EGYPTIAN BEAUTY SECRETS

EGYPTIAN BEAUTY SECRETS: ARTICLE TWO HAIRCARE AND WIGS Beauty and body-care is where we find our common ground with the ancient Egyptians. Just as for us today, hair care was a major concern for the ancient Egyptians. Thousands of years ago, they demonstrated our own current cultural anxieties with baldness, thinning, receding and graying hair. Reminiscent of modern attitudes, the ancient Egyptians associated healthy, luxurious hair with youth, sexuality and sex appeal. Egyptian hairstyles varied over the ages. Evidence of these styles is provided by surviving wigs, inscriptions, tomb scenes and statuary. During the Old Kingdom, men and women alike kept their hair basically short and simple, although there were variations in style. Young girls, then as now typically the most interested in fashion, wore their hair short or sometimes sported a pony-tail style, falling down the center of the back. The end of the tail either curled naturally or was encouraged to do so. (An implement has been recovered in association with wigs that looks suspiciously like a curling iron.) If a flip wasn't desired at the end, the pony-tail might be weighted down with an ornament or metal disc. Hair was also a popular place for ornaments and amulets; small fish, in particular, were attached to childrens' hair, perhaps to protect against the dangers of the Nile. By the time of the New Kingdom, styles had become more sophisticated. Both sexes wore their hair longer. Flowers and ribbons were now used to decorate women's hair. One popular Upper Egyptian women's hairstyle was a closely shaven head with the exception of a few tufts of curls, a hair-do identified at the time as Nubian and still identified with that ethnic group. Throughout, a distinctive hairstyle was reserved for children. The head was shaved completely with one long strand left on the side of the head, the so-called "sidelock of youth." This "s" shaped side lock served as the hieroglyphic symbol for child or youth. This style was worn by both girls and boys until the advent of puberty.

Ramses the Great as a Child An example of this style can be seen in images of the god Harpocrates, who is depicted with the distinctive sidelock, his finger to his lips, an Egyptian gesture indicating extreme youth, which was misunderstood by Greek interpreters who took it to mean silence or secrecy. The sidelock can also be viewed in the many depictions of the daughters of Akhenaton and Nefertiti; their hairstyles indicate their evolving age and inform us of the passage of time. This hairstyle is generally accepted as solely indicating age. However, another insight may perhaps be gleaned from a hairstyle still current amongst some modern tribal African groups. Even today in traditional African societies, the appearance of one's hair can be used to create a social announcement. Some hair-do's for instance are reserved for married women or for women who have borne sons. The heads of small children are often shaved with one or more tufts remaining, similar to the Egyptian sidelock. The tuft is dedicated to a saint and exactly where the specific tuft is left indicates which saint has been invoked for the protection of the child. One can literally read the anxieties of the parent upon the child's head. Very little in ancient Egypt seems random or at least not well thought out; hairstyles also can be interpreted for political significance. Joyce Tyldesley's biography, "Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen" (Viking Books, 1999) analyzes the variety of that queen's hairstyles and how they indicate her shifting political role. Sometimes Egyptian men and women retained their own hair; quite frequently they did not.

Wigs and hair extensions were extremely popular. Sometimes the wigs were placed atop one's own natural hair: statuary and paintings alike often afford a glimpse of the real hair sticking out from underneath the false. Total removal of body-hair was customary for both men and women in ancient Egypt. Many men and women also preferred to shave their heads bald, replacing their natural hair with a wig. Priests, who maintained stringent codes of cleanliness, are frequently depicted with perfectly bald heads. At least from what ancient imagery recounts to us, despite her shaved head, the average Egyptian woman did not walk around bald, but invariably wore a wig. Shaving the head may have served a multitude of purposes: eliminating one's own hair may have been more comfortable in Egypt's hot climate, cleanliness may have been easier to maintain and head lice certainly easier to avoid. Wigs may have fit better once the natural hair was gone, however the bald look itself does not seem ever to have been a generally popular style for Egyptian women. Although, of course, what was or wasn't worn in the comfort and privacy of one's own home may remain an eternal mystery. Wigs also apparently held sensual connotations, based on the frequent references in Egyptian romantic poetry. Wigs were popular amongst the upper and middle classes, the wealthier presumably maintaining a greater selection of wigs. A wig-making workshop has been discovered overlooking the Temple of King Mentuhotep at Deir el-Bahri. Wigs were made by barbers or by wig specialists, one of the occupations open to Egyptian women. Because wigs were also considered necessary for the afterlife, they were buried in tombs, some contained in specialized wig chest. Quite a few wigs have survived, in particular from the New Kingdom. Wigs varied in quality (and presumably price.) The finest wigs were made entirely of human hair. Others, apparently in the mid-price range, have vegetable fibers intertwined with the hair. What appear to be the least expensive wigs, certainly the least realistic wigs, are made entirely from vegetable fibers. Although wigs depicted in artwork are recognizable as such, the effect given is always realistic. The ideal for a good wig seems to have been that it should look like real hair, only better. Care of natural hair retained upon the head was also taken seriously. We know that the Egyptians cleansed their hair, although we don't know with what frequency. Hair combs appear among early grave goods, even from pre-dynastic days. Both single and double sided combs, made from wood or bone have been found. A wide variety of surviving formulas indicate that preventing baldness and graying hair, both of which can be perceived as signs of aging, was a serious concern. Like us, the Egyptians were anxious to preserve youth or at least a youthful appearance as long as possible. Egyptian artwork invariably depicts shiny black hair. No other color is depicted except in association with a foreigner. (Asiatic men, in particular, are usually depicted with full facial hair and unruly brownish hair on their heads, presumably to show how little they conform to Egyptian ideals of beauty.) Because the imagery is so consistent does not necessarily mean that everyone in Egypt possessed perfect raven-black hair, but it certainly does indicate something of their ideal standard of what it meant to be beautiful, of what "beautiful" should look like. Certainly, the medical papyri includes several formulas to maintain black color and avoid gray. An ointment made from the pressed juice of juniper berries was used to darken the hair. A brown powder, discovered at the aforementioned wig factory, is at present believed to be hair dye. Who knows? This may even have been one of the incentives for wigs. I've personally known quite a few men who've responded to receding hairlines by shaving whatever is left completely off, preferring the drama of no hair to watching their remaining hair decrease. Perhaps the Egyptians were similarly inclined. If your hair wasn't black enough, thick enough or plentiful enough, a good wig may have been considered preferable to one's sorry reality. Not that all Egyptians took impending baldness lying down, however. There were many current recommendations for stimulating hair growth. Chopped lettuce patches were applied to bald spots to stimulate growth. (Beyond whatever therapeutic effects this may or may not have had, lettuce was also associated with Min, the Egyptian god of virility.) Another formula is actually quite similar to one utilized in modern aromatherapy. Fir tree resin was incorporated into a scalp massage to stimulate hair growth. It is unlikely that the average person will be able to reproduce the old Egyptian formula precisely. This is because over the centuries methods of extracting aromatic materials have changed. Modern aromatic materials are typically extracted via steam distillation, a process not in general use before the 10th century CE. The Egyptians extracted aromatic substances using manual techniques, thus they would have used the fir resin itself or made an infusion (a strong tea) from the needles. Unless you own a Christmas tree farm and have plenty of fir trees to play with , it is unlikely that you will have ready access to the pure resin. Modern aromatherapy still utilizes Fir but it now distills the oil from the needles and young twigs. Although Fir is still used, both in perfumery and therapeutically, it's now most likely to be used for soothing respiratory ills. Rosemary Oil is the modern oil commonly associated with stimulating hair growth. Rosemary is a common Mediterranean plant, and may very well have been familiar to some Egyptian doctors, although there's little evidence for its use. Interestingly, Rosemary has also been used at present to subtly darken hair and to bring out the highlights in darker hair. The following formula can be used to stimulate hair growth or merely to improve the texture and appearance of one's hair. Almond Oil and Castor Oil were among the vegetable oils used by the Egyptians. Castor Oil is frequently used in an attempt to encourage hair growth but it has a very viscous texture. Mixing it with the Sweet Almond Oil will improve the aroma and make the resulting oil smoother and more easily spread. However, if you wish to somewhat reproduce the stickiness and "tacky" feel of resin from the original formula, eliminate the Sweet Almond Oil and double the proportion of Castor. Try the Fir Oil if you want to recapture the essence (or at least fragrance) of the original Egyptian formula. Use Rosemary Oil, if you prefer to place your trust in more modern research. You can also combine the two Essential Oils, however no more than an entirety of 10 drops should be used, whether of one oil or both. In addition, Rosemary Oil should not be used during pregnancy or by those suffering from high blood pressure or by those who are prone to seizure disorders. Essential Oil of Fir is generally considered a gentle oil, however, if you have very sensitive skin, you may find a high concentration irritating, in which case use fewer drops or more oil. Both oils are antiseptic and invigorating. Scalp and Hair Stimulation Oil One Teaspoon Sweet Almond Oil One Teaspoon Castor Oil 10 Drops Essential Oil of Fir Needle (Abies spp) OR Essential Oil of Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) Mix the Sweet Almond Oil together with the Castor Oil in a small bowl and then add no more than 10 drops of Essential Oil. Mix with your fingers and then rub vigorously into your scalp, concentrating on areas where hair is thinning.

 
article from: http://www.touregypt.net/mag07012000/mag4.htm

THE FOUR BEAUTIES

The Four Beauties or Four Great Beauties are four ancient Chinese women, renowned for their beauty. Three of these women were genuine historical figures, but the scarcity of historical records concerning them meant that much of what is known of them today has been greatly embellished by legend. They gained their reputation from the influence they exercised over kings and emperors and consequently, the way their actions impacted Chinese history. Three of the Four Great Beauties brought kingdoms to their knees, and the lives of all four ended in tragic or under mysterious circumstances.




The Four Great Beauties lived in four different dynasties, each hundreds of years apart. In chronological order, they are:

Xi Shi (c. seventh to sixth century BC, Spring and Autumn Period), said to be so entrancingly beautiful that fish would forget how to swim and sink away from the surface when she walks by.

Wang Zhaojun (c. first century BC, Western Han Dynasty), said to be so beautiful that her appearance would entice birds in flight to fall from the sky.

Diao Chan (c. third century, Late Eastern Han/Three Kingdoms period), said to be so luminously lovely that the moon itself would shy away in embarrassment when compared to her face.

Yang Guifei (719–756, Tang Dynasty), said to have a face that puts all flowers to shame.
 
 
 
The four beauties are beautiful in the eyes of people in their dynasties,people said they're prettier then flowers , and I  believe that. All  of the four beauties effect their contury by their own way , and leave a story pass down till now

History of today- Jun. 16, 1884: First roller coaster in America opens

On this day in 1884, the first roller coaster in America opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York. Known as a switchback railway, it was the brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson, traveled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride. The new entertainment was an instant success and by the turn of the century there were hundreds of roller coasters around the country.



Coney Island, a name believed to have come from the Dutch Konijn Eilandt, or Rabbit Island, is a tract of land along the Atlantic Ocean discovered by explorer Henry Hudson in 1609. The first hotel opened at Coney Island in 1829 and by the post-Civil War years, the area was an established resort with theaters, restaurants and a race track. Between 1897 and 1904, three amusement parks sprang up at Coney Island--Dreamland, Luna Park and Steeplechase. By the 1920s, Coney Island was reachable by subway and summer crowds of a million people a day flocked there for rides, games, sideshows, the beach and the two-and-a-half-mile boardwalk, completed in 1923.



The hot dog is said to have been invented at Coney Island in 1867 by Charles Feltman. In 1916, a nickel hot dog stand called Nathan's was opened by a former Feltman employee and went on to become a Coney Island institution and international franchise. Today, Nathan's is famous not only for its hot dogs but its hot dog-eating contest, held each Fourth of July in Coney Island. In 2006, Takeru Kobayashi set a new record when he ate 53.75 hot dogs with buns in 12 minutes.



Roller coasters and amusement parks experienced a decline during the Great Depression and World War II, when Americans had less cash to spend on entertainment. Finally, in 1955, the opening of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, signaled the advent of the modern theme park and a rebirth of the roller coaster. Disneyland's success sparked a wave of new parks and coasters. By the 1970s, parks were competing to create the most thrilling rides. In 2005, Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, introduced the Kingda Ka roller coaster, the world's tallest (at 456 feet) and fastest (at 128 mph).



By the mid-1960s, the major amusement parks at Coney Island had shut down and the area acquired a seedy image. Nevertheless, Coney Island remains a tourist attraction and home to the Cyclone, a wooden coaster that made its debut there in 1927. Capable of speeds of 60 mph and with an 85-foot drop, the Cyclone is one of the country's oldest coasters in operation today. Though a real-estate developer recently announced the building of a new $1.5 billion year-round resort at Coney Island that will include a 4,000-foot-long roller coaster, an indoor water park and a multi-level carousel, the Cyclone's owners have said they plan to keep the historic coaster open for business.

history of today-june 10, 1752: Franklin flies kite during thunderstorm

On this day in 1752, Benjamin Franklin flies a kite during a thunderstorm and collects a charge in a Leyden jar when the kite is struck by lightning, enabling him to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning. Franklin became interested in electricity in the mid-1740s, a time when much was still unknown on the topic, and spent almost a decade conducting electrical experiments. He coined a number of terms used today, including battery, conductor and electrician. He also invented the lightning rod, used to protect buildings and ships.




Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, to a candle and soap maker named Josiah Franklin, who fathered 17 children, and his wife Abiah Folger. Franklin’s formal education ended at age 10 and he went to work as an apprentice to his brother James, a printer. In 1723, following a dispute with his brother, Franklin left Boston and ended up in Philadelphia, where he found work as a printer. Following a brief stint as a printer in London, Franklin returned to Philadelphia and became a successful businessman, whose publishing ventures included the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard’s Almanack, a collection of homespun proverbs advocating hard work and honesty in order to get ahead. The almanac, which Franklin first published in 1733 under the pen name Richard Saunders, included such wisdom as: "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Whether or not Franklin followed this advice in his own life, he came to represent the classic American overachiever. In addition to his accomplishments in business and science, he is noted for his numerous civic contributions. Among other things, he developed a library, insurance company, city hospital and academy in Philadelphia that would later become the University of Pennsylvania.



Most significantly, Franklin was one of the founding fathers of the United States and had a career as a statesman that spanned four decades. He served as a legislator in Pennsylvania as well as a diplomat in England and France. He is the only politician to have signed all four documents fundamental to the creation of the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris (1783), which established peace with Great Britain, and the U.S. Constitution (1787).



Franklin died at age 84 on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia. He remains one of the leading figures in U.S. history.

History of today- Jun 7, 1913: First successful ascent of Mt. McKinley

On this day in 1913, Hudson Stuck, an Alaskan missionary, leads the first successful ascent of Mt. McKinley, the highest point on the American continent at 20,320 feet.




Stuck, an accomplished amateur mountaineer, was born in London in 1863. After moving to the United States, in 1905 he became archdeacon of the Episcopal Church in Yukon, Alaska, where he was an admirer of Native Indian culture and traveled Alaska's difficult terrain to preach to villagers and establish schools.



In March 1913, the adventure-seeking Stuck set out from Fairbanks for Mt. McKinley with three companions, Harry Karstens, co-leader of the expedition, Walter Harper, whose mother was a Native Indian, and Robert Tatum, a theology student. Their arduous journey was made more challenging by difficult weather and a fire at one of their camps, which destroyed food and supplies. However, the group persevered and on June 7, Harper, followed by the rest of the party, was the first person to set foot on McKinley's south peak, considered the mountain's true summit. (In 1910, a group of climbers had reached the lower north peak.)



Stuck referred to the mountain by its Athabascan Indian name, Denali, meaning "The High One." In 1889, the mountain, over half of which is covered with permanent snowfields, was dubbed Densmores Peak, after a prospector named Frank Densmore. In 1896, it was renamed in honor of Senator William McKinley, who became president that year.



Mount McKinley National Park was established as a wildlife refuge in 1917. Harry Karstens served as the park's first superintendent. In 1980, the park was expanded and renamed Denali National Park and Preserve. Encompassing 6 million acres, the park is larger than Massachusetts.



Hudson Stuck died in Alaska on October 10, 1920. Today, over 1,000 hopeful climbers attempt to scale Mt. McKinley each year, with about half of them successfully reaching their goal.

The Ancient Dynasties

Chinese civilization, as described in mythology, begins with Pangu (), the creator of the universe, and a succession of legendary sage-emperors and culture heroes (among them are Huang Di , Yao, and Shun) who taught the ancient Chinese to communicate and to find sustenance, clothing, and shelter.


The first prehistoric dynasty is said to be Xia (), from about the twenty-first to the sixteenth century B.C. Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Anyang ( ), Henan ( ) Province, in 1928, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the Xia. But since then, and especially in the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the existence of Xia civilization in the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. At minimum, the Xia period marked an evolutionary stage between the late neolithic cultures and the typical Chinese urban civilization of the Shang dynasty.


The Dawn of History

Thousands of archaeological finds in the Huang He ( ), Henan Valley ( ) --the apparent cradle of Chinese civilization--provide evidence about the Shang () dynasty, which endured roughly from 1700 to 1027 B.C. The Shang dynasty (also called the Yin () dynasty in its later stages) is believed to have been founded by a rebel leader who overthrew the last Xia ruler. Its civilization was based on agriculture, augmented by hunting and animal husbandry. Two important events of the period were the development of a writing system, as revealed in archaic Chinese inscriptions found on tortoise shells and flat cattle bones (commonly called oracle bones or ), and the use of bronze metallurgy. A number of ceremonial bronze vessels with inscriptions date from the Shang period; the workmanship on the bronzes attests to a high level of civilization.

A line of hereditary Shang kings ruled over much of northern China, and Shang troops fought frequent wars with neighboring settlements and nomadic herdsmen from the inner Asian steppes. The capitals, one of which was at the site of the modern city of Anyang, were centers of glittering court life. Court rituals to propitiate spirits and to honor sacred ancestors were highly developed. In addition to his secular position, the king was the head of the ancestor- and spirit-worship cult. Evidence from the royal tombs indicates that royal personages were buried with articles of value, presumably for use in the afterlife. Perhaps for the same reason, hundreds of commoners, who may have been slaves, were buried alive with the royal corpse.


The Zhou Period

The last Shang ruler, a despot according to standard Chinese accounts, was overthrown by a chieftain of a frontier tribe called Zhou (), which had settled in the Wei () Valley in modern Shaanxi ( ) Province. The Zhou dynasty had its capital at Hao (), near the city of Xi'an ( ), or Chang'an ( ), as it was known in its heyday in the imperial period. Sharing the language and culture of the Shang, the early Zhou rulers, through conquest and colonization, gradually sinicized, that is, extended Shang culture through much of China Proper north of the Chang Jiang ( or Yangtze River). The Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other, from 1027 to 221 B.C. It was philosophers of this period who first enunciated the doctrine of the "mandate of heaven" (tianming or ), the notion that the ruler (the "son of heaven" or ) governed by divine right but that his dethronement would prove that he had lost the mandate. The doctrine explained and justified the demise of the two earlier dynasties and at the same time supported the legitimacy of present and future rulers.

The term feudal has often been applied to the Zhou period because the Zhou's early decentralized rule invites comparison with medieval rule in Europe. At most, however, the early Zhou system was proto-feudal (), being a more sophisticated version of earlier tribal organization, in which effective control depended more on familial ties than on feudal legal bonds. Whatever feudal elements there may have been decreased as time went on. The Zhou amalgam of city-states became progressively centralized and established increasingly impersonal political and economic institutions. These developments, which probably occurred in the latter Zhou period, were manifested in greater central control over local governments and a more routinized agricultural taxation.

In 771 B.C. the Zhou court was sacked, and its king was killed by invading barbarians who were allied with rebel lords. The capital was moved eastward to Luoyang ( ) in present-day Henan ( ) Province. Because of this shift, historians divide the Zhou era into Western Zhou (1027-771 B.C.) and Eastern Zhou (770-221 B.C.). With the royal line broken, the power of the Zhou court gradually diminished; the fragmentation of the kingdom accelerated. Eastern Zhou divides into two subperiods. The first, from 770 to 476 B.C., is called the Spring and Autumn Period ( ), after a famous historical chronicle of the time; the second is known as the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C. ).