We all know the saying that "beauty is pain," but the stylish women of past decades in history probably know it better than anyone else. Back in the day, getting the hot new look meant enduring a lot of painful and even scary cosmetic devices. It just goes to show the alarming lengths to which people will go to achieve a desired look. Would you have used any of these?
The Pinpointed Flaw Detection
This device was meant to find facial flaws in women in order to find better remedies for their everyday make up use. It looks like something out of a horror flick!
Perm Machine
In the 1930s, a beautiful perm was all the rage. Which sort of explains how this contraption came into being. It doesn't explain why it looks so terrifying, though. It looks like a giant alien claw.
The Glamour Bonnet
They say beauty is pain, but what about suffocation? This product of the 1940s was tried by many women who wanted to achieve that ever-illusive glowing skin. It created "atmospheric pressure around the beauty seeker's head." Which basically means it suffocated you until you didn't care how your skin looked. Scary!!
Rubber Beauty Mask
If you were a woman in the 1920s, getting the perfect, wrinkle-free skin to go with your flapper look was as easy as donning these truly terrifying masks and looking like a tormented monster.
The Dimple-Maker
Think of a cruel form of braces that is meant to create dimples and you've got this scary contraption. Dimples have long been considered a desired facial trait, and women in the 1930s were all too eager to do this to their skin to attempt to get them. It was a spring that you wore around your jaw with two knobs that relentlessly pressed into your cheeks.
The Wonder Sauna Hot Pants
Apparently, it was super easy to "slenderize" your body back in the day. You just had to look like a fool in an inflatable diaper and buy into a total gimmick if you wanted to do it!
Slenderizing Salon
In the 1940s, it was common for "Slenderizing Salons" to pop up across various locations in New York City. The woman here is attempting to reduce fat in her thighs and ankles. The devices promised to zap away unwanted fat using various electrically charged machines.
Warming Mask
Similar to the rubber beauty masks, this warming mask used by women in the 1940s promised to heat their faces to achieve better skin.
Freckle Freezer
Nope, this isn't a picture from an old black and white horror movie. In the 1930s, women with unwanted freckles would actually try to freeze them off with a carbon dioxide machine. They would cover their eyes and nostrils with plugs and stick a breathing tube in their mouth while being blasted with carbon dioxide. It's quite sad that they couldn't see how beautiful freckles can make a person.
Hangover Heaven Bonnet
This might be the only device on this list that we'd actually want to see come back. Invented by Max Factor, this device was meant to cool down Hollywood actresses on hot sets without smudging their make up. You could also use it on a rough morning after a night of partying (as evidenced by its name). The headpiece comes with plastic cubes that you freeze with water and cool down with.
Facial Suction Cups
Have unwanted facial spots? Just suck them off with these ever-handy suction tubes!
Freckle Cape
Before sunscreen was readily available, it wasn't uncommon to see people wearing these types of sun capes to protect themselves from harmful rays.
Automated Hair Curlers
If you wanted curly locks back in the day, you had to sit for hours with these clunky, hard-to-use machines!