Makeup was the great women’s revolution of the 1920s. Before that decade, women didn’t much use makeup, both for a question of respectability and because cosmetics were actually health hazards. But in the 1920s, makeup became acceptable and glamorous, and every young woman used it. 

Before WWI, nice girls didn’t use noticeable makeup. The feminine ideal of beauty was the natural look. Women might use some makeup (sometimes bought secretly) to enhance their looks, provided it was almost unnoticeable. But this was done rarely, if only because it was such a mess to put it on. 
At that time, only promiscuous women (prostitutes and actresses) would regularly use noticeable makeup because it was necessary for their profession. But everybody knew that most cosmetics included dangerous substances in their recipes (like mercury and arsenic), and the extensive use was indeed dangerous for the health. 

But after WWI, a few things happened:

1. Makeup itself became less dangerous.

Thanks to many technical advances, it was possible to change the recipe for producing makeup, substituting dangerous substances with harmless ones. 

2. Makeup became easier to apply.

The compact and the lipstick tube that we now take for granted appeared in the 1910s, just before WWI. These inventions made applying makeup easier, and women took advantage of it. Touching up one’s makeup in public became not only acceptable but even appealing, part of a woman’s charm. 

3. Makeup became socially acceptable.

While before the 20th century, actresses were still considered promiscuous and altogether shady, from the late 1910s, with the popularisation of film, actresses turned into beauty icons and young people’s models. All actors wore makeup. It was necessary to look good on camera. But as actors and actresses became popular, and models of beauty, young people started to use makeup in the same way they saw in films. That beauty ideal then spread on all media, especially in magazines, and soon looking like a movie star was the way to go.

4. Sex appeal became a thing.

As women sought more freedom in their personal life and in the choosing of a life partner, attracting that partner became part of the game. 

While before the war, choosing a suitable husband for a young woman was (largely) a family matter, after the war, young people’s expectations regarding marital life changed quite drastically. Young people didn’t want their families to make choices for them. They wanted to choose their life partner. 

Therefore attracting a suitable partner became one of the most important social activities for young people (both men and women), and to do so, one had to put every tactic on the ground. Looking good was at the top of the list. Having ‘it’ was one of the most appreciated characteristics for young people, where ‘it’ was what today we call ‘sex appeal’. And what better way to show ‘it’ than looking like a movie star?

Kohl and All That Jazz (Enter the New Woman #AtoZChallenge 2022) In the 1920s, makeup became safer, more ocmfortable to put on, socilly acceptable and even glamorous. Every young woman used it #history #WomenHistory Click To Tweet

The battle against the 1920s makeup

Like the bob, makeup was extremely controversial in the 1920s, and a lot was done to persuade young women not to use it. 
Magazines often presented articles from doctors informing of how makeup was dangerous for women’s health. While this was still true to a certain degree, makeup was certainly much safer than it had been only a decade before.

On the other hand, advice on how to apply makeup also abounded in magazines, together with home remedies to produce one’s own cosmetics. Makeup was now mass-produced but was still quite costly for many women. 

But also, makeup was then relatively new, and many women didn’t know how to use it. 
With the white face, the round red cheeks, the black eyes and the red mouth, makeup might very easily become clownish when unskillfully applied. 

Detractors were swift to point out how cosmetics could turn a beautiful girl into a clown, and they did use these tactics to dissuade girls from using it. 
Besides, young people generally accepted makeup, but both men and women didn’t hesitate to criticise girls who used makeup too heavily or unskillfully. Not only because it was distasteful but because they gave reasons to detractors to cry out. 

It may be odd to think of an entire generation of girls who didn’t know how to apply makeup and could not ask their mothers’ advice, but that is what happened in the 1920s because makeup was so new. Advice could be found in many magazines, but girls who could not afford them had to resort to more experienced peers and their own devices.  

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RESOURCES

Eabinovitch-Foz, Einan. Dressed for Freedom : The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism. University of Illinois Press, Champaign, Illinois, United States of America, 2021

Fass, Paula S., The Damned and the Beautiful. American Youth in the 1920s. Oxford University Press, New York, 1977

BFI – In pictures: Makeup in the age of the flapper
Silent-ology – Silent Film Makeup: What Was It Really Like?
The British Newspaper Archive – The Lipstick Revolution of the 1920s
Smithsonian Magazine – The History of the Flapper, Part 2: Makeup Makes a Bold Entrance
Vintage Dancer – 1920s Makeup and Beauty History
Glamour Daze – A Brief History of 1920s Makeup

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