AlphabeThursday K is for Kohl and the Kama Sutra

In the late 1950s and early 1960s I was beginning to experiment with makeup; rummaging through my mum’s makeup bag or the top drawer of her dressing table. Covering my face with weird concoctions thinking I looked the bees knees.

Not much later when I had pocket money and discovered Woolworths I was able to buy more suitable products such as eye shadow, mascara and kohl. Feeling very grown up not thinking too much about the history of such sophistication.

Until now; In Roman times a young girl decorated her face for special occasions; she may have tried charcoal to draw round her eyes, until she found Kohl, an alchemic metal, that was kinder to skin, which remains a useful cosmetic to this day.

The word kohl comes from the Arabic kahala meaning to stain the eyes. In Europe we use it as an ornament but in Asia it is used as spiritual protection to charm away demons  or it is used as medicinally when treating conditions such as conjunctivitis. Taliban soldiers might wear kohl around their eyes  to indicate that llah was looking after them.

Although I have read some of the Kama Sutra in  Sanskrit I wasn’t aware that among the pieces of advice for lovers there is a recipe for the ultimate in mascara.  

First the bone of a camel is dipped into the juice of the Eclipta prostrata (also known as the tattoo plant because it secrets a dark blue dye) and then burning it.  The black pigment is stored in a box also made of camel bone; it is applied to the eyelashes with a camel-bone pencil..  As a result the love manual says will be ‘very pure and wholesome for the eyes’ and goes on to say it ‘also serves as a means of subjugating others to the person who uses it’

mmmm I haven’t found that my mascara has had this effect …. maybe its the lack of camel bone?