Since ancient times, Asians have admired snow-white skin. It is said, "Whiteness by itself can cover three ugly features." In the Orient, "beauty" and "white" have been inextricably linked.
The book Tong Tian Mi Shu records a number of ancient formulas for snow-white skin. Take for example the method found in the secret tales of the inner court in the chapter Chuan Jia Bao: Take goose eggs, extract the egg white, and mix it with a certain zhenhang powder. After applying the mixture, do not go outside at all. After ten days, your skin will be like pure-white jade.
And here's the Pear Blossom technique: Grind up lithargyrum, white sandalwood, calomel (mercurous chloride), clamshell powder, and a certain ingredient known as "palace powder" (gongfen) into a fine powder. Mix with egg white. Apply nightly, and wash it off the next morning. You face will become as pallid as a pear blossom, and there's an extraordinary fragrance to boot.
The beauty secrets of Yang Guifei are revealed in Yi Men Guang Du. Take one liang of lithargyrum, grind it fine, and make it into a paste using honey or milk. Each night, heat it slightly and apply it to your face, and wash it off the next morning. Within half a month your face will glisten like a jade mirror.
Besides these, the book Jing Yan Liang Fang tells how to get rid of freckles and get a lovely facial skin tone: Combine dried larva of silkworm, dried typhonium tuber, dahurian angelica root, ginger, borax, gypsum, talcum, garlic cloves, and borneol. Before sleeping, apply a small amount, with water, to your face. And another way to get rid of freckles includes male bird excrement in a mixture with vegetable oil. Apply it for a month to get a shiny and clear complexion.
It was said of the Tang dynasty concubine Yang Guifei: "Face fair as hibiscus, eyebrows like a willow, skin like snow...." The secrets of the beauties of ancient times are now being revealed.（courtesy of the National Palace Museum）
Women in Taiwan used to use the wanmian method to care for their skin, removing tiny hairs and dead skin cells from the epidermis using thread, to give skin a glossy look.
There are a dazzling array of products to get that pallid look or eliminate blotches. But they are only effective if they can be absorbed by the skin.
This cross-section image shows that some blotches go down to the dermis layer. It is not likely you can get rid of these with skin care products alone. sebaceous gland eccrine gland sweat pore microvascular network epidermis dermis subcutaneous tissue.
Beauty and skin care centers line the streets. They offer not only skin care and skin whitening, but also a chance to get away from the pressures of life. The clients are mostly women, but there are a few guys as well.
Tsai Yen-ping declares: "Natural is beautiful." The best ways to beautiful skin are cleanliness, staying out of the sun, and good eating habits.
The first step to snow-white skin is staying out of the sun. It's common to see women and girls carrying parasols during summer in Taiwan.
In recent years lasers have become widely used in cosmetic surgery to eradicate blotches. Many blemishes that proved stubborn in the past can now be cleared away.
Lin Jean-yin, who became quite famous after performing cosmetic surgery on Tseng Wen-hui, wife of former president Lee Teng-hui, says that with cosmetic surgery you really can change a person, and that the most important result is increased self-confidence.
The media makes idols out of handsome guys and beautiful girls. Who can resist the implicit call to pursue beauty?
The media makes idols out of handsome guys and beautiful girls. Who can resist the implicit call to pursue beauty?
The media makes idols out of handsome guys and beautiful girls. Who can resist the implicit call to pursue beauty?
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