The history of cosmetics

The use of Cosmetics has been around for a very long time.   

There is evidence from archeological digs, frescoes and tomb art, that show that the use of cosmetics has been around since ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, circa 4000BC.

A story is told of an ancient Persian king, whose empire was extremely vast and he was very powerful and rich. So vast was his empire and great were his riches that one day he decided to show off the richness of his empire and the event lasted 180 days. Now this is an event bigger than the Olympics and the world cup soccer put together and dare I say it, bigger than Ben Hur. After the 180 days of showing off, the King held a banquet which lasted 7 days, for all the residents of the city of Susa, where he lived.

To top it all off, on the seventh day, when his heart had been made merry by too much wine, he summoned for his Queen, Vashti,  to appear before his male guests in her crown and perhaps some clothes.  Queen vashti refused the request to parade her beauty about in front of drunken men, just as a mere object of the kings lavish richness. Whether Queen Vashti was an early champion of the women’s movement, or she was merely protecting her standing and position is open to the readers’ interpretation.  As a fence sitter myself, I would like to think there was a little bit of both involved.

This set off a series of events, starting with the dethroning of Queen vashti, and a search for a new Queen. Virgins from all the empires provinces were chosen, but they could not appear before the king until they had completed a 12 month beauty treatment. This entailed six months with oil of Myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics. After such a comprehensive beauty treatment, one would feel quite pickled in one’s own beauty no doubt. Apart from the beauty treatment, a special diet had to be followed, pointing to a holistic approach to beauty, consisting of diet, lifestyle and personality, garnished with cosmetics to round it all off. This is circa 485-460 B.C

This of course is the beginning of the story of Esther in the Holy Bible.

Now of course in this day and age, most of us do not have a lazy six months in order to improve or enhance the beauty that nature has bestowed upon us.  Our lives are so hectic that even a daily beauty routine becomes harder and harder to keep up with.  Albeit you are worth looking after and it is worth making time for yourself on a daily basis and with a proper diet and armed with a good quality skin care product, you too can have a plan to keep your skin protected and young looking.

The bounty of nature

Nature offers us a wide range of plant life that varies with geography. Humans being resourceful have learned to garner the richness and variety offered to them to make use of it in a variety of ways.  

Today we have a rich variety of vegetable oils and essential oils from all over the world.  Nature is wonder full and varied and in a time where resources can be sourced from all over the world, there has never been an easier time to access the many bounties of nature.

Nards’ role

Our role at Nard PTY. LTD.  is to harness the potential that nature

 has to offer us,  to bring to you natural products,

which are effective and responsibly sourced.  Our products are free from artificial chemicals, preservatives and colours.

Nard PTY LTD marrying the best of what nature has to offer to those who nurture nature and others to make the world a better place.