In the past, before the invention of Modern solar creamsto protect themselves from the sun human beings used two systems: o they covered themselves with clothesheaddresses or umbrellas or they spread ointment on the body Composed of natural products, such as clay and oil, which offered limited protection. Men protected from the sun for both do not burnboth for a symbolic reason: in the past, preserving clear skin was one status symbol (contrary to what happens now in which to tan is desirable) because it showed belonging to high social classes. Modern solar creams were marketed only in the twentieth centuryafter science has been able to define the action and risks of UV rays on the body.
Solar protection in the past: it was not needed to go to the beach
The man has always had the need to protect himself from the sun’s rays. Although until the last decades of the nineteenth century the UV rays effects They were not scientifically known, human beings realized that they realized that expose itself to the sun caused scrolls. The exhibition did not happen, as today, to be on the beach and have fun but, in the vast majority of cases, because it was Forced to work outdoors even at high temperatures.
For this reason, in many companies of the past not to tan and preserve clear skin was also a status symbol: it meant that it was not forced to work under the sun and, therefore, that it belonged to high social classes. THE aesthetic canons were the opposite of the current ones.
Natural dresses and products to protect yourself from the sun
Before the unit of the solar creams, the man had two ways to protect himself from the sun: o wear clothes To cover yourself, or sprinkle the body With natural products that, according to the beliefs of the time, stopped the action of the sun. The clothes were used with the aim of protection from sunlight since ancient times, as well as i hairattested already in the prehistoric age. Ancient civilizations, of course, packaged clothing with the fabrics they had. In Egypt, for example, linen above all was used.
Furthermore, since the oldest era to protect themselves from the sun they also worked primitive “solar creams”that is, natural products to which the power to limit the action of the sun’s action was attributed, wrongly or reason. For example, from archaeological finds we know that Homo sapiens already used to sprinkle the body with clay mixed with water: although the custom had above all ceremonial and religious reasons, it probably also served to protect himself from the sun. In the historical era, the civilizations of the past spread various products on the body: for example, the Egyptians used the rice branthe Greeks of theolive oil: products that offered lower protection than that of current creams, but which were not entirely useless.
Masks and sunglasses
One of the most delicate parts of the body is the face. Since ancient times they were used masks so as not to pass the sun’s rays. From the 16th century, the use of the Morettaa black velvet mask that was worn on the road or on the other occasions in which we had to expose ourselves to the rays of the sun: for the nobles, as we have seen, keeping the skin clear was an important status symbol.
Until the modern age, however, there were no systems to protect their eyes from the sun. Only the peoples of the polar regions, such as the inuitalready in the period they used a sort of “Snow glasses”with a small crack, which allowed to protect yourself from light. The real sunglasses were instead invented in the eighteenth century at Vetrerie di Murano In Venice and have become a common object in the twentieth century.
The discovery of the risks of UV rays and modern sunscreen
From the end of the nineteenth century Science was able to explain the action of UV rays on the skin and body of human beings. In the same period the Modern solar creams. The first Commercial creams appeared in 1928 And, over time, they became more and more effective. In 1936 the first creams of the company appeared on the market L’Oreal, who would become one of the major world producers. During the Second World War, the American army provided solar creams in quantity to the soldiers engaged in the war in the Pacific.
Over the years, the function of the creams has changed, at least in part: today they just don’t have to block the action of sunlight and allow to preserve light skin, but often have the function of limiting the action of the rays e allow people to tan. THE aesthetic canons have changed And most people want to tan instead of keeping light skin: tan does not mean, as in the past, working under the sun, but spending a lot of time on the beach.
