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Welcome to the History Extra Podcast,

Pidcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine.

From false rumps and fake teeth to toxic skin care and insect laden hair. and extraordinary lengths in the pursuit of beauty.

In her new book perfection, Margaret Lincoln delves into some of these past beauty practices

and considers their impact on the women who engaged in them. I spoke to her to find out more.

In your new book perfection you look at 400 years of women's beauty regimes.

What kind of practices have you uncovered?

Well I think what people are quite familiar with is the notion that in the 18th century people

wore lead-based white makeup which was actually poisonous.

But they might not have known that in Victorian times, women were eating arsenic wafers or arsenic pills

to give their skin pallor

and that later on they were putting bears grease on their hair and various other

concroctions. So I think there's a lot in the book that's not particularly well known and will open up people's eyes to the way in which beauty and the pursuit of

...