20+ Tricks That Movie Stars From the Last Century Used for the Sake of Beauty

4 years ago

One of the contestants of a beauty pageant confessed that she covered her teeth with Vaseline to make smiling easier. It makes you feel uncomfortable to have your mouth closed with it inside, so you just keep smiling. The movie stars of the 20th century were no less inventive in their attempt to maintain their beauty. But some of their tricks are truly shocking.

At Bright Side, we don’t recommend following the beauty hacks from the celebrities of the past. However, you may find some of these things useful.

Twiggy put 3 sets of false eyelashes on her eyes.

Twiggy revealed that her iconic, long, ’60s lashes were inspired by her childhood doll. When she started modeling she would set the alarm for 90 minutes before she had to leave because it took that long to apply her make-up. She would layer 3 pairs of false eyelashes over her own and paint extra ‘twigs’ on her skin underneath. In the end, she would make her lips look plumper.

Joan Crawford chewed gum all the time.

This popular actress from the ’30s built a real cult around her beauty.

She would splash her face 25 times with ice-cold water after every wash and then apply moisturizer.
She would also rub lemons on her elbows to keep them looking young and smooth.
She chewed gum because she believed that it firmed up her jaw and helped her to drain the toxins out from under her chin.

Brigitte Bardot used her saliva to style her locks.

Brigitte Bardot was famous for her full lips, winged eyeliner, and curvy body. But we also adored her for her voluminous blonde hair and the way she styled it. The interesting thing is that she used her saliva while curling her hair. She applied spit to the longer pieces of hair that framed her head. She would then twirl them and pull them back tight behind her ear where she would then let them dry and pull them out to reveal her unmistakable signature curl.

Jacqueline Kennedy had a few tricks up her sleeve.

Jacqueline Kennedy used a few tricks in her beauty routine.

She’d take yoga classes.
Every Thursday, she had a self-care night for her nails and hair.
She brushed her hair 75 times every night.
She’d never go to bed with her makeup on (she used a cleanser — preferably an Erno Laszlo one, as they were her favorites — and scrubbed for 2 minutes).
She loved sunbathing and wearing sunglasses (because she would be able to see what people were doing and protect her eyes at the same time).
Her favorite perfume and foundation were Joy (by Dior) and Elizabeth Arden, respectively.

Lucille Ball shaved off her eyebrows.

In the 1920s and 1930s, needle-thin eyebrows were popular. Many women plucked them or even shaved them off. Hollywood actresses of the 1930s penciled more pronounced, curved arches to add to the drama onscreen. During the filming of Roman Scandals (1933), Lucy needed to have her eyebrows entirely shaved off and they never grew back.

Rita Moreno fought blemishes with the help of a rough brush.

Rita Moreno used to have very oily skin and acne when she was young. Back then, she had to apply ultraviolet light for acne and scrub her face with acetone alcohol, using gauze, every day. It was very harsh, but exfoliating every day helped her a lot. Eventually, this trick brought positive results. These days, Moreno prefers to keep her makeup minimal. She uses a skin cleanser and moisturizer.

Mae West used baby oil.

Mae West, a controversial movie star and screenwriter, used coconut oil as her go-to moisturizer and claimed that it was the secret behind her youthful complexion. She also loved baby oil as a moisturizer and said the secret was to put it on warm.

Marlene Dietrich came up with her own version of a facelift.

In the 1940s, plastic surgery was an emerging industry, so Marlene Dietrich came up with her own absolutely safe replacement. She used surgical tape to pull back the skin on her face, keeping it concealed in her hairline or under a wig. To keep her skin taut, the actress ran a thin gold chain under her chin and behind her ears to pull back sagging skin, taking years off of her look.

Dietrich would also sprinkle real gold dust into her wigs for a magical effect on camera.

Marilyn Monroe minimized her hair washing.

This movie star had many secrets that helped her to emphasize her beauty.

To keep her signature shade of platinum as long as possible and to not ruin her hair with peroxide, Monroe was said to have minimized washes by dabbing sifted baby powder on her roots.
The actress wanted longer and more voluminous lashes without help from fringy falsies, but instead with more natural-looking results. So, Allan Snyder would cut her false eyelash strips in half and apply them only to the outer corners of her eyes.
Monroe used an early version of the Wonderbra. Not only did it have extra straps for better lift — helping it act almost like a suspension bridge — but it also had an extra pair of outer cups to add another inch to Monroe’s bust.
To make her cleavage look beautiful in a dress with a low neckline, Monroe stuck to a “simple bust-firming routine.” Every morning, she lifted 2, 5-pound weights above her head 15 times from a “spread-eagle arm position,” then she repeated a second set with her arms above her head, and again at a 45-degree angle until she was tired.
By the way, despite the popular belief that Monroe only wore 5 drops of Chanel No. 5 to sleep, she also put on a bra mistakenly believing that it would prevent her breasts from sagging. However, it has recently been proven that it is more healthy to sleep without one.