During my senior year of high school, we had to complete a Capstone project. Because this required me to do a ton of extra work my last semester as a high-schooler, this was not necessarily my fondest high school memory. However, I did choose an interesting topic for my Capstone: beauty rituals around the world. Women go to great, sometimes painful, lengths to be considered beautiful. However, American women most likely think of hair straightening, contouring and eyebrow plucking when it comes to beauty rituals. Here are some of the craziest beauty rituals from around the world.
Thailand's Long Necked Women
The Kayan tribe lives on the northern Thai border. The women of this tribe has a custom where they wear rings around their necks to give the appearance of an elongated neck. The Kayan women begin to wear these rings during childhood, and add more as they get older. Although the rings don't actually make the neck longer, they do depress the neck and shoulders. An ancient legend says that the rings protected women from tiger attacks, since the tigers aimed for people's necks.
Mauritania's Overeating
In this African country, young girls are force fed up to 16,000 calories a day to prepare them for marriage. According to Mauritanian men, the bigger, the more beautiful. Quite the opposite of American beauty standards, the ideal beauty in Mauritania is an overweight woman. Young girls go to great lengths to achieve this-- girls as young as seven years old are sent to a camp to be force fed. This goes back to the old days when being overweight meant you were wealthy and prosperous, because a man could afford to feed his woman.
Japan's Skin Lightening
Another trend that is the opposite of American beauty standards is Japan's skin lightening craze. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on tanning, Japanese women put their money toward products that give their skin a lighter appearance. This shows a person's status in society, as someone with tan skin would be one who has been outside working all day.
Iran's Nose Jobs
Iran is reportedly the nose job capital of the world. Girls as young as 14 are costing their families thousands of dollars to go under the knife. Iranian girls dream about a button nose, with over 200,000 signing up for rhinoplasty.
France's Natural Beauty
French women prefer to wear little makeup and air dried hair. This makes these women famous for their "au naturale" beauty.
China's Foot Binding
Although this practice has been banned in China, women with smaller feet are still considered more attractive. With foot binding, women used to force their feet into smaller shoes so that their feet would eventually become deformed and appear smaller. Ouch!
New Zealand's Face Tattoos
Tattooing is a famous part of Maori culture. Women with tattooed faces and lips are seen as the most desirable of the land. The tattoos have flattering benefits, such as plumping the lips and bringing attention to the eyes.
Japan's Yaeba Teeth
While American women pay thousands of dollars for dental work to make their teeth straight, women in Japan are paying money for the opposite. Yaeba translates literally to "double tooth". Women are going through dental procedures just for these crooked teeth. The trend has become so popular that there is even a snaggle toothed girl band in Japan called TYB48.
Reading this as an American woman is fascinating because many of these beauty rituals are so different than what American beauty ideals are. This raises the question of whether beauty is universal or if different countries have different beauty ideals. Clearly, every country at least has its' own unique set of beauty trends.
