Nails and Polish: a couple for the ages

Have you ever wondered when it was that humans first started to wear polish on their nails? It’s like asking about the history of shoes or clothes; they’ve really been with us since the beginning.

 

The first evidence of polish being used comes from China around the year 3000 B.C. They used a colored liquid made from crushed flowers, egg whites, gelatin, beeswax, and other natural ingredients, and when applied, the polish would last for a few hours or overnight.

 

The Egyptians were also keen on polish, taking the pigment from the henna plant to color the nail bed and also make designs on the fingers and skin. And for Egyptians, nail color was used to reflect your rank in society. Reds were reserved for the queens and women of lower class could only wear pale hues.

 

And nail art was no stranger to ancient society either. The Incas were known for decorating their fingernails with pictures of eagles.

 

But nail polish as we know it, modern nail polish, didn’t arrive until the beginning of the 20th century, with the advent of automobile paint. French make-up artist Michelle Ménard took the auto paint as inspiration to create the first modern day nail lacquers. The advanced formulas made the polish easier to store and made it more durable after application.

 

That brings us to today, with numbers of companies creating new polish colors everyday. It just goes to show that as long as humans have hands and feet, there will always be polish to decorate them.

 

—Tim