Have you ever thought about that storymanicure has, it must be, an unlimited number of millennia? What beautiful, well-groomed nails - it's not just a tribute to fashion, but a kind of culture, aesthetics, passed the test of time. The very first information that women began to use real manicure sets, refer to the third millennium BC. Incredibly beautiful tools for nail care from cast gold were found during excavations of the Chaldean burials in the ruins of Babylon. Scientists have determined, then they are about three thousand two hundred years. Although, who knows what was before! Perhaps our ancestors - primitive women - were sitting by the fire near the cave and cleaning their nails with a sharp twig to paint them in a pretty color with some prehistoric plant or berry. Who knows? Despite all the technological progress and the development of technology, we have not yet learned to accurately look deep into the centuries to uncover the incredible secrets of the past. 
The Ancient History of Manicure - Ancient Egypt
Although the time machine has not yet been invented, but abouthistory of manicure is known not too little. And the first thing that should be mentioned is the discovery connected with the Egyptian Pharaoh Nuser, who lived two and a half thousand years ago before our era. Surely this name does not tell you anything - it's not surprising, because he himself did not differ in anything in life. However, the excavations of his burial place have made a lot of noise thanks to the mummies of the courtiers, whom archaeologists discovered. In their tombs there were scrolls, indicating that their post - neither much nor little - "keepers of Pharaoh's nails"! So our contemporaries also learned that manicure business flourished in ancient Egypt. Confirms this conjecture and the book of recipes for the beauty of the famous queen Cleopatra, where she gives quite practical advice on nail care. Long and beautiful nails at that time were already considered a sign of aristocracy, they were grown and colored not only by women, but also by men of noble family. But the poor people did not have such beauty in status, and they were content with short nails covered in pastel colors. By the way, many believe that Cleopatra and her friends painted henna nails, because most of the found mummies of a noble family had traces of this grass on their nails. However, it was recently revealed that henna was used during the burial ritual, that's why the mummy archaeologists with brown nails came across. In fact, Cleopatra, and all the rest of the nobility of Ancient Egypt, dyed nails in some completely different way (presumably, a mixture of fattened fat and Dragon Draconium juice). 
Manicure in ancient China
In ancient China, long and well-groomed nailsThey were not considered an attribute of beauty, but a sign of the wisdom of their owner. The fact is that the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom at that time believed that it was the long nails that helped them to "talk" with the gods. Of course, the privilege of being wise (at least outwardly) was absolutely inaccessible to the people of the lower classes, they were forbidden to grow and paint their nails. The state of the emperor's nails was emphasized not only by himself, but by the entire Chinese people: it was believed that the more well-groomed and healthy nails the head of state had, the more prosperous the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire would live. Therefore, the manicure in the palace of the emperor turned into a real ritual rite - with spiritual hymns and dances. Thanks to these actions, access to the positive qi energy was opened, and the emperor was immersed in harmony with the world around him. In ancient China, there was a unique recipe for nail polish: from the juice of some fruit trees, glue was made, which was added to a mixture of wax, gelatin and egg whites. A concubine making a manicure to the emperor occupied a rather high position at the court and had many privileges in relation to other girls. The manicure itself was performed by jade or bamboo sticks, which were delivered to the palace by the best suppliers of the yard. By the way, in the nineteenth century the Manchu empress Tsi Si grew nails as long as twenty centimeters! In order that they do not break down and do not separate, the court manicurists nourished the Empress's nails with calcium. For this there was a daily ritual: each nail in turn was steamed in goat's milk, then wrapped in a special case of pure silk. Notable ladies tried to imitate their empress and also grew rather long nails (they were allowed about five centimeters). They painted them in bright red color, painted wonderful birds on them and even wrote hieroglyphics short hockey! But what was to be done by those who entered the higher society suddenly and could not instantly grow such long nails? Such people simply ... increased! Yes, do not be surprised, because this procedure was invented by no means by contemporaries, and our ancestors are many, many years ago. Even in Ancient Egypt and Babylon on the nail plate superimposed nails made of silver and pure gold were superimposed. But the Red Indians (though it was much later), without philosophizing slyly, glued to their nails the claws of various animals. The most advanced method of building belonged to the inhabitants of the ancient Celestial Empire: long nails were created from glued rice paper.
The importance of nails for the inhabitants of Ancient Rus
With regard to nail care, our ancestorswere "ahead of the whole planet", here, however, it concerned only ... superstition. The soul of a Russian person has always been full of mysteries and mysteries, and therefore it is not surprising that the attitude to the nails was very special. In particular, to cut nails was allowed strictly once a week - on Thursday, otherwise a person could get sick or be hit by unhappiness. After the nails were cut, they were burned, and the ashes were scattered in the wind. However, it was believed that any disease can be cured if you burn the cut off nails of an unhealthy person and bury them in the ground at the crossroads. Even more surprising prohibitions extended to shepherds: they were not allowed to cut their nails during the pasture season. The matter is that the shepherds made real contracts with the forest owner - the owner of the forest, where they could not kill the forest birds-animals, pin their own cattle, and cut their nails. After all, it was in the nails, according to legend, the physical and magical power of man, and the longer they were, the stronger the bond between the parties to the treaty. If you think that all these "superstitions" are in the past, then you are deeply mistaken: in some Russian villages still fingernails are cut once a week in order to avoid tricks of evil spirits. And here are a few more beliefs that are very popular in our day:
- People with crooked nails have an unhappy, short life;
- If a pregnant woman steps on a piece of trimmed nail, she may have a miscarriage;
- Do not cut nails to babies for up to a year, otherwise they will live in poverty;
- If you spit three times on the nail, cut and divided into three pieces, you can get rid of spoilage and evil eye.
On the other hand, already in the nineteenth century the inhabitantsRussia did not lag behind the mods of other countries in the desire to make their nails beautiful and well-groomed. It was at this time and the heyday of the history of manicure art. 
The latest history of manicure
The art of manicure in the form in which weused to see it, was born in the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1830, the French king Louis Philippe got into trouble - a burr on his arm was inflamed. To solve the problem, a doctor was called in, who took the matter with all responsibility: he brought with him a set of tools for the safe treatment of a finger. This set included: a moisturizing ointment, a white, a suede nail file and an orange stick, borrowed from dental instruments. Later, this "royal nail care kit" was distributed throughout Europe. In the early twentieth century, all of Europe and America painted nails with the help of cream and shiny powder. Of these ingredients made a thick paste, not at all like modern varnishes. For coloring, a special brush made of camel hair was used, which cost a lot of money. The most important drawback of this "coloring" was that the powder stayed on the nails for no more than a day, and even then with a very careful attitude towards it. And only in 1917 the first real nail polish was invented in the United States of America, and it was pink. This innovation put a lot of noise among women of fashion and mods of the time (men are no less actively used manicure). Already in the twenties of the last century in pharmacies around the world it was possible to buy nail polish of almost any shade. But, perhaps, most of all the development of a manicure is due to the cinema. As soon as the black and white silent cinema was replaced by color, the question of the well-groomed nails of the actresses stood up. Directors began to shoot movies in close-up, all the smallest shortcomings in the appearance of women were "as in the palm of your hand." Few of the actresses could boast of beautiful nails from nature, but because the stylists of that time a lot of broken his head over the creation of "implants". Experiments were impressive, because everything went into the game: film cuttings, small pieces of plastic, cardboard, disposable tea bags. It is not known how long this would have lasted, if not for one accident: somehow one dentist wounded his nail. Not finding suitable drugs on hand, he smeared the cut with the composition for the seal. The next day the doctor was surprised to notice that the nail not only does not hurt, but it also looks quite natural. It is said that this is how the acrylic nail extensions appeared. Another legend, a doctor (also a dentist) wanted to wean his wife from a bad habit - she often gnawed her fingernails. For this purpose, he plastered her nail plates with acrylic so that she did not bite them any more. It is completely unknown whether his wife left such a bad habit, but the fact that the seventies and eighties of the last century became a real boom in the field of acrylic nails is a fact. To date, beautiful, well-groomed nails - it is an indispensable attribute of every modern woman - the same as a beautiful hairstyle or clean skin. Annually in Russia are opened five hundred to seven hundred beauty salons, each of which has a manicure room. Varnish for nails are becoming safer, the methods of building up - more perfect. It is possible that in the near future new horizons of manicure art will open - so unexpected and simple that every housewife can make herself a super manicure at home. Maybe. In the meantime, we bring to your attention some interesting facts about nails.
Curious facts about nails:
- on the hands of the nails grow almost twice as fast as on the legs.
- At night, nails grow much faster than in the daytime.
- in men, nails grow much faster than women.
- During pregnancy, nails grow faster.
- left-handed fingernails grow faster on the left hand, the right-hander on the right.
- injured or bitten nails grow faster.
- at owners of long fingers fingernails grow faster.
- The warmer the climate, the faster nails grow.
- after a cold, nails grow twenty percent faster.
- After twenty years and every year the nails grow more slowly.
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