cosmetic industry because a large tariff was placed on cosmetics from overseas. Because of the priority given to the military, less and less make-up was used as a fashion, and as before, the style of makeup was reduced to the minimum necessary for personal appearance. As imports from overseas became more difficult to obtain, the cosmetic products decreased dramatically. In the last two years of the Pacific War, air raids made life difficult for many Japanese, and the amount of cosmetics products dropped sharply. That is why this period was known as "blank period for cosmetics.” After the war, many products were imported from the U.S. due to the U.S. presence in Japan. As people began to watch movies on color film, women imitated the make-up techniques of actresses. In the 1950s, more and more women wanted to look like Caucasian women with a three-dimensional face, and "three-dimensional makeup" became important. After the war, makeup shifted to pinpoint makeup that emphasized the lips and eyes in a Western style. With the spread of color TVs, major cosmetic companies began to focus on commercials in the 1960s, raising awareness of the importance of makeup. The culture in which white skin was considered good gradually changed, and more and more women longed for wheat skin. From the 1950s to the end of the Showa era, the trend of mass production and mass consumption which everyone owned and used the same things changed, and diversification and individualization progressed. As a result, a culture called "corrective makeup" became famous. This make-up style was used in that people could make use of one’s individuality based on their facial parts. In addition to that, due to some factors such as pollution and ultraviolet rays, people began to pay mroe attention to the environment and their health. Therefore, they began to buy cosmetics made from healthier ingreadients and sunscreens. In the 1970s, eyebrows and eyes became important points for make-up. This trend was widely covered in magazines, and people beleived that they could create the atmosphere they wanted by making-up their eyebrows and eyes.